Editor's note: Shortly after we went to press with the October issue, the Federal Reserve Board provided an $85 billion loan to American International Group Inc. Related AIG news from Financial-Planning.com: What Assets Will AIG Sell? (9/23/08) Several Firewalls Now Protect Investors from AIG, Lehman Failures (9/22/08) At AIG: A Shareholder Scramble, Changing of the Guard, Call for Calm (9/22/08) AIG Considers Sale of Annuity-Issuing Subsidiaries (9/22/08) At AIG: A Shareholder Scramble, Changing of the Guard, Call for Calm (9/22/08) AIG Elects New CEO (9/18/08) AIG Bailout: Catalyst for Consolidated Authority? (9/18/08) AIG-Backed Muni Swaps, GICs Seem Safe (9/18/08) AIG, Latest Rescue Target, Gets $85 Billion Fed Loan (9/17/08) AIG Issues Statement to Address Policyholders (9/16/08) AIG Advisors Hang On (9/15/08)

One morning in early September, the top executives at AIG Advisor Group—Larry Roth, Chief Executive Officer of AIG Advisor Group; Jeffrey M. Auld, CEO of AIG Financial Advisors and American General Securities; Mark J. Schlafly, CEO of FSC Securities and Advantage Capital; and Arthur M. Tambaro, CEO of Royal Alliance Associates—gathered at their World Financial Center headquarters for an exclusive conversation with Financial Planning.

There are some new faces in the lineup. Art Tambaro was promoted from COO of Royal Alliance in 2007. Jeff Auld and Mark Schlafly came from Berthel Fisher and LPL, respectively, in July. Although the various broker-dealers will continue to operate independently, together, they plan to coordinate their offerings, technology and strategy to create a stronger, more aggressive group.

This has been a tough year for the markets and a tough year for AIG, whose stock, as of early September, was almost 70% off its 52-week high after writedowns on swaps and mortgage-related assets. In addition, as we go to press the company reportedly holds about $600 million in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac preferred shares which may well have lost most of their value. AIG's advisors need support and so may their parent company. Here's what their leaders had to say.

MA: I was looking at your numbers in Financial Planning's 2008 FP50 Survey and you have an impressive bunch of businesses. All together you have more than 7,000 financial advisors, $40 billion in assets under management in advisory accounts and $150 billion in commission-based accounts.

LARRY ROTH: You just mentioned a few statistics in terms of our size. I'd like to talk briefly about the management team because two of us are new. In my opinion we have one of the strongest management teams in the industry, bar none. These three guys in the aggregate have a hundred years in the independent and wirehouse space. Our revenues last year were in the $1.3 billion dollar range; our pretax last year was the best we ever had; we've had a wonderful year in a not-so-wonderful broader economic time.

AIG, our parent, is fully committed to this business. Our parent is a very substantial player in the retirement arena, and they view the advisor group as integral to that part of the business. Although we're completely open-architecture and sell products from all the major providers, our parent sees us as an important part of their growth plan. We're right in the center of the fastest growing aspect of the retirement business.