Just shy of his 18th year with LPL Financial, veteran advisor Edward Metz and his team with $150 million in assets under management have jumped to Raymond James for the smaller firm's "more structured" environment.
As his practice grew in size, Metz says, he found LPL was no longer able to offer him and his team the service he needed, but he believes Raymond James will be more attentive. "Being a little smaller I think helps them," Metz says of Raymond James. "It is more of controlled environment."
Raymond James' environment appealed on many fronts, he says. "They have a regional director, a compliance person who reports to that regional director, as well as business coaches and they have regional meetings. The top management gets to have a pretty good handle on your and your business so that if an issue came up you would know who to call. You are working with a team."
Metz and his three-person team operate as Money at Work in Somerset, N.J. The firm's original name when Metz started in the business in 1992 was Your Money Matters Brokerage, according to a Raymond James statement. He is a CFP, CPA, a Personal Financial Specialist and a Certified Divorce Financial Analyst.
His colleagues are Zamira A. Sanchez and client services associate Janet Sbrocco.
Metz said he first seized upon the idea to move to Raymond James by talking with other advisors at conferences.
"I had heard from friends of mine how they seemed to be doing real well [at Raymond James] in the areas of state-of-the-art technology and research and support from the back office and I just decided to take a look at them and was just real impressed with everything I saw," he says.
Asked for a response to some of Met's characterizations of LPL, a spokesman for the company wrote via email, " We are not going to comment other than to wish him well.
Read more:
