I'm not foolish enough to think that anyone turned to my editor's letter first. I'll assume like a kid at Christmas, you've rushed to the ranking first. We go into more detail in the intro, but just as a quick overview, we once again took multiple variables and combined them into a weighted average to arrive at the final ranking.
One change this year is that we gave more weight to the increases from last year than we did before. In that sense, we treated the advisors like any business owner, with the crucial question being, How much did you grow over the past year? Still, we have a number of familiar faces this year, as well as quite a few new names. Here at BIC, we tip our hat to all the advisors who made the list.
We hope you enjoy the Top 50, but don't stop there. We have other good topics to offer. Regular contributor Rick Rummage takes a hard look at just why most bank advisors lag their wirehouse brethren. And the fact that bank advisors have a steady stream of prospects walking through their doors every day makes the question even more pressing, he says (spoiler alert: wirehouse advisors are better at going out and finding business on their own.) So, have a read and then get after it.
Another regular contributor, Dave Lindorff, took on the unenviable task of gazing into the future for us (another hallmark of the December issue of most magazines). Lindorff talked to a number of experts and the consensus was that 2013 will probably be okay for investors. Not great, but not terrible either. As he notes, it will put a twist on an old expression: it will be boring, but that beats the alternative.
As we head into the holiday season, let's also remember those affected by Hurricane Sandy. The December issue is fun, but sometimes life can remind us all of what's really important.
A very happy 2013 to all of you.
