Peter Myers' Blog

What Will Happen to Financial Advisors and Wealth Managers Now?

I am empathizing with our financial advisor cousins today.

Bear Stearns was bought by JP Morgan in March.  Lehman was bought from bankruptcy by Barclay's.  WAMU is closed and sold to Chase (also JP Morgan).  Merrill Lynch was acquired by B of A.  Wachovia is cut up and being sold to Citi and Wells Fargo.  A chunk of Morgan Stanley was sold to Mitsubishi.  What the general public may not know is that all of these entities, without exception, have various wealth management groups, sometimes called "private client," "private banking," "private wealth management," "family office" and "private trust" groups, all of which perform more or less the same function - provide professional (sometimes expert) advice on what to do with large amounts (relatively) of capital held by individuals.  What is going to happen to this industry of advisors after all this consolidation?

Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk

One of God's great blessings in my recent life is our 6 year-old son, conceived about a week after 9-11-01, around the day we brought our dog Rex from the pound, when we were least expecting (at age 41) to be expecting.  A love child in our 40's.  Tangible evidence that the Almighty has a sense of humor. 

Johann reminded me this Summer that there is nothing wrong with being completely covered in sand.  There are times when I feel like I'm under a mountain of it.  And whether that is a burden or a blessing is simply a matter of perspective. 

We did get a couple of trips to Santa Cruz this Summer - to the beach Boardwalk.  We even talked our 16 year-old daughter into joining us!  Of course, she "just had to" bring a friend (God forbid she be seen having fun with her parents).