Merrill Raises Payouts in Retirement Transition Plan, Tweaks “Inheritor” Payoffs

Merrill Lynch Wealth Management unveiled long-anticipated changes to its account-transition program for retiring brokers on Wednesday, adding five to 75 percentage points to the payouts brokers can receive over five to seven years after selling their “books” to colleagues.
UBS and Morgan Stanley in 2017 and 2018, respectively, tweaked their sunsetting programs in an effort to keep older brokers from moving to other the firms. Merrill executives told brokers that the new program is the only one in the industry with a fixed payout guarantee. (It had phased out the guarantee last August.)
The changes will not be effective until November 2021, which the executive said gives advisors contemplating retirement time to discuss their plans with teammates, clients and their families. The program is open to brokers who have at least five years of experience at Merrill and are at least 55, provided that the two numbers add up to 65. (A 55-year-old with ten years at the firm makes the cut, but a 54-year-old with 11 years does not.)
“We think that more than half the FAs who may have been thinking about retiring are likely to extend for at least two years” so they can participate in the enhanced CTP, Merrill Lynch Wealth President Andy Sieg said in an interview.
Like its competitors, Merrill is concerned about losing clients of retired advisors. The issue is of particular concern to Merrill and other firms that have stopped recruiting experienced brokers at the same time that they are losing veterans who take signing deals from competitors.
Merrill is deploying some of the significant savings from its recruiting retrenchment to enhance the retirement plan, which it calls the Client Transition Program (CTP), the executive said.
Participating brokers who are designated as “active senior consultants” after agreeing to migrate their books must be on a team for at least a year to participate. Merrill will pay them 110% to 225% of the 12-month revenue they were producing at the time they enlist, with the top payout limited to those producing at least $7.5 million. With additional length-of-service and fee-based account bonuses, the payout range can rise to 160% to 275% of trailing-12-month revenue.
Base payouts in the current CTP range from 105% to 150%, rising to a maximum of 155% to 200% with bonuses.
Inheriting advisors will continue to be credited with just 50% of the revenue received from their new clients, for a maximum of eight years. But they can integrate the full amount into their production credits once Merrill recovers 80% of the money paid to the retiring broker. That means that Merrill, not the inheritor, is for the first time subsidizing part (20%) of the payment.
The firm also is loosening strictures on the ability of $5-million-plus producers to sell some of their book to one or more team members before fully entering the program, which lasts five years for brokers with $2 million of production or below and extends to seven years for those over $2 million.
A 56-year-old Merrill Private Wealth broker on the East Coast said that the new features should lead to fewer departures by top advisers eager to monetize their books. Merrill has lost dozens of brokers this year who took recruiting checks from competitors out of fear that payouts will fall during the term of the CTP or due to uncontrollable factors like market declines or the ability of inheriting advisors to retain clients.
“There was always that fear about the subjectivity of the markets and its effect on your net worth, and that creeping doubt you get when a big FA leaves,” he said, speaking on condition of anonymity. “I no longer have to waste bandwidth worrying about whether I should leave.”
Merrill, which is not making any substantive changes in its 2020 compensation plan, will not require participants in the new CTP to sign additional non-compete clauses prohibiting them from contacting clients if they leave the program, Sieg wrote in a memo to advisors, taking a swipe at competitors, without mentioning names. Morgan Stanley, for example, has garden-leave requirements and bonus clawbacks for brokers who leave its transition program prematurely.
Some brokers who had been waiting months for the program, whose contours were revised several times this year, said they were disappointed it does not include forgivable loan bonuses for committing to participate, a feature in UBS’s plan, or lower age-eligibility requirements, as are available at Morgan Stanley. The senior Merrill executive said the tradeoffs come in the guaranteed payouts and the loosened payback restrictions.
Mindy Diamond, an industry recruiter based in Morristown, New Jersey, who has hired advisors away from Merrill Lynch, said that the payout amounts in the program appear to be “very compelling” and competitive with signing deals they could get by jumping. She warned inheriting advisors in all firm programs, however, to be aware of strict non-solicitation clauses on inherited accounts should they leave.
The issue of retaining aging advisors’ clients is a demographic challenge throughout the wealth management industry, where the average age is 52, according to consultant Cerulli Associates. The average age of brokers at Merrill’s core wealth management units (excluding trainees and BofA’s discount Merrill Edge unit) is 50, according to the senior executive at the firm.
Almost 41% of wirehouse advisors plan to retire and transition their businesses within the next ten years, Michael Rose, Cerulli’s associate director of wealth management, said in a report released this week, and broker-dealers are working hard to “operate effective business succession programs for retiring advisors.”
This all works hand in glove for Merrill transitioning these books to junior FAs on salary. The junior FAs will be handcuffed for eight years as Merrill keeps changing compensation slowly to salary + bonus.
What is really unfortunate is the untold negatives for clients. The idea that you’re advisor is looking out for your best interests while financing a banks FA is laughable. Clients will finance the retiring advisors books via credit cards and loans!
Senior advisers, do you realize how little they value your business. You will be paid around 4.5x EBITDA and at a W2 rate. These deals are best for the firm. Please do your research and realize how much flexibility you have transitioning as a team to independence, calling your shots on retirement with complete flexibility, and structure an installment sale where you will pay capital gains on the proceeds. Oh, and it is best for everyone on the team in most cases.
Even this latest iteration still only nets participating retirees with a fraction of what they could sell their book for as an independent. Unless I am mistaken, the best programs are offering around 2.5 to 3 times trailing 12 month production, but that figure goes to grid BEFORE it is paid out, meaning approx 40% of that production revenue is actually paid to the retiring FA.
Wow ..more proof that Merrill cares about its financial advisors .. what an amazing firm yo work for ..and there are raising the fa pay ..not only is it the best firm to work for but the best firm for the clients ..when the firm the fa and the client are aligned great things happen !
Looks like there’s a Merrill manager getting paid to lie when articles about Merrill are on Advisorhub. Pathetic.
I’ve never meet a rich pessimist
I was only a pessimist when I worked at Merrill.
Over what time period is CTP paid to the retiring FA?
Any enhancements to an internal retirement program are good things, because they will mean more money for advisors who are either too scared to too complacent to move to the independent channel prior to retiring. That said, in-house retirement programs are never going to be as substantial as the money that and FA could get by selling his/her practice as an independent. And, unless the law changes, retiring advisors will always pay substantially more in taxes on those proceeds by remaining in a wirehouse program. Another consideration worth noting is that once an advisor signs on to these programs, the firms largely want him/her GONE. As an independent, you can choose to keep a handful or two of your favorite clients to work with, come in to your office one or two days a week and enjoy semi-retirement while earning a very high payout for the work you do decide to do.
You have to love people that have never been an fa calling is scarred or compliant.. maybe some of us are just want to be at the best place for us ..and some of want to leave our clients at what we believe is the best place for our clients
I was an FA for 10 years, pal. Still licensed, just haven’t been in practice since I transitioned several years ago to do what I do now. But I do acknowledge your point about the choice being yours.
THOSE WHO CAN DO. THOSE WHO CAN’T RECRUIT!
This plan is a slap in the face and highly insulting to the vast majority of FA’s and will increase the already sky high attrition. May work well for a few advisors, but will piss off the majority for multitude of reasons.
What about it is insulting??
How about if you ONLY produce $2,000,000 to $4,999,999 and still don’t qualify for the early entry CPT program? How about the 90% plus of the advisors who won’t receive the “special letters” from Andy this week that will outline their increased payout (because, I suppose, their increases aren’t that significant)? How about the Advisors producing less than $2,000,000 who will only see minimal, if any, increases in their CTP payouts (while a very small percentage of Advisors receive substantial)? How about the Advisors who just went into CTP who get no benefit and weren’t given a heads-up that they might consider waiting? How about those who wanted to retire soon but now have to work 2 more years? How about the CTP recipients who now have to wait two more years to inherit their books and are subject to continued pay cuts and banking quotas for several additional years after that (now up to 8 years instead of 5). That makes for a total of up to ten years they’re now stuck at Merrill no matter the pay cuts and increased banking requirements during this period.
What are the special letters?
I believe Seig said letters were being sent out today to all $5 mil producers, Circle of Champion members (long term high producers), and those FA’s 65 and older. I suppose the letter outlines the wonderful changes to CTP and how it benefits them. He said 1,000 of these letters will go out. That means over 90% of the FA’s will not be receiving them.
It’s sad an increase is viewed as a positive instead of what it actually is, a below market offer with so much structure that it limits the flexibility of a multi generational team.
don’t be bitter, be better. Like it or not BAC/MER advisors are doing quite well. There are a lot of solutions that they can offer their clients and prospects. No fighting that. Not for everyone, I get it, but a million dollar producer at ML is barely average. They are doing something right. Ron- if you were any good as an F/A you still would be an F/A and that is why a lot of people don’t respect your comments. You also make the assumption that if an MER F/A goes indy they take their entire book. Don’t assume. Sorry to be blunt, but it is what it is.
Merrill FAs are not doing well. It’s all smoke and mirrors. Merrill has always inflated their numbers by including institutional advisors in their production numbers (who get paid a pittance to manage huge sums of money) and we all know the new HH game at Merrill is fictitious. Keep drinking that Kool Aid though, it’s people like you that allow Merrill to eventually go to salary + bonus.
This is nothing but an attempt to slow the tsunami of “experienced FAs” leaving. This deal much like the current pay structure at BofA(Merrill is dead) has more hurdles than a track meet. I don’t think anyone argues that BofA’s platform is bad, only their management. Stating that BofA has the best of everything is the type of propaganda that leads FAs to the decision of leaving. 70% of BofA FAs produce less than 700 a year. Only a failed FA/middle manager would try to convince you otherwise. If you are a FA at BofA, look at your quintile report. You can figure it out. Nothing was worse than my failed FA/middle manager coming around to tell me how I sucked when I knew I was doing more than most of the firm.
Now let’s recap the last 4 years. 3% pay cut while CEO gets 69% increase. Outlawed brokerage IRAs while telling FAs everyone would follow and no one did. Stopped paying on accounts under $250k no matter how long they had been with you. Forced referrals to the bank. Forced to get mortgage license whether you wanted it or not. And most recently you moved all your accounts to a model portfolio in hopes of getting the bank off your back, but the bank now wants to examine if your client can get it cheaper from edge. While your failed FA/middle manager is telling you it sucks everywhere, I can promise you it doesn’t. There are much better places out there. I left 3 years ago and quickly realized that everything my failed FA/middle manager had been telling me was a blatant lie. I don’t blame him though, as he was just regurgitating it from someone above him. What I’m saying is not bitterness, but simply the truth for my friends still there.
Don’t forget Growth Grid. A bank that focuses on growing at all cost ( the mantra is “win in the market place,no excuses) is going to hurt clients. Why any FA would stay there and operate under a culture that forces you to refer your clients to the bank, Yes there is a referral quota!, is beyond me. The bankers and trust officers parade client lists through ML offices begging for “introductions” as if FAs don’t know their clients. This is a monumental shift at Bank of America. They know that the wave of FA retirements is coming and they think that Merrill Edge or FSAs are the solution. The ATL market Is losing experiences advisors rapidly and replacing with tellers. They have to stop the bleeding and the best way is to lock up clients under CTP! This is not just an advisor story, clients are being manipulated through the process as well. Nobody discloses that they need to stay for CTP to work!
LOL! You’ll never get as much valuation of your book at the bank as you will on the independent side regardless of “enhancements” because YOU DON’T OWN YOUR CLIENTS! Same goes for the purchasing FA.What are you buying?? This is like renting a house with the perception that you’re going to own it. You are an at-will W-2 employee, are getting paid to service clients, and are subject to all the annual compensation changes that the firm dictates. By spending time researching your options in the independent world, you’ll come to find out that you’ll own our own clients, be able to better serve them as a true fiduciary (if you so choose), and be able to sell your business at 4-8x at long term cap gains rates when the time comes. There are no shortages of acquiring firms out here. I spent 10 years at Merrill and recently made the move. Best career decision I’ve ever made. Almost every client has said “it’s about time you left. I hated what the bank was doing”. In the words of GW Bush… “fool me once, shame on you. fool me twice, er, uh, um, just don’t fool me again!” The bank will keep fooling you over and over again because their only agenda is their own agenda. This “enhanced” program is proof. Get out while they’re still in protocol. It’ll be much easier to transition your clients.
Well said!!!
The negativity is ridiculous. You may not like what is going on at BAC Merrill because you want it to be like the “good old days” but the fact is that there is good and bad everywhere and those days are gone. Brian and Andy are basically saying they value the advisor that is onboard with delivering the way they want to deliver…teams, planning, banking and investments, referrals, growth etc. If you don’t like it then leave. If you can handle all of that and want a great platform for your clients then stay, make a lot of money and retire with us. This transition plan looks pretty solid. And advisors who stay and inherit a business will do well too. If you are not on board then leave—take the chance you will bring what you want and more power to you.
Andy and Brian value advisors moving the clients to Edge. Duh.
Have to agree with you . If you don’t like it leave .no ones making you stay. There is a reason some of us make millions of dollars a year at Merrill. It’s a great place to work and it’s a great place for your clients to have there accounts.
This article is literally about how BAC is making inheriting FAs stay at the firm. Duh. Oh and learn there vs. their Mr. Million Dollar Producer.
Merrill is the like the Yankees ..it’s the hardest place to work at ..has the highest goals …and if you can make it to be a first quintile fa you will get rich …if you can’t keep up the pace you will get cut and it’s a horrible place to work at ..if you can you will be happy …if you do everything they tell you to do you keep doing it over your career your will be able to retire wealthy ..if you can’t Handel the pace you can go to a slower paced firm and be mediocre..I get it not everyone wants to keep growing ..but those of us that constantly grow love it
why are all the high end advisors leaving?! #5 FA in the firm, PBIG, and multi million dollar producers. No body gets “rich” off of credit cards and checking accounts being forced on clients. BAC will get its pound of flesh from Merrill and discard what’s left. This show will end badly. Everyone knows it.
Yep exactly like the Yankees. A decade of irrelevance. Went from world class to trash.
There leaving because people always leave ..same reason Willy Sutton robbed banks ..just remember that Person got the 5 million because she/her was at Merrill .
So nice of Andy to give everyone two years to talk it over with their team, family and clients. String’em along!!!
If you do everything they tell you and inherit a book you will make millions. what narcissistic bs. 70% OF THE FIRM DOES LESS THAN 700. Your ego might not be able to handle this but there are million dollar producers outside of bofa and they don’t have the labyrinth of hoops to jump through to get paid. It’s just more propaganda bs from book inheritors and failed fa/managers.
P.S. There are dozens of great firms with higher payouts at every level of production and no mortgage, credit card, or checking account hurdles. Many of them have a higher percentage of advisors doing over a million than bofa does so me thinks some of you are just talking out of your arse with no idea what the facts are. Yankees my arse. Yankees of book inheriting.
Some of us have never inherited a book pal ..the bulk of us have done it one client at a time ..why the hate ..just because you can’t do it does not mean it can’t be done
Why would you not want mortgage and credit cards ..there great ..and yes 70 percent of the people don’t do over a million ..that means we have over 4000 people that do ..that’s amazing ..you don’t have 4000 people doing that at any other place besides the two other wire house firms .. the wire house is still the place where the bulk of the huge production is being done ..
I know right why wouldn’t you want your $10 million relationship dealing with the worst bank in the country for customer service. https://www.consumeraffairs.com/finance/bofa.html
No joke! Can’t tell you how many times the bank almost ruined our relationships, be it mortgages or commercial banking. Those commissioned scrubs have no class. Notice how the FSAs and the bankers are starting to take over the local ML branches? How bankers will walk into your office unannounced with your client list looking for “opportunities”? How FSAs are required to keep everything under $1M for Edge? How PBIG minimums are now down to $2.5M? How your 3% PC haircut went to pay for hiring more trainees at higher salaries? How starting in 2020 Team Grid qualifications will require an insane amount of cross selling that no team is qualifying for? How you’ll lose that grid if you’re not the highest producer? How your clients are now getting solicited by FSAs when they walk into a BAC branch? There is a defined path for BAC and Edge to take your job away. The reason why wirehouse FAs are still there is fear. You either have to jump on the last train out of town or get run over by it.