Tiburon Strategic Advisors held Tiburon CEO Summit XIII last month in San Francisco, CA. Over 100 senior industry executives attended and participated. Chip Roame (Managing Principal, Tiburon Strategic Advisors), Stephanie DiMarco (CEO, Advent Software), Mike Fraizer (CEO, Genworth Financial), George Gatch (CEO, JP Morgan Funds Management, JP Morgan Chase), John Gunn (CEO, Dodge & Cox), Ron Peyton (CEO, Callan Associates), and Don Phillips (Managing Director, Corporate Strategy, Research, & Communications, Morningstar) made general session presentations. The CEO Summit also included three client-oriented general session panel discussions, including the Ask the Consumers, Ask the Advisors, and Ask the Distributors panels. The topics presented in the general sessions were then discussed in-depth in six break-out sessions, structured around newsworthy topics. Tiburon's CEO Summits have become a unique forum for industry CEOs and leading strategy officers to gather and debate the future of the brokerage, investments, advice, and wealth management businesses. Tiburon's research serves as the foundation of the CEO Summits and all participants share views openly. To facilitate further information sharing, Tiburon provides a series of summaries like this one after each CEO Summit to benefit its clients that are unable to attend.

Six break-out sessions were held at the recently completed Tiburon CEO Summit XIII, allowing attendees to informally debate trends and business strategies. Each session included no more than thirty-five attendees, all CEO-level executives, promoting frank discussions on a wide variety of topics. Leading financial industry executives, including Tim Armour (Managing Director, Morningstar), Dennis Clark (CEO, Advisor Partners), Tif Joyce (President, Joyce Financial Management), Tom Lydon (President, Global Trends Investments), and Skip Schweiss (Executive Vice President, Fiserv Investment Support Services, Fiserv), facilitated the break-out sessions, ensuring that the discussions remained lively and focused on high-level topics.

Retirement Income Planning: Mixing Traditional Investment Products with New Guaranteed Income (Insurance) Products

Few topics are being addressed as frequently as the perceived retirement income challenge or savings crisis faced by two-thirds (or more) of the 76 million baby boomers as they near retirement. So what are the solutions? For a decade, annuities have been the most popular or obvious solution. Although they were outgrown substantially by mutual funds in the last decade, will the next decade be the era of annuities? This session was designed to allow participants to discuss retirement income planning solutions, including annuities, reverse mortgages, and the products likely in many firms' pipelines.

Tif Joyce (President, Joyce Financial Management) started the discussion by sharing his experience from helping clients facing retirement issues. “The key is to spend the time to create accurate expense and cash flow assumptions“, he said. “Unless they are sound, the retirement plan will not likely be effective and the products will not matter.” Some of the other key insights of the session included:

Mr. Joyce went on to express genuine doubt as to whether annuities will be a significant part of the retirement planning solution in the next several decades, “given issues with pricing and the need to give up control of the assets.” Kurt Brouwer (CEO, Brouwer & Janachowski) agreed and noted that, “annuities have to overcome past financial advisor concerns about seemingly hidden fees and the difficulty of backing out”

Chuck Robinson (Senior Vice President, Investment Products & Services, Northwestern Mutual) disagreed, citing, “the significant benefits of providing steady and guaranteed income to investors, especially those who have not saved enough and could not easily weather a shock to their portfolios early in retirement. Annuities offer a great opportunity to pool risks so that those who live longer will be able to live comfortably,” he said

Aside from annuities, Tiburon CEO Summit XIII provided a recent example of the increased focus on this product area, as attendees Scott Hanson & Pat McClain (Co-CEOs, Hanson McClain) announced the $50 million sale of their reverse mortgage company Liberty Reverse Mortgage to Genworth Financial, represented at Tiburon CEO Summit XIII by Mike Fraizer (CEO, Genworth Financial) & Ron Cordes (Chairman, Asset Market Investment Services, Genworth Financial Asset Management, Genworth Financial)

Ben Cukier (Partner, FT Ventures), said that he, “feels that we are in for a period of innovation because the need to deal effectively with longevity risk with an aging and healthier population is significant. Solutions could include new structured products and income payout products that may or may not have any insurance component”

Thomas Sponholtz (CEO, Rex & Company) offered up one of those innovations by explaining his firm’s unique strategy to purchase the appreciation in consumers homes while providing liquidity and allowing them to remain in their residences

	Thomas Sponholtz (CEO, Rex & Company) makes a point while Tiburon CEO Summit Planning Committee member Tim Armour (Managing Director, Morningstar) looks on during a break-out session at Tiburon CEO Summit XIII

Chip Roame (Managing Principal, Tiburon Strategic Advisors) closed the session by summarizing Tiburon’s view that, “the pending liquefaction and retirement income challenge will make this a great time to be a financial advisor, at least for the next two decades. But the industry needs to innovate in this area over the next two decades as baby boomers retire”

Gatekeepers: The Implications of the Market Becoming More Centralized, Institutionalized, &
Controlled by Gatekeepers

With the emergence of mutual fund supermarkets, research services like Morningstar and Litman Gregory, asset allocation funds, sub-advised funds, mutual fund wrap account programs, turnkey asset management programs, separately managed account programs, and multiple style portfolios, an increasing share of investment decisions are becoming concentrated in the hands of home office research-oriented executives. This session was designed to allow participants to discuss the impact that this centralization (or institutionalization) trend is having on investment product manufacturers.

Tim Armour (Managing Director, Strategic Relationship & Business Development, Morningstar) started the discussion by citing FRC research about the decline in financial advisors’ role in actual mutual fund selection, saying that, “in 1996, nearly 80% of mutual fund selection was done by financial advisors but by 2010, the estimate is that just 25% will be controlled by these same financial advisors.” Participants generally agreed with the trend and felt that mutual fund selection is essentially centrally controlled in a number of distribution platforms already. Some of the other key take-aways of the session included:

The group discussed ways to be effective in securing distribution in gatekeeper-controlled channels. While there was agreement that good investment performance was a minimum requirement, it would not be enough by itself. Craig Cloyed (President, Calvert Distributors, Calvert, Unifi Mutual Holding Company) suggested that, “a key additional element will be the selection and retention of high quality headquarters-focused national accounts representatives.” This observation was met with broad agreement by all as a key element of success. With the growth of gatekeeping, such people are in especially high demand
The group agreed that only the best mutual funds or strategies will get on these institutionally-controlled platforms, meaning that 80% of mutual funds will face challenges. Jim Ross (President, Intermediary Business, State Street Global Advisors, State Street Corporation) observed that, “patience on these platforms is limited in times of waning performance and delisting happens more quickly.” But Mr. Ross also added that, “relative to mutual funds and separately managed accounts, ETFs have experienced a much easier time securing new distribution, given the rising level of interest in such products.” Mike Byrum (President, Rydex Investments, Security Benefit Group) agreed, saying that, “a key in dealing with controlled channels is to be successful in explaining unique attributes of products”
Keith Hartstein (CEO, John Hancock Funds, John Hancock Financial Services, Manulife Financial) observed that retail investors’ self-destructive behavior identified earlier in the day by Don Phillips (Managing Director, Corporate Strategy, Research, & Corporate Communications, Morningstar) has been one of the drivers of the growth in gate keeping, because, in many cases, these results have been no better in the advised and institutional channels. As a result, the need is greater for well constructed portfolios and the trend is likely to grow. Sarah McKenzie (Senior Vice President, Brokerage & Managed Products, Ameriprise Financial) agreed, citing “the desire to move rep-controlled decision making over to central-control for compliance and quality control reasons”
This centrally controlled approach is descending upon the hedge fund world as well. Amit Choudhury (Managing Principal, Pinnacle Partners) described how major money center banks are putting hedge fund clients through a more rigorous due diligence process focused on capacity, access, and process

Chip Roame (Managing Principal, Tiburon Strategic Advisors) closed the session by saying, that “power is shifting to the gatekeepers; this will have profound impact on how investment management firms distribute their products. Manufacturers will need to be more creative in wholesaling and marketing efforts that adapt to the new institutionalization of the investments market"

Separately Managed Accounts: Are they Really More Tax-Efficient, More Customized, Less Expensive, or Otherwise Better than Mutual Funds?

Few products have had such early buzz as separately managed account programs and their newer cousins multiple style portfolio programs and unified managed accounts. But do separately managed accounts actually provide any benefits beyond those afforded by investing in mutual funds? This session was designed to allow participants to discuss the importance and legitimacy of often repeated claims such as tax-efficiency, customization, and lower expenses.

Skip Schweiss (Executive Vice President, Client Services Group, Fiserv Investment Support Services, Fiserv) started the discussion by referencing the Tiburon Strategic Advisors research report regarding separately managed accounts, stating that, “it is over 800 pages and rich with data and plenty of insights to question conventional wisdom.” Some of the key take-aways of the session included:

The group seemed to reach consensus that separately managed account programs have genuine momentum in the financial press but that several viable alternatives may provide better solutions for many financial advisors and their clients. Often the leading separately managed account market participants spin their growth by highlighting share of flows into fee-accounts rather than the share of client assets, which is still below 20%. Tif Joyce (President, Joyce Financial Management) remarked that, “the impression created in the press is that packaged fee-accounts are huge, when 84% of wirehouse client assets were still sold with commissions”

The group debated the lack of (and need for) customization and tax planning in separately managed accounts. Richard Steiny (President, Asset Mark Investment Services, Genworth Financial Asset Management, Genworth Financial) related that, “the active customization that Asset Mark brings to investors with concentrated portfolios is significant, offering diversification while balancing the economic risks of concentrated portfolios”

On the product front, Mr. Steiny mentioned that, “his firm is having great success with multiple style portfolios.” He attributed the success to greater efficiency and back-office simplicity and noted that his firm’s collaboration with Parametric provided, “a powerful tax overlay to optimize portfolio decisions”

On the technology side, Mike Gianoni (Executive Vice President, Investment Services Division, Check Free) said that, “the significant capital invested in its Check Free APL system has resulted in a significantly more efficient and error-free transaction experience”

There was nearly unanimous agreement among the participants that separately managed accounts are most appropriate for accounts $5 million and above

Chip Roame (Managing Principal, Tiburon Strategic Advisors) closed the session by saying that, “all is slowly sorting out in the fee-accounts market; unified managed accounts are the product that should have existed all along. Separately managed accounts and mutual funds both play useful purposes in client portfolios”

Hedge Funds & Financial Advisors: Why are Financial Advisors Fascinated by Hedge Funds When Such a Small Share of their Clients Can and Do Own them?

Hedge funds are gathering amazing amounts of money, and outgrowing other fast growing Investment products, including exchange traded funds and separately managed accounts. But when one asks nearly any group of financial advisors, few (if any) own hedge funds, have sold hedge funds, or have put hedge funds in their clients' portfolios. What is the disconnect? This session was designed to create an open dialog about both why financial advisors have been slow to adopt a product that is being widely adopted in the institutional markets, as well as why media representatives and conference speakers insist on discussing hedge funds and financial advisors in the same breadth, implying that the usage is significant.

	Attendees discuss industry trends during break-out sessions at Tiburon CEO Summit XIII

Skip Schweiss (Executive Vice President, Client Services Group, Fiserv Investment Support Services, Fiserv) started the discussion by asking Jeff Lancaster (Principal, Bingham, Osborn, & Scarborough, Boston Private Financial Holdings) for his thoughts on hedge funds. Jeff said that his firm, “does not have the staff to do proper due diligence on hedge funds.” He feels that, “if he could get his clients into the top five funds, he would consider it, but those funds are not accessible to most investors.” Other key points made in the session included:

Jane Williams (CEO, Sand Hill Advisors, Boston Private Financial Holdings) said that, “she uses primarily hedge fund-of-funds so there is a professional manager responsible for the manager search, due diligence, and monitoring functions.” But she also added that, “Sand Hill is moving toward lower cost investment vehicles, using more index products for its clients, and few clients ask about hedge funds”
Chris Wolfe (Chief Investment Officer, Private Banking & Investment Group, Global Wealth Management, Merrill Lynch) said that, “only Merrill’s top 300 reps use hedge funds. The rest (approximately 14,000 reps) use hedge fund-of-funds vehicles”
John Watts (Chairman Emeritus, Fischer, Francis, Trees, & Watts, BNP Paribas Asset Management, BNP Paribas), said that, “almost all money in hedge funds is from institutional investors like public and private pensions, endowments, etc.”
David Perkins (President, Hatteras Investment Partners), who works with endowment funds, selecting alternative investments, said that, “the good managers are closed to new money, and don’t bother to report their results to the scorekeepers; they don’t have to, since they have plenty of money coming in”. This raised the issue of the accuracy of hedge industry-wide performance numbers. If reporting is optional, and top managers don’t report, and bottom managers don’t report, and you have survivor bias issues, how relevant are publicly available performance numbers? Amit Choudhury (Managing Principal, Pinnacle Partners), said that, “hedge fund numbers, such as the number of funds, performance, etc. are very difficult to pin down. Published numbers vary and are almost always inaccurate”
Mr. Perkins asked for impressions of reasonable fees for hedge funds-of-funds. Mr. Choudhury responded that, “some of these managers have returned 20% or more per year for twenty years; fees are irrelevant at those levels”
Karl Mills (President, Jurika, Mills, & Keifer) has his own mutual fund and hedge fund. He feels that, “being short is a lot harder than being long,” which the group agreed on

Chip Roame (Managing Principal, Tiburon Strategic Advisors) closed the session by saying that, for an industry with 10,000 funds and $1.9 trillion in assets, hedge funds are still a very opaque world. One has to perform careful due diligence on individual managers, and not rely much on published industry figures. The top handful of managers have most of the money and can charge what they want. Contrary to media articles, financial advisors do not seem to be using hedge funds much yet; it is mainly an institutional sale at this point. Time will tell”

RIAs: Is the Market Really Growing in Numbers? If so... Where are they Coming from & Where are they Going?

There is a perception that the registered investment advisor (RIA) market is growing fast in its number of advisors. If so, where are they coming from? Is there a substantial number of break-away brokers from the wirehouses, insurance agents from the captive insurance firms, or bank trust officers from the banks? Or is the flow really made up of existing independent reps registering their own RIAs and/or CPA firms adding such capabilities? This session was designed to allow participants to discuss their understandings of where RIAs are coming from and with what firms (custodians, broker/dealers, or otherwise) they are then working.

Tom Lydon (President, Global Trends Investments) started the discussion by asking Tiburon Managing Principal Chip Roame to explain his challenge to widely circulated industry data. Mr. Roame said that the number may not be growing as much as the more important fact that the assets managed by RIAs are growing and growing rapidly. "Schwab reports that it is working with over 5,000 advisors - the same number they were working with over ten years ago. During the same time period, financial advisor assets have grown more than 500%." Dennis Clark (CEO, Advisor Partners), a long-time Schwab Institutional executive, noted that Schwab and other large custodians have pared the bottom 20% of their financial advisors as a regular practice, leading to little change in the 5,000 number. Some of the other key take-aways of the session included:

The group debated why the number of RIAs (about 20,000) is so low relative to the hype and the opportunity. Everyone agreed that RIAs are enjoying a higher level of client satisfaction and they are growing at a faster rate than their competition at the wirehouses. The consensus though was that the wirehouses, regional broker/dealers, and independent broker/dealers have increasingly adopted the RIA model, stemming the flow of personnel. For example, all of the major broker/dealers now offer fee-based advisory services, open architecture products, separately managed accounts, and exchange traded fund wrap accounts, all of which begin to blur the line between RIA and traditional wirehouse broker offerings

The other observation made by the group was the difficulty faced by successful brokers considering going independent (as well as the substantial upfront fees they can collect by moving from one firm to another). Many brokers are ill equipped to manage businesses and see the prospect of doing so to be daunting. In addition, the decision seems to be a wash in terms of ultimate compensation as the successful brokers are garnering better deals than mid and low performing brokers. The group acknowledged that the decision for successful brokers to leave a wirehouse and go independent is more an emotional decision verses and economic one

Stephen Langlois (Executive Vice President, Research & Financial Planning, LPL Financial Services) questioned, “the drivers behind the growth of registered investment advisors, the differences between the new registered investment advisors and the existing ones, the evolution of their needs vis-a-vis independent broker/dealers, and the most significant differences between registered investment advisors and independent reps”

John Rooney (Managing Principal, Commonwealth Financial Network), said that, “while his firm is constructively paranoid about any potential trend of independent reps going fee-only, Commonwealth has not been seeing it in its systems; in the past five years, we have only had two or three financial advisors relinquish their securities licenses to go registered investment advisor only.” He added that, “my hunch is that the new RIAs are predominately big wirehouse teams and not existing independent reps. Maybe it is a self-fulfilling thing with me though; you do not join Commonwealth unless you see significant value in outsourcing activities like securities research and reporting, and once you are here, you would be crazy to reinvent those things on your own”

Chip Roame (Managing Principal, Tiburon Strategic Advisors) closed the session by saying that, "the fee-only financial advisor market is fascinating, but quite confusing and filled with inaccurate data. For instance, if Schwab has streamlined the bottom 20% of its clients for each of the past ten years, then that’s 10,000 RIAs out there rejected by Schwab; where did they go? Are they all independent reps today or is this data just a little funny?"

Financial Advisor Mergers & Acquisitions: is there Finally Some Traction?

	Tiburon CEO Summit Planning Committee member Dennis Clark (CEO, Advisor Partners) and Dave Petersen (President, Financial Services Advisory) discuss industry trends between break-out sessions at Tiburon CEO Summit XIII

The consolidation of the independent financial advisor market has been a topic of great speculation for nearly a decade. Some predicted that it would have happened by now. It hasn't. But there are some signs of life; firms like National Financial Partners, Focus Financial Partners, Wealth Trust, and Fiduciary Network are gaining some publicity and executing some initial transactions. Will the independent financial advisor market be substantially consolidated? This session was designed to create an open dialog about these new models, their learnings from prior (failed) models, and their likelihood of success.

Tom Lydon (President, Global Trends Investments) started the discussion on a somber note by calling on Dave Petersen (President, Financial Services Advisory) to explain his specific situation. Dave, who runs a successful financial advisory firm, suffered a major heart attack earlier this year and was incapacitated long enough to force him to consider the consequences if he did not fully recover - which, of course, he did. Dave’s three suggestions were to start delegating to your team, to develop a buy-sell agreement today, and to maintain some realism regarding valuation. Some of the other key take-aways of the session included:

John Iachello (Chief Operating Officer, Pershing Advisor Solutions, Pershing, The Bank of New York Mellon Corporation) took the position that, “the roll up firms like Focus Financial Partners, which do not provide collective buying power or additional value, will ultimately fail,” saying that, “they are simply a vestige of a recently bygone time where you could securitize a ham sandwich and they actually add nothing to the businesses they buy”

The discussion then led to an acknowledgement that many financial advisors are selling to insiders at lower prices to insure that the founders’ relationships are not compromised by new outside owners. However, the number of advisory firms that can hand over their firms to internal employees is complicated by two factors - one is that the second generation financial advisors are hard pressed to pay market rate for the ownership and second, many new financial advisors are not coming into the business because the entry level is difficult and low paying relative to other career choices

The group unanimously agreed that the decision to sell or not to sell to outside bidders is an emotional one. However, the need to consider such issues is becoming more commonplace due to the demographics of the older baby boomer owners. Many financial advisors may not be well served to follow what was termed a policy of patience when thinking about a succession plan.

John Rooney (Managing Principal, Commonwealth Financial Network) said that, “Commonwealth has not seen a single financial advisor practice sold to an aggregator like National Financial Partners, while dozens change hands privately.” He went on to add that, “I do not think the aggregator firms like National Financial Partners will age gracefully – from the outside looking in, all these practices are so unique and relationship driven, I’m skeptical that they are sustainable as the original principals withdraw from the operations. In other words, its one thing for an advisor to hand select a local successor that shares his values and expertise, and quite another to sell to an out of state entity that subsequently comes in and realigns the existing practice with their systems. So my suspicion is that they are buying practices at their peak, and will be lucky to retain the assets under management for long. I think that National Financial Partners has a better chance of success with the benefits practices that they are buying that the securities practices this is an important distinction that I am not sure many recognize”

Chip Roame (Managing Principal, Tiburon Strategic Advisors) closed the session by saying that, "the financial advisor mergers & acquisitions market is a very small market compared to the 120,000+ independent financial advisory firms. If there is a significant succession trend and an advisor’s business life is around twenty years, then 6,000 firms should have changed hands last year. National Financial Partners has been the leader, and acquired about 200 firms"

Upcoming Tiburon CEO Summit XIV: April 10-11, 2008

Tiburon CEO Summit XIV will be held April 10-11, 2008 in New York, NY at the Ritz Carlton Hotel. The meeting will start at 7:45am on Tuesday, April 10, include a group dinner that night in Manhattan, and finish at 4:30pm on Wednesday, April 11. There are almost twenty planned sessions. Along with Tiburon's Managing Principal Chip Roame, guest speakers will include Walt Bettinger (President, The Charles Schwab Corporation), Mike Byrum (President, Rydex Investments, Security Benefit Group), Joe Deitch (CEO, Commonwealth Financial Network), John Hailer (CEO, Natixis Global Advisors North America, Natixis, Banque Populaire Group & Caisse D'Epargne Group), Joe Moglia (CEO, TD Ameritrade, TD Bank Financial Group), John Murphy (CEO, Oppenheimer Funds, Mass Mutual Financial Group), Ron Ryan (CEO, Ryan ALM), & Michael Steinhardt (Chairman, Wisdom Tree Investments). Click here for more details on the upcoming Tiburon CEO Summit XIV. Follow on links will include the tentative invitee list, tentative meeting agenda, and details on hotels & other logistics.

Fall 2008 and 2009 Tiburon CEO Summits

Tiburon will continue to hold semi-annual CEO Summits in the fall of 2008 and in 2009. Dates are October 14-15, 2008 (San Francisco, CA), April 9-10 2009 (New York, NY), and October 7-8, 2009 (San Francisco, CA). Fall 2008 speakers will include Bruce Bond (CEO, Power Shares, Invesco), Rich Brueckner (CEO, Pershing, The Bank of New York Mellon Corporation), Joe Mansueto (CEO, Morningstar), and others to be announced soon.

Additional Information
Please click the links below for more information on Tiburon's CEO Summits:


	Related Links Tiburon CEO Summits Tiburon CEO Summit XIV Agenda Tiburon CEO Summit XIV Invitee List Prior CEO Summits	Related Releases Tiburon CEO Summit XIII Opening Keynote Speaker Summary Highlights Tiburon CEO Summit XIII Guest Speakers Summary Highlights Tiburon CEO Summit XIII General Session Panel Discussions Summary Highlights

*******************************************************************************

Tiburon Strategic Advisors

Tiburon Strategic Advisors, based in Tiburon, CA, was formed in 1998 to offer market research & strategy consulting services to all types of financial institutions and investment managers:

The firm has served over 300 corporate clients and completed over 1,000 projects since its founding, and today, its knowledge base includes mutual fund distribution, separately managed account programs, alternative investments, wealth management, insurance products, banking services, the fee-only financial advisor market, the CPA firm market, the family office market, and various international markets.
Tiburon holds a series of CEO Summits semi-annually for its executive-level clients. The next CEO Summit is scheduled for April 10-11, 2008 at the Ritz Carlton Hotel in New York, NY. Fall 2008 and 2009 dates are October 14-15, 2008 (San Francisco, CA), April 9-10, 2009 (New York, NY), and October 7-8, 2009 (San Francisco, CA). Attendance is by invitation only and attendance at each Summit is limited to 100 senior industry executives. Visit the CEO Summits section of Tiburon's web site for details on current and past CEO Summits, including attendee lists, meeting agendas, and highlights. Please contact Tiburon's Managing Principal Chip Roame at CRoame@TiburonAdvisors.Com or (415) 789-2541 if you are a Tiburon client and have an interest in attending a future Tiburon CEO Summit.
Tiburon has published thirty-three ~300-400+ page research reports, which offer detailed analyses of growing business segments; each is available for $5,000; these reports can be ordered by contacting Sarah Sage at SSage@TiburonAdvisors.Com or (415) 789-2546.
Tiburon offers an annual research report retainer service, whereby dozens of clients receive all Tiburon reports published within a year for $25,000; clients can subscribe to Tiburon's 2007 or 2008 Research Report Retainer by contacting Sarah Sage at SSage@TiburonAdvisors.Com or (415) 789-2540.
Tiburon also offers a database access program, whereby it shares its 280,000+ person industry executives contacts database with dozens of clients for $25,000 per year (distributed quarterly); clients can subscribe to Tiburon's Database Access Program by contacting Sarah Sage at SSage@TiburonAdvisors.Com or (415) 789-2540.
Tiburon offers thirteen online business benchmarking tools that are available to all types of financial advisors in an effort to help them benchmark their business practices and build more successful businesses. The sites include www.BrokerBestPractice.Com for wirehouse & regional brokers, www.FABestPractices.Com for fee-only financial advisors, www.IndependentRepBestPractices.Com for independent reps, and www.PrivateBankerBestPractices.Com for private bankers. Almost 5,000 advisors have used these tools. By completing one of the online surveys, financial advisors can access a FREE copy of the relevant comprehensive Tiburon research report, which summarizes and analyzes the collective results.
Tiburon's weekly research releases, like this one, are emailed for free to interested industry executives, media representatives, conference planners, and individual financial advisors. Over 55,000 industry executives now receive these releases. Feel free to sign up to receive future research releases at Tiburon's web site (www.TiburonAdvisors.Com) if this release was passed to you by a colleague and you would like to receive them directly in the future.
Tiburon plans to expand its workforce in 2007 and 2008. New research managers will develop proprietary research content for Tiburon research reports and client projects, and new marketing managers will enhance the firm's web site, weekly research releases program, and the firm's relationships with media representatives, conference planners, and its clients & executive program members. The firm is also seeking to add principal candidates and possibly a chief consulting officer in 2007 or 2008.
Tiburon has built three executive programs (CEOs-in-Residence, Financial Advisor Roundtable, and Consulting Fellows) in an effort to bring the experiences of additional senior level industry executives to Tiburon clients. Feel free to contact any of the members of Tiburon’s executive programs directly or ask that they be included in any ongoing Tiburon project.

*******************************************************************************