TD Waterhouse is trying very hard to win over advisors, and it shows. During last week's annual conference in San Diego, the firm bent over backwards to show advisors that it was willing to, well, bend over backwards.

TD Waterhouse started off with keynote speaker Lawrence Kudlow, the brand-name economist, and feted attendees on Friday night with another elaborately-plated meal and comedian Jim Morris. A conference is more than the sum of its parts, however, and no amount of filet and cheesecake can replace the underlying intent of the firm hosting the event and, more importantly, hallway chat among advisors.

So, what is the buzz?

Many advisors feel that TD Waterhouse represents a safe haven and that the firm is not proffering a pretty set of toys with one hand while trying to steal their wallets with the other. Furthermore, advisors do sense that technical and service-oriented difficulties that have plagued the firm are being addressed.

Is it enough to sway advisors who are contemplating switching from other platforms?

"I don't know that it helped us 'make that decision.'" said Brooks Slaughter, president and chief executive officer of Richard P. Slaughter Associates, an Austin, Texas registered investment advisor. "It made us more comfortable with Waterhouse, that they've improved over the last year, in their levels of service, to be able to accommodate our clients. We have a warmer fuzzy, but what we do with that warmer fuzzy is still up for debate."

For those who already used TD Waterhouse for the bulk of their business, the conference served as validation. Christopher N. Brown, president and founder of CommonWEALTH Advisory Group in Gaithersburg, Maryland, started off his advisory career with TD Waterhouse.

"It's like deciding to marry someone: pick your partners carefully," he said. "Advisors are becoming more and more leery of companies they think are competing with them."

While Brown remains loyal to the firm in part because it has supported him from ground zero, he also feels that TD Waterhouse continues to win his business.

"I thought the conference was wonderful," he said. "I think Waterhouse is really committed to working with advisors, and I don't think I have to worry about them marketing to my clients, and I think they're a very responsive organization."

* * *

Session Lowdown: the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

For everybody who went to the conference and didn't go to any sessions but still has to pretend they did. Here's the skinny on the highs and lows so you can sound like you're in the know at the water cooler.

The Good:

The marketing sessions, especially "The Brand Called You," led by Peter Montoya, the president of Millennium Advertising.
The fund manager sessions (it's why a lot of people go in the first place), especially the one on technology investing with Kevin Landis from Firsthand Funds, Ray Mills from T. Rowe Price, and Walter C. Price from Dresdner RCM Global Tech. Ken Brown, a reporter from the Wall Street Journal, moderated all these sessions.
"The Do's and Don'ts of CPA Partnering with Financial Advisors," led by Joe Kiely, president of Kiely Financial Services.
"Exchange Traded Funds - The Next Evolution of Investing," Lee Kranefuss, chief executive officer of individual investor business at Barclays Global Investors. Heavily attended, many of advisors are keen to learn more about this less familiar flavor of fund.

The Bad:

"Changes in the Regulatory Environment," led by Robert Neill, legislative counsel with the Financial Planning Association (FPA). Reportedly, Neill mostly read his slides verbatim and lost wave after wave of listener as they realized they could just read it on the plane.
"Investment Manager or Consultant - Important Considerations for the CPA/Financial Planner," led by Kevin Morse and Randy Ordines from Courier Capital. The slide that took technological development from the Quest for Fire stage on up sent people packing.
Special guest speaker Roy Diliberto, president of RTD Financial Advisors and president of the FPA. The speech wasn't awful, but it was annoyingly repetitive to much of the audience, which has heard it all before.

The Ugly:

"Building a Corporate Culture in a Connected Workplace," Peg Neuhauser, special guest speaker and author. The details are too painful to repeat (see my earlier conference update, No Schwab Bashing Here). Neuhauser seemed to have no clue why everybody started talking in the middle of her speech and left dessert half-eaten.

Stay ahead of the news ... Sign up for our email alerts now
CLICK HERE