I had a great talk with family over the holidays about my career.
I'm fixing to move on outside of firm as this place stresses me out to much. I'm not waiting around for a new LP offering; VSP or ISP.
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@eg, I believe it's about the "skills" one can bring to a new employer. I'm looking at other companies outside the financial world.
@ev uh, all of these sound very famiar lol....greeeat!
@eg LPL just hired another 2,500 FA's, and a lot of their back office is HBA. Keep looking.
PP’s not preparing for a sale. She’s just a terrible leader.
@d2 PP can honestly say “we will never sell or go public” while still preparing for a merger, because mergers live in the gray space between intent, language, and fiduciary duty. A merger can be framed as a “partnership,” “combination,” or “all-equity transaction”, not a sale.
Some tell-tale signs that we/companies might be preparing for a merger:
- Compartmentalization: Internal teams see “process improvements” without knowing the endgame.
- Work happens under: Capital structure optimization / partnership readiness
- Changes are framed as normal growth: new systems, leadership hires, cost discipline, governance upgrades
- Aggressive cost controls: that don’t align with stated growth plans
- Unusual focus on synergies, bench-marking, or “scale economics”
- Company leadership shifts toward “vision” while ops consolidate elsewhere
Process & infrastructure upgrades
• System upgrades pushed hard and fast
• Data hygiene suddenly becomes a top priority
• Standardization of job levels, comp bands, titles, and policies
Language shifts....watch for phrasing like:
• “Long-term sustainability”
• “Strategic alignment”
• “Broader ecosystem”
• “Unlocking value for X”
• “Next chapter of growth”
Do some of these sound familiar?
@OP, are you St. Louis based. I'm interested in looking else where but I've been in financial services for 15 years. Just seeing what options there are other than Wells and Stifel
@OP I left this year and my stress level is at a quarter of what it was. Now granted the stress I have is job hunting, but I’d pick this anyday over that Sh--e show we were all living this year!
@ab Yep, several people have all said and noticed the same thing. The speed of changes, the hostile aggressive nature of ELT, the countless lies and secrets etc. The fact that PP stood on stage and told us we will never go public then said the new partnership terms made sure any buyout or merger would have to be voted on by GPs. WTF? If there was never intention to merge or cash out, why put that out there? Nothing is adding up and 2026 is shaping up to be another dumpster fire.
@c9, my family members asked what I thought would happen. My 1st response, "Merger."
@ag EJ can’t compete against the big boys unless they miraculously become technologically competent. Sales force and soon to be hcm debacle won’t help
@ab merger
Thank you for your order. Please drive around is what I hear. Work is necessary for success
@a9 , I sense within 6 months to a year, EJ will be completely different. I truly sense something BIG is going to happen and can't pinpoint it yet.
@OP Same boat as you. I've had it and I'm sick of their brainwashing and gaslighting. I fear another 'shoe' is about to drop between now and June with all the new RTO rules. The place is being run into the ground at record speed by a bunch of psychos who are acting like the ponzi scheme is about to be found out.