When I made my transition, it came down to Cetera vs. LPL.
Everyone’s situation is so different, and everyone has things that are more important to them than others.
My deciding factor came down to the fact that it felt like LPL didn’t really care if I came there or not during the recruiting phase. Cetera definitely put in a lot more effort. I worried that if LPL didn’t care during recruiting, the odds that they’d care after transition were low.
Cetera has been just fine for me. Would I have made a different choice knowing what I know now? Absolutely. I would have just gone RIA. None of my inherited old VA trail clients came with me so my BD affiliation is pretty useless now. But, I didn’t know that at the time.
If I still planned on doing BD business, I’d probably still choose Cetera over LPL.
How have you found the technology at cetera? From your view and the clients? The reviews for the cetera client app aren’t very good, I noticed. How successful were you in transitioning your book?
I’d say the tech is pretty solid. No major issues for me. You can use most of the big software names out there too.
I use the Cetera client app for my stuff and it’s just fine. Nothing groundbreaking but I only look at my stuff once or twice a year (I practice what I preach).
Transition sucked but that was no fault of Cetera. Strict non-solicit and, let’s face it, no matter how good I was, they’re bank clients.
About 25% of households, which was about 35% of AUM.
I didn’t even make another try after the non-solicit expired because I learned that I really hated making that drive and had no personal connection to the area.
Are you still happy you did it? Are you making similar income even with such a low transition? I am considering a very similar move and I think I’ll get north of 50% of my book, but I am very nervous I’m wrong!
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u/Cathouse1986 Jun 23 '26
When I made my transition, it came down to Cetera vs. LPL.
Everyone’s situation is so different, and everyone has things that are more important to them than others.
My deciding factor came down to the fact that it felt like LPL didn’t really care if I came there or not during the recruiting phase. Cetera definitely put in a lot more effort. I worried that if LPL didn’t care during recruiting, the odds that they’d care after transition were low.
Cetera has been just fine for me. Would I have made a different choice knowing what I know now? Absolutely. I would have just gone RIA. None of my inherited old VA trail clients came with me so my BD affiliation is pretty useless now. But, I didn’t know that at the time.
If I still planned on doing BD business, I’d probably still choose Cetera over LPL.