SHOOTING FOR BIG ONES

The 2000-plus financial advisorswho work with high-end clients manageclose to $1 trillion in assets andhave discretionary control over about75% of that cash stash. It's a smallwonder that asset management companieslike Fidelity, Charles Schwab,and Vanguard are knocking on theirdoors, looking for a piece of theaction. Although that marketingstrategy seems to make sense, itignores the more than 7500 mainstreamfinancial advisory firms thatwatch over $226 billion in assets, notexactly chump change. One reasonasset management companies bypassthese smaller firms is that they areharder to reach and return less revenuefor the expense involved in marketingto them.