Norb Vonnegut's Blog, page 8

The Great Date Night Fiasco

My family knows I'm a sucker for a good sales pitch. It's been a running joke ever since I watched an infomercial, agreed to four easy payments of $29.99, and purchased a Ron Popeil Pasta Maker.

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Honey and the Goodfellas

What do you say when your dog relieves itself on the Guccis of a connected lawyer who lives across the street?

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What the Lawyers Won’t Tell You

You know what I mean. Buzzard brokers build their businesses on the AUM carcasses of departing colleagues. Sure, managers sprinkle around the accounts. But they assign the biggest, most profitable relationships to advisers who are really, really good at retaining assets.

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The Greatest Cold Call of All Time

I was drinking coffee at my desk, reading the tape, and nosing around for reasons to delay my morning regimen of smile-and-dial. I had recently joined a big shop on Wall Street--it was the mid-'90s, the heyday of rollups, when lots of industries were being consolidated--and I regarded cold calling as the salt mines of wealth management.

Vonnegut: Ask Yourself, Who Owns You?

Goodbye, Thundering Herd. So long, Morgan Stanley and UBS . It was fun while it lasted. The best, most visionary advisers are taking clients from the big uglies of Wall Street and delivering them to the promised land of RIAs and better money management.

Vonnegut: Go Bag or Kool-Aid?

Every financial adviser faces a choice at some point in his or her wealth-management career. Do I build a portable business or do I embrace the firm's platform?

What Does the Gardner Breakthrough Mean?

Personally, I doubt the thirteen items that were taken on March 18, 1990 are on display in some wealthy collector's private gallery.

Kurt Vonnegut Memorial Library

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The second anniversary of the Kurt Vonnegut Memorial Library is being held on Saturday, January 26 from noon until 8 pm. If you're in Indianapolis that day, please drop by. I'm really excited about this event.

John Grisham is Appointment Reading

I recently finished The Racketeer by John Grisham and understand, yet again, why his stories are appointment reading. There's only one word to describe his most recent novel.

What Does the Gardner Heist Have To Do With Glory Box?

I was listening to Portishead while working on a new novel. All I can say is that the song, Glory Box, sets the mood perfectly for one of my chapters.