Thursday, 1-October-2009

1) Yesterday, Boss is planning a trip to Olympia, so she noticed a few clients that I recently added to the list. They were former RR BP's clients. One of the clients did not have a valid phone number based on the old AIF (Account Information Form.) RR BP's account also rolled over to Boss, so I had to complete an AIF for him. I took the initiative to call BP to get his information to complete his AIF and ask him if he had a valid phone number pertaining to the client. I was able to do finish both tasks and had a nice short conversation with BP. I went to Boss to give her the updated phone number to call the client and told her how I received it (ie. spoke to BP.) Immediately, she said shook her head and said I had no business talking to BP. That was her job and said she had to now call him to apologize to BP for having staff (ie. me) call them. Comment: If there is one thing that Boss doesn't admit to, it's giving credit where credit is due. It's nearly impossible to be proactive, because she will scold you or make some excuse for doing so. Here I thought I was doing the correct thing and she blasts me for getting information from the former RR. BP retired from FNIC over 4 months ago and gave me a hard time that I had no business contacting him. I've spoken to him before, so I'm not sure why this was an issue.

2) In continuation of what I wrote in the point above, Boss called the client (I overheard her side of the telephone dialogue.) Boss asked the client if they received our introductory letter back in June. (Client acknowledged that they received it.) Boss than proceeds to mention that she would love to speak to them the next time she's in Olympia. Boss mentions that we would send them a quarterly statement each quarter and asks where to send the summary/statement to. Boss writes down the address and hangs up the phone. Boss comes over to my desk and asks to send the statement to the address she wrote. Comment: I already had the address she wrote, because I had already called Jackson Life to see if there was an address change which was done in 11/07. The client had also confirmed that they had received the letter sent back in June.

3) Boss mentions that she hopes that the construction in front of our building finishes soon, so she can drive to work. She has admitted that she can't see the cones on the road blocking off the lane. Comment: Who will take any wagers that she will not pass her MVA/DMV Driver License renewal?



Wednesday, 30-September-2009

Today was a 401k meeting with WAH and this will probably be the most unbelievable number of flawed statements I'll ever here in a 2 hour window during my time at Financial Network. What you're about to read, is probably material that should be used for the TV Show 'The Office.' I wish I could say I was making this stuff up, but I didn't.

1) Yesterday, I had asked her if we should prepare the manila folders with handouts to be given out to each employee; however, she didn't want to. BR decided to take the initiative and put the folders together. As I'm setting up the tables, she wants to put together the hand outs. I told her they are already done and she told me that I should not have done that (eg actually BR did it.) She opens the folder and starts freaking out, because she said the tear sheets and prospectus that I put in there should not be in there (eg. she actually told me to order them for this 401k meeting specifically.) So as she's freaking out, Boss is literally taking each folder and throwing papers on the breakfast table where we have the donuts laying. I quickly grabbed the thrown papers and help prepare the folders with the enclosures that she wants. Comment: Had she taken 2 seconds to see the materials the day before, this probably could have been prevented. What is really odd, she totally dismissed the American Funds New World and Templeton Global Bond Fact Sheets & Prospectus that she asked me to order.

(Everything below this is what I found to be flawed statements during her presentation)
2) Boss highlighted that she was really big about picking fund managers. A WAH employee asked her how she did that and Boss replied that she looks at several things: longevity, management style, education, and her last criteria was performance (eg she even had to highlight that performance was the very last criteria that she looked for.) The employee who was not satisfied with Boss' answer, than asked her how she prevented overlapping styles of fund managers. Boss than starts to highlight the fact that the American Funds family has some of the best fund managers out there. Comment: Twice the WAH employee asked questions and her response didn't even come remotely close of answering the question.

3) Boss highlighted 'Cash Flow' as one of her main topics. Unfortunately she didn't explain what 'Cash Flow' means. She assumed everyone knew what it is.

4) When it came to presenting the RS Investments Powerpoint Slideshow, she could not read the screen since the lights were out. She tried to cover it up by telling the audience that she just recently got a shot in her eyes and asked that JG read (all) the slides for her.

5) WAH employee asked Boss (pertaining to one of the slides), what caused the tech stocks to go up so much. Boss replied that everyone bought them causing them to go up so much.

6) Boss said dollar cost averaging is a great way to invest. Historically there are only 2 really down days in any given month. Comment: 2 employees just looked at each other after she said that in any given month, there is really only 2 down days.

7) Boss tried to explain that historical events that repeat themselves have less of an impact on the stock market, because they've occurred in some fashion before. Boss mentioned that if a terrorist event much like 9/11 occurred, that the markets would quickly recover. She tried to spell out other events in history such as Kennedy's Assassination and Nixon's resignation; Kennedy's Assassination = market took a major hit and Nixon's resignation = market recovered very quickly. These were terrible examples to bring up, because both of these examples didn't make any sense in reference to her main point.

8)





Tuesday, 29-September-2009

Nothing to report today.