Each year, there are several "fill-in-the-blank" fields on the Broker/Dealer of the Year ballot. One, for instance, asks which products and services reps would like to see their B/Ds add to the approved list (see the top answers on www.investmentadvisor.com). A second telling question prompts voters to share one of their darkest secrets: if they were to affiliate with another broker/dealer, which would it be, and why.
Here are the top five vote getters from this year's balloting, and each B/D's share of the total number of voters who expressed a "second-choice" preference:
| LPL (Linsco Private Ledger) | 36.6% |
| Commonwealth Financial Network | 12.2% |
| Cambridge Investment Research | 5.8% |
| Raymond James | 5.7% |
| NEXT Financial Group | 3.8% |
| AIG Financial Advisors | 1.7% |
