Averitt's Call to Action

Dick Averitt delivered a strong message to a standing-room-only crowd Monday that left little room for complacency and plenty of reason for financial professionals in the crowd to be optimistic about their business and their relationship with Raymond James Financial Services, both now and in the future.

"The time is now for you, your clients, families and businesses," said the Raymond James Financial Services CEO during general session remarks delivered Monday morning to kick off the 2011 National Conference for Professional Development in Las Vegas. "Our experience tells us that the time to act is now. In fact it's always been now."

Citing a record-setting April for RJFS and its advisory network, rising commission levels and meaningful changes to advisor resources such as the Investor Access client engagement system, Averitt said there's plenty of reason for advisors — and their clients — to be upbeat. "Investor Access has improved, with 81 percent of advisors saying it has helped clients and reduced their workloads. And we intend to fully participate in technological advancements to help our clients," he said.

All this underscores the resiliency of RJFS and its advisors in emerging from the recent recession stronger. "We've all experienced the most breathtaking loss of wealth ever, the largest housing bubble and loss of human capital that has risen into the middle class," Averitt said. "We've been blessed to be in a business that has helped us out of the recession."

Yet Averitt acknowledged there's a looming dark fiscal cloud over the country that must be addressed. "We have a growing crisis we can't ignore and that is the federal budget and spending," he said. "There will be real hardships. It's obvious the current condition can't continue."

Given the broad ramifications of that issue on financial markets and those involved in them, Averitt urged executives at individual companies to support their Political Action Committees as a means of conveying their firms' best interests as well as those of their clients to policy-makers in Washington, D.C.

Amid the fiscal strife, the job market is another bright spot, he noted. "We're seeing the biggest bloom in the entrepreneurial and new business segments…and we're reaching out to more people with more assets."

And those assets are growing, he added, pointing to the S&P's 101-percent rise since its lowest closing of the recession.

Through all the ups and downs, Averitt expressed confidence and pride in RJFS, its advisors and clients — and in the many initiatives and resources the company is undertaking on their behalf, particular in the area of client engagement. "Your opportunities to succeed at this company and in this country have never been greater. And now is the time."