Better UMA Payouts Highlight Enhancements for Fee-Based Advisors

Fee-based advisors have long sought a broader array of investment products tailored specifically to the way they do business. With a recent wave of enhancements to its fee-based product platform, Raymond James Financial Services is delivering just that.

Topping the list of enhancements (which became effective March 1 for new accounts and April 1 for existing accounts) is a substantial, across-the-board decrease in management fees on UMA accounts. The decrease comes as a result of reduced subadvisory fees and continued economies of scale. Here's how it breaks down:

The UMA enhancements are good news for advisors. For example, advisors will see a 37% UMA payout improvement on accounts of $1 million or more (for the average fee of 1.75%) and a 41% payout improvement on accounts of $500,000 or more (for the average fee of 1.92%). Comparisons are based on five managers for a $1 million account and three managers for a $500,000 acount.

With fee-based advisors in mind, RJFS also has introduced the No Transaction Fee (NTF) platform for Passport and IMPAC accounts. Purchases of shares from NTF-eligible mutual fund companies will no longer incur a $30 processing fee. More than 40 mutual fund companies (representing about 70% of fund assets held in Passport and IMPAC accounts) have committed to participate in the program, and that number is expected to grow in coming months. Check the NTF Participation Commitments RJnet page for an updated list of participating fund companies.

Also this spring, RJFS lowered clearing fees on Freedom, Russell and Managed Completion Portfolio accounts as follows:

"Initial feedback on the enhancements from RJFS advisors has been extremely positive," says George Raffa, CIMA^®, National Sales Manager and Senior Vice President of Sales at Asset Management Services." It's proving to be a win-win. The new fee structure enables advisors to be extremely competitive for larger high-net-worth clients. And combining separately managed accounts and mutual funds into an institutionally-oriented asset allocation structure assists our advisors in building their fee-based business."

For more information, visit www.amsfeechanges.com. Advisors who have comments or suggestions regarding the enhancements can contact their regional sales management team.