Did you know that Equity Services, Inc. turned 50 over the weekend? Yep, a half-century.
In honor of the 50th birthday, we decided to do a different kind of 10 Questions feature and pose a few questions to ESI itself.
Q. We can’t help but notice the locked doors. What’s going on in there?
A: A lot! For agents who are also licensed to sell investments (registered representatives) Equity Services is the gateway.
Q: So you sell investments?
A: No, but that’s a common assumption! We provide the support staff and technology platforms that reps need to implement investment solutions. Simply put, service is our product.
Q: Tell us about your family.
A: Well we’ve been part of the National Life Group family for 50 years, but what a lot of people don’t realize is that it’s not just us behind the locked doors. ESI Financial Advisors is also here, and we work together every day.
Q: What’s the difference between ESI and ESI Financial Advisors?
A: ESI is a Broker Dealer, and as the Broker Dealer we work with registered reps to implement commission-based investment solutions like stocks, bonds, mutual funds, and variable annuities. ESI Financial Advisors (EFA) is a Registered Investment Advisor that supports advisors who are focused on fee-based solutions. Those advisors earn an ongoing fee to manage investment assets. About half of our new sales are from fee-based advisory business.
Q: That’s a significant chunk of business coming through EFA. Is that a new trend?
A: It’s a trend that’s been increasing over the past five years, and one that we’re happy to see. Fee-based compensation is relationship-focused; advisors focus on managing the entire client relationship.
Q: So explain how your relationship with the life insurance company works? What’s the connection there?
A: From a sales perspective, we share the same goals as our NL Group family: We provide access to solutions that help clients achieve financial goals and we strive to bring them peace of mind that comes with taking action to plan for their financial future. Our product solutions are just different.
In addition to supporting sales, we also play a big part in recruiting. For registered reps, transitioning to a new Broker Dealer is a significant change that takes time. So once a rep makes that change, they tend to stay with us – and National Life – for a long time. And that long-term relationship is significant. In 2017, ESI Reps were responsible for about 42 percent of the career distribution’s life WNAP production!
Q: So you only work with the career distribution channel?
A: We’ve had a great partnership with career distribution since day one and will continue to always have a great partnership. Our next expansion, though, is to start working with independent distribution and bring additional value to that channel, too. With the introduction of the Balanced Opportunities Platform, the timing has never been better!
Q: What will the next five years hold for you?
A: Continued growth. When we first joined National Life, it was to support the sale of Sentinel’s proprietary mutual funds and NL’s proprietary variable annuity and life products. Then we introduced our proprietary advisory platform, Illuminations, and that helped transform our business from primarily commission-based to much more of a relationship-based advisory business. Expanding to work with independent distribution in new markets is another exciting chapter for us!
Q: It’s sounds like your 50th birthday has been a good one!
A: It has! And in addition to 50 years we’re celebrating the fact that our proprietary advisory platform, Illuminations, just hit over $1 billion in assets under management!
Equity Services, Inc., Member FINRA/SIPC, is a Broker/Dealer and Registered Investment Adviser affiliate of National Life Insurance Company. This article is intended to be distributed to employees and retirees of National Life Group only, is presented for informational purposes, and should not be construed as a solicitation of any investment product.
Photo above: The ESI team posed near the tree last December on the Vermont campus.