Multiple IMOs

[Matt McCulley]

Would love some advice - I'm a CFP that runs a wealth management firm with my own IMO attached. Our payouts are basically street and I run training on a specific niche client (College financial planning) that we help.

I'm considering bringing on other agents to help train on this specific type of client. It would benefit me by getting in front of more potential clients and the agent would receive a high payout on a larger policy + training + a back office.

In your experience, do successful agents contract with multiple IMO's for things like this?

Appreciate any help - I've had the blinders on in building my firm and now looking at additions.

 

[Todd King]

There are two avenues of thought on this. Some say, they only want to deal with one IMO/FMO. Others will tell you never to put all of your contracts with one IMO.

If you are comfortable with the IMO you are with and they offer everything you need, then by all means, have all your contracts there. If they don't have everything you need, then by all means, find another IMO/FMO that can get you appointed with the other companies you'll need.

Sometimes, it's also a matter of the tools and service the IMO has to offer you.

 

[walthamny]

Matt, if you are in full time insurance sales, it is common to have multiple have IMO's, however, there are some that only use one and its fine for them. If you are in it for part time I dont think its worth it. Now the people you are hiring will probably be in it for full time however, I dont think you intend to be in it yourself full time. This will create compliance issues for you when you are audited on the securities side. You will be asked what due diligence you are doing on IMO's annually, business continuation plans on each IMO, etc. SEC and state auditors are picking on this recently. So look at the issue from compliance side, 3 Imo's with 20 carriers is a lot of compliance work annually. Talk with your compliance lawyer on the securities side first.