LPL Financial: The Nation’s Leading Independent Source of Financial Services and Investment Advice

The Need for Objective Advice Has Never Been Greater

Amid an ever-changing investment landscape, investors need an expert and experienced partner who can guide them through the intricacies of investing and financial planning.  As a long-term investor, you are faced with a wide array of financial considerations.  You may need to provide financial assistance for a child’s college education or help support an aging parent.  In addition, you must prepare for your own retirement and consider what’s to be done with your estate.

You’re also confronted with an ever-growing number of investment and insurance products and services, and more ways to access them than ever before.  Should you invest in mutual funds, annuities, individual securities, or an all-in-one asset management program?  How much insurance do you need?  Add these all up, and your need for competent, objective financial guidance has never been greater.

LPL Financial —
a leading source of unbiased financial advice

LPL Financial is a leading source of objective advice for accumulating and managing personal wealth.  LPL was formed in 1989 through the merger of two small but successful brokerage firms, Linsco (established in 1968) and Private Ledger (founded in 1973), and has been named the nation’s #1 independent brokerage firm for 12 consecutive years ^†.  LPL Financial seeks to fulfill your needs with suitable options from a wide range of the nation’s top providers of:

† Based on revenues, as reported in Financial Planning magazine, June 1996–2007.
* Trust services offered through The Private Trust Company N. A., an affiliate of LPL Financial.
** Mortgage services offered through Innovex Mortgage Inc., an affiliate of LPL Financial  Lump sum proceeds from mortgage services related transactions may not be used for the purpose of investing securities offered through LPL Financial.

In recent years, independent brokerage firms — those offering the products of many nonaffiliated companies — have grown rapidly.  Many of the most successful investment professionals have come to realize the value of independence — both for them and their clients — and want to provide unbiased and independent advice.  Since its inception, LPL has stood at the forefront of this growing market as the most truly independent firm in the industry.  Independence at LPL translates to more freedom of product choice, more quality service, more regulatory expertise and more technological capabilities.  Providing LPL Financial Advisors with the tools, training and support they need to offer professional advice, products and services to their clients is the one and only business focus at LPL.

Your advisor is a seasoned, autonomous professional

LPL Financial Advisors must have the experience and dedication necessary to build a successful and self-directed practice.  This autonomy allows them to concentrate their efforts on the aspects of financial services where they are strongest and can be of the greatest help to you, the client.

Your needs come first

LPL offers no investment products of our own, so LPL Financial Advisors can devote their time and energies not to product quotas and sales goals, but to understanding your individual financial objectives.  To help them meet your needs with suitable options, LPL provides access to thousands of individual securities and forms alliances with the nation’s leading providers of investment and insurance products.

Top-notch investment research

Because LPL doesn’t offer proprietary products and doesn’t engage in investment banking activities, we are able to provide unbiased investment recommendations that integrate a broad scope of investment products, including stocks, bonds, annuities and mutual funds.

LPL Financial Advisors have direct access to our team of analysts and to state-of-the-art tools and technology, designed to help increase the value and impact of our independent research.  Direct access to these resources helps LPL Financial Advisors to focus on client relationships and investment solutions.

Investment solutions for all of your needs

Few independent brokerage firms can match the depth and breadth of technology LPL has created for our financial advisors, technology that can address a variety of financial needs and situations.  Your LPL Financial Advisor can buy and sell individual securities, mutual funds and annuities quickly and efficiently via LPL’s online order entry system.  If you prefer a more comprehensive approach, your LPL Financial Advisors can formulate a personalized investment management strategy.  Our fee-based asset management programs range from one that may combine mutual funds, individual securities and a no-Load annuity in a single portfolio to one that utilizes leading institutional money managers.  LPL Financial Advisors also have access to proprietary software for integrated estate, retirement and college planning.

Account protection

To give clients the maximum level of protection for their accounts, cash and securities held in LPL brokerage accounts are protected up to $100 million.  LPL’s SIPC membership provides account protection up to a maximum of $500,000,of which $100,000 may be in cash.  For more information, visit www.sipc.org.  Additionally, through Lloyds of London, LPL accounts have additional securities coverage of $99.5 million per account, subject to a $500 million aggregate firm limit.  The account protection applies when a SIPC firm fails financially and is unable to meet obligations to securities clients, but it does not protect against losses from the rise and fall in the market value of investments.

Through LPL’s multi-bank Insured Cash Account Program, deposits are eligible for up to $1 million of deposit insurance for individual accounts, and for up to $2 million of deposit insurance for joint accounts through the FDIC.  At each bank, your Insured Cash Account deposits are insured by the FDIC to a maximum amount of $100,000 (including principal and accrued interest) when aggregated with all other deposits held by you in the same recognized legal capacity (e.g., individual, joint, IRA, etc.) at the same bank.  For example, if you have an individual brokerage account, you would be eligible for up to $100,000 of FDIC deposit insurance per bank.  If you and your spouse have a joint account, your account would be eligible for up to $200,000 of FDIC deposit insurance per bank.  If you have any questions about FDIC insurance coverage, visit www.fdic.gov.

Your one-on-one relationship is supported by hundreds

More than 1,000 LPL employees in Boston and at LPL's seven-acre campus in San Diego assist LPL's financial advisors with everything from product knowledge to client service.  LPL has developed high-quality continuing education programs for financial advisors to ensure they fully understand the latest available products and the most suitable uses.  LPL's training discipline also stresses the necessity and the benefit of adhering to both the spirit and letter of the securities laws when selecting investment options for you. 

As the nation’s leading independent broker/dealer, LPL Financial continues to set the standard for the industry.  LPL Financial has grown steadily in financial strength since 1989 and today has the highest annual revenues and excess net capital of any independent broker/dealer.  LPL Financial’s commitment to serving its financial advisors and their clients has guided its growth in the past, and it will continue to be its hallmark in the future.  LPL Financial Advisors must have the confidence and dedication needed to build successful practices.  Using these criteria, LPL selects only those with high levels of experience.  LPL’s over 6,000 financial advisors nationwide possess an average of 10 years experience in financial services when they join LPL.

LPL’s rise to prominence has been driven by a commitment to independence, excellence and four key tenets we believe are essential to achieving your financial goals:

Your LPL Financial Advisor can deliver all of these to you, backed by the support of LPL’s leading edge technology, our comprehensive training programs and our dedicated personnel.

As LPL Financial moves into their fourth decade, they remain committed to leading the independent brokerage business.  Most importantly, LPL continues to set the highest standards in every aspect of supporting their financial advisors, so that we may help you realize a new standard for your financial future.

LPL Financial Facts