Ameriprise 2015 Annual Report Download - page 28

•Franchisee Advisors. Under this affiliation, an advisor is an independent contractor franchisee who affiliates
with our company and has the right to use the Ameriprise brand. We pay our franchisee advisors a higher
payout rate than our employee advisors as they are responsible for paying their own overhead, staff
compensation and other business expenses. In addition, our franchisee advisors pay a franchise association
fee and other fees in exchange for the support we offer and the right to use our brand name. The support we
offer to our franchisee advisors includes generalist and specialist leadership support, technology platforms and
tools, training and marketing programs.
We are committed to providing our advisors with the resources and support necessary to manage and grow their practices.
Our platform offers advisors the flexibility of operating on a commission-based brokerage basis as well as on a fee-based
advisory basis. Advisors have access to training and materials reflecting our differentiated financial planning model and
Confident Retirement planning approach, our nationally recognized brand and ‘‘Be Brilliant’’ advertising campaign, local
marketing support capabilities and our full range of proprietary and non-proprietary product solutions. Our demonstrated
financial strength as well as our dedication to our clients also benefits our advisor practices. We expect to continue to
invest in the capabilities of and support provided to our advisor platform, with the goal of continuing to increase advisor
productivity and improving on our ability to attract and retain advisors.
Our nationwide advisor network consisted of approximately 9,800 advisors as of December 31, 2015, which includes over
2,000 employee advisors and over 7,700 independent franchisees or employees or contractors of franchisees. Of these
advisors, 55.3% had been with us for more than 10 years, with an average tenure of over 20 years. Among advisors who
have been with us for more than 10 years, we have a retention rate of over 95%. We believe our strong advisor retention
rate, as well as our ability to recruit experienced advisors, speaks to the value proposition we offer our advisors.
Our advisors can offer clients a diversified set of cash and liquidity management, asset accumulation, income, protection,
and estate and wealth transfer products and services, as well as a broad selection of financial products from other
unaffiliated companies, as described below.
Brokerage and Investment Advisory Services
Individual and Family Financial Services
Our personalized financial planning approach is designed to focus on all aspects of our clients’ finances. After
understanding our clients’ needs, our advisors seek to identify solutions to address those needs across four cornerstones:
cash and liabilities, investments, protection and taxes. We believe this approach helps our clients build a solid financial
foundation, persevere through difficult economies and challenging markets, and ultimately achieve their financial goals. We
offer a broad array of products and services in each of these categories, including those carrying the Ameriprise Financial,
Columbia Management or RiverSource name, as well as solutions offered by unaffiliated firms.
Our advisors deliver financial solutions to our advisory clients principally by building long-term personal relationships
through financial planning that is responsive to clients’ evolving needs, in part through our exclusive Confident Retirement
approach, which involves a comprehensive assessment of retirement income sources and assets, a client’s plans and
goals for retirement and an analysis of what is needed to fund the four principal types of expenses and liabilities
encountered during retirement: covering essentials, ensuring lifestyle, preparing for the unexpected and leaving a legacy.
Once we identify a financial planning client’s objectives, we then recommend a solution set consisting of actions and offer
products to address these objectives with clients accepting what they determine to be an appropriate range and level of
risk. Our financial planning relationships with our clients are characterized by an ability to understand their specific needs,
which enables us to help them meet those needs, achieve high overall client satisfaction and retention, hold more
products in their accounts and increase our assets under management.
Our financial planning clients pay a fee for the receipt of financial planning services. This fee is based on the complexity of
a client’s financial and life situation and his or her advisor’s experience. Some of our clients may elect to pay a
consolidated, asset-based advisory account advisory fee for financial planning and managed account services and
administration. If clients elect to implement their financial plan with our company, we and our advisors generally receive a
sales commission and/or sales load and other revenues for the products that they purchase from us. These commissions,
sales loads and other revenues are separate from, and in addition to, the financial planning and advisory fees we and our
advisors may receive.
Brokerage and Other Products and Services
We offer our retail and institutional clients a variety of brokerage and other investment products and services.
Our Ameriprise ONE Financial Account is a single integrated financial management brokerage account that enables clients
to access a single cash account to fund a variety of financial transactions, including investments in mutual funds,
individual securities, cash products and margin lending.
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