January 2018

To: Advisor Affiliates and Industry Friends

Fr: Mike Walters, CEO

Re: The Inside Scoop on USA Financial for 2018 (and Beyond)

“Long ago, economic security was simply a function of a company’s SIZE and AGE, whereas now economic security is a function of a firm’s continued GROWTH and AGILITY.”

The quote above is something I originally said a few years back, but have restated to our team and others numerous times since. Ironically, even though we strategize as a growing, agile organization, I’m proud that we can lay-claim to achieving high-grades in each of those four categories:

1. SIZE – Our overall custody is over $3.5 billion with three-quarters of a billion in annual sales.
2. AGE – This year, we will celebrate our 30^th year in business.
3. GROWTH – In 2017, we were named to the Inc. 5000 list for the fourth year in a row. This is an annual list of the fastest-growing private companies in the United States.
4. AGILITY – Early 2017 “took-off” with USA Financial Exchange making a splash as a turnkey asset management program (TAMP) with industry leading features. USA Financial Securities then “officially became more RIA than BD,” as fee revenues surpassed commission revenues for the first time. Finally, at the end of 2017, we quietly launched USA Financial Consulting in response to and in support of IARs, Hybrid RIAs, and Stand-Alone RIAs assessing and implementing compliance, transition, and registration opportunities.

You would probably have a pretty solid idea for the direction USA Financial is heading if I stopped here, however I have merely scratched the surface in terms of our size, age, growth, and agility this year. Not wanting to monopolize your time, I’ll bullet point some of the other stats and facts that caught my attention from 2017:

5. Annual AUM sales for USA Financial Portformulas and USA Financial Exchange combined for $300M.
6. Recruiting was strong, as many stumbling competitors accelerated our success with more than 80 new producing advisors joining the team, not counting licensed support staff.
7. First year “new” advisor sales topped $175M, representing over 20% of sales (see #1 above).
8. Just under 7,000 new accounts were opened and processed in 2017.
9. Clean app turnaround time was 1.1 days, while even the not in good order (NIGO) apps were below one week turnaround at 6.3 days. This was all while wrestling through DOL fiduciary changes.
10. The Fill-the-Room (FTR) system generated 25,000 RSVPs for advisors hosting client events across the country.
11. Focusing on service, our advisor to staff ratio remained below 5:1 as our team fielded 100,000 phone calls, not to mention emails, electronic submissions, etc.
12. USA Financial is like a precious diamond; you must turn and look at it from many different angles to appreciate our multi-faceted approach to the marketplace. We actively report on more performance numbers than can be listed here, but I’ll summarize it to say that our annual growth rate was easily over 20 percent for 2017.

And most important of all (to me and the team)…

13. We’ve received a record-breaking aggregated Net Promoter Score from advisors, as our 4th quarter score was 81 on a scale ranging from -100 thru +100. To put that number into perspective, anything above zero is considered “good”, above 50 is “excellent,” and above 70 tops out as being “world class!”  Furthermore, our 81 NPS Score translates into a comparative 9.3 ranking on a scale of 0-10.  We celebrate because this is a representation of the depth and quality of our relationship with you!

While we have accomplished a great deal in (nearly) 30 years, I think we have only scratched the surface of what we can (and will) become. As I’ve said countless times before, “we are simply a reflection of the advisors who partner with us.” Our growth and success is your growth and success.

Thank you for both your friendship and partnership in 2017, 2018 and beyond!   

Mike Walters

CEO

P.S. In the coming weeks, USA Financial Exchange will be included in The Wealth Advisor’s publication titled “2018 America’s Best TAMPS: Your inside look at the best turnkey asset management programs for financial advisors, family offices and broker dealer representatives.”