By Jill Nagy
A group of financial planners, formerly under the MassMutual banner, is now the team at Halliday Financial Services.
In January, the team left as a group and joined Halliday, a small independent broker dealer in business since 1982. About 80 percent of their clients moved with them, according to Jeffrey J. Jones, senior vice president and financial advisor.
The team has had several identities in recent years. They were originally a MetLife outpost. In July 2016, MetLife sold the team to Massachusetts Mutual.
“That was not a good fit,” Jones said, largely because they were “captive agents,” limited in the financial products they could sell to their clients.
“MassMutual really wanted you to sell their products,” he said.
In January, the team joined Halliday and moved to its current offices at 5 Warren Street, Suite 205, in Glens Falls. With Halliday, an independent broker dealer, they can offer independent advice and sell products from any company.
Halliday has a larger office in Albany at 14 Corporate Woods Boulevard and other offices in Glen Head, Long Island, and Sarasota, Fla.
The Glens Falls office has about 100 clients, Jones estimated, and his team, working out of both the Glens Falls and the Albany offices, services between 400 and 500 clients in the capital region.
The company offers a range of services, including financial planning, retirement planning and services, tax planning, estate planning, trust services, investments, life insurance, and wealth management.
Clients cover a range of ages and needs. “The beauty of having a team is that you can service anybody,” drawing upon the expertise of different members, Jones said.
The Glens Falls team consists of four financial advisors and a fifth on the way to getting licensed. They have been together for four years.
Halliday began the business to assist fellow faculty members at the City University of New York with financial information and investment services. Education was a large component of the original business. Jones said the company got its start in Glen Head, Long Island, and expanded over the years into Albany and Sarasota.
The Glens Falls team presents educational seminars and adult education classes but, according to Jones, that is not a major component of the business.
The firm can be reached at 518-463-2200.