Phoenix Adds 10,000th Advisor

Phoenix Investment Partners has added the 10,000th new advisor selling its investments since January 2005, when it started a strategy to bring on new distributors.

Phoenix Investment Partners has added the 10,000th new advisor selling its investments since January 2005, when it started a strategy to bring on new distributors. Phoenix counts only advisors who sell a minimum of $25,000. It has a total of about 35,000 advisors selling Phoenix funds.

Frank Waltman, senior v.p. of product development and management, said the firm has historically had stronger distribution in separate accounts than funds. With separate accounts, the firm did not need as many advisors selling Phoenix funds because advisors in SMAs generally have clients with larger accounts. But with mutual funds the firm needed a much larger world of advisors to sell Phoenix investments. Phoenix has been able to turn around flows because of the new advisors. With new advisors, gross sales generally equals net sales, because these advisors are actively selling the funds and there is little to redeem, said Waltman.