Independent broker dealers are a must have if you have an independent financial advisor business or you are trying top become an independent financial consultant. The reason is that once you have a financial advisory business it is imperative that you find a firm which is very much independent and you can trust to have your trades cleared through that firm.  

Ultimately it is you whose reputation and business which is at stake and that is whys electing a good IBD is very important. Here are a few tips that you need to aware of before you can actually finalize on one independent broker dealer whom you can give your business.  

The most important thing is to make sure that culture and the values that this independent broker dealer has gels with your own working philosophy and the values. This is a must in order for you and the IBD to grow together and mature as a business. Always check the business reputation of the firm you are thinking of as your dealer. Again that derives the main pint which is the regulatory compliance and that is really one aspect which you need to consider as top most priority. With a lot organizations getting SEC notices and having questionable practices this has become the number one issue. Therefore always check with IBD whether they have a good team which can guide on compliance issues.  

 There are a lot of other factors that you need to be conscious about and these are the technology used for the trading as well as how fast is the responses of the IBD to your technical issues. Now there is no set parameter for this and you just may be able to get some references from the broker dealer you are trying to assess and get some view from the fellow financial advisors.  

There a lot of independent broker dealers with good standing in the industry and these are the lpl broker dealer, royal alliance broker dealers, Raymond James broker dealer, commonwealth broker dealer, Genworth broker dealer or the FINRA broker dealer.

Now before deciding on one make sure that you also have the independent broker dealer rankings available to you as that will help you get some idea about the various top independent broker dealers. You can also check with the National association of independent broker dealers called NAIBD to find out about the various independent broker dealers.  

Again I would suggest that you go in for the top independent broker dealers to give your business too. Also another major point to note for those who are looking to start there independent financial advisor business is that it is very easy to sign one IBD but very tough to move to another as that will mean some inconvenience to you as well as to your clients. Make sure that you have the checklist ready with you before you start your due diligence for selecting the best broker dealer.  

Important thing as I said earlier are the compliance and regulatory issues, technology platform and the clearing firm that the broker/dealer uses.