The Founder’s story
Larry Kohn started his financial advisory career in 1980 with Mutual Benefit Life Insurance Company. After several years, Larry grew unhappy with the limited options, products, and platforms available to him as an insurance agent. In January 1990, he started his own Broker-Dealer in an effort to serve his clients more wholistically as a financial advisor and not just an insurance agent. This turned out to be a good decision in more ways than one as soon after, in 1991, Mutual Benefit became the largest American insurer to collapse at the time.
Although the formation of L.M. Kohn & Company in 1990 derived from Larry’s need for a flexible and more robust platform to better serve his clients, this was a huge risk for him. One of the main reasons Larry took such a big risk was that he had foresight regarding fee-based investment management and wholistic financial planning as the best way to serve clients. Larry took notice of the large firms’ fee-based programs and was successful in adding a fee-based program to his own small startup firm.
In 1995, L.M. Kohn expanded their offerings to those similar of a larger outfit by becoming a correspondent firm of RPR Clearing. RPR was acquired by Dain Rauscher and Dain Rauscher was acquired by Royal Bank of Canada (RBC). As such, in 2000, RBC became the clearing firm and primary custodian for his broker-dealer and RIA. L.M. Kohn has since added Charles Schwab by way of their TD Ameritrade acquisition as a secondary custodian for the RIA.
After 28 years as a correspondent firm of RBC, L.M. Kohn continues to have one of the longest standing partnerships out of all their correspondents. This partnership has led to long-standing personal as well as professional relationships with many members of RBC’s Custody & Clearing service teams. This mutual respect and friendship developed and grew due to exceptional service, collaboration, and accessibility afforded to L.M. Kohn by the RBC staff. Everyone knows the frustrations behind having to wait on hold or getting passed around between departments. RBC is a well-known multi-national firm with the resources of the largest brand names in the industry, yet a personal touch that filters through the frustrations one would normally find in a corporation of their size.
This way of doing business aligns with L.M. Kohn’s culture and ideals focused on accessibility, personal service, and a lack of bureaucracy. This is what L.M. Kohn looks for in all partners and vendors that they do business with, and those same characteristics flow downstream to their advisors. This makes for an equally friendly and professional environment.
In 2017, Larry chose to step back from the daily leadership of the firm to refocus his efforts on working with his clients. He continues to be CEO and is involved in all major decisions regarding the company but leaves the future vision and growth of the company to Carl and the senior team at LMK.
