I just received this e-mail this morning from Registered Rep, which is the brokerage industries trade publication.

As the big brokerage/ investment banks continue touting themselves as "wealth management" experts, the nations wealthy ("average household income for respondents was $616,000 with $3.8 million in net worth") are saying, not so fast.

In the latest survey by the Luxury Institute, its 2006 Luxury Brand Status Index (LBSI) survey of 1,000 consumers with a minimum age of 21 and minimum income of $150,000 picked discount brokers as the investment vehicle of choice.

"The top 10 firms from the list of 20 ranked by LBSI are: TD Waterhouse (now known as TD Ameritrade), Smith Barney, Charles Schwab, Fidelity Brokerage, Deutsche Bank, Oppenheimer, UBS, A.G. Edwards, Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers."

Smith Barney ranked #2, but of the top 5, three were discounters. I highlighted the discounters above.

"Milton Pedraza, CEO of the Luxury Institute, says, “The discount broker/dealers like Schwab and TD are seen as having a more straightforward and more transparent value proposition. The perception is that the interests of the client and broker are more aligned.” Several of the write-in comments to the study reflected this opinion: One respondent said the firm has “low costs, no conflict of interest since no recommendations offered,” another said simply, “cheap prices, solid execution, no thrills, easy to use.”