Most brokers are forced to pay about 5-10% of any additional earnings they accrue outside of their firm's formal structure. Can't speak for I-bankers, but with 90 hr work weeks I doubt they much time to breath much less actively manage their own portfolios. Plus, all of the I-bankers I ever knew had plenty of company sponsored carefully hedged mutual funds and annualized funds in addition to their IRA's.
Most brokers and traders also end up combining clients with other brokers in order to increase everyone's business. It's hard to get established in this business, but once you get there it really starts to kind of snow-ball with potential windfalls of profit available every minute of the trading day.
SB - it sounds like you're well diversified there And as was mentioned, it's easier than ever now to manage and control your own portfolio with all of the trading information that's readily available to anyone who seeks it. Don't be afraid to get in the game -- it's easy, and fun!
