From The Reformed Broker:

I'm not proud of everything I learned to do in my retail brokerage days. I was almost too good at the job, which scared me and shook me to my core (which I like to think is a moral core). Because the job is based on salesmanship over stewardship, subterfuge over transparency.

I exorcised all of my demons in the forthcoming book Backstage Wall Street, but today I have a little bonus for you. There was an item in Registered Rep about how Morgan Stanley and Smith Barney advisors are fiending for their allocation of Facebook shares, the biggest piece of IPO product they've seen in like forever.

I have no idea how these brokers will parcel out the meager amount of shares they get, but if I were a broker, this is how I'd sell Facebook:

Step 1: I'd call all my best clients and tell them I have a limited amount of shares but my manager will only apportion Facebook IPO stock to the largest accounts. I would then...

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