NOTE 11 – COMMITMENTS, GUARANTEES AND RISKS

The Partnership leases home office and branch office space under numerous non-cancelable operating leases from non-affiliates and financial advisors. Branch offices are leased generally for terms of three to five years. Rent expense is recognized on a straight-line basis over the minimum lease term. Rent and other lease-related expenses were approximately $254, $242, and $234 for the years ended December 31, 2015, 2014 and 2013, respectively.

The Partnership's non-cancelable lease commitments greater than one year as of December 31, 2015, are summarized below:

2016	$	143
2017		39
2018		26
2019		17
2020		11
Thereafter		18
Total	$	254

The Partnership's annual rent expense is greater than its annual future lease commitments because the annual future lease commitments include only non-cancelable lease payments greater than one year.

In addition to the commitments discussed above, as of December 31, 2015, the Partnership would have incurred termination fees of approximately $113 in the event the Partnership terminated existing contractual commitments with certain vendors providing ongoing services primarily for information technology, operations and marketing. These termination fees will decrease over the related contract periods, which generally expire within the next three years. As of December 31, 2015, the Partnership also has a revolving unsecured line of credit available (see Note 6).

The Partnership provides margin loans to its clients in accordance with Federal Reserve Board Regulation T and FINRA Rule 4210, which loans are collateralized by securities in client accounts. The Partnership could be liable for the margin requirement of its client margin securities transactions. To mitigate this risk, the Partnership monitors required margin levels and requires clients to deposit additional collateral or reduce positions to meet minimum collateral requirements.

The Partnership's securities activities involve execution, settlement and financing of various securities transactions for clients. The Partnership may be exposed to risk of loss in the event clients, other brokers and dealers, banks, depositories or clearing organizations are unable to fulfill contractual obligations. The Partnership has controls in place to ensure client activity is monitored and to mitigate the risk of clients' inability to meet their obligations to the Partnership. Therefore, the Partnership considers its potential to make payments under these client transactions to be remote and accordingly, no liability has been recognized for these transactions.

Cash balances held at various major U.S. financial institutions, which typically exceed Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation insurance coverage limits, subject the Partnership to a concentration of credit risk. Additionally, the Partnership's Canada broker-dealer may also have cash deposits in excess of the applicable insured amounts. The Partnership regularly monitors the credit ratings of these financial institutions in order to help mitigate the credit risk that exists with the deposits in excess of insured amounts. The Partnership has credit exposure to U.S. government and agency securities which are held as collateral for its resell agreements, investment securities and segregated investments. The Partnership's primary exposure on resell agreements is with the counterparty and the Partnership would only have exposure to U.S. government and agency credit risk in the event of the counterparty's default on the resell agreements.

The Partnership provides guarantees to securities clearing houses and exchanges under their standard membership agreements, which require a member to guarantee the performance of other members. Under these agreements, if a member becomes unable to satisfy its obligations to the clearing houses and exchanges, all other members would be required to meet any shortfall. The Partnership's liability under these arrangements is not quantifiable and may exceed the cash and securities it has posted as collateral. However, the Partnership considers the likelihood that the Partnership will be required to make payments under these agreements to be remote. Accordingly, no liability has been recognized for these transactions.