I think you guys are confusing a pavement pounding FA with a senior advisor in PWM. The success rate of an entry level FA is very low. They are typically BA/BS grads with little work history or credentials that are given an opportunity to pound the pavement and smile and dial to build a book. They prospect small business, mass market, typically 10MM and below.

There are also senior advisors/account managers in PWM that are hired to provide more complicated services to existing clients. The FAs that are covering the mass market don't have the expertise/knowledge to handle UHNW/HNW. In this case your responsibility is to manage existing relationships of the firm and generate more revenue. For instance, cross selling the firm as corporate trustee, estate planning, etc.

These positions are MBA/CFP experience driven and would have a nice base salary and less expectation to prospect.

crablegs Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------

> There is one thing I do want to add. I am
> unfortunately afraid that my bubble world will
> burst in let's say about 5yrs. The Wall Street
> model of over-compensated under-educated brokers
> is about to disapear now that we are all owned by
> banks. I am convinced that in 5yrs from now I will
> be sitting in the back of a retail branch, wearing
> a red polo and offering cheap stuff for opening a
> new account. There is no way they can pay us what
> they do but pay those guys some $50K/yr. Can't
> last forever, but I will be able to tell my kids I
> did have the best 5yrs of my life!

I hope your wrong, i'm still of the mindset that good advice is priceless.

I'm also unsure that the big banks will take over financial advising. Too be honest I don't know why they haven't taken it over already so I'm skeptical if they can at all. Unlike independent RIAs banks have an already established book of business in their retail savings accounts, it seems like a pretty easy cross to move clients to the wealth management side. Maybe, I'm missing something.

IMO this business has always been about people and trust. I believe clients find it easier for to trust a person than an institution, so independents will always have their place. Also you can always find some real or perceived conflict of interest in the big banks.

crablegs Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------

> There is one thing I do want to add. I am
> unfortunately afraid that my bubble world will
> burst in let's say about 5yrs. The Wall Street
> model of over-compensated under-educated brokers
> is about to disapear now that we are all owned by
> banks. I am convinced that in 5yrs from now I will
> be sitting in the back of a retail branch, wearing
> a red polo and offering cheap stuff for opening a
> new account. There is no way they can pay us what
> they do but pay those guys some $50K/yr. Can't
> last forever, but I will be able to tell my kids I
> did have the best 5yrs of my life!

I hope your wrong, i'm still of the mindset that good advice is priceless... although I'll happily provide it for about $200k.

I'm also unsure that the big banks will take over financial advising. Too be honest, I don't know why they haven't taken it over already, so I'm skeptical if they can at all. Unlike independent RIAs, banks already have an established book of business in their retail savings accounts, it seems like a pretty easy cross to move clients to the wealth management side. I don't know how they've messed that up but maybe, I'm missing something.

IMO this business has always been about people and trust. I believe clients find it easier to trust a person than an institution, so independents will always have their place. If they don't like the pay or practice of their current institution they can break off.

Sure hope you're right as well....

vladarino Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------

> >>You definitely want to find a good firm, one
> where you don't have to cold call that also has
> high average client net worth would probably be
> ideal.
>
> Do they expect you to already know high net worth
> prospects? If you don't cold call and you don't
> know any HNW prospects, how will you build a
> book?
>
>

Crablegs had hit on this point earlier. It's 3 to 4 years of crap pay and crap work and then you start to inherit a book. Maybe you can get out of some of that given your qualifications, but you WILL take at least a 50% pay cut from what your making now. If your family has gotten used to the lifestyle your income brings, then maybe that change will be difficult. However, there is also the idea of saving up about 2 to 3 years of extra income till you get things going as an adviser to facilitate the years you'll be making less so the lifestyle change won't be as dramatic. This is a very tough choice for you, but you're going about it in the right way and I wish you all the luck.

Sorry.... completely forgot to add a fairly important point for someone considering a carreer change into becoming an FA. The starting salary of $36K I mentionned above is when you are FRESH out of school, 20, big nuts & acne.

After established brokers with an existing book, the 2nd most sought after type of people firms like mine are trying to recruit are professionals coming from other fields with good contacts. To give you an idea, they recently hired over the past couple of months:

-A pediatrician
-An aerospace engineer
-A movie agent
-An attorney

As it becomes virtually impossible these days to start a book from scratch, they are looking for people with a well established network of wealthy/high income earners individuals.

As you can imagine, in order to attract those people, they can't do it by offering the same as the kid coming out of school, so in this case the starting salary is negotiable (I have been told about 80% of current salary with make up 20% if you meet your goals).

I ask the pediatrician who is now in an office right next to me why moving out of such a lucrative position. He simply put it "same pay, 1/2 the hours". The guy is about 40, 5 kids (no joke...) and just wants to spend a bit more time with them. Just before coming to us, he actually worked for a few months as a pharma. analyst at Lehman right before they went bust.

This string has me very curious about the advisor career path. I always put the idea away, because I didn't want to sell/prospect. I otherwise like personal finance far more than any other aspect of finance despite now being an LIII candidate. Analysis isn't the end all be all for me. Any advice on firms to target specifically to get into the wealth management side as a grunt with hopes of later taking over someone's book?

I would love to be an investment counselor one day.
I am 26, MBA, CFA level 3 candidate.
I will give it a couple of years before I make my move.
I want more age and experience