Wealth Management jobs in Dallas, young couple moving to Dallas (Houston: rent, insurance)

[Grahamk33]

My husband and I are planning a move to the Dallas area this Fall from Southern California. Here are a couple of questions we have.

1. Does anyone have a feel for the wealth management job market in Dallas and/or the suburbs. My husband has 8 years experience in high net worth financial planning and would need to find a new job in this market. He is a CPA, CFP and has his MBA. he would be looking for a job with a family or within a bank in their wealth management department. Any ideas on where to start networking would be great. also if anyone knows of any headhunters in the financial market that would be awesome.

2. I would be looking for a brand marketing position for a consumer goods company. Any ideas? We have a new baby and I would love to find a job where the company offered daycare onsite, does anyone work for a company that offers daycare onsite?

3. Housing, we will be buying our first home In Texas and really love the new homes from Highland Homes and Darling out in McKinney, Plano and Allen. Does any one live in a home from one of these builders and are you happy?

[TurtleCreek80]

Hmm. Working for a private family is a VERY "closed" job to pursue in Dallas. I know people who do that and they are almost all grown children with prestigious MBA's whom the families have known for years. Not sure there is even a "headhunter" for those roles. Wealth management is another story- all the majors like BOA/Merril, Goldman, etc have Dallas offices. Assuming your hubby is in the field currently, he should use his existing network for Dallas leads.

Another thing to consider- 99% of these jobs are housed in the Crescent, an office complex in Uptown Dallas....about a 60-90 minute drive from McKinney/ Allen/ Fairview each way with no public transit options.

As for consumer products, Frito Lay and Pizza Hut are both HQ'ed in West Plano- about 20 miles southwest of McKinney (20-30 minute drive) and about a 30 minute drive from uptown Dallas/ Crescent. It would not surprise me if both had onsite daycare.

Lastly, I would strongly urge you to consider two things:
1. Rent for 1 year so you can familiarize yourself with neighborhoods, commuting times, etc.
2. Beware the cheap, huge, new home in the ex-burbs. They are so cheap because there is an unlimited supply of land to develop north & east of Dallas. If you do not plan to stay in the home 10 years or more, you will probably never see enough appreciation in value to break even when selling after paying realtors commissions & closing costs. Plano is a great bet because it's 95% built out and the schools are the best in Collin County. McKinney is only 30% built out, by comparison. There will always be another new home when you go to sell your "used" one.

Beware property taxes- they are about 2.5-3% of the homes value, paid annually. A $250k home carries about $6-7k of property taxes each year and about $2000 in home insurance. These can really add up to large unexpected expenses for many out of state relocatees.

[TX_Guy]

Wealth Management is pretty big in Dallas, but I'm not so sure about the private family thing. I KNOW there are Dallas wealth management offices for UBS, Wells Fargo, Morgan Stanley, Merrill/BOA, JP Morgan, Fidelity, Texas Capital Bank, Regions Bank, Amegy Bank, and many more.

Like TurtleCreek80 said, a lot of these will be in the Uptown area, but many are also found in the Preston Center and Far North Dallas/Addison areas. Either way, working in any of these areas, especially in Uptown, and living in McKinney/Allen would be a very long commute.

Living in Plano seems like it would be the best location for you guys. Ideally you could both find a job in Plano, but if not, the Dallas North Tollway goes straight from Plano to Addison, Preston Center, and to Uptown, so your husband's commute wouldn't be bad at all. It's already been mentioned that the headquarters of Pizza Hut and Frito Lay are in Plano, as is the headquarters for J.C. Penny and Dr.Pepper-Snapple Group. All of these companies are very close to each other on Legacy Drive in West Plano. Oh and just fyi, J.C. Penny has a really, really nice campus and building. It's worth the effort to Google a picture of it.

[loves2read]

So you are planning this move w/o having any jobs lined up?
Hope you have resources to carry you through if you don't find something right away

Does your husband have a Linkedin account--has he checked for his alumni assoc in Dallas area?==
has he met anyone with ties to Dallas in his professional conduct that might give him some leads--
Same with you--so many times jobs comes through word of mouth referrals--vs the Monster board
The idea of networking is that you do it progressively from day 1 not just when you are looking for a job

IMO no very wealthy family is going to hire someone they don't know to manage their money--and if they have a company or bank doing it--that firm is going to be VERY cautious in bringing in new hires--
they would headhunt and from top schools or firms and/or want someone with a personal connection--i.e a great referral from someone they trust...

while your husband has basic standards for being a money manager (the CPA who manages our money has those)--many people doing this have a law degree and/or something beyond the CFP like a chartered financial consultant, chartered investment counselor, or certified investment management analyst-

Some companies much prefer to hire people with experience who have a "bank" of clients they will bring with them into the job to bolster the firm's income--
but with your husband moving in from out of state that probably is not going to happen

D Magazine : The Best Wealth Managers and Financial Planners in Dallas 2010

While I consider some of these articles as subtle form of advertising and product placement this article would give you names/firms to check out--and it does say that none paid to be listed...
of the people listed twice--as both top wealth manager and financial planner--half were women

Several CPA firms have wealth management divisions now that the rules are relaxed--that is how we found the guy we use--

TurtleCreek has good advice about your housing choice--especially since you both may not be hired at the same time--

[Lakewooder]

You aren't demonstrating good 'wealth management' if you by a new home on the edge of forever - it would undoubtedly be a money loser for you unless you plan to stay there 15 years or more. If you want to hob-nob with potential clients that is total Siberia for them. You would probably be better off in North Dallas inside LBJ so you can attend all the various meetings and social events that the high-wealth folks attend - many of them take place right after work and last a couple of hours. That way if you were to secure a job in Plano or somewhere north you can use the Dallas North Tollway or Hillcrest.

[TurtleCreek80]

Originally Posted by loves2read

Some companies much prefer to hire people with experience who have a "bank" of clients they will bring with them into the job to bolster the firm's income--but with your husband moving in from out of state that probably is not going to happen

This is a very good point. A friend of mine (northeast prep school, SMU business undergrad) tried his hand at wealth management with Merril Lynch a few years ago. They gave him 24 months to bring a portofolio of clients with something like a combined net worth of $25M to the firm. He was not able to do so, despite being pretty well connected with the young moneyed set in Dallas.

[TurtleCreek80]

Tolleson Wealth Management :: Home (http://www.tollesonwealth.com/index.htm - broken link)

Tolleson is the best of the best in Dallas. Their average family has a net worth of $30M and I believe they have about 80-100 families in Dallas on their client roster.

[loves2read]

there are all kinds of people with "wealth management" firms scattered across the Metroplex--
I drive past office parks with one or two firms in towns like Hurst, Bedford, NRHills, Keller, Colleyville, Southlake--
you don't have to be in Dallas in the uber-firm to BE a wealth manager--
and as the OP said banks do have depts that try to get people to let the bank "managed their money"
BoA tried that with us--even assigned us a personal manager--only problem was when we DID ask a question the person never knew the answer or called us back==and they rotated new managers every 4 mo it seemed like--

The question is just how successful are they--it is a one man firm with a couple of office techs

We bank with Frost now and Frost in Fort Worth has good reputation--in San Antonio area where they started they manage a lot of the older monied families so you might consider Frost

[Lakewooder]

One of my classmates since first grade worked with Frost and now works directly for the family in Houston. He's of the highest integrity and intelligence (was a partner at one of the big accounting firms prior).

I have accounts with a 'major brokerage house' and my broker (old friend) is in *gasp* a Tarrant county suburb (you didn't think I knew anyone out there, did you?). However when I get invited to these events that only those with a certain amount of 'wealth' may attend they are usually held in North Dallas. My friend spends much of his time in Dallas even though his office is in the suburb. Luckily he has a daughter living in Uptown so he can kick back there if he needs to take a rest. He'd like to move to Dallas but his wife has a job in Fort Worth.

[Grahamk33]

Thank you so much for the great advice, magazine article and company names. We are looking forward to our move later this year.