Financial adviser job/career

[Lowexpectations]

Originally Posted by mainebrokerman

give sports massage for 60.00 hr


work 4 days a week

And you still have to build a book of business or you pay someone else a good portion of your hourly rate

[Serious Conversation]

Originally Posted by Lowexpectations

I will add to this, the major wirehouses Morgan, Merrill and UBS pay base salaries for 2-3 years. During this time you are paid commission as well once you get your licensing taken care of. The series 7 is the first test and if you fail you're fired, after that it's the series 66 or 63/65(you get two attempts here and then fired) insurance licensing and possible the series 31 or 3 depending on your business mix but these would probably come years down the road. At any time in these 2-3 years if you aren't meeting min performance standards you will get termed. Usually between years 2 and 3 your salary starts to decline monthly until you are 100% commission. The failure rate in the business is somewhere near 85-90% through the first 3 years

Exactly. An old buddy of mine from back home is a financial planner, but he's been in the business for nearly thirty years and many of his clients are older, HNW, and not tech-savvy. They pay him for information.

I work at a firm where many employees (mostly younger) are into investing and such matters, and I can't think of one who has explicitly stated they use a financial planner. Many people can do well-enough on their own now.

[mizzourah2006]

Originally Posted by Emigrations

Exactly. An old buddy of mine from back home is a financial planner, but he's been in the business for nearly thirty years and many of his clients are older, HNW, and not tech-savvy. They pay him for information.

I work at a firm where many employees (mostly younger) are into investing and such matters, and I can't think of one who has explicitly stated they use a financial planner. Many people can do well-enough on their own now.

Yup, Vanguard ETFs that track the market with expense ratios of less than .10% are much better than a mutual fund that a financial advisor would recommend that does the same thing with an expense ration of 1.2%.

The only reason to use a financial advisor is if you literally know nothing about the market and/or you are scared of what you might do in the market. For example, if we get a 10% correction and you are scared you would pull out, having someone with "expertise" can sometimes help you avoid that mistake.

[maus]

Originally Posted by Lowexpectations

I will add to this, the major wirehouses Morgan, Merrill and UBS pay base salaries for 2-3 years. During this time you are paid commission as well once you get your licensing taken care of. The series 7 is the first test and if you fail you're fired, after that it's the series 66 or 63/65(you get two attempts here and then fired) insurance licensing and possible the series 31 or 3 depending on your business mix but these would probably come years down the road. At any time in these 2-3 years if you aren't meeting min performance standards you will get termed. Usually between years 2 and 3 your salary starts to decline monthly until you are 100% commission. The failure rate in the business is somewhere near 85-90% through the first 3 years

This post is the most informative in my opinion in this thread about being the cons of being a financial planner. It is a sales job and passing those exams for the licenses is no cake-walk. Often financial planners do not make quota and are terminated. You will also need to have some other finances to fall back on as you grow your business. This is no easy task, especially if you know you are not a sales type.

The other possibility is if you serve a niche market of some sort, say you have an ethnic background where your clients may not speak English well, that will help you make sales over any kind of cold-calling. Or if you or your family are well-known in your community already and have an extensive network to tap. You have to do that with caution, of course. If you don't have this, then cold-calling is probably where you are going to find clients.

[Lowexpectations]

Originally Posted by maus

This post is the most informative in my opinion in this thread about being the cons of being a financial planner. It is a sales job and passing those exams for the licenses is no cake-walk. Often financial planners do not make quota and are terminated. You will also need to have some other finances to fall back on as you grow your business. This is no easy task, especially if you know you are not a sales type.

The other possibility is if you serve a niche market of some sort, say you have an ethnic background where your clients may not speak English well, that will help you make sales over any kind of cold-calling. Or if you or your family are well-known in your community already and have an extensive network to tap. You have to do that with caution, of course. If you don't have this, then cold-calling is probably where you are going to find clients.

My advice if you are less sales driven or do not have a big network to work for affluent people start at a bank branch ie chase/wells Fargo as a personal banker. They pay salary in the 30-45k range and you have to get people to open checking/savings/credit cards, whatever they don't have already with you but typically you can also branch out into investments and possibly transition into a financial advisor with their system. The plus side is they have the network of clients and it isn't nearly a high of a failure risk, downside is less money. Learn, grow your practice and then you can possibly plan a transition to a big shop and into their program.