I work in financials and a couple times a year, I get the itch to try to switch to being a financial advisor (ie on investment accounts.) It allows for greater flexibility to do what you want and the potential for higher salaries. On the other hand, you are tied to sales style metrics (AUM) and a lot of the older places are pretty cynical in the percentage of the profit they consider their’s. Not to mention usual sales issues, like if you have a shitty sales manager.
It seems like every time I get on a roll calling these firms, I get more and more of these clowns who have started independent firms to maximize their own profits, want you to move in clients and pay commission only. I literally just started cracking up on the phone with one of them. Yes, that’s what ambitious, established financial advisors do – move their clients out of major banks or wirehouses that may sue them, sign paperwork that says some other guy owns their clients and get commission only. And advisors of all people are definitely not going to see through this con because there’s definitely not a certain percent that are functionally con artists.
Since these guys are desperate because no one that matters in their world is buying, after questioning my lack of ability to give them a cool million revenue overnight, they inevitably back down and start pointlessly discussing how I can be commission only with them anyways.
I was talking to this guy who inherited a firm from his father and he was talking about how he started out working for his father only getting $15/hr and he hoped one day to be profitable enough to be able to offer a similar incentive to would-be new brokers. Real strange conversation, we’re in Southern California. Because he lists his house as his HQ, I know he lives in a $3+ million home.
I know it’s not the normal post here but these guys crack me up with how exploitative and weird they think they can be.