Newbie advice needed from Financial Advisors!?
Question:
The only thing that is unclear to me is the "pay rate" or the actual "pay check" for newbies. The division manager and I briefly went through the "pay system," which I found rather confusing, especially with "reserves" set aside for you. He Since this is a commission-based position, did anyone fear they might not be able to stay afloat if their first-year performance was subpar? Do newbie positions have a "salary+base" that you can live off of until your portfolio strengthens? Can anyone give me some examples of their first year as a Financial Advisor and how you dealt with your "financial" situation at the time (or currently)?
Just looking for what to expect, thanks guys!
Answer:
Well, I'm not a financial advisor, but I worked for two mutual fund companies over the course of four years, including in a dealer service role, and I also interviewed for a couple of positions (and subsequently determined it was not for me), so I'm pretty familiar with some of the topics you're asking about. First, depending on the firm, you may or may not get paid a base, and if so this usually phases out after a year or two. Regardless, it's typically pretty low, and will probably will not net you enough to live on. It's best to have some money saved up before you start if possible to float you through the first few rough months. I've heard many advisors do well the first year, but there are a lot of them who do not make it through the first year, and there is a very high turnover rate in the first year. You'll be spending almost all of your time trying to drum up business, and very little of this will be successful. Be prepared to make a lot of cold calls, get hung up on and yelled at a lot, andbe ready to try to get clients anywhere and everywhere. Only after you get a solid client base can you begin to ease up on this. All in all, it's a tough business with lots of competition and often rather shady selling tactics and sometimes some loose ethics. It's certainly not for everyone (including me), but there are some people who were meant for this kind of work. Feel free to contact me for more info if you want. Good luck!
Listen, unless your working for Goldman Sachs your wasting your time. Everywhere else is commissioned based.
I hope you dont mind living the used car salesman's lifestyle.
However, if you do make it--the pay is great!
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