How you got started in the business...

[frugalchief]

I'm currently weighing options of getting out of real estate business and joining one of the large financial advising firms.  I'm curious if anyone would layout how they got in the business, pros/cons, advice, etc.?  What to do/not to do.  Appreciate the input and advice.

[SharperDingaan]

The assumption here is a swap of SALES in the real estate business, for SALES in the financial advisory business. The question is are you any good at sales, & if you are – why are you settling for a business where the pay is not great, and merit counts for less than it should.

 

In most main street firms, the best sales person in the firm is usually in the top 3 highest paid of the firm. And the more industrial the firm (drugs, machinery, mining equip, arms, manufacturing, etc.), the more they usually earn. They all have an MBA, most will also have some kind of technical undergrad and speak multiple languages, and quite a few will also hold a relevant designation. They just do not wear Brooks Brothers, or Armani.

 

A business that has to sell the glamour, is usually a sub-par business.

 

SD

 

[netnet]

I'm currently weighing options of getting out of real estate business and joining one of the large financial advising firms.  I'm curious if anyone would layout how they got in the business, pros/cons, advice, etc.?  What to do/not to do.  Appreciate the input and advice.

Hard to tell exactly what kind of job you are talking about.  Joining a "large financial advising firm" covers a lot of sins ;)  You could be peddling insurance door to door or selling to institutional clients at Goldman Sachs.  I would echo Sharper's comments as well. Starting at Merrill doing retail clients is tough in what I suspect is a shrinking business, IB or Schwab anyone? 

[frugalchief]

More would help...  It would be a Financial Advisor with Edward Jones.  Not fancy compared to many hear.  So yes, a lot of door knocking, smaller/retail clients.

 

Many probably don't like that and aren't/have never been in that spot.  But any more insight would help.  Done a lot of my own research visiting firms and talking with FA's, etc.  But this board is much more knowledgable I suspect.

[SharperDingaan]

The plus side is that 6 months of door knocking will be excellent sales training for whatever it is that you ultimately choose to do. You will learn persistence, how to deal with rejection, and how to close, and it will be a sh*t job; but at 6 months, you will need to make a decision.

 

It will be very evident if sales is your thing. If it is; the smart thing would be to enroll yourself in an on-line MBA program, and find yourself an industrial sales job. You can always train a sales person, but it will not go anywhere if that sales person does not have a natural glib tongue.

 

If it is not your thing, it was just 6 months. You walk away with a solid appreciation of just how difficult sales is, and it will repeatedly come back to benefit you later in life.

 

SD

 

[Palantir]

Full-time MBA is your best bet.

[netnet]

the problem with FA jobs is that if you do really well by your clients--introduce them to a future Berkshire Hathaway, you will have their gratitude and you will starve.

 

You are way, way better off in industrial or high tech sales. Look at the base rate of successful FA's not that many, most drop out, very few are successful, plus the tide is going out. Most of the successful business people want a broker who can get them 20+ per year and the younger ones do it themselves.

 

What is the goal here. In all probability, you are not going to manage money starting there.  What about starting a small real estate fund, if you want to manage money.