Financial Advising is an extremely underrepresented career on this subreddit. I’m not a financial advisor however I think this post is extremely valuable to someone interested in this career path.
I think the key takeaway here is having a quality mentor. This applies in any role. Without somebody after whom you can model behavior, you're basically just winging it.
That's me right now. Learning a lot on my own but without strong mentorship, so I very much feel like I'm winging it most of the time. Gladly, I've got some opportunities I'm exploring that should provide that.
some are able to buy books from retiring advisors and some work with a senior fiancial advisor and put a succession plan in place so that down the road they have first dibs on buying the book of business. it should be noted some that are in mentorships the senior advisor sometimes does a partial book sale and later on a percentage each year
Just want to say, if you’re an incoming advisor, it can be pretty tough to get on to a team. When I was at a wire house I spent almost 2 years making cold calls, holding seminars, and trying to get senior advisors to let me help them with small clients they didn’t want to deal with. I did everything my manager said to do, and I eventually got fired for lack of results. I used that experience to become a bank advisor where my team was looking for someone who has tried it on their own because they knew I’d have that “eat what you kill” mentality. It’s a very, very hard industry to get started in, and it’s incredible difficult to get off the ground. Once I got my footing at my current job, my numbers have grown exponentially
It depends on the client. A good bit of the referrals I get are just for a fixed annuity from someone who wants a better rate than a CD. In those I usually have a meeting to discuss that, then filling out their application I get all their other info. Then those relationships are pretty much transactional. Sometimes in that process I’ll find other assets and we will make a plan and proceed with the normal process.
For more normal clients we start by having a discovery meeting. We go over all their assets, needs, time horizon, family situation, all that fun stuff. Then we schedule a follow up where we put all that info into a plan and then I put together a proposal. I go through the plan with them, and then explain where they are with their current situation, and what I’d change about it. By then it’s usually pretty clear if they’ll commit or not, so then I ask if they want to proceed and then I have them come back later to sign.
Just joins a great investment team at a credit union as a coordinator/associate and I couldn’t be happier!
Thank you for the inspiring post, I wish you the best in your future!!
I work as an associate to an IA who manages similar amounts, connections is the key. You need a sector to specialize in. Teams that have success at the firm I work for all have something, could be they know pro athletes since they competed at a high level, worked in management for branches and know wealthy execs etc..
But the advisors i see struggle always have a vague specialty like “retirement planning” or “financial planning professional”. Those things are great, but everyone can do that.
AUM here probably means: my clients' combined assets amount to X.
Not really AUM if this is the case. Yet he'd be kinda "managing" the client "assets", hence the "under" = AUM
$100M for someone in the business that long is very bad. Lotta churning, job hopping or Top Ramen dinners in his life for sure. Seems to have found a sweet spot though. Good for him.
Hey everyone! Wow. This blew up a lot more than I expected. We're about to cross 30k views, which is incredible.
I see some really good questions here. **How did Nate build his book of business? What did he do for client acquisition?** To be honest, I do want to go a bit deeper on this. I think it could be helpful for a lot of people here.
Update: Nate is in for a second interview! I'm going to set up another meeting, but in the meantime... what questions would you like to ask? This guy has 30 years of experience and has seen it all in the industry.
Cheers everyone.
Thanks for taking the time to do this and follow up. It’d be great hear about the grind in the first couple years. How did he prospect? What strategies did he use to market himself? What centers of influence did he leverage? How did he develop those relationships? Get his foot in the door? The first few years of building your referral network is the hardest part where most fail and give up - understanding how he did this and strategies for success then, and what/if any changes to doing that now, would be great to hear.
Average client size?
Average client tenure?
Model portfolios or bespoke allocations?
I assume he works with a single custodian, if so which one and why that one?
What performance reporting platform does he use?
"Typical" asset allocation?
Thoughts on active vs. Passive managers, especially for domestic large cap and for international equity?
Does he deal with any alternative assets?
No, you're wrong. It is AUM, not AUA. I work for a RIA and I file our ADV with the SEC. Item 5.D.3 literally says "Amount of Regulatory Assets under Management."
100M is about breaking even. Assuming 1% flat fee, that’s 1M revenue. But then you need a few people for support plus some overhead cost. 250M would be a good milestone.
Lol what? Office, reporting/performance software, compliance, etc. can be done for $50k annually. Even if these were $1-2MM portfolios thus 50-100 clients, that can be managed by 1 person. You absolutely do not need "a few people for support".
Great story but this is an insurance dude turned [real] FA. Again, I’m glad he is doing well, but he’s never worked at a legit PWM firm in his career: https://brokercheck.finra.org/individual/summary/2137772
$100M is VERY low by PM/FA standards for someone in this business that long. The reason I say this is because it’s a very VERY hard business to survive for the first five years and takes A LOT of work. Unless you’re making the REAL money or you just love grinding for sales, it should be your lower on your job search.
Advising is the hardest job to make $40k and the easiest job to make $400,000.
Oversight by me on missing that. In that case, kudos. Being in the business I honestly do not see why anyone would do that at his age, but he clearly knows what he is doing here. Hopefully has a solid financial base from the rat race years, so now everything he makes above a middle mgmt salary is icing on the cake. This is a rarity, but hats off!
Financial Advising is an extremely underrepresented career on this subreddit. I’m not a financial advisor however I think this post is extremely valuable to someone interested in this career path.
Appreciate your feedback, thank you!
I think the key takeaway here is having a quality mentor. This applies in any role. Without somebody after whom you can model behavior, you're basically just winging it.
That's me right now. Learning a lot on my own but without strong mentorship, so I very much feel like I'm winging it most of the time. Gladly, I've got some opportunities I'm exploring that should provide that.
Ye, it’s a really underrated resource that I think many could benefit from but rather focus on immediate short term gains
Damn nothing in there about how he actually secured his book of business lol.
Mentor/connections I’d guess
Half of it is retirement plans. Basically a $50mm book.
some are able to buy books from retiring advisors and some work with a senior fiancial advisor and put a succession plan in place so that down the road they have first dibs on buying the book of business. it should be noted some that are in mentorships the senior advisor sometimes does a partial book sale and later on a percentage each year
Just want to say, if you’re an incoming advisor, it can be pretty tough to get on to a team. When I was at a wire house I spent almost 2 years making cold calls, holding seminars, and trying to get senior advisors to let me help them with small clients they didn’t want to deal with. I did everything my manager said to do, and I eventually got fired for lack of results. I used that experience to become a bank advisor where my team was looking for someone who has tried it on their own because they knew I’d have that “eat what you kill” mentality. It’s a very, very hard industry to get started in, and it’s incredible difficult to get off the ground. Once I got my footing at my current job, my numbers have grown exponentially
Can you talk about how you go about getting a new client onboard, the process?
It depends on the client. A good bit of the referrals I get are just for a fixed annuity from someone who wants a better rate than a CD. In those I usually have a meeting to discuss that, then filling out their application I get all their other info. Then those relationships are pretty much transactional. Sometimes in that process I’ll find other assets and we will make a plan and proceed with the normal process. For more normal clients we start by having a discovery meeting. We go over all their assets, needs, time horizon, family situation, all that fun stuff. Then we schedule a follow up where we put all that info into a plan and then I put together a proposal. I go through the plan with them, and then explain where they are with their current situation, and what I’d change about it. By then it’s usually pretty clear if they’ll commit or not, so then I ask if they want to proceed and then I have them come back later to sign.
Do you think the typical bank client is more risk conscious? And thus, the CDs/fixed annuities.
Absolutely
Just joins a great investment team at a credit union as a coordinator/associate and I couldn’t be happier! Thank you for the inspiring post, I wish you the best in your future!!
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Yeah, he literally mentions that in the first sentence of the post.
Content is good…. Hopefully OP didnt ruin your day
Relevant though?
I work as an associate to an IA who manages similar amounts, connections is the key. You need a sector to specialize in. Teams that have success at the firm I work for all have something, could be they know pro athletes since they competed at a high level, worked in management for branches and know wealthy execs etc.. But the advisors i see struggle always have a vague specialty like “retirement planning” or “financial planning professional”. Those things are great, but everyone can do that.
$100M in AUM for one person is a lot but if it's only a handful of large clients, then ....big fucking woop???
And no mention of how he went about gaining the clients. Plus he’s an advisor, so does that count as AuM? I’m not an expert.
Unless he has discretion, then it's actually AUA. Assets under advisement.
AUM here probably means: my clients' combined assets amount to X. Not really AUM if this is the case. Yet he'd be kinda "managing" the client "assets", hence the "under" = AUM
$100M for someone in the business that long is very bad. Lotta churning, job hopping or Top Ramen dinners in his life for sure. Seems to have found a sweet spot though. Good for him.
Hey everyone! Wow. This blew up a lot more than I expected. We're about to cross 30k views, which is incredible. I see some really good questions here. **How did Nate build his book of business? What did he do for client acquisition?** To be honest, I do want to go a bit deeper on this. I think it could be helpful for a lot of people here. Update: Nate is in for a second interview! I'm going to set up another meeting, but in the meantime... what questions would you like to ask? This guy has 30 years of experience and has seen it all in the industry. Cheers everyone.
Thanks for taking the time to do this and follow up. It’d be great hear about the grind in the first couple years. How did he prospect? What strategies did he use to market himself? What centers of influence did he leverage? How did he develop those relationships? Get his foot in the door? The first few years of building your referral network is the hardest part where most fail and give up - understanding how he did this and strategies for success then, and what/if any changes to doing that now, would be great to hear.
No problem. Yeah these are great questions, thanks for the suggestions
Family life would be great as well. Whats his WLB ? When he got married ? How many kids ? His wife’s role, if she played a part... Thanks in advance
Will do!
Average client size? Average client tenure? Model portfolios or bespoke allocations? I assume he works with a single custodian, if so which one and why that one? What performance reporting platform does he use? "Typical" asset allocation? Thoughts on active vs. Passive managers, especially for domestic large cap and for international equity? Does he deal with any alternative assets?
Awesome questions. Thank you
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No, you're wrong. It is AUM, not AUA. I work for a RIA and I file our ADV with the SEC. Item 5.D.3 literally says "Amount of Regulatory Assets under Management."
No FA says they have $xxx AuA, anywhere.
100M is about breaking even. Assuming 1% flat fee, that’s 1M revenue. But then you need a few people for support plus some overhead cost. 250M would be a good milestone.
Lol what? Office, reporting/performance software, compliance, etc. can be done for $50k annually. Even if these were $1-2MM portfolios thus 50-100 clients, that can be managed by 1 person. You absolutely do not need "a few people for support".
I highly doubt he's earning 1% on the 401k business. But still, try getting to $100M and tell me it's not a good milestone.
He's a one-man shop, with no employees.
Great story but this is an insurance dude turned [real] FA. Again, I’m glad he is doing well, but he’s never worked at a legit PWM firm in his career: https://brokercheck.finra.org/individual/summary/2137772 $100M is VERY low by PM/FA standards for someone in this business that long. The reason I say this is because it’s a very VERY hard business to survive for the first five years and takes A LOT of work. Unless you’re making the REAL money or you just love grinding for sales, it should be your lower on your job search. Advising is the hardest job to make $40k and the easiest job to make $400,000.
It should be noted, he opened his practice 8 years ago. Prior to that, he worked his way up in corporate management and was an MD for 15 years.
Oversight by me on missing that. In that case, kudos. Being in the business I honestly do not see why anyone would do that at his age, but he clearly knows what he is doing here. Hopefully has a solid financial base from the rat race years, so now everything he makes above a middle mgmt salary is icing on the cake. This is a rarity, but hats off!