PWM/WM Decision - Seeking advice
Hi all, I am currently a senior in college deciding between a three offers at my firm. The first offer is for a massive team roughly an hour outside a T5 city (which is my home city). The book does just shy of 30M in annual production and I have an entry level offer where I could potentially work my way up to an equity seat (MD's words). I would probably live downtown in the T5 city and commute out. The second offer is a decent size team generating 6M in annual production, and I could come in as a junior FA. Senior FA is looking to shed 20% of his book (probably shittiest 20%) and is very close to retirement age. I would receive this 20% over a couple of years and would also be tasked in bringing in business. Book is approx 2B in AUM, but only brought in 20M in new assets last year (red flag for me). Would live in Jersey city for this offer. The third offer would be a gamble and is in NY. I think I could maybe get a decent team (placement undecided), but I think it could be valuable showing face there. This is definitely the shittiest offer, but fuck I want to live in NY. I would say that offers are listed in order from best to worst in terms of of compensation. Would I be an idiot to roll the dice in NY? I don't want to miss out on the social scene that my other IB/ST/ETC friends are enjoying, but I could definitely have some sort of social life in the T5 city. I am afraid of picking the best offer and barely being able to see my friends. Job is like 8-5, and comp ranges from 85-100k, so I think I would be too poor to really have fun in NYC. What else should I consider? What do you guys think?
Are these at wirehouses or RIAs? How did you find the opportunities?
Did the first firm give you any sort of timeline to equity partner? That would be a big deciding factor for me.
All same wirehouse. The NY office opportunity came from my last team’s MDs’ referrals, 1.8B book came from networking around last summer’s office w management, 30M producing offer came from similar management figure. Most linear path to equity is the 1.8B book, would be around 3-5 years (didn’t ask too much but this is what they implied). 30M producing offer would be from 5-8 years but has been discussed. Gauging equity opportunity purely based off what management told me. NY offer would be extremely variable, depends on team entirely. Assume NY equity is least probable.
Based on the most helpful WSO content, here’s a breakdown of what you should consider for each offer and how to approach this decision:
Key Factors to Evaluate:
Career Growth Potential:
Compensation and Cost of Living:
Work-Life Balance and Social Life:
Long-Term Vision:
Recommendations:
Final Thoughts:
You’re not an idiot for wanting to live in NYC, but it’s important to weigh the long-term implications of your decision. If you prioritize career growth and financial stability, Offer 1 is the clear winner. If social life and proximity to NYC are more important, Offer 2 provides a reasonable compromise. Offer 3 should only be considered if you’re willing to take on significant risk for the NYC lifestyle.
Remember, your early career decisions can set the tone for your future opportunities, so think strategically about where you want to be in the long run.
Sources: Employment Dilemma, Some Thoughts on Managing Multiple Offers (Consulting / MBB), The Efficient Career Hypothesis: Almost All Jobs Are Priced In, Offer on Table and Unsure if Consistent with Long Term Goals, How to pick your next sell-side research job
First my suggestion is that you truly understand the business, how each bank you have an offer goes about doing wealth management and each role you are being offered.
Let’s start with the first which seems to be an operational role on the team. You’ll just be handling all the grunt work, handling client requests and whatever else the advisor doesn’t want to do. Is this what you want to do? Let’s forget about money and focus on where you want to be a few years from now. Being an “equity partner” on the team sounds great but what does that truly mean will you be just be given a % of revenue after x amount of years. For support professionals it’s very low. Like 1-2% tops. That could be a few hundred bucks a month to thousands depending on the revenue of the team. Is that path for you to just continue being an an operational role forever and they just give you “equity” to keep you in that seat forever? Or do you want to be an advisor?
The other option is being a junior advisor and role is to bring in business? Are the advisors at this bank managing money and also relationships? Every wire house does things differently. What’s the minimum for this team? Is the advisor going to want to help you close a $500K account or do they want $5M+ only? What is their process and how could you use it for yourself.
The NY offer. It’s to do what?
You need to just decide what you want. Do you want to be an advisor or support professional? If you dont know it’s ok. I wouldn’t care about the money right now. Focus on being on the right team for you who is going to invest in you, set you up for success in the role you want to be in. The money will come. I’ll say this…as an advisor I’m bias. Being an advisor is amazing if you have the dedication to building a book. Once you have it, best job in the world.
Thank you for your response. To follow up, the comp at the ~30M annual production book would be 85-90k all in. The idea would be to be doing straight operations for two years, then move into an investments/junior PM seat for a couple years, then become a FA. I have an insider telling me they are looking to spin off some business to a young internal member of their team in the next 5-10 years, and he thinks it could be me. They shot off a billion in assets to another FA not too long ago. The NYC offer produces around 80M annually and is very, very large (40+ members on team). Would make a comparable amount, but learn more. Much harder and more variable path to becoming an FA there, but they bring in plenty of new clients every year.
Learning more is more important than sitting around waiting for a what if in 10 years. That’s a long time to wait for something that might not happen. Go to NYC, learn from advisors for 2 years, take the CFP exam and then just internally network and find a team willing to take you on as a junior FA and just grind for clients yourself.
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