Brokerage Vs. Analyst?
Straight out of college and trying to get into the industry, is it better to seek out brokerage position or analyst position? Which do you think would be more beneficial to moving up, and learning the industry starting out?
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so you are asking if its better to be an analyst at a brokerage vs being a broker at a brokerage?
What's your end goal?
agree with Jim1234 and HandsOfMidas
are u saying...
1) start as an analyst at a brokerage with the goal of someday being a broker versus just starting as a broker in the first place
this one depends on your risk tolerance. but regardless you do best in brokerage if you are young, have minimal expenses, no fear and are very cocky. all those things tend to pay off early in brokerage, so would make the "jump in" more likely to work well. the analyst route is more gradual and reasonable, and is probably the only route available to you at most respectable firms. trust me, Eastdil is not going to bring you on board as a broker out of the gate. it won't even be an option.
or
2) go the analyst route, later into AM or corporate real estate versus pursuing a career in brokerage
this one is a personality thing usually. people that aspire to be business executives tend to not do well in brokerage. the ones who are hard-driving type-a lone-wolf types tend to do well in brokerage and do not do well as business executives. not hard-and-fast rules, but kindof generalizing.
If you don't have to worry about paying a bill for the next 2 years, go brokerage. Great sink or swim position and after a year you'll know if it's a fit for you.
Analyst position guarantees a paycheck but you won't actually start being brought into deals. If you want to be in brokerage long-term, you won't get the exposure to contacts that you want as an analyst.
Depends. What do you want to do?
What is your academic background? When you say broker vs. analyst, my last position in finance included me having my brokers license and insurance license. Unless you have some advanced degrees from top-tier colleges, I don't know that you are going to be in a job that you are expecting right now, but I don't know your specifics.
With a brokers license (FINRA/NASAA licensure) and ins. license, I was qualified (at my last employers) to either be a Financial Advisor or an analyst. BUT, with the analyst position, you need to either apply for, and be accepted for that position, or they recruit from within. At least where I worked, which was one of the largest B/Ds in the US, you typically had to be recruited by a team who was looking specifically for an analyst.
I'm rambling now. Analysts make more out of the gate where I was, and the FA route was a near impossibility unless you were asked to join a team, which was not an automatic recipe for success. I may still have been there had I gotten an analyst position, simply b/c it appeals to my meticulous nature and I don't have to go out and solicit business (translation: go out and bring in new clients with assets. Where I worked, you had to have a min of $250k just to open an acct). Also, the FA field is very cutthroat.
Still rambling, just don't want anyone else to have to experience what I did, but I was on a second career and didn't come from a finance background. As someone above in the thread stated, if you have a few bucks to live off of such that you don't require a big paycheck out of the gate, FA (broker) would offer the potential for big bucks down the road. It IS a good sink-or-swim position. However, it can be very discouraging for a young person to get the door slammed in your face, proverbially of course, or be required to cold-call/cold-walk, or any of the other bullshit that seems ridiculous in this day and age.
Good luck out there.
Are you a financial advisor wanting to make the jump to real estate brokerage? How is that working?
Upman, I'm a former FA now who has chosen to return to the engineering field. Wouldn't suggest the FA route in general, but I've seen a precious few succeed. Not impossible, just highly improbable.
Don't know about the RE route. My bride knows at least 4 RE agents in our area and it is cutthroat as well. Wish I could provide you more info,, but what I've shared above is going to be about the extent of my experience in the finance industry. NOT what I was expecting and the remuneration was not at all commensurate with a person's education or experience. Ironically, this is one of the few professions (Financial Advising) where nepotism is not only okay, it is actually encouraged.
The last office where I worked, there were no fewer than 3 father-son teams, and one mother-son team. Parents built a book of biz over 30 - 40 years, brought their kids on board young, and showed them the ropes. In other words, they were automatically put on a team and paid out of the pocket of the senior FA (aka mom/dad). Very hard to get on a team unless you have a certain niche you can fill that they happen to be looking for.
I don't think OP meant Financial Advisor.
I think the general question of Brokerage vs Analyst meant:
Analyst: Typically the entry-level role at capital markets shops such as Eastdil, CBRE, etc. The analyst is typically the low man or woman on the totem pole who provides a financial analytic support function to the more senior producers. They are expected to work their way up to a producing / broker role as they gain experience.
Brokerage: Typically the entry-level role at shops like Marcus & Millichap, where a recently hired graduate is tasked with acting in a broker-capacity to generate new business.
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