MSSB Private Wealth Planning Advisor
Please excuse me if I sound like a total douche or do not have the proper etiquette for this forum, but I am new to the finance business.
Long story short, always made good grades, dad was a doctor, I went to med school and hated it, my brother works for MSSB in NYC as an IB and help get me a job. Anyhow, after going through the hiring process with MSSB and meeting with the branch manager, I decided the field I would be best fit for right now is wealth management. The title would be something like Private Wealth Planning Advisor.
What is the scoop on this position? Is it pretty laid back if you are close with wealthy individuals in the 40's and 50's?
Can I study for the Series 7 in 2-3 weeks? Tips on study guides and former questions would be very much appreciated.
In our last meeting (with the branch manager) I was confused on this topic. Is there a 60 day temporary license from the day you start until you take the Series 7 where I can start clients accounts? I already have a couple I have been talking to regarding my new position and are willing to help me out pretty as they said start my new business. With that being said, say Mr. CNBC says he is willing to cut a check to my firm for $250,000 and see how I perform over the year. How much of that $250,000 would I receive as commission (on average is fine)?
I know these questions are very basic to a whole lot of y'all, but I am actually happy for the first time in a while (career wise) and not being pressure to do something by my Dad that is going to put my at a piker level my whole life with 2014 Obama Care socializing medicine reform kicking off. I wasn't very far into medical school either (only a second year) and I feel very fortunate to be given this opportunity as I feel like most just can't walk into a bulge bracket firm and get a job with just a business minor.
Thanks gents and again I really appreciate your time and input.
In that position, you'll basically either assist other FA's with administrative work or cold calling until you're licensed. Also, I hope you don't mind not having a salary as it is all commission based. Keep in mind that any financial advisor position will be difficult to jump start. Good luck.
Hey welcome to WSO. First off all it is not all commission based. Your base salary is between 40k-90k and it depends on what your salary was before. Also in regards to salary the higher your base pay the harder the hurdles.
I do not work for MSSB but one of my good friends works there, so I have a pretty good understanding of how MSSB training program works. You will be paid to study for your series 7,66 and life and health licenses. Then it is off to the races. In your first year you are expected to bring in about 10 million dollars in assets and have around 36 million in AUM (assets under management) by year 3. You can bring in clients any way you want, cold calling, natural market, seminars, cold walking, etc.
To answer your question on how much you would receive on a 250k check, it would not be much. For 250k account you would charge around 1.5 bps to manage the portfolio, which is around $30,000 in fees and you would receive around 30% based on what your payout is.
I work in wealth management and the first few years are hard as you are trying to build your business but after 5 years you can pretty much chill if you do not want to keep building your book of business.
Very accurate^. I believe there are 3 levels of base salary + targets..
Hey buddy. I appreciate the insight. I feel as if the Branch Manager expected me to know more about the business in general, but said I should be fine. He wants me to have the series 7, 66 complete by the end of May. What would you say the average salary for years one, two and three are? and the top? Working at a firm similar to MSSB. And sorry I ask so many questions, but how did you get $30,000 from 250K then from that number receive 30% based on your pay out. Can you please explain to a novice. What would be the end number in the comp from opening a $250K account is what I am really asking?
Pretty sure he meant 150 bps/1.5% (basis points) on $250,000 which is $3,750. I have no idea about splits, but you might be entitled to 30-40% of that which nets you around $1,100-$1,400 per year. As you can see, it's not a lot of money which is why you need dozens of clients with much higher portfolios than $250k to generate a modest income. I don't want to burst your bubble, but $250k is not going to impress anyone or make you rich.
^Apologies for my lack of knowledge/misunderstanding. I just heard different things about MSSB from others.
The average salary is about $55k for your first year plus bonuses for hitting certain production requirements along with your payout. My buddy made 80k all in his first year. Second year your salary is dropped and payout is raised and then 3rd year your salary is dropped again.
On the 250k account i completely messed up the math. At the end you would receive about $1,000.
From being in the PWM business, what is the thing you gave yourself a pat on the back yourself that made you more of the buck, and what is the one thing you wish you did differently that would have potentially made you more? I feel like we are all in the business to make the money so I just want to go in with as much great advice as possible while also being a team player.
For me it is not being afraid to cold call. Unless you have a crazy network where you know those individuals will give you their money to manage you are probably going to cold call. Some people are better at sales than others but at the end of the day it is a numbers game. If you speak to 50 people a day and ask them to be their financial advisor you will be successful.
The thing I wish i did differently was not get distracted, it is hard to come in day and day out and ask strangers for money. So there was days I slacked off.
If you want to wow your branch manager. I would prepare a business plan and how you will get clients. Mine basically said in the office by 7am every day and on the phones dialing for dollars by 7:30 till 4pm, then gym and back on the phones from 6pm-9pm or at networking events. If you are on the east coast then call California at night. If you dial the phone 300 times a day for a year straight you will be killing it. I only dial corporate numbers or small business owners, I did not dial residential numbers.
PWM can be a very comfortable lifestyle if you have the personality traits shared by the most successful PWM advisors and/or being surrounded by super wealthy connections. I know a 35 year old guy at ML that manages almost $2BN by himself. One account makes up half of his book. This is through a friend of a friend, but apparently he drunkely told someone he was clearing ~$400,000 per month which I easily believe. This guy was born into a wealthy family, not super wealthy by any means, but he just has the "it" factor. He has the silky smooth sales pitch all while sounding genuine and extremely intellectual. The dude crushes it.
That being said I probably described about 0.0001% of PWM professionals. That is the dream.
As others have said: 20-25: You are doing nothing but cold calling, prospecting, etc... Almsot all new accounts will be
You will get a salary for the first 2 to 3 years (comp package changes all the time) which will run approximately 50K up to about 80K. Then you can generate commission and fees on top of that. After the salary period you will be straight commission so if you don't build a book quickly enough, you will starve.
In accounts where you are charging an asset advisory fee you will normally charge around 1% to 1.25%. Then from there the firm will take 33% of the revenue generated so on 250K (@1.25%) you will net about 1K. You would obviously need a lot of these sized accounts to make a living but after a few years you wouldn't even accept an account this small.
On a brokers total book you normally see an ROA of about 70bps (you will have some non fee based accounts and lower yielding assets) so on a 100MM book you would expect to see about 700K in gross production which at this level pays you 280K per year.
Good info in here. I'm considering the career switch to PWM.
anyone have any knowledge about being an analyst for JPM Private Bank? Obviously you aren't cold-calling clients when the minimum account is $25 million (probably a little less in reality)... so what are some of the more typical day-to-day functions for a new hire in that type of setting?
There's like 2-3 really good/informative threads on this. Use the search function, just an FYI.
To the OP, everything mentioned in this thread has been pretty spot on so far. I almost worked for MSSB, but just couldn't see myself cutting it in a sales pressure environment really. For the first 3 years, you receive a base salary, with 3 levels of target numbers (AUM). Within those years and I suppose the following years as well you receive quarterly performance bonuses. After those 3 years I believe the salary goes away and you are working strictly off of commission. It obviously helps to have a strong network, but I think anyone who is knowledge, presentable, and works hard can make it so best of luck. Also, I've heard that being good at something could help I.e. golf, tennis, squash whatever floats your boat. I heard of this one dude that belonged to a sport club and was nasty and was ringing in like a few 250k accounts per month in his first year.
Thanks for the advice to all you guys. I expected a bunch of sarcastic douche bags saying you have no shot a t this business kid. So, I really appreciate it, no homo.
As for my situation, I am fortunate enough to have a great focus market. I just do not see cold calling a guy in California that I am never going to meet to trust me with his money and possible life. Since we all know life is all about the bucks.
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