Where to go if you leave the firm

This should be fun to watch.
The last comment, about the industry and market being played, must be a good sign that we have bottomed.

If your under 35(most cases)  you can get in with a law enforcement agency. State police, Secret Svc, FBI or a little more sophisticated look into CIA or NSA. You dont necessarily have to be a beat cop. A lot of different jobs within these orgs. I have friends in the FBI and state police. They are making over 100k yr. I have a friend that is a local cop and his salary is 90k per yr not counting OT. (he is a supv.) Just my opinion. I’m just over 40 now so this isnt an option for me. But this is the direction I would go if I was elig (and ready to leave the biz). Decent and consistent pay, job security, pensions and med benefits.

Also another friend of mine at ML resumed his career as an Army officer after leaving the biz. Probably a Lt Col or full bird at this point.

I guess there is always Blackwater for us over 40 merc types. You can easily make 100k with them as well.

I hope it is the bottom of the market, clients cannot handle another year of losses. But a lot of people are leaving the industry. I had a great run, but am intersted in other things at this point. I am thinking real estate.  Think of the inventory that has built in south florida ( where I am located). Many have washed out of their business, tons of invesntory. The economy is key. I think were are in for a Japan like enviornment so that may not be the best idea.  Careers are tough to start right now so i am looking for multiple alternative sources of income and cut the book loose.

Apparently we have had guys in my region walking away from the biz. Not due to lack of production, but they just couldnt deal with the losses clients were taking. Just psychological  overload with probably a lot of things combined and they just cracked. Very understandable. In this environment we will see quality producers along with guys failing just bag it and quit. Sound crazy but already happening. If things dont turn around soon this will increase.

We haven’t even begun to see the multitude of people walking away from this business. There is going to be a huge exodus of brokers doing under 400 walking from the wirehouses. And soon enough those doing 400-500 will realize that they will be under 400 this year, which will drive them out too, with the new grids.

Its a classic WHO MOVED MY CHEESE for the next 3-5 years. I need to find something else to grow and make more money even though the growth will be tough in the FA market, you will certainly make less money year after year with growth. Not a winning business model in my opinion. 

[quote=kappa1997]

No one leaves The Firm…alive anyway. Unless, of course, you can prove an intricate case of mail fraud…

We haven’t even begun to see the multitude of people walking away from this business. There is going to be a huge exodus of brokers doing under 400 walking from the wirehouses. And soon enough those doing 400-500 will realize that they will be under 400 this year, which will drive them out too, with the new grids.

[quote=kappa1997]Its a classic WHO MOVED MY CHEESE for the next 3-5 years. I need to find something else to grow and make more money even though the growth will be tough in the FA market, you will certainly make less money year after year with growth. Not a winning business model in my opinion. 

I hope we see a large amount of attrition.  This is the time to be picking up market share.

[quote=maddog]I hope we see a large amount of attrition.  This is the time to be picking up market share.

BB,

[quote=Borker Boy]

We haven’t even begun to see the multitude of people walking away from this business. There is going to be a huge exodus of brokers doing under 400 walking from the wirehouses. And soon enough those doing 400-500 will realize that they will be under 400 this year, which will drive them out too, with the new grids.

I agree, my book is 85% in fees so the money, flexability, workload has been minimal. Problem, fees just went down 30% for the quarter and who knows what 2009 brings. Not one ACAT but I can see the writing on the wall as far as working for a bank brings. Higher production with lesser payout.  Not really attractive. If I am going to build something it should continue to grow and grow and make less.

And if you thought that those fees would always grow and that we’d never have a down year like this, then perhaps it would be better to find a different career.  Because if you didn’t plan for it, surely your client’s portfolios didn’t either.  Why don’t you just quit your whining session and pick up the phone, talk to your clients, and ask them about their friends who’s brokers just packed it in.  Money is moving, you can either be on the giving side or the taking side.  Pick one, suck it up, and do something.  

Hey guys and gals–listen…your clients hired YOU to take care of their investments and to manage their portfolios–in some cases you have all their accounts–their kids accounts and their grandkids accounts…they put their trust in you—now because it gets ruff you want to run and hide.  Take it from retired military guy…those who protect you day to day can’t just run and hide because someone tries to take them out with an IED or a couple of pot shots.

Everything I've read lately, along with anecdotal evidience, suggests to me that the financial services share of the economy is going to shrink.  It also looks clear that we're in for a long recession, in which things are not going to bounce back soon. Things never bounce back soon after a severe economic shock. Whichever of us can figure out what to do in this climate will do well.

I have a slightly different take.  I think the economy will rebound quicker than we expect due to the size and scope of the total bailout plan.  What I think is scary will be the “hangover”; high inflation, high taxes, high gas prices, the whole shootin’ match.  Problem is, we have to worry about today, today.  Then we have to worry about tomorrow when it gets here.  But if we somehow manage to get through the next 8 years with the economy intact, Obama will ride quite the legacy.  Of course, it could look more like the Jimmy Carter days, but only time will tell.

might be more like this:
http://republicbroadcasting.org/index.php?cmd=columnists.article&articleID=467
<table =“listtable” bordercolor="#ffffff" cellpadding=“10” cellspacing=“0” height=“100%” width=“100%”>

In the United States, credit swap derivatives created national debt
totals of over one quadrillion dollars. That is one thousand trillion
dollars! The entire GDP of the planet is estimated at $66 trillion
dollars. And somehow, in the infinite wisdom of Congress, we falsely
and naively believed that a $750 billion transfer of wealth (i.e.,
bailout) was magically going to save the economy and the collective
futures of the American middle class. In short, the debt created by
futures speculation is approximately 16 times greater than the sum
total of the entire wealth on the planet! And we think we are going to
climb out of this?

The
bailout is enough, just enough, to float the economy through the 2009
presidential inauguration. The placebo effect of the anticipated
widespread public hope, which will be fueled by the Obama inauguration,
may push the inevitable economic crash out another 30 days, but not
much further. America is living on both borrowed money and borrowed
time.

The present bail out (i.e., the public theft of our
collective private assets) will not save your job, your mortgage or
your pension. If the bailout was going to preserve anything but the
bottom line of the international banksters, then ask yourself why
NORTHCOM is constantly conducting riot suppression activities. What
does NORTHCOM and the Government know that most Americans do not know
with regard to what lies ahead?

The bailout is nothing but a
power play which provided the means for the Treasury Secretary (i.e.,
the treasury czar), the former head of Goldman Sachs, Henry Paulson, to
gain absolute power over the economy. Does any well-informed person
think that Obama is going to bring about real change? Where is Obama’s
new Treasury Secretary coming from?

Meet the new boss, the same
as the old boss. The new Treasury Secretary elect, Timothy Geithner, is
the President the New York Fed. And what about Clinton’s chief
financial advisor, Larry Summers who has now resurfaced in the Obama
administration? Summers and Robert Rubin, another Goldman Sachs
colleague, in conjunction with Paulson, undermined the Glass-Steagall
Act during the Clinton administration. The Glass-Steagall Act resulted
from Depression era policies which wisely prohibited banks from
becoming insurance brokers and engaging in other unsavory practices
such as participating in the credit swap derivatives ponzi schemes. If
Rubin and company had not convinced Clinton to scrap Glass-Steagall, we
might not be on the precipice of economic disaster. In short, we have
the same crew applying the same screws.

“Yes we can (bring
about change)” shouted the Obama supporters on the evening of November
4th. The only change that Americans are going to see with an Obama
presidency is the measly change left in their pockets after this
puppet’s de jour and his merry band of gangster banksters are done
fleecing the American public. Do you remember when Congress asked Henry
Paulson where $2 trillion missing dollars disappeared to and he
arrogantly replied “it is none of your business.” The international
bankers now have complete control over our economy without any
oversight from congress

The Fed, the engineer of the current
economic collapse, is engaging in what could be called the "Bernanke
Two Step.” The only two solutions that “Helicopter Ben” keeps coming up
with is to, first, downwardly adjust interest rates which have
effectively slipped to zero percent. Please ask yourself, what is the
dollar really worth when you can borrow on it interest free? The second
half of the Bernanke Two Step” is to recklessly increase the money
supply. The Fed is currently doubling the money supply every six weeks!
These are not solutions; they are only delaying the inevitable. Two
weeks ago the dollar was worth $1.24 against the Euro. Two weeks later,
the dollar is worth only $1.47 against the same Euro.

Additionally,
American consumers have $15 trillion dollars of credit card debt and we
don’t even know for sure how much the government is in debt given the
recent theft of trillions of dollars courtesy of our self-anointed
economic czar (i.e., Henry Paulson and his secret handshake friends).
The best estimates of our national debt range from $12 trillion to $15
trillion dollars. We are quickly approaching a Weimar Republic type of
hyperinflation in which it will take a wheel barrow full of money to
purchase a mere loaf of bread. The dollar is indeed tanking!
    
America, your country has been conquered in a masterful coup de tat and most Americans are not even aware of it.

We are in the midst of the The Greatest Depression in world history.

How bad will it get?

but most likely somewhere in between

tech sales

I have looked at both. They want some type of experience but I know this is the right avenue. Thanks…

Enviro/green tech sales and business development.   I know a friend who was able to transition from the lending business into a sales role with an emerging solar/green tech firm that markets directly to builders/developers. After a year of underemployment in 07’ and into 08’, he’s ripping and making more than he was when he was a wholesale mortgage rep. Couple six figures all in.   

I have come accross seveal opportunities in the last week since this thread started in addition to the ones suggested. Prop trading, fitness industry (business development), private asset managers, sports mgt, financial consulting for private companies. 

Ice, your quote below is one of the funniest and truthful things I’ve read in a while.  Thanks for a laugh.

[quote=Sportsfreakbob]We haven’t even begun to see the multitude of people walking away from this business. There is going to be a huge exodus of brokers doing under 400 walking from the wirehouses. And soon enough those doing 400-500 will realize that they will be under 400 this year, which will drive them out too, with the new grids.


[/quote]

I couldn’t disagree with you more. The wirehouse model is now flawed and certainly isn’t built for the long term. Banks will eventually realise they have no business trying to run a brokerage and will leave it up to people who don’t have their heads completely shoved up their asses.

We are entering the era of the small regional/boutique firms. Alot more guys are looking to go independent and do things on their own. THIS is the future of the financial industry… atleast short to midterm. (read 5-10 years)

Super, I think you’re mostly right.

Raymond James which really falls into the regional and indy categories is swamped right now. My friend who runs a region there can hardly keep up. Stifel is also opening like mad in CA and other Western states.  Both are going to get strong toe holds in the market thanks to flight from the wires.

Kappa,