The Boiler Room was an awesome movie. Definately check it out if you haven't already. =)

Mcompton, keep your head up high and don't let this bump in the road get to you. You'll be able to hone your cold calling skills in the meantime which will be important when you enter the business anyways. Good luck to you!

mcompton, a discharged bankruptcy won't stop you from getting a job in the industry, but it may stop you from getting a job at a specific firm.

I'm a big believer in going the insurance company route.  If you can find the right fit (and that is a big "if"), there are some major advantages.

1) Insurance sales will make you a much better salesperson.

2) Higher commissions on investment sales.  The payout grid is much higher.

3) Higher commissions on insurance sales.  Insurance sales don't go through the grid. 

4) It is much easier to make money from the very beginning of your career.

5) Merrill Lynch is all about asset gathering.  When you take a $1,000,000 accoount from another broker, you've done a great job.  You'll make lots of money this way.  However, is the client in any better financial shape than he was before you gathered the assets?  All that the client has done is moved his money from his right pocket to his left pocket.  On the other hand, when you help someone get necessary insurance coverage, you have immediately made a positive impact on their life.

6) Protection is a more important part of financial planning than growth.

7) If you are successful on the insurance end, you can always make a move to wirehouse.  I have a couple of "standing offers" to make the move anytime that I want.  A fair amount of my insurance clients work for wirehouses.  I can't see a single reason to make the move.

The world is filled with people who claim to have a “standing offer” to become an astronaut too.

If you win a large account from another wirehouse, you did it by showing to the investor that you are a better broker; through better customer service, better approach, whatever.

I don't disagree with anon's pros, but I think brokers must also prove their worth, and at the end of the day, feel like they have improved the financial outlook of their client's lives.

NASD, why do you have to be so quick to doubt what everyone says?  I've had a successful career and I have quite a few wirehouse brokers as clients and one BOM.  Obviously, I just handle insurance issues for them.  There is no reason for a wirehouse not to take me.  On the other hand, there is no reason that I wouldn't hire a successful wirehouse broker.

Opie, you might be right.  You won the large account because you made the investor THINK that you are the better broker.  Whether or not you are actually a better broker for the client can only be determined in hindsite.

sell yourself and get hired and then try and work around you issues, I have seen worst cases be hired.  It is better to ask for forgiveness than permission.  Let them come to you on these issues.