Help with job offers! (Insurance vs Investments)
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Squeak … Lets be serious. You need to be hot to win in the business. I’ll be happy to rate you and provide an opinion based on your looks if I think you’ll make it or not. Still waiting for your link.
btw: agree with Moraen. Go for it. You fail? Go sell realestate. I think the bank platform would give you your best shot at that age. Take a few months off after school and travel though .. enjoy the lack of responsobility as long as you can. Damn I miss college. Damn I miss college girls even more.[quote=Moraen] [quote=LA Broker] [quote=ElectricSqueak]Hi everyone, I’m ElectricSqueak. I’m 20 years old, female, and recently graduated college. I’m new to this forum and to the financial services industry, and have a few questions. Any help would be appreciated! 1) Who the f*** is Windy? Seriously, 75% the threads on this forum seem to involve this guy in some way. I wanna know!! 2) I’ve received a bunch of offers and have narrowed down my top 2. One is an insurance/“financial planning” company, and the other is a full-service brokerage firm. Can someone tell me the pros and cons of selling for an insurance-based company versus an investment-based company? Thank you!![/quote]
If I were 20 and starting out I would tell you to consider working for a large firm in the corporate headquarters for a few years to learn the business inside and out before getting thrown to the wolves. It will be very tough doing either business at 20 with no experience. Apply for corporate positions even if that means you move to a new city for a few years, you will thank yourself down the road. If you go out in the field right away and fail it may be tough to get back in. Many firms will get you licensed, maybe pay for grad school and you can learn different aspects of the business.
If you don't want to do that consider working for ADP and sell payroll to small businesses for a few years. They have top sales training and you could build contacts and improve your sales confidence. I know several people in the investment field that started at ADP and most became very successful when they became FA's.
I'm not saying you can't do this at 20 but the odds are not in your favor, nothing personal but that is people's perceptions that they should invest with someone who is a little older and experienced. [/quote]
Holy crap LA! Let's give as much bad advice as possible here! Odds aren't in anybody's favor in this business.
Squeak. Here's how you play the 20-year old college graduate angle. Simple: I'm smart enough and driven enough to get to this point in my life, why would you want to put your money with someone who has been coasting the last 30 years. If i've accomplished this much in 20 years, imagine what would happen the next twenty.
Simple.
Here is some more advice about being twenty. You have a long life before you. Fail now and it's no big deal. Fail a few years before you turn thirty, you're married, got a couple of kids - then it's not just about you.
I'd rather work hard at twenty than play catch up in my 30's and 40's. You have all of the experience you need to start selling.[/quote] How can someone call this bad advice. For one thing, nobody can say what is better, you can not predict the future but I can tell you my advice are good options. Believe it or not working in a corporate headquarters can be more than pushing paper around. If she spends 2 years getting experience then goes out and sells she is still 22 and still one of the youngest in the business. Anyone who thinks getting experience and more education is a bad idea at 20 years old is not looking at the big picture. Build a strong base in your career and you will have more options than if you go door knock for a company like edward jones for a year and get fired, then where do you go? Go work at corporate for a large firm, get your MBA, CFP, CFA, ect and you have a lot of options. Moraen, you are working on your PHD so I know you must put value in education. And if others have not put the time in to get advanced degrees do not knock it till you have tried it. Squeak, maybe you will hit the field now and become a top producer, I wish you luck, but don't feel rushed to sell now at 20. This is honest advice, not some lame attempt to hit on you so take some of the comments on this forum with a grain of salt.
I haven't posted in a while, busy trying to get my sh*t together after leaving Jones.
Age does not have anything to do with how successful you are. I still keep in touch with my classmates from KYC and guess what? The youngest guy, 22yrs old, was the first to get an office out of my class. He's doing great, exceeding all expectations, hitting PDP number in month 1. Now, I also met a guy who was early retired executive of a fortune 500 company who just dripped with charisma. That guy just looked like "THE FINANCIAL ADVISOR." He had all the bells and whistles of someone that I would want as my advisor, ivy grad/MBA. On top of that he was blessed with work ethics of a carriage horse. Needless to say, he is wildly successful and I have never seen or heard of anyone that has amassed more AUM than him in their 1st year. I guess what I'm trying to say is that your age/appearance/attitude/sales skill will have some effect on how successful you will be, but its effect is miniscule. From my observation, it's 90% luck/hard work and 10% innate abilities. And as long as you put in the work, luck will follow. There's a directly proportional relationship between hard work and luck in this business.LA - You can do those things while you are producing. Lots of people do.
I know a guy who was 25, was producing $500k/yr in less than three years and was getting his MBA on an accelerated program at a top 25 school (no, this wasn’t me). He stayed with Jones an extra year before getting a “corporate job”. During that time period, he also got his CFP and passed Level I of the CFA.
He also got married and had a baby during that period.
There are all sorts of stories. You don’t just need a corporate job to be able to get credentialed.
The simple fact of the matter is, if she hustles now, she can retire by the time she’s your age. And move on to a different career.
My question to you is, what experience does she need? I had zero sales experience when I got to Jones. There is no substitute for being in the trenches.
Just like combat. People can train for combat their whole lives. I’ve seen tough, drill sergeant like people cower in fear, and dopey, ADHD kids become heroes. The best experience is to live it.
It's not just age. It is also lack of experience and lack of contacts. One of the problems with many wirehouses is that they have very high hurdles. Even if a young person has a great work ethic and will ultimately become very successful, the high early hurdles still mean that the odds favor failure. If someone doesn't have contacts with money or sales skills, desire and effort will ultimately lead to success, but they'll still most likely fail at a place with high early hurdles. Nothing is wrong with a corporate job if that is what she wants to do. If she wants to be a financial advisor, the best thing that she can do is to get sales skills. She'll get these by face to face selling.LA - You can do those things while you are producing. Lots of people do.
I know a guy who was 25, was producing $500k/yr in less than three years and was getting his MBA on an accelerated program at a top 25 school (no, this wasn’t me). He stayed with Jones an extra year before getting a “corporate job”. During that time period, he also got his CFP and passed Level I of the CFA.
He also got married and had a baby during that period.
There are all sorts of stories. You don’t just need a corporate job to be able to get credentialed.
The simple fact of the matter is, if she hustles now, she can retire by the time she’s your age. And move on to a different career.
My question to you is, what experience does she need? I had zero sales experience when I got to Jones. There is no substitute for being in the trenches.
Just like combat. People can train for combat their whole lives. I’ve seen tough, drill sergeant like people cower in fear, and dopey, ADHD kids become heroes. The best experience is to live it.
It's not just age. It is also lack of experience and lack of contacts. One of the problems with many wirehouses is that they have very high hurdles. Even if a young person has a great work ethic and will ultimately become very successful, the high early hurdles still mean that the odds favor failure. If someone doesn't have contacts with money or sales skills, desire and effort will ultimately lead to success, but they'll still most likely fail at a place with high early hurdles. Nothing is wrong with a corporate job if that is what she wants to do. If she wants to be a financial advisor, the best thing that she can do is to get sales skills. She'll get these by face to face selling. [/quote] I agree...as much as we want to tell people "You can do anything if you put your mind to it!", the reality is that life/disability/long term care sales for a 20 year old is pretty much suicide. There's a 90% chance she wouldn't make it past year 2. I can tell someone that if they jump off a 3 story roof and survive I will give them $500,000, but there is a 90% chance they will die. They can practice their landing techniques beforehand until their blue in the face and drink 3 gallons of milk per day so their bones are strong but the reality is there is a 90% chance they will die. Is it worth the chance?[quote=Moraen]LA - You can do those things while you are producing. Lots of people do.
I know a guy who was 25, was producing $500k/yr in less than three years and was getting his MBA on an accelerated program at a top 25 school (no, this wasn’t me). He stayed with Jones an extra year before getting a “corporate job”. During that time period, he also got his CFP and passed Level I of the CFA.
He also got married and had a baby during that period.
There are all sorts of stories. You don’t just need a corporate job to be able to get credentialed.
The simple fact of the matter is, if she hustles now, she can retire by the time she’s your age. And move on to a different career.
My question to you is, what experience does she need? I had zero sales experience when I got to Jones. There is no substitute for being in the trenches.
Just like combat. People can train for combat their whole lives. I’ve seen tough, drill sergeant like people cower in fear, and dopey, ADHD kids become heroes. The best experience is to live it.
I’m saying that the odds are stacked against a 20 year old making it at a wirehouse.
I actually believe that a 20 year old can do just fine with an insurance company. They have to do 2 things. 1) Do what needs to be done on a daily basis. 2) Do a lot of joint work. If they do these two things, their success is close to guaranteed. Most new young people fail because they don't do those two things. What happens if a newby sells 2 whole life policies a month with a combined monthly premium of $200 and sells 3 term policies with a combined premium of $150 and 2 DI policies with a combined premium of $100? They would make close to 50K + whatever income they make from investments and annuities.[quote=anonymous]I’m saying that the odds are stacked against a 20 year old making it at a wirehouse.
I actually believe that a 20 year old can do just fine with an insurance company. They have to do 2 things. 1) Do what needs to be done on a daily basis. 2) Do a lot of joint work. If they do these two things, their success is close to guaranteed. Most new young people fail because they don't do those two things. What happens if a newby sells 2 whole life policies a month with a combined monthly premium of $200 and sells 3 term policies with a combined premium of $150 and 2 DI policies with a combined premium of $100? They would make close to 50K + whatever income they make from investments and annuities.[/quote] That's where I think the difficulty lies. Someone who is 24 can play it off like they are 28, just go a day without shaving and have good posture. Someone who is 20 can maybe play it off like they are 21, but more likely they look 18. An 18 year old isn't going to get 84 DI and life insurance policies sold in a year (Just using your numbers X 12). You can get any schmoe to put $10,000 into A shares, but for that same amount of commission its much harder to get someone to buy a $60/month Term policy. Sure you can work you a$$ off, and 1 out of 10 people will make it but IMO it is much harder for someone who is 20 years old to sell insurance face to face than it is for a 20 year old to sell investments over the phone.[quote=3rdyrp2] [quote=anonymous]I’m saying that the odds are stacked against a 20 year old making it at a wirehouse.
I actually believe that a 20 year old can do just fine with an insurance company. They have to do 2 things.
1) Do what needs to be done on a daily basis.
2) Do a lot of joint work.
If they do these two things, their success is close to guaranteed. Most new young people fail because they don’t do those two things.
What happens if a newby sells 2 whole life policies a month with a combined monthly premium of $200 and sells 3 term policies with a combined premium of $150 and 2 DI policies with a combined premium of $100?
They would make close to 50K + whatever income they make from investments and annuities.[/quote]
That’s where I think the difficulty lies. Someone who is 24 can play it off like they are 28, just go a day without shaving and have good posture. Someone who is 20 can maybe play it off like they are 21, but more likely they look 18. An 18 year old isn’t going to get 84 DI and life insurance policies sold in a year (Just using your numbers X 12). You can get any schmoe to put $10,000 into A shares, but for that same amount of commission its much harder to get someone to buy a $60/month Term policy. Sure you can work you a$$ off, and 1 out of 10 people will make it but IMO it is much harder for someone who is 20 years old to sell insurance face to face than it is for a 20 year old to sell investments over the phone.[/quote]
Yep. And someone who is hot will get the attention of widowers and middle-aged men who are itching to have a “relationship” that doesn’t necessarily mean cheating.
If Squeak is hot, sassy and driven, she’ll do quite well.
I’m sorry, but that’s life. Lack of contacts doesn’t matter. Go out, meet people and hustle.
The odds of a girl who graduated college at 20 being "hot" or "sassy" instead of pale skin, dark rimmed glasses and hair with split ends are lower than the odds of a 20 year old anything succeeding in insurance sales. I'm not a pessimist, but 100% realist. I hope this sassy laddie does fine work getting people to sign up for VUL insurance but I'm going to hold my applause until she makes it past year 2 or 3.Yep. And someone who is hot will get the attention of widowers and middle-aged men who are itching to have a “relationship” that doesn’t necessarily mean cheating.
If Squeak is hot, sassy and driven, she’ll do quite well.
I’m sorry, but that’s life. Lack of contacts doesn’t matter. Go out, meet people and hustle.
Let’s hope that she doesn’t sell any VUL.
Regardless of what she looks like and regardless of whether she has any skills, if she does everything joint work, she'll have no problem making a decent buck.Hey volt - you get that link yet?
Or Squeak, you can send me the link? I’ll vouch.
If she’s like 3rd said, you are right. But just so you know, I knew a 19 year old college grad who was smokin’.
No link yet, I’m starting to think she weighs 200lbs. I’ll just keep imagining a short blond with a nice rack when I see her post though…
Quick update on Squeak, she is cute. We are now dating.
Just so you know. August has already started. I'm not sure you are going to have time for dating with your 30 day war.
I don't believe you. PM me the link.
I’m counting today as July 31st 1/2 … I think I’m still drunk.
Sorry Moraen, that would be like cyber cheating.
Squeak ignore these guys and get a list of doctors around your area, find a product that you love and pitch them for a month, i promise you’ll get at least 3 accounts if you dial at least 500 dials a day. You can be on facebook while you do it