No I am not a pr person for the bank.  I read all of these and it seems cut and dry, but I have spoken to a few who are at the bank who say they like it there.  And by the way, the EJ crack makes me laugh.  If I noticed one thing in these “posts” on this forum, it is that EJ gets more bashing than BAC.

I am open to anyone who can have an intelligent discussion with me to continue but not with all the wise cracks.

Then why do you come here?  No offense, but are you really a broker because you sound slightly retarded.

The  Bank of America threads had quieted down for a while. I’m glad to see that it’s up again.  Very entertaining (“reality show” and “Arkansas hillbilly”).

dont get me wrong i have met a few successful recruits that were at BAC, hey i was even one of them.  but the majority of all the other recruits that came over in my opinion just blew up their careers by making the transition to BAC.  you might have had a chance if you were recruited early when the pie was big, but most of the branches have been mined for their top accounts and same thing with any good CM.  they will tell you that they only have 4% penetration, but believe me the other 96% of their clients you wouldnt want to wipe you a$$ with.  think of the gold rush.  those who got in early found large nuggets, the rest just hung themselves after fighting over the scraps.  if you want a credible outside opinion ask the wholesalers what they think.  in most instances i wouldnt say that, but even wholesalers with deep pockets cant overcome the mindless brainwashing and dictatorship that BAC provides.  at bac it is there way of the highway.  i decided to leave instead of being morphed into a broker in a box.  and yes management represents the bank, not brokerage no matter what they tell you.  why else would they tie compensation to note taking.  having to contact a client 8x a year who makes you no revenue, but the bank feels is important, is retarded. hey but if you dont they hold back your fee-based revenue and other commission.  do you think that would ever fly at merrill, morgan, or any other place that believes in the entrepreunerial spirit?  personally i rather spend my time prospecting for new business than having to color coordinate my clients and figuring out how to manipulate a system that doesnt work so i get paid.

[quote=stockguy]I have a client who has had the same FA from BAC for almost 15 years. 

I’ve said my 2 cents worth.  I hope you will give serious consideration
to the more reasoned responses you have gotten from here such as mine
and feng shui and BACFA.  There are plenty of other firms out there to
consider if you are bent on making a change.  I would agree that you
will see some success stories but they are few and far between.  Those
that seem the happiest are those that a) have been there so long that
they are entrenched, ie. they prexisted the PB&I model and have
deep books and old connections throughout the bank, and b) those that
have come out of the Pathways channel and don’t know any better because
BAI is all they have ever experienced.  If you seriously talk to the
experienced brokers who were recruited from outside, my guess is you
will find the vast majority to say they wish they had never done it.  I
have been in the business a long time and fell for a very smooth
recruiting pitch that made it sound as if it would be impossible not to excel with the model that they have.  Do I have sour grapes?  Yes, but
they are directed at myself for being so stupid.  As I’ve said, I have
been in the business a long time and everything I had ever heard about
working for a bank brokerage I chose to overlook because of the
recruiting pitch.  It was a very bad mistake on my part.  It is not
because I’m quirky or not a team player, quite the opposite even if I
say so myself.  The odds are you will not get what you think you have
signed up for.

Also, just to elaborate on your question about the upfront money.  It is generally a 6 year forgivable loan.  They do not forgive any portion of it just because you achieved a production threshold.  The clock starts again when you receive the back end amounts if you do meet the percentage of trailing 12 production that is specified in your situation.  Each year, as was mentioned before, you trade checks with them.  You write them a check for 1/6 of the upfront amount and receive one back from them for the same amount less taxes.  If you leave at any point prior to the end of 6 years from when the clock started, they will try to get the remaining amount back from you.  Again,  and I mentioned this in one of my previous posts, read the FINRA.org arbitration case synopsys’.  There are 20+ dealing with BAI filing arbitrations to recover the promissory notes.  In almost every case the respondent counterclaimed for Breach of Promise and and Fraudulent Inducement.  Even though BAI prevailed in these cases the fact that the counterclaims are for the same reasons should tell you something.  Please believe it.

Thank you allways bullish.  I Like to hear a voice of reason.

I appreciate all of you who gave honest answers without the sarcasim.  I really am interested in BAC and was looking for some guidence on what to do.  My earlier rant was because this posting board is constantly bombarded with negative comments.  It gets old listening to the same thing over and over again. 

It gets old listening to the same thing over and over again.  [/quote]

Kinda quite all the sudden.  I would like to get any BAC person’s take on their bond inventory and how they do with a vs b vs c shares.
Thanks

Bond inventory is probably the same as any wirehouse and fairly easy to use with BondDesk. They also have the faddish structured products.  IPO allocations tend to be generous except for the really hot ones like Visa.  Extra forms are required for B shares over $50k and C shares over $100k. Not too big of a deal (at least they allow it).

BACFA are you still at BAC?  How does that relationship work with the CM?  I keep hearing about it and wonder how it works?

i’ll tell you how the relationship works with the CM given my experience with them, and since i had quite a few of them.  here is how it goes in a nutshell.   they are supposed to refer you business for investments and you are supposed to refer them loans and deposits.  for their investements which when i started was about 1.5 million a quarter or so. and i was supposed to refer them loans and deposits of about 3mill.    i know it has probably changed now.   anyway,  they end up under performing dramatically, actually maybe if your lucky referring 10% of their given metric, but you end up keeping your end of the bargain doing bank work and getting them their numbers so you get your holdbacks on your commissions.  you go complain to your manager and then your manager tells you that you need to ‘coach’ them since you are the better salesperson.  you end up trying to coach your CM and meet with your manager again in 3 months and complain to him that nothing has changed. your manager tells you to be patient and let review in another 3 months how things are going.  meanwhile you are on commission and your lazy CM is getting a salary for sitting on his a$$.   he is lazy and you end up wasting a lot of your production time.  ironically this is counterintuitive to what they say when you sign on.  they tell you that it works in the opposite way you get unlimited referrals and just sit them and roll in the dough.   then you figure it out and leave…that is unless you want to be a broker, banker,and a manager of you CM all in one.  personally i rather cold call and take my career into my own hands.

Yes, I’m still at BAC. I seriously contemplated leaving several times but was offered various things to stay (accounts, fee-based book, assistant).   They’ve also given me multiple CM’s to partner with but those have never worked out.  Like I said before, there’s generally only one partnership that works in every territory.  The other FA’s just suffer through it because they need them to hit their year-end bonuses (which is really a repayment of our own trailers).

Thanks iceco1d. I’m sure that type of realization happens at every firm. But the difference at BAC between what is promised and what is actually delivered is pretty incredible.  I think for new FA’s that come here knowing that the CM’s are worthless and are willing to build a book on their own, it’s actually a decent place to start.

You get a gross check.  Then 1 year later you write BAI a check for 1/6th of the amount.  Then 2-3 weeks later it comes back to you through payroll with 5% of the outstanding amount added to imputed income.  This now is part of the gross pay for that pay cycle and you have to pay taxes, etc. 

My 2005 gross @ BAC: $400k.  2008 I will do $750k.  Stay away - don't take a slice of my pie!