MassMutual
I have been talking to them and they seem to have a pretty nice setup. They don’t get a lot of discussion on the board from what I have seen. I respect all of your opinions so if you can please give me some input, that would be helpful. Here are my observations:
Pros: *It seems that even if I sell their insurance product, I could still take my book and go somewhere else. No non-complete, etc. *They are paying a huge rate on their whole life insurance policies *They are a mutual company that has remained strong during 2008 *Their broker/dealer seems to have pretty much everything I had at Merrill *They have a pretty nice system where I can consolidate outside accounts on a client website *Can sell insurance policies with small monthly premiums but still get paid pretty well *They have a cash balance plan Cons: *100% commission but they do have a decent bonus program once you actually produce My biggest problem in the office is that it seems that there are mostly insurance guys in the office that don't focus as much on investments. I find myself wondering how they stack up to the wires on the investment side. I just don't want to be surprised. Can you all offer any pros/cons with this company? How does this compare to the wires.what wires
I'll address your cons.
100% commission should only be an issue for the first 3-4 months. Most of the guys focusing on insurance shouldn't be a negative for you. It has no impact on your practice. It could be a positive because it may give you lots of joint work opportunities. If there is a good GA, I think that a case could be made that this might be the best place for you to get your start.I actually agree that having the insurance guys around will be good, they can teach some good sales practices and I may be able to pick up some business that they can’t handle. I had one that talked to me that is already talking to the sales manager about having me do some fee based wrap accounts for some of his clients since he doesn’t have a 65/66 or 7.
My truly only biggest concern is making sure that the broker/dealer will have all the "bells and whistles" that I may need in the longer term. Should I worry about that at all or do they have a pretty robust platform on the b/d side? How about research? Is there any potential way they could steal my clients in the future? I can move any MassMutual policies if things ever don't work out in the future, right? Sorry for all the questionsDid ML lay you off?
Yup! Chop off the base salaries. My post was quoted regarding the ML layoffs by Registered Rep. on their ML layoff article. I almost sh*t when I say that
Akkula,
MM is a very strong mutual carrier. They have a great reputation. Of course, you won’t hear much about them here because this is much more of an investment board. Anon is clearly one of the best sources for information on insurance carriers you’re going to find here.
But back to the time issue: since it’s been, what - a week or more since Ml laid you off, time is still a big issue for you. Or did you not yet have an established book to try and bring with you somewhere else?
Just like every other firm you can go with, it is all about the local presence. Look for the companies that will give you the best chance to succeed. Mass may be a very strong carrier, but if there is a poor track record of supporting newbies, you should look elsewhere.
Anon has some very good insight as to what to look for in a career agency. The underlying insurance compay is very important, but you need to look at yourself as a business owner. What makes you profitable and successful is more important than anything.Having the option to do protective puts or write calls would be nice, even though I don't think I would do them much. Having access to alternative investments would also be good. These aren't dealbreakers but they would be nice to have.
Having just started at ML, my book wasn't huge since I was only in production a few months. I kind of see this as a second chance to make a good decision on where to start having my eyes opened a bit more and I have been in contact with many of my folks to let them know what was happening and that I am trying to find the right fit.
Accepting brokered business is huge for me. I don't want to get in a situation where I sell something and I can't take it with me if I need to leave the firm. I may try to talk to Guardian as well. What is the best way to tell how well a local office supports its newbies?Ask MM about a salary program for their newbies. I was offered a position with MM that included a mixture of salary and commissions for the first year until 100% commission thereafter. MM seems like a good place to build a business but it felt as if you will be required to ‘push’ their insurance products which I didn’t necessarily like.
Payouts are generous with investment management as well. FA payout starts at 40% with the opportunity of growing all the way up to 80%.
The comp plan I was shown was a bit different. The financing subsidy worked like this:
They will match: 90% of your first year commissions up to a max of $37k 75% of your first year commissions up to a max of $21k 25% of your first year commissions up to a max of $13k In order to qualify for the subsidy you have to do $2,500 in commission and 5 pieces of business. You are a W2 employee instead of 1099 so that will save on self employment taxes. They annualize commission on 1st year premium w/first payment. The GA gave me this formula: 1. 8 scheduled appointments per week 2. 6 people actually meet with you 3. 4 agree to be profiled 4. 2 become clients within 7 days 5. If they are doing insurance with a $100 monthly premium, $80k first year comp. My question is: For a hard working fully licensed former wirehouse rep, how much income can I plan on during my six months for planning purposes? I don't want to be too optimistic. Would $10k in the first six months be overly pessimistic? Could I plan on $24k my first year for a really low ball estimate?"The comp plan I was shown was a bit different. The financing subsidy worked like this:
They will match: 90% of your first year commissions up to a max of $37k 75% of your first year commissions up to a max of $21k 25% of your first year commissions up to a max of $13k" This is pretty standard for any career contract for a company that does business in New York. This is a typical example: Client buy life insurance with a $2,000 annual premium. Your commission is 55%. You get $1,100. You then get an additional 90% of that for $990. Total commission equals $2,000. "In order to qualify for the subsidy you have to do $2,500 in commission and 5 pieces of business." This is a good thing. Your one year doesn't start until after you have your practice up and running. "You are a W2 employee instead of 1099 so that will save on self employment taxes." This is only partially true. You will be a W-2 employee for your MassMutual insurance business. However, you are not an employee of the broker-dealer, so securities business will all be 1099 income. Also, all of the insurance business that you do outside of MassMutual will be 1099 income. They annualize commission on 1st year premium w/first payment. Correct, so when in the example I gave, the client pays an $80/monthy premium, you'll get a $2,000 commission check. The GA gave me this formula: 1. 8 scheduled appointments per week 2. 6 people actually meet with you 3. 4 agree to be profiled 4. 2 become clients within 7 days 5. If they are doing insurance with a $100 monthly premium, $80k first year comp. If all that you have is 8 scheduled appointments, you will probably fail out of the business. What you need is 8-10 new scheduled appointments. These are appointments with people whom you have never met before. To have a good chance to do well, you really need to keep 15 appointments a week. They aren't going to become clients within 7 days. The underwriting process typically takes a month, so 7 days simply won't happen. My question is: For a hard working fully licensed former wirehouse rep, how much income can I plan on during my six months for planning purposes? I don't want to be too optimistic. Would $10k in the first six months be overly pessimistic? Could I plan on $24k my first year for a really low ball estimate? Income is dependent upon what you do on a daily basis. If you follow Al Granum's Rule #1, you should make $75,000 + your first year. Rule #1: Between 8:00-4:00 do nothing but see people or fight to see them. Most people make about $20,000 their first year. It's because they keep 5 appointments a week instead of 15-20 a week. High activity snowballs on itself in this business. If you have high activity with quality people, you are guaranteed to do very well for yourself.Is cold calling and cold walking a lot easier working for an insurance company since everyone is potential qualified prospect?
I kind of gave up cold walking because I didn't feel like I was getting through to qualified prospects by wirehouse standards but I will probably rethink this. If my goal is to get 8-10 new scheduled appointments per week, what is the best plan of attack after my natural market runs dry?It's tons easiers. If you read any of my posts about my calling or cold walking or prospecting, it would never work in a wirehouse environment the way that I do it. It works precisely because almost everyone who I call is a decent prospect (I only cold call attorneys, CPAs, and business owners.).
If you can quickly learn how to get referrals, your natural market doesn't ever have to dry up. You can succeed without making any cold calls. I went years without making one. I don't recommend not making cold calls. However, in the beginning, you'll do much better with referrals. It's much more important to get referrals from your natural market than it is to make sales. The key is to get referrals before someone becomes a client.If you approach your natural market correctly, you’ll never have to worry about running out of warm prospects to talk to. When you approach your Project 200, your intent should be not to necessarily make them a client, but get as many referrals as possible. What I do is have a feeder list of 20 names or so. These are neighbors/relatives/co-workers that I’m familiar with. We then go through each person, and we talk about how to approach these folks (lunch together or a warm intro).
[quote=anonymous]
If you can quickly learn how to get referrals, your natural market doesn't ever have to dry up. You can succeed without making any cold calls. I went years without making one. I don't recommend not making cold calls. However, in the beginning, you'll do much better with referrals. It's much more important to get referrals from your natural market than it is to make sales. The key is to get referrals before someone becomes a client.[/quote] Can you expand on your referral techniques? Can I come work for you? I have learned more from you and this forum than I ever learned at ML.Akkula, what is your method for determining where to cold walk? Who are you targeting?
It was recently suggested to me that I think about cold walking. What's the best way to approach it? What do you bring with you? What are you saying? Any advice would be GREATLY appreciated. Thanks, all.I am also looking at MassMutual as well as Northwestern Mutual. Looks like from reading this board that I should also check out Guardian and New York Life. I'm going into this business with a life insurance company but I am scared sh*tless looking at this from the outside. It worked for me in college, I was a very average student coming in and I was so scared of failing out, I graduated with a 3.9 GPA (still had time to chase women!).
Here is what I still do not understand, after talking to a recruiter at Northwestern, I was told I needed to get 6 referred leads a day to have a chance at making it. The girlfriend (wife soon) got accepted to grad school in CA. Not having committments now, we decided to come out here. Love it, but I am new here and have almost no connections. Do I have a snowball's chance in hell of making it?
I have seen posts stating the nothing between 9am to 4pm but seeing people or fighting to see people. Makes sense, but where do I start. I want to know exactly I should be doing during those hours to start? I will do what needs to be done, but what needs to be done? I am not brand new to sales, I sold glue for an adhesives company for 12 months before they went under recently. I did okay, but it was definitly a learning year taking the job with no sales experience. I realize sales takes balls and a work ethic, but someone please give me a map. At least with the industrial adhesive company, I they told me what to do each day and if I didn't do it, I was gone by the end of the week. Help this newbie out!!!"I am also looking at MassMutual as well as Northwestern Mutual. Looks like from reading this board that I should also check out Guardian and New York Life."
That's good advice. I'm going into this business with a life insurance company but I am scared sh*tless looking at this from the outside. You should be scared. Most people fail. It worked for me in college, I was a very average student coming in and I was so scared of failing out, I graduated with a 3.9 GPA (still had time to chase women!). You did well because you did what needed to be done. Most people fail in this business because they don't do what is needed to be done on a daily basis. The nice this is that if you do what needs to be done, success is close to guaranteed.Here is what I still do not understand, after talking to a recruiter at Northwestern, I was told I needed to get 6 referred leads a day to have a chance at making it.
1) Keep in mind that recruiters often have no experience in the business. 2) Sometimes, the recruiter isn't a recruiter and is someone in management. The top tier people usually don't end up in management because it is a step down. 3) That being said, he's not completely off-base. You don't need 6 leads a day to succeed, but 6 leads will greatly increase your odds of success. 4) You can absolutely get 6 leads a day. The girlfriend (wife soon) got accepted to grad school in CA. Not having committments now, we decided to come out here. Love it, but I am new here and have almost no connections. Do I have a snowball's chance in hell of making it? Absolutely! The only thing that your lack of connections will do is make your first 3-6 months slightly harder. I have seen posts stating the nothing between 9am to 4pm but seeing people or fighting to see people. Makes sense, but where do I start. I want to know exactly I should be doing during those hours to start? I will do what needs to be done, but what needs to be done? This is very simple (buy not easy). If you aren't on an appointment, make phone calls for the purpose of scheduling appointments or cold walk with the purpose of scheduling an appointment. That's it. No exceptions. I am not brand new to sales, I sold glue for an adhesives company for 12 months before they went under recently. I did okay, but it was definitly a learning year taking the job with no sales experience. I realize sales takes balls and a work ethic, but someone please give me a map. At least with the industrial adhesive company, I they told me what to do each day and if I didn't do it, I was gone by the end of the week. If you can do what I'm telling you to do, you will do extremely well. Help this newbie out!!! With the little bit that we've seen from your few posts, people will be more than happy to give you help.Anonymous- Thank you for your help. Still scared, but from looking at your post I am in complete control of what happens to me. That I like, I am willing to bet on myself. I can last through a slow beginning with my savings (at least 4 to 6 months) but then I need to be making some money as I will be the sole wage earner for the house.
what they dont tell you till you start is that they nickel and dime you on everything. phones, copies, even coffee.
registration fees, office space, any planning software, e&o, state licensing, then you cant call yoruself a financial planner, register with the corporate RIA, pay for registration in every state for that.
and oh yeah, cant mark your investment transactions as solicited, as you cannot solicite investments.
and oh yeah... whole life is the holy grail and will solve any problem...
Sorry you failed out, aeromaks.
Aeromaks, produce and you won't care about nickels and dimes.
Much of what one pays for or doesn't pay for is dependent upon one's employer. Things like rent, phones, copies, etc., have nothing to do with the insurance company and everything to do with the GA. Yes, you can mark investment transactions as solicited. You can solicit investments. I'm guessing that you can't solicit individual stocks and bonds. It's an insurance company so insurance products are the holy grail. So what? Just produce enough to meet very low contract minimums and do whatever you want.I didnt fail out. lol. please, the requirements at an insurance are low ball, I produced in a month what half my office did in a quarter.
I am a former UBS advisor, and worked at Amp before.
and you are right, its not the company, its the GA.
anom, and no, our GA doesnt want anything marked solicited for any investments.
do the products work, yes, but the platforms are highly developed and lacking. Ameriprise had a better training platform than here.
I came to this GA, after my insurance brokerage director recommended it to me. I did mass products when I was an advisor at UBS.
I am by all means making money here, producing well, qualified for rising leaders in 2 months... yet, all that still stands true.
My business was a good mix between fee based planning, fee based wrap accoutnts for investments. I did insurance for the protection planning.
Here, there is no retirement planning, pay for naviplan, pay for Leap, pay for licensing, my compliance doesnt want to read over the financial plans, the investment platform is basicly non existant and no where near what the wirehouses offer. the only way sales managers get comped is on insurance production, and the GA cares about pleasing MM. Investments are a secondary business.... kind of like financial plans were at wirehouses.
I am just kind of pissed that I was not informed of any of this before coming here. This is a rant of how the office is done, and how the GA is structured... not about the company products.
Just a little background about me, I started with Amp, was knocking the ball off of its cover, was recruited to UBS 2 years later, worked there for 2 years until the cuts came in. After that, passed up alot of other opportunities, wirehouses, banks, indy's, and came to the GA of the my insurance broker who I sold Mass products through when I was at UBS. during the 5 meetings I was in with the management of the GA, everything was promised, but when coming here, the little stuff that they dont tell you about comes out, and this is stuff that I even asked out.
for instance registration, I was told point blank, the GA would pick up the tab for license transfers, just to come over. they just did my transfer, and only picked up the home state, the other securities states, left me with a $600 bill.
Planning software, told me if I wanted to use it, would have to pay for it, an extra couple thousand.
so... its the little stuff. is it preventing me from being successful? absolutely not, but just wish they were more up front about it, and what their interestes are aligned with.
just to be clear, the only rant against MassMutual itself is just the lack of an investment platform, and not providing any planning software worth anything.
Sounds like you were the one who didn’t do their due diligence. Seems to me all it would’ve taken was a few questions on your part, and the stuff “they didn’t tell you about” would’ve been answered. And for the love of all that’s holy, what did you expect when you decided to become a career agent at Mass Mutual Life Insurance Company? That they wouldn’t care about your insurance production?
Investments will always be a secondary business to a company like MM. Their B/D operation is probably a break even proposition at best for them. That doesn’t mean that investments have to be secondary to you. MM’s B/D is independent. Never expect an independent B/D to pay for much for you. That is why you can get a payout of 80%+.
If the GA promised to pay for the license transfers, talk to him. If he made the promise and he's an honorable guy, he'll pay for it. If you do a decent amount of investment business, your future license renewals will get paid by your B/D. Keep in mind, also, that you may just be wearing some tight handcuffs because you are new. Start producing and you'll earn freedom to do the things that you want to do. Your job is to help your clients and do the best that you can to do for yourself. Don't worry about what the management team wants you to do.[quote=anonymous]Investments will always be a secondary business to a company like MM. Their B/D operation is probably a break even proposition at best for them. That doesn’t mean that investments have to be secondary to you. MM’s B/D is independent. Never expect an independent B/D to pay for much for you. That is why you can get a payout of 80%+.
If the GA promised to pay for the license transfers, talk to him. If he made the promise and he's an honorable guy, he'll pay for it. If you do a decent amount of investment business, your future license renewals will get paid by your B/D. Keep in mind, also, that you may just be wearing some tight handcuffs because you are new. Start producing and you'll earn freedom to do the things that you want to do. Your job is to help your clients and do the best that you can to do for yourself. Don't worry about what the management team wants you to do.[/quote]
thanks, and you are absolutely right. the other thing is, I am getting far better treatment otherwise vs the other people that are starting, or transfering to the firm. I was brought in onto a position to work with the new guys and help them with the cases in addition to running my own practice.
What really hit me was just the other stuff that I have to pay for. Now considering my production, I will not have to pay for office expenses, rent, telephones etc.... but it is just a novel concept to me. =P
You’re not listening to this guy (Aeromarks). There are separate issues with the MML General Agent, but are legitimate issues with MML as a whole as well. By their own admission at every MML conference I attended, the B/D was a tack-on service. Customer service at the B/D is willing but undertrained and uninformed, and the mistakes they made with client accounts were just nonstop. Poor platforms, planning software, etc. For someone interested in truly offering a full menu of services, this is not the best fit. It really IS all about the insurance (which, for the most part, is excellent).
And while published minimums may be reachable, there are vast differences between GA's (obviously). Unfortunately, mine also was adept at constantly hiding the ball, "forgetting" agreements & incentives, huge pressure to exceed company requirements, no interest in anything but insurance, and, yes, nickel and diming on everything. Question became: Why try to operate with a crippled B/D wing under the auspices of MassMutual, if you can find an independent with great incentive program & support, and still sell Mass as broker?Source URL:https://www.wealthmanagement.com/forums/rookies-trainees/massmutual