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Jan 10, 2008 12:44 am

I am about to join Merrill from Northwestern Mutual. I was wondering if anyone in here has any insight on what the payouts are like for insurance at Merrill and how they compare to NMFN if possible. Specifically, what percentage commission could I expect and are there any renewals?garmond

Jan 10, 2008 1:43 am
BigRed:

I am about to join Merrill from Northwestern Mutual. I was wondering if anyone in here has any insight on what the payouts are like for insurance at Merrill and how they compare to NMFN if possible. Specifically, what percentage commission could I expect and are there any renewals?garmond

  Why don't you ask?   FTR, commissions at a wire will get put through the grid.  You are not paid by ML to do insurance.  You are there to gather assets.  Remember that.   Just curious, why are you leaving NWM?  From what I gather, they're a top-notch firm. 
Jan 10, 2008 1:53 am

BigRed,

  Are we not getting the whole picture here?  How does someone take the job without asking?   Is it safe to assume that you were either failing at NWM or that you never really got started?   At NWM, if you sold a $1000/month whole life policy, you'd probably make about $9000.  This assumes that you are a decent, but not great producer.  This includes FYC of 55% + overrides.    At ML, you'll probably make about $2300 on the same sale.  The commission will still be 55%, but it will go through your grid and you'll get no override.    In short, assume that your commissions at ML will be about 25-30% of what they would be at NWM for the identical sale.   It becomes pretty easy to see why wirehouse guys ignore insurance issues. 
Jan 10, 2008 5:12 am

Do you go to a podiatrist when your tooth hurts?

  Do you go to a CPA to draw up a living trust?   You need to watch some "Delta Dental" commercials because sometimes it's better to be good at 1 thing, and not try to do too much.   If it were me, I'd pick one:  insurance or investments.   But here's a hint:  Investment guys rarely do well with insurance.  Insurance guys can and will get the investment assets!   The nice thing about insurance is that once you learn it, you just need to keep up on small things every year.  It's not like investments where you need to have an opinion on the market every day.  (Not TRACK the market --- just have an opinion.)   Have fun at ML!
Jan 15, 2008 7:00 pm

Damn I did go to the podiatrist when my tooth hurt.  No wonder it’s not better.

Aug 18, 2014 12:39 am

I am curious to know what you found out.
I currently work with northwestern mutual and am looking at moving to Alaska. I am kicking around the idea of switching to ML when I move.
What was your experience?

Apr 15, 2015 8:59 pm

So, very early on in my career, I worked on a joint case with a big producer. He did well into 7 digits a year in premium – and that was many years ago. He told me, don’t worry about commissions, payouts, etc. – do the right thing for the client, and the commissions will just come. Client first. Period. That said, I don’t pay much attention to commissions, I didn’t then, and I certainly don’t now (decades later).

That being said, my comments might be somewhat generic – however, first, wire houses tend to pay “poor” commissions on life insurance sales. Second, how can you be “about to join” and not have discussed commissions…and you are currently in the insurance business. While I don’t focus on commissions, and I have my own firm – if I was joining a firm, I would have to ask about the entire compensation package. Some of this doesn’t make sense to me. If you are inexperienced, I mean no offense, but if so, you need to proceed slowly and with caution.

Northwestern is a premier company – high quality life insurance products, quality access to AUM platforms, etc. There needs to be solid, fundamental reasons to go to a wire house, whether it be ML or any other wire house type firm.

You want specifics? Look at what you are getting at Northwestern, 50%, 55% generically, with overrides et al. Perhaps you are in the neighborhood of 60%, maybe 70%…and at a wire house you should get substantially less, perhaps 25% to 35%. If you are a big producer, both those #'s and ranges could be higher – perhaps 75% to 80% at Northwestern and 35%, perhaps 40% at a wire house, maybe more based upon other production and other compensation.

Do your due diligence. Good luck.