worked in RBG for 3.5 years... AXA is a good firm- but they are a glorified insurance company. they will push you to sell Equitable annuities and life insurance. All your benefits are tied into Equitable production...

Stay away from AXA. If you must stay, get your licenses, get some experience, then get out.... It is not a place to hang your hat long term....

Where is a place that you can hang your hat long term with a better opportunity?

they have made it very hard to stay there for a few years and leave..since most of their products have HUUUUUUGE CDSC..I stayed there for 1 1/2 years and went indy..that was in 2000 though, so times have changed...

This whole "pre contract" thing is bs.  From what I understand they hardly pay you at all, and then you end up covering a lot of your office expenses(desk rental, parking, phone charges) once you are under contract.

I haven't heard much in the way of good things about them in all honesty...

It's all true... You will be heavuily encouraged to sell their annuities, some of which carry 12 year declining CDSC- 6% for the first 6 years... When you do leave, the costs make it very difficult to move accounts, unless you blast them back into a bonus VA.

JoeDaMan is right in that you will be expected to cover most of your expenses. I used to pay  $165/month NET for E and O insurance, 90/month for computer/software costs, all postage, and my comp plan required me to sell a certain amount of AXA Equitable product to cover office rent, assistants, etc...

I can guarantee you that they will do a good job in training you on the industry, products, etc, but at the end of the day-

 ANNUITIES and LIFE INSURANCE are the ONLY ANSWER....

I realized a year and a half in that it wasnt a good place long term, and began investing my clients in wrap accounts, brokerage IRA’s, etc. That didnt pay the management as much, so there was some obvious friction there… Left last year, and love it…

That CDSC is sick!

And requiring you to sell a certain amt of prop product to cover rent and staf....you really wonder how they get away with it these days, or why their agents stay with them.

Do they really keep anyone with experience blarm?

I would like to go indy in a few years but need the training first.... so is this a place that will give great training and experience?

thank you all for all your replys, especially on the costs side. I did not know about those

Lets just say that they never recruited a capable, big time prodcuer from the competition. Our branch/ complex had 2-3 heavy hitters, but their product mix was something like 90% proprietary....

1Red- there are plenty of firms that provide good training. And the experience you generate is entirely up to you... I urge you to consider other options... Also, unless you find decent rollovers and have a defined niche market, you will starve under the salary ( it was 2k/month for 2 years, then declining after that...)..

Good luck to you- and your clients.....

I previously worked AXA and honestly dont have a positive thing to say
other than I am glad I got my licensing.  What everyone else
stated is correct. 



In my case they somewhat mislead me in the interviews about the “pre
contract stage.”  I was told that I would start on salary after
getting fully licesnesed.  After I was licensed I had to then wait
for the training in NJ to start on salary, then they added more
conditions, such as 3000 PCs and like 20 new TSA clients before I could
even see a dime (and that was after having to pay for all of my
licensing).  

Ahhhhhh..... RBG.... RBG.... RBG.....

Sell- TSA....TSA.....TSA....TSA.......

The best place depends on the type of clients you have and what you want to do for them.  What is your business plan like?

This is the only business where you can get people to work for free?

A sales motivational speaker once said that “sales can either be the easiest, lowest paying job you’ll ever have or it can be the hardest, highest paying job you’ll ever have”.

Reminds me of my buddy a “branch manager” at RJF (indy) that doesn’t

receive any compensation for his role as principal. “All the downside and

none of the upside.”

[quote=skeedaddy]Reminds me of my buddy a "branch manager" at RJF (indy) that doesn't
receive any compensation for his role as principal. "All the downside and
none of the upside." [/quote]

Does he have people operating under his OSJ?  If so, he should get an override on their business....

So does the guy at Merrill but he also has another $225K-$350K on top of

that. Shouldn’t RJF spot him at least $75K for added exposure?