Joining A Team In A New City
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All,
Just curious what the forum's thoughts might be about my situation. I am currently working as an advisor at a regional bank in the DC area. My plan had been to return to Smith Barney, where I had worked as a sales assistant, to become the junior partner of an advisor. Due to some changes in my personal life, i.e. marriage and spouse's new job, I am going to be moving to New York City shortly. My question for the forum is what is the best strategy for me to land a spot on a team at a firm in New York? I think it is becoming increasingly impossible for a new advisor to start out solo and be successful, particularly in a place like New York. Is it likely a FA or FA team would hire an unknown person like myself to market for them and build up the team's book of business? This was the plan for me if the Smith Barney partnership had worked out.
Thanks for your thoughts in advance.
My first comment is about the impossibility of starting out new. I think that we all said this when we started out. The view from the bottom is daunting, for sure, but there will be millions and billions of people behind you who will start from nothing and make it in this business. Not that I know HOW, but they will. Probably not a bad idea to learn to speak Chinese.
Second (actually, first) problem is in the word "Shortly." It doesn't leave much time and you need to look less desperate than you will be.
A bit of the good news is that you don't HAVE to be sitting at the actual foot of the master. You COULD still have a partnership relationship if the other guy did enough gross and he wanted a long distance Jr. The computers are all the same and so are the rules of engagement. This being said, the local branch manager might be more willing to find you a desk in his office, but, of course, NYC prodo is generally held to a higher standard than non NYC areas.
OTOH, if you are coming from a bank, how do your client poaching chances look? Again , if they are good the local will look more favorably at you as a candidate (far as I know, which, admittedly might not be very far). Once you are in a branch, you'll of course let it be known that you are looking to be a Jr. partner (as if you'll be the only one, I don't know, but I will say that partnerships have somewhat less of a chance than a marriage when it comes to longevity. Most of the ones I've been witness to lasted less long than a high school romance.)
Alzo alzo vik, NYC is one expensive place to live! Most people live someplace else and commute. With that in mind, you are likely NOT to live in the city and therefore the need to find an office in the city is lessened (FAIK). I'm located outside NYC in a commuter area, so I know how far I know about this. Perhaps what you might do is canvas the suburban Barney offices (I know of several with LOTS of empty desks! But I may know of one less later this very week, and not due to any new hires) then you can make some decisions about where you want to live based on where your Barney branch will be. PM me if you want some particulars. Heck, if you can bring along a bit of business, maybe you could market for us. (Not an offer of employment, just a suggestion that there are other options out there. Perhaps better than SB, too!)