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Aug 21, 2009 4:56 pm

How would people rate the training program at ML? I a have an offer and am seriously considering but wanted to get feedback from the community. The targets are clear and seem straight forward to me.  I am not going into it blind and understand the expectations and the failure rate.

Aug 25, 2009 9:46 pm

I am in your same boat. Posted a simliar question earlier and heard crickets for the most part. Not sure many on here can comment on the “New ML” and training.

Aug 25, 2009 11:43 pm

I went through the old ML training a few years ago so not sure how much it has changed.  Mostly online training learning their beast of a system and the different tools.  Most of our live training was role plays on how to get clients.  If you want specific invesment knowledge, leverage the daily lunches you will have with wholesalers.  Not a lot of investment specifics in their training.  They pretty much throw you out there and tell you to get clients any way that works best for you.  Good luck.

Aug 26, 2009 12:51 am

Having been through the AG Edwards training and watching the ML training, I would tell you that there is NO training at ML. It is more of a throw as much at the wall as possible and see what sticks. This could obviously change based on where you are in the country.

Aug 26, 2009 1:28 am

The training is throwing a bunch of stuff at you, hoping you absorb it and can then somehow translate it into bringing in new money which is annuitized.  The old program was hard, the new one is that much harder.  The expectations are higher depending on how high your base pay is.  I think the program is about a year old now (not sure how the 3-month rollback changes things) and soon you will see people being shown the door who are not on goal.

  It still comes down to contacts and by that I do not mean who you know.  You need to be making contact with prospects via phone, mail, networking, door-to-door stuff, whatever.  Read the 500-Day War thread.  That is the best way to explain how to position yourself for success.   I do not believe any place has a better training program than the other.  If they did, everyone else would do the exact same thing and the failure/washout rates would not be so high.  It is up to the individual, along with some good luck.  Forget the training.  Just figure out how to get in front of as many people with investable assets as possible.   PS  There are no more daily wholesaler lunches.  Even if there were, they are worthless except for getting you fat.
Aug 26, 2009 2:52 am

As a POA/PMD coach at Merrill, I can tell you that the training you will receive depends primarily on the branch and local leadership into which you are hired. I am in an office with 100 FAs and 15-20 of those are in the training program, so we spend a lot of time with our new hires and I feel the training program is as good as it can be (of course I am biased because I run it). If you are hired into a smaller office, I am not sure of the training you would receive.



My best advice to you is to ask the leadership who is hiring you about the specifics of the training plan (who will your coach be? will you have a mentor? how often are there training meetings? etc…).



In the end, ultimately you are responsible for hitting your goals (new clients, new assets primarily), but I can speak from experience there is a lot of support to help you be successful here at Merrill.



Best of luck.

Aug 26, 2009 1:31 pm

That is nice to hear, I start at Merrill in the PMD program on Friday. I have heard that it is one of the better programs in regards to training. The people that have told me this are at UBS, MSSB, a regional boutique, an independent, and JPMorgan PWM.

  My only question is, do any FA's ever move over the the PBIG platform at Merrill?
Aug 26, 2009 7:03 pm

Thanks for the input everyone. Very helpful.

Aug 26, 2009 7:12 pm

[quote=arn] As a POA/PMD coach at Merrill, I can tell you that the training you will receive depends primarily on the branch and local leadership into which you are hired. I am in an office with 100 FAs and 15-20 of those are in the training program, so we spend a lot of time with our new hires and I feel the training program is as good as it can be (of course I am biased because I run it). If you are hired into a smaller office, I am not sure of the training you would receive.



My best advice to you is to ask the leadership who is hiring you about the specifics of the training plan (who will your coach be? will you have a mentor? how often are there training meetings? etc…).



In the end, ultimately you are responsible for hitting your goals (new clients, new assets primarily), but I can speak from experience there is a lot of support to help you be successful here at Merrill.



Best of luck.[/quote]



What are the goals for a new advisor at ML? There is a topic already on MSSB… I was wondering where ML fell

Aug 27, 2009 5:19 am

Last time I looked, it was $15MM after 18 months, and I think 8MM annuitzed-thiis may have changed, but a former ML guy at my old firm had basically said 1MM a month is what they really want.

Aug 27, 2009 3:12 pm

C_FA, those look more like the old POA requirements ($15MM with $10MM Annuitized after 24mos).

  PMD looks like this (all in 36mos): Rather than an total asset number, the hurdles are for NNA   <$50m salary 250,000 PCs $6,500,000 NNA 6 NNHH   $50m - $75m 350,000 PCs $8,000,000 NNA 8 NNHH   $75< 490,000 PCs $10,500,000 NNA 9 NNHH   There are big differences in this program (PMDP) and my program (POA).  New hires beginning in 2008 were placed in the PMDP program.  The POA program does not require that funds are NN (so inherited accounts count toward goals which has been great in this environment).
Aug 27, 2009 4:09 pm

Is that total or per year? The MS goals seems to be a lot higher if that is total.

Aug 27, 2009 4:34 pm

It’s important to consider that 8MM NNA will not get you to 350K in 36 months.

  You really need about twice the NNA shown or do a bit of transactional.   Either way, 8mm in assets will not cut it. You need about 16mm by month 36.
Aug 27, 2009 4:44 pm

What is NNA? and NNHH? If you need 16MM why is the hurdles at half that?

Aug 27, 2009 4:50 pm

Chief - NNA is Net New Annuitized and NNHH is Net New Households (250+).  I think what …chinashop is saying that that a min of $16mm would be needed to make a living.  $16mm would be a good start in total assets (not necessarily all annuitized) which would mean you are generating transactions PCs as well which could get you to the PC hurdle.

  I'm a POA and don't have practical use for the PMD numbers so it's all just my two cents.
Aug 27, 2009 4:59 pm

My point is that you can’t get to 350k with 8MM NNA. Even if you got 8MM on your first day of production, you would still only have 240k in 36 months (1%)

  But yes, 8MM isn't enough to make a living. If fee based at 1%, you bring home about 30k.
Aug 27, 2009 5:03 pm

I agree with you, but my point was that 8mm annuitized does not account for transactional business, which you can assume might be as much as 40% of your book.  Say you’ve got 8mm annuitized with 12.25mm (which is an actual montly hurdle number) total AUM, there is potential to supplement that number and increase PCs depending on what product that might be (equity commissions can pile up if a client isn’t annuitized).

Aug 27, 2009 5:05 pm

Bull can you give us some background? what firm are you with?

Aug 27, 2009 5:08 pm

According to the prophet “Judge” (i think he retired), and the 500 day war, if you can build up $25MM in fee the first 500 days, that gives you $250K going into starting month 25. But I am guessing that is easier said than done. Though it works out to be a little over $1MM/month, 4 new $250K relationships…

Aug 27, 2009 5:19 pm

News Flash

  In case you reps missed it,   ML is gone you now work for BOA!   Call it what it is!   Swallow your EGO's ML is gone they did not know how to manage money they went BELLY up.   And that as Martha Stewart would say IS A GOOD THING