I think everyone who has passed a certain point of no return will tell you this

is a great career…no matter where you are, if done properly it is a great way

to help people and generate a high income doing so. You get to start “your

own business” with very little invested capital (the labor is more than enough

though). I’d do it again in a heartbet–the journey is what makes it

worthwhile when you see the business you’ve built (no matter how modest)

and know it will support your family as long as you want it to.

Yes

I would not start from scratch again no. 

I would however look for ways in without starting scracth definitely.

Jones sucks.

[quote=My Inner Child]Jones sucks. [/quote]

This guy is either a blast to hang with (in real life) or a complete D.Bag  I can't decide which.

The short answer to your question is YES.



I have been in this career for ten years and while it was a LOT of work
to build a book, having a career that I really enjoy and an income in
the top one or two percent of households makes it all worth the work.

Yeah, I’d do it again. It was stressful, there were many ups and downs

(still are), but the lifestyle is better than I thought it would be (I realized

very quickly that I had hated the corporate life even more than I thought I

did). I used to make very good money (for the corporate world), I am not

yet matching it. But I don’t care. I will eventually surpass it (quickly), and

then move past it in leaps, not just at 3% a year (which I was destined for

once I had hit my own corporate ceiling).



Prepare for 5 years of struggle. If you do it in less, good for you, if it

takes longer, hopefully you’re just a slow starter and will catch up. If you

are intelligent, personable, hard working, and have persistence, you are

pretty much guaranteed to make it if you hang in long enough.

broker, can you clarify your post. It sounds like when you say corporate, you are referring to your old job, and the broker environment is much better. Is this what you are saying? I hope so beccause I am in a office team based job and HATE the environment. I think I will like the indepedent nature of the wirehouse.

You’re right. I meant that I prefer the brokerage business over my old

corporate life (not in financial services), despite it being difficult and

stressful in the beginning. I was a senior manager in corporate finance in

an unrelated industry.

Can you share why you like it better, despite the tough beginning?

This is not to sound arrogant but i feel i need to preface this before i respond. I make alot of money and control my own schedule. Having said that we are in a career that is fraught with stress, legal peril and public scrutiny (name another industry that basically discloses their commissions and fees other than the legal profession) If tomorrow i had to start over from 0 I am not certain I would choose that path. I have been through an arbitration. (frivolous and dismissed quickly. still very stressful). I lived through 2000-2002... unpleasant. So... the advice i give anyone who gives a rats arse is: do it once, do it right and continue to try and be humble even when you think you've "made it." (I realize the humble part contradicts my earlier sentence but this is a chatroom I guess i can spout off a little bit.) Every successful person i know deals with and successfully solves problems. It is my belief the more problems you solve, be it for yourself or others the more successful you will be. My .02 cents.

I started in the business in 2002. In my mind, it was a great decision. I am at the point where I can see light in the tunnel, too early to tell if it is a train that will run me over. The first 5 years are a lot of work.

Lefty, to answer your question…it’s a bit complicated, but here it goes:



I had very early success in my previous career. I was a finance manager in

my early 20’s, broke 6-figures by 26, and was being promoted every 1-3

years for the first 12 years of my career. However, that took a lot out of

me, as I worked a minimum 50 hour work week for all of those 12 years,

plus many, many weeks (sometimes for months on end) when I would

work 60-70 hour work weeks. I had tremendous responsibility, where

the slightest mistake from someone on my staff could have presented

major problems for me, and often did. I was growing very tired of paying

for the mistakes of others. On top of that, once I hit about $115K, I was

really looking at about a 3% average increase per year (unless I wanted to

relocate yet again for a promotion) forever. At 35, that was not

acceptable to me. And then I started having kids. Tired of moving for

promo’s, tired of working more hours as I moved up, and my family is

very important to me, bottom line.



So, I always wanted to get into the business, but had to wait until I was

financially able. I had amassed assets in the low-to-mid 6 figures, with

only a modest mortgage for debt. My kids are still young. I could go

years without a dime of income if I needed to (not that I wanted to, or

have had to). So, it was time.



Anyway, it has been tough, but I am in a position to take my time and

build things right. I don’t need to panick and do stupid things to make a

dime. I have had enough success to be able to handle rejection, so I

don’t get too flustered. And none of the “Jones stuff” that everyone talks

about bothers me, though I will admit I would like to build more of my

early business with managed money than I have been able to.



So I guess that’s the deal. Long-winded but sums it up.

Worth it?

Let me answer this way...

Starting with less than zero 24 years ago, this past summer I had enough money to buy a used Lincoln Towncar for cash, which I proudly claim as my daily driver. So, hell yeah, I'd do it again!