theironhorse:

Met was pushing it hard when I was there, but it all depends on your MA/GA.  Have been at both Met and NML.  Would definitely choose Met over NML in a heartbeat.

  Tell us horse, what are your thoughts on Met vs. NML?

my thoughts are that both are strong companies.  met will offer a little more freedom and choices among product selection.  met has a much better new hire training PAY program, it is NOT simply higher payout for a short time.  last time i checked it was available for up to 3 years. 

my management at Met wanted the entire sales force to sell "intellectual capital," ie fee based programs.  they have their own available but also offered some outside vendors with whom they had selling arrangements.  NML wanted me to sell NML insurance products.  at least this was my experience.  another MA/GA could have a completely different philosophy.  i have been to an NML annual meeting in Milwaukee and have several friends who were NML agents for 20+ years and it is very cult like and "our crap don't stink mentality."  they do have very solid products when it comes to permanent life insurance, but not SO strong you cannot compete against them at Met or Indy.  i have also attended multiple Met/NEF leaders trips, and the cultures are completely different.  to me it all comes down to NML having way more hoops to jump through and not that much in return to be worth it.   and i do not feel the mutual insurance company vs stock company is that big of a deal.  i believe NML just lowered their dividend so it is not like they are above the fray in times like this.

“Any insight on a career with John Hancock, Northwest Mutual, or Metlife financial services?
It seems like all the big Insurance companies now offer Investment Planning with Fee based or transaction based platforms.
Any info would help!”

  I'd make sure to also look at Guardian, MassMutua, and NewYork Life.   The main advantage of an insurance platform is the ability to sell insurance and make a lot of money selling insurance.  What this means is that a 25 year old CPA making $60,000/year is a good prospect while they aren't a wirehouse prospect at all.  Since most people are decent prospects, you don't have to spend your day dialing for dollars.  I keep a packed calendar and I never make more than 40 dials in a day for appointments.   This takes me 30-45 minutes.  If I'm making cold calls, my ratio is 40 dials, 5 reaches, 2 set appointments.  With referrals, it is closer to 5 dials, 3 reaches, 2 set appointments.  

My practice tends to be pretty diverse.  Sometimes, I sell a lot more insurance.  Sometimes, I sell more investments.  Sometimes, I’m doing fee-only planning, but I try to avoid it because it’s not the best for me or the clients.

  In terms of the work, selling investments is no different than selling insurance.  I'm doing the same thing either way.  The process is no different.  In fact, I'm not trying to sell insurance or investments.  My goal is find out what the client is trying to accomplish and do everything that I can to help them accomplish this.  I don't care what the product is that will help them.  I don't even care if it is a product that will help them.  I don't care if I'll make any money.   Don't think that I'm being altruistic.  I'm not.  I just know that if I'm truly trying to help someone, that will come through.  It doesn't matter if I make money from a specific client.  Plenty of others will need to buy products from me.  This is why the basic part of my fact finder is, "What are your financial concerns?" and then I shut up.   With a new client, I tend to be more insurance focused.  With an existing client, I tend to be more investment focused.  This is only because insurance needs to be taken care of first.  Its pretty silly to talk to people about investments or put together any type of financial plan if they don't have the following:   1)No high interest debt 2)3-6 months income in savings 3) health insurance 4) life insurance (enough for their current and future needs) 5) disability income insurance   Many of my clients would not be acceptable clients if it wasn't for the insurance component.  Plenty of my successful business owner clients have the bulk of their wealth in the business.  Many other clients of mine are young so they don't have significant assets.  Others will never have significant assets.   My prospects come from a combination of referrals, cold calls, cold walks, and I get plenty of people calling me (I won't discuss how I do this because it could jeopardize my anonymity.)  I went years without doing any cold calls.  In fact, I think with an insurance company friends and family is the best way to attack it.  The importance of F&F isn't about getting them as clients, athough you should be trying.  The key is getting referrals from them.  If you learn how to get referrals from them, you will do very well and won't ever have to cold call unless you choose to do so.   Typical money first year is $20,000.  Second year is fail out of the business.  Third year is failed out of the business in second year.  Typical is meaningless.  I think that someone can absolutely earn $100,000 their first year as long as we count 1st year months 4-15 instead of 1-12.    How can you do this?  Simple.  1) From 8-4 do NOTHING but see people or fight to see them.  2)Do everything joint work.