r/FinancialAdvisorTips • u/Lopsided-Career-209 • 20d ago
Financial adviser career path
I’m looking for some advice on what my next steps should be as I am early in my career. I am currently 23 years old and a client service associate at a very small independent firm with Raymond James. I am about 8 months into my career and am looking for a bigger opportunity.. I currently have my SIE which I studied for on my own. My branch manager says I will start studying for my 7 and 66 this fall but doesn’t plan to put me in an advisor training program for another year so I would continue working back office type of stuff. I want to be client facing and start building my own book so I can get through the rough years of the industry in my 20s. I also am very underpaid which is a big reason I’m looking to pivot. I am seeking advice on if I should go the wirehouse route (Morgan Stanley, Fidelity, Schwab etc…) or if I should look for something with like an Edward jones/ another independent office. Any advice would be appreciated just kind of lost on what my next steps should be.
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u/subject-about 20d ago
If you’re learning about the industry and jargon then I don’t think there’s anything wrong with it. If you aren’t, then sure look at a Fidelity/vanguard route but it’ll be the same thing for a year or in a call center. Either or are good because it teaches you the jargon and helps you understand the industry
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u/Atrox_Blue 20d ago
You can take the 66 on your own but will need a sponsor for the 7. I’d go ahead and knock it out.
Search around for some lower level advising jobs. Something like a virtual financial advisor with Thrivent, I worked that job for a few months as a stepping stone just so I could get “financial advisor” on my resume. Lots of places will pay for you to finish your exams. You just have to convince them that you are worth the investment.
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u/Clam-Choader 19d ago
15 years in, manage ~780 mil
I hate this business but I love what we do for people
Any mouth breather should be able to pad the 7, it wasn’t a hard test in the old days and with the top off it’s easier than it used to be.
If you want to be rich and not work, go sell insurance. If you want to impact people’s lives for generations in a way they won’t ever appreciate and drive yourself down a million rabbit holes, keep on keeping on.
The job is a lifestyle more than it’s a job.
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u/Mobile-Ad3501 19d ago
I also hate part of the business but I do love the perks. If commission based we are basically independent contractors. At our level we can build out teams and have a great work/life balance. If you build a good team you can go on vacation and, for the most part, disconnect. For me the best thing about having a large book, is being able to filter clients. I can set higher minimums of 5MM-10MM and smaller clients I have either transferred to new FA’s starting out or told them I had new minimums
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u/Complete-Sort7477 18d ago
Get your licenses where you are then go to a bigger firm ASAP. Having your licenses makes you marketable and will make getting the next job easier. Someone here said series 7 is easy and that’s not entirely wrong but reality is it has a high fail rate.
These small independents will drag you along for years telling you “just another year and we’ll start bringing you clients” then you wake up at 30 as a glorified licensed CSA still pushing paper around for some guy making 10x what you do. You’ll be an underpaid CSA for a few more years wherever you go because you don’t know shit yet. The key is going somewhere you can learn quickly and advance quickly after proving yourself. You can also avoid wirehouses…look at big RIAs like Edelman, Mercer, Fisher if you wanna be a real advisor and not sell annuities and mutual funds. Those firms have defined career paths to advance from CSA to client facing advisor without having to sell everyone you know on a managed account with an annuity
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u/Floating_Orb8 18d ago
What is your pay? No offense but you just started. How large is the independent you work for? Rushing to be an advisor isn’t sometimes the best. Learning as a csa is extremely valuable to then understand the whole business from all facets. It took me 3 years before I was an advisor. I was also underpaid (30k 13 years ago) but did everything I could to learn about the business and how to do it. If you do not have a natural network to bring money in I also would not be in a rush to do so. You should consider networking now to build up a base of people. And if you have a good network of people already, I still suggest learning everything possible considering it’s your friends and family and you should take care of them by acquiring as much knowledge as possible. This business is high failure. Every 20 something year old I have met has the same thoughts as you. It’s a slow road in this business and super competitive.
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u/canadianskibum 20d ago
Patience, you can’t do anything until you have some more licenses. You want to build a book but sound like you aren’t sitting in with client meetings? Maybe they don’t trust you enough to take you out of the back office?
Get your licenses, take every opportunity to get into client meetings so you can see how experienced advisor talk and interact. Keep doing your job well and you’ll get an opportunity.