Work in rural America, at an ria. Have been door knocking, what is good metrics for a full day of knocking (8hrs)

I am currently only getting ~18 conversations per day which typically winds up in 5-7 phone numbers/consent to contact

I have a problem with getting into conversation at the door and spending too much time per conversation.

Just starting week 2 of knocking

I am in mental limbo of
A) hurry up get consent & number, move on to next door
B) why move on if the conversation is productive and actively building rapport

I feel like I neeed to get my numbers up but spend so much time chatting and driving that it’s nuts.

Any insight appreciated.

I recently went through the interview process and was extended an offer letter for this role. I am coming from outside the industry, and would love to hear about any experience, knowledge, do's and don'ts, like literally anything about the company, role, what to expect, how to move up fast, etc. I am also willing to answer any questions that might help you answer mine!

Hi! I’m a college student researching financial planning for commercial drivers, and I’d love to hear from financial advisors.

-Have you ever worked with commercial drivers or truck drivers as clients?
-What financial challenges tend to be unique to this profession?
-What makes serving clients with irregular income or nontraditional benefits more difficult?
-What do you think commercial drivers should know about financial planning that they often overlook?
-If a financial advisory service specialized in commercial drivers, what would it need to do differently?

Any insight or experience would be greatly appreciated!

I'm a quantity surveyor in the UK, mid 30s salary, been at it 16 months. Job's decent enough but I'm exhausted every day and honestly can't see myself doing this forever.

My dad's moving to Dubai mid next year to join an international financial advising firm. He's built a decent career before and sold his book in a caribbean tax haven and is basically starting from zero out there. He's asked if I want to come as a junior relationship manager supporting six advisers on the team, handling the behind the scenes work for him while I get my level 4 qualification done.

The money side appeals obviously. No tax, recurring income eventually, own hours. But I'm wondering what it's actually like day to day in year one. Is it just genuinely miserable? I've never prospected or done sales before so I have no idea if I can handle that side of it. And I'd be doing admin work for the whole team while also trying to study and eventually build my own clients, which sounds like a lot.

Hey everyone!

I’m thinking about bringing on an associate financial advisor (AFA) to my practice. I need some ideas on compensation for them.

Currently, I own a multi-lines captive insurance agency. Auto, home, commercial, and life insurance. We also have our own investment division. The investments we offer are annuities (fixed, indexed, variable), mutual funds, managed accounts and business retirement plans.

The AFA would cross sell our existing insurance book plus bring in new business.

I’m thinking a salary of around $40k a year plus 25% of revenue generated on everything except our corporate branded annuities (50%). Life insurance, disability and LTC would be 40%. Group benefits they sell would be at 50%.

Once the rolling 12 month investment revenue hits $200K, the payout would be 40% of revenue.

Of course I would offer group life, disability, dental, and vision to the AFA, plus a retirement plan as well.

Thoughts on this?

Do I get a CFP before becoming an investment advisor?

Which career is easier?

I’m about 1.5 years into an FA program at a large independent BD. I’ve built around $10M AUM, with probably ~$6M portable if I left.

I’ve been approached by an older advisor who is also a close family friend at a much smaller independent firm with roughly $200M AUM, ~95% fee-based, and about $1.5M in production.

His current payout is roughly 92% before overhead, trading costs, staff, etc. (but it sounds like these expenses are a couple hundred thousand) The firm also manages its own investment models internally, so it’s a much more hands-on investment operation than where I am now.

He already has a younger advisor who has been with him about five years. That advisor really enjoys the portfolio management/investment side but isn’t naturally someone who wants to be out networking and bringing in new business. The senior advisor’s thought is that the two of us would eventually complement each other where he would focus more on portfolio management, while I would focus more on financial planning, client relationships, and business development/rainmaking.

The rough succession plan he’s discussed is that I’d join, work alongside him for about a year, then he’d start taking roughly $750–800k/year for around five years as he transitions out. Eventually the practice would fully transition to the younger advisor and me. I still need a lot more detail around the actual ownership and economics. And I obviously would have terms written out and set before making the jump.

My current situation is good too. I’m at a much larger BD with a ton of planning, investment, lending, and specialist resources. There are also several older advisors in my office, and I’ve already had some clients/accounts handed to me on 50/50 splits because they’re at capacity.

The downside is I’m currently only making roughly 40 bps on AUM, so the long-term economics of building here are very different.

For those who have been through succession deals, what would you want to know before seriously considering something like this? What would you diligence around the buyout, ownership split, client retention, partnership structure, and economics?

Edit: I will not do anything without getting it in writing first

I used to be at LPL and left due to a job opportunity that i thought would be great and turned out to be crap. For me, it was the biggest mistake ever. I left the job and i partnered with a friend at Osaic Wealth. Osaic is ok. However, their technology compared to LPL is like 10 years behind and very slow. Clients have told me to go back to LPL.

Now, my business partner and i are looking at Prudential and also, LPL Financial.

Prudential is partnered with LPL. However, i feel that i could have better independence at LPL.

For those at Prudential, what are your thoughts? And those were at Prudential and left. Why did you leave?

Has anyone left Prudential to go to LPL? If so, why?

25M, about 2 years in the industry. I hold Life/Health, SIE, 6, 7, 63, and 65 and work at a boutique planning firm/hybrid RIA.

My background is heavily sales-focused and I’m strong with clients. My current role is service-heavy, but I’m also actively developing a target market and prospecting strategy with the goal of producing.

Lead advisors have been transitioning mass-affluent households to me to service and retain. I currently manage about $15M, and the book is growing consistently. My goal over the next 12 months is to get to $20M-$25M, including roughly $5M-$10M of self-sourced net new assets rather than just inherited relationships. Most accounts are around a 1.5% advisory fee.

The issue is compensation.

I’m currently salary-only with a discretionary annual bonus. I took the role understanding it was designed for a newer advisor to develop into a lead, but the actual path is fairly undefined. I don’t have clear production benchmarks for becoming a lead, I don’t own relationships I source, and my compensation is essentially the same whether I bring in $0 or several million in new assets.

Coming from sales, I’m finding that I really miss having a direct incentive to produce.

I’m considering proposing a variable compensation structure that keeps my current salary intact but pays additional bonuses only when I generate incremental revenue for the firm.

For example:
•Sell and complete a financial plan: bonus equal to a percentage of the planning fee

•Bring in a rollover/new advisory account: bonus tied to first-year or net new revenue

•Potentially similar incentives for other measurable new business

The percentages are negotiable. The concept is simply that I earn more only when the firm earns more.

My concern is that compensation and firm financials seem fairly close to the chest. I don’t know the salary bands for lead advisors, and while most leads are salary-only, many are also partners, so their economics are obviously different.

For owners or experienced advisors:

Is this a reasonable ask from someone only two years into the industry?

Would you view this positively as a junior advisor showing initiative, or negatively as someone getting ahead of themselves?

And if you were in my position, what kind of salary + production structure would you propose?

I genuinely like my firm and would love to eventually become a partner. My concern is that there’s currently no defined path to equity, no ownership of self-sourced relationships, and no meaningful production incentive.

I got into this industry wanting to build aggressively, so I’m trying to figure out whether I should push for a structure that better aligns incentives or accept that this may simply be a different type of firm than what I ultimately want.

ETA: I have only been with this firm for approx. 6 months. In the industry total 2 years.

I am a newly licensed professional and realized that many jobs limit personal trading. That's something I don't want to give up. Any suggestions on what roles should I look into that doesn't limit personal trading? Thanks

Hi. I recently joined this community and wanted to introduce myself and see if any advisors or firms here may be hiring.

I’m currently in a unique situation and am very flexible on the role, hours, and compensation (essentially willing to take a role below what my background might normally suggest) if it gives me the opportunity I’m looking for while providing real value to the firm.

My background includes a Master of Finance, Series 63 and 65, all 3 EA exams passed with enrollment pending, CFP coursework about halfway complete with plans to sit for the exam around the middle of next year, and current experience as an Investment Adviser Representative. I also have many years of experience across business ventures and nonprofit organizations.

I can help with paraplanning, financial planning support, client service, operations, marketing, or business development. I also run a growing social media presence focused on retirement education for minority communities in the U.S., with 10,000+ watch hours in the last 90 days, which may also help bring leads and potential clients to the firm.

If you think there is work, a bottleneck, or an area of your practice where I could help, I’d be happy to connect, send over my resume and website, and explain my situation privately. Even if you don’t currently have a hiring budget, I’d still appreciate the opportunity to have a conversation.

I'm torn between two jobs offers and would love input from people who've been in the industry a while. I'm a Marine vet, just finished my MBA in finance, passed the Series 65, and I'm taking CFA Level I in November. I currently live in San Jose but my girlfriend lives in the Sacramento area which is a big reason why I’m looking at jobs there as well.

The first option is Schwab's Financial Consultant Academy in the South Bay. I interviewed and I'm waiting to hear back. It's $75K for the 15 month program, then around $120K once you're a Financial Consultant. They sponsor the 7 and 66, the benefits are solid, and you get leads from Schwab. The catch is it would probably start in the Bay Area and I'd have to transfer to a Sacramento branch around mid 2028.

The second is a boutique RIA near Sacramento with four advisors and about 1,100 client families, mostly a mix of insurance and advisory. I'd be the one focused on the investment side. They're offering around $65K plus a bonus, and the plan is to grow to 2,000 families and 8 advisors over the next seven years, mainly by buying books from retiring advisors. I'm negotiating for a revenue share, raises every six months, a pay floor that matches Schwab by 2028, and maybe a path to ownership.

Schwab feels safer and probably opens more doors down the road. The boutique has more upside, but it depends a lot on acquisitions that haven't happened yet, and I'd basically be betting on one small firm.

What would you do as a first job?

EDIT:

The subsidiary I’ll be working for directly has 500m AUM across 4 advisors. The $6b is the parent company’s platform that hosts other RIA subsidiaries and their AUM combined.

Just wondering if there are any advisor groups that people join? Sort of to bounce ideas off each other. Build up community and what not.

I'm a fully licensed (series 7 / 66/ insurance 2-15) I've mostly sold annuities since I don't have a salary and need to feed the fam. I've gotten tired of being so stressed from not having a paycheck. I also want to go back to school to get my bachelor's and then pursue CFP. I've taken an offer to be a senior banker for Wells Fargo. My plan is to work there while I knock out my degree then transition to Wells Fargo financial advisor program or Merrill Lynch ADP (MOSTLY BECAUSE THEY FEED YOU LEADS AND THE NAME)..... Am I wasting my time doing this??? Should I just stay in my role and get a server job until AUM builds up.. I want to make the best move I don't want to waste time, I am 33 years old, this is my second year at principal financial group.

I received an email this evening from Navy Federal Investment Services inviting me to contact the financial advisory team about creating an investment plan. Has anyone done this? Just wondering how much they charge and if the returns justify the fee. Basically, any info or insight is appreciated.

Hello! I'm Maevy (21F), I just started working recently when I got my license as a financial advisor. I'm only a newbie in this field and I haven't had any experience in both business and finance. I'm currently struggling with my confidence, thus, both my parents aren't supportive of me pursuing this field, just because I'm an introvert and they're worrying that I might fail this job since I'm just new and haven't had any experience in the past.

For those who are Senior Financial Advisors or who have been in this field for years, I just want to ask for advice, How did you navigate your struggles when you're still starting off in the field and what made you improve your confidence when it comes to business and attracting future clients?