Extremely OT: Career question for you financial people out there
So I know that this is way off topic and this is not really the place for something like this but I am desperate and don't know what other place to go to for help. This is sort of a life changing thing for me so it is that important to me and if this gets deleted I can respect that, but like I said I am desperate for advice and help and I know there are thousands of MGoBlog users that are successful so this would be a good group of people to ask. Please just bare with me.
I have been extended an offer from a financial group as a financial consultant. Pending my passing of the series 7 and 66 exams, I will be employed at this place. So I just have a few questions that I was hoping any of you MGoFinancial consultants could answer.
- First, how hard is the series 7 and 66 exam?
- Is a financial consultant a good career path?
- I'm told that after 3-5 years you should be making somewhere between $60,000-100,000+ a year; is this correct/realistic?
- Do you like your job?
- What can I expect in my first year or so as a financial consultant? Money-wise and just experience-wise.
I don't want to get into any more details than I have already as far as which place this is, as I am more just questioning the career path itself. I don't have my college degree, just some sales background. Is that weird that they are willing to employ me? I just am the type of person who does not like not knowing what to expect and found it hard to get good opinions from my internet research.
Email me....elcaliente2.0 [@] gmail [dot] com. Happy to give you my thoughts off the grid so to speak.
April 11th, 2013 at 10:13 AM ^
That's fine, I understand. I didn't directly work for one of these companies but was offered this kind of job after college and saw friends go through it...some with great success, others not so much.
7 and 63 are fairly easy. Just a lot of work if you never worked in the financial world. You should be able to do it in 2 weeks, maybe 3 tops.
Is financial consultant kind of like a financial advisor?
April 11th, 2013 at 10:01 AM ^
Jsut from reading some of the comments below, it seems to be a financial advisor position. If so, are you a sales person, do you like interacting with people? If you do, I would say go for it.
April 11th, 2013 at 10:00 AM ^
First off, congrats on the opportunity.
This sounds like a big decision for you and I really hope you don't rely on random blog comments to inform your decision.
With this said, take the job and if you hate it make a switch.
April 11th, 2013 at 10:02 AM ^
I'm an engineer, so you know, VERY far from what you're looking at. I've been in the "real" world" (i.e. post college) for 20 years now, though, and I can tell you the single most important lesson I've learned is to not over-analyze it.
By all means do your due dilligence but there's no substitute for jumping in and trying it. You might find it's your dream job and worst-case you'll learn something about yourself that helps you pick the next thing to try.
Err on the side of doing something new.
One man's opinion. Hope it helps.
p.s. Congrats on the opportunity!
for your wise words sir! I do have a tendacy to over-analyze quite a bit, but I am risking quite a bit in all of this so it is just scary to me haha. You're right though, worst that can happen is I hate it and leave with some licenses that I can do other similar things with.
April 11th, 2013 at 10:02 AM ^
I work with CFP's and I manage the retirement plans for a large university system. The best CFP's are the ones that have a great interest in money and the financial markets. By that I mean that they spend a good amount of their free time watching and learning about mutual fund performance and trends.
The $60,000-100,000+ a year is certainly reachable and there is plenty of room for growth in the industry.
Good luck!!
April 11th, 2013 at 10:12 AM ^
April 11th, 2013 at 10:22 AM ^
April 11th, 2013 at 10:12 AM ^
Email me at [email protected]
April 11th, 2013 at 10:20 AM ^
April 11th, 2013 at 10:16 AM ^
FINRA (Financial Industry Regulatory Authority) puts out some fairly comprehensive study guides as well (link below).
It also tells you the number of questions and the time alloted. The FAQ under "Qualifications And Exams" discusses the minimum score for each exam as well. I think the last requirement for Series 7 was a minimum of 72% for the 260 questions (250 of which count towards the score).
April 11th, 2013 at 10:23 AM ^
April 11th, 2013 at 10:22 AM ^
Series 7 is not too difficult.......you might want to look into the CFA (Chartered Financial Analyst)......a series of 3 tests and is more difficult, but could open up some additional job opportunities down the road if Finance is what you're interested in.
April 11th, 2013 at 10:26 AM ^
The finra exams aren't too tough but you should take a prep course or something ahead of time (would not be shocked if your firm would sponsor this actually)
April 11th, 2013 at 10:28 AM ^
Email me: mvpgoblue at gmail dot com
April 11th, 2013 at 10:35 AM ^
This career is all about building relationships and listening to clients needs before your commissions.
One big factor is if they are giving you a book to work with or are you expected to hit the streets?
I wish you good luck and much success because you will get out of this what you put in to it.
With that all said those dollar amounts are realistic but just depends on many factors.
April 11th, 2013 at 10:39 AM ^
April 11th, 2013 at 11:43 AM ^
Trust this guy, he was my RA in Bursley. Keep on merging and acquiring, Boz.
April 18th, 2013 at 12:34 PM ^
Boz once acquired his coworker's vagina. Laura H. She had a mustache, but her titties were solid.
April 11th, 2013 at 10:38 AM ^
April 11th, 2013 at 10:47 AM ^
April 11th, 2013 at 10:49 AM ^
I'm an independent advisor and have my licenses along with the CFP designation. Feel free to email me and I'll answer any questions you would have. jaclark2009 at gmail dot com .
MaizeRage is right on, your first year will be really hard and you'll want to quit. That being said I love this field and there's a major shortage of younger consultants right now so being on the younger end of the spectrum could really payoff down the road.
The FINRA exams are hard but if you study long/hard enough you'll pass.
Good Luck!
April 11th, 2013 at 11:02 AM ^
April 11th, 2013 at 10:49 AM ^
and worked many years at major brokerages. The 7 and 66 are not that hard. The issue for me was the pressure. I don't know how it is now, but back when I took it, you failed, you were fired.
Pretty much everything you are reading is consistent. The talk about earning potential. Just prepare to work your tail off.
April 11th, 2013 at 10:54 AM ^
After I finished my MBA in finance I met with a few of these companies.
All promised big time salaries as soon as I “built my client base up”. How do you do that? Well, let’s start with your friends and family… basically you make your money by getting these accounts but you’re essentially bugging your family, friends and acquaintances and it’s a sales job under the guise of “advisor”. My two cents – don’t do it and get in someplace in the corporate world where you have a guaranteed salary and don’t have to “hustle”.
April 11th, 2013 at 11:00 AM ^
April 11th, 2013 at 11:00 AM ^
April 11th, 2013 at 11:09 AM ^
some of them do work out. You work hard and you can make some good money if you're good at it.
Just to give you some insight/to back up my argument – I worked @ a car dealership for years before I got into the corporate world as a finance mgr. I worked on 100% commission and worked my tail off – crazy hours. But at least the customers came to me. I was very hesitant on the whole “build your own client base” deal. If you’re not out there hustling and making your network, it’s probably not going to work out for you. So, 1. If your personality doesn’t really mesh with the “build your network” thing – then you shouldn’t do it. But 2. At least in my experience – you’re much better off getting into the corporate world as early as you can. My previous experience in sales – while building my knowledge about many things (wasn’t a total waste, don’t get me wrong) set me back years in the corporate world. So, if I could do it all over again I would have toughed it out and waited for a corporate job with a set salary, nice benefits and time off.
April 11th, 2013 at 11:12 AM ^
My deal is that while I am attending a small college right now, i do not have any degrees nor am i even that close. I too am a car salesmen right now by the way. But with that, I couldn't really get into a corporate world career I don't think with my lack of qualification? Also, as far as you know, do you think that sticking this out for a year or so (salary there would be more than what i'm making now on a good month) and IF I don't like it, buabe a greater chance at getting into a corporate world place?
April 11th, 2013 at 11:50 AM ^
If this requires abandoning your degree program for a job that offers few guaranteed benefits, you shouldn't do it. It sounds like the sort of thing where they can make offers like this to a huge number of people at the fairly minimal marginal cost of offering a bit of training for some exams, and then you either sink or swim on your own with little further cost to them aside from giving you a bunch of names they dug up somewhere. If they're offering you a guaranteed living wage of some sort, that's one thing. If not, it sounds like a financial version of Southwestern Company.
April 11th, 2013 at 11:56 AM ^
1. I will still continue taking courses where I am attending college now and pursue my bachelors degree by taking online classes that they offfer as they offer my whole bachelors degree online ( it is a legit college that most people attend in person, not like pheonix or something of that sort)
2 the salary they are offering me is a draw but even without any earnings on commission I will still be making more money than i am now and be able to support myself and bills)
It's possible that what they're offering you is a rare path to upward mobility given whatever your background is. But if you can currently pay your bills, it would probably behoove you to stay on course to finish school. Everybody with experience here is telling you how much time it takes, so you shouldn't underestimate how difficult it would be to actually finish your degree online while spending the time required to succeed with the job.
My advice: stay in school.
A lil further down I go into more detail but my first day on the job I suddenly had to pay for $500 worth of exam books and had no income coming in besides meeting draw requirements such as call 200 people a week=$150 etc.
1) Make sure the draw is "forgivable." There is nothing worse in the sales world than to have a great month and have most of it go towards paying back what you owe on your "nonforgivable draw."
2) With a 4-day class and effort, you should be good on the Series 7 which is the FINRA general securities exam. It's not easy for most people (the 1st-time failure rate data shows that), but if you go into it knowing you need a good amount of effort, you'll be fine.
3) The Series 66 is the exam to be able to offer investment advice for a fee (like a managed-money client who pays a quarterly fee). That you're being required to get this leads me to believe you're looking at a firm that values relationships (your fee goes down as the porfolio does down, in general), so that's a good sign.
4) The field is not easy right now - I will say that. You get a lot of angst from clients who blame you for all the craziness of 2008, regardless of your role. It IS, however, rewarding and a good way to get your foot in the door at some great earning potential jobs. The Series 66 will also enable you to start building a client book that will bring you a "salary"-like experience from their investment fee income - that's a nice thing for budgeting, etc.
5) The securities industry is EXTREMELY legalistic and, since 2008, there is much more regulation to keep up-to-date on. Be prepared.
In the end, if you enjoy sales and building relationships with clients, it's a great profession that can pay quite well. I can quite confidently tell you that if you put in the work, you should get that minimum $60k/year they told you. Just be careful (sounds like you are), and I'll echo the thoughts of the others - GET YOUR DEGREE. While they don't mean as much anymore (and almost never mean anything to the sales world), degrees are a great backbone for a professional career, regardless of the field.
Best of luck!
April 11th, 2013 at 12:04 PM ^
I actually met with Northwestern Mutual Financial and felt like I was getting fed a load of steaming you know what. Hated the "lets make a list of your friends and family deal".
Stick with your degree program, get your BA/BS, whatever - it's hard enough getting a job these days WITH that - without it you will only be able to make a good living from sales jobs. Which, there is nothing wrong with that at all - I know a bunch of guys who do it, do it well - and enjoy it. But there's a big time sacrifice with 9/10 of those jobs. At the end of the day, I'd recommend you get your degree, try and break into the corporate world and work your way up from there. But, everyone is different and all depends on what you're looking for. My perspective is certainly sales/100% commision adverse. Good luck!
April 11th, 2013 at 11:56 AM ^
^^Word. I was all set to do this field straight out of college but got cold feet. My opportunity was a little bit different as they targeted medical professionals only (aka where the money is at) and my compensation structure was supposed to be salary for however long I wanted it to be (capped of course) and then when I wanted to head out on my own it would have been straight commission.
However, you have to remember you are dealing with a bunch of salesmen and they started hem/hawing around the time I was supposed to start.
When I backed out they couldnt believe it as I had scored off the charts on the tests they administered and was the only prospect they extended an offer too.
It may be a good gig for you, and it can give you a good life but just remember there is no loyalty in those companies so use them as much as they use you.
April 11th, 2013 at 12:12 PM ^
if you need it.
I am a CFP and have been doing this since 1984 - everything above is essentially correct. Be very carefull of the annual income numbers. Good brokers (if that is what they are offering) can do that - BUT you will work your ass off and take a LOT OF REJECTION.
You can email me at [email protected] if you want to chat more.
Otherwise - best of luck to you.
April 11th, 2013 at 12:19 PM ^
April 11th, 2013 at 12:19 PM ^
go into something other than finance.
I wouldn't do it. I had a few opportunties where I was fed the same bs and realized that it was all bs and that they would offer this "great opportunity" out to many people. The problem IMO with the job is that these people (no offense to anyone who does this for a living) don't know what the hell they are talking about and generally have no skin in the game. Sure they can tell you "you're 20 years old you should be long equities for the long haul and buy and hold" but that's pretty much it.
I honestly don't see the point of them in today's modern society.