When you start out at a place like Merrill Lynch PMD or Morgan Stanley, the chance of you making it is less than 10% and more than likely you will be gone within a year. Then you will either go to a Fidelity or a Schwab or become an FA at a bank or a licensed personal banker if you want more security...but more than likely you were probably making more money in your previous career so inevitably you go back to it. Obviously income potential and the potential to earn in excess of $250,000 or more attracts people to it.

Let's look at the landscape today. Back in the 80s and 90s, if you worked hard and were diligent, you could tele-market your way to success. People answered their landline phones and you didn't have do not call lists like today. Witness the FAs who have been around since Jimmy Carter was president sitting around their offices from 11-4 everyday nurturing their books adding the odd referral here and there. Back in the day, you could also call people with an investment or stock tip and people would buy from you over the phone.  Do that today and people will go on E Trade and do it themselves. As a result, if you don't have a natural network, you are reduced to cold walking and calling on businesses, and if not trying to get the business owner to do something trying to get them to do a SEP IRA or 401 K with you. Compliance departments will only let you make a phone call, are archaic, and won't let you incorporate social media and do other forms of marketing like email blasts and so forth utilizing the collection of emails and social media profiles.

Only people I see make it are those who were fortunate enough to to get on a high producing team that is overseeing assets in excess of $200 million or more. If you aren't sperm lucky and related to someone, you have to know someone to break in. It's certainly not by merit or bringing a unique functional skill set to the table. More often than not, a young trainee who was fortunate enough to get on a team starts out as a client service associate, a telemarketer, someone who specializes in marketing and does such tasks as handle the seminars once a month, or do portfolio reviews from the bottom of the team's book of business. They have job security because the team will put revenue under the trainee's name to make sure they hit their hurdles. As they gain experience, they will have more responsibility like doing discovery and delivery meetings with prospects. And the cycle will continue with their kids. But not everyone is fortunate enough to break into a team as nepotism and/or connects are key.

In essence, your only chance of success is knowing rich people. If you don't, you will not make it. Plain and simple. I know the recruiters are selling the dream, and I see a lot of threads here from people starting out asking for advice. 

I really think the wire house training model is broken. If you really want to give a trainee a chance to succeed, make the first 6 months after they get licensed not count toward production hurdles. Give the trainee a chance to build discovery with prospective clients and generate a pipeline before the clock starts running. Now the activity will have to be tracked so as to prevent people from slacking and not showing up for work for several days, but this type of model can be effective if done right. 

I've seen too many people wash out and it never changes. I know it's survival of the fittest and all of that, but with it being 2016 and not 1995, some changes need to be made.