[quote=Paranoid Android]Wait…but I was told that I WAS in the best training in the industry…BOTH times.

They all say that, and theyre all very similar. Maybe thats why they say it, all reading from the same “sales for dummies” book haha. All the training programs are great, you learn a ton and are asked a ton of you…but unless you’re in a unique focused program, FAA PMD Ed Jones, etc. Theyre all the same training…well, maybe not Jones cause they dont teach much in product or strategy, just gathering[/quote]

I can see you are not one for detail. Not once did I say they (as in the company – ML, MSSB, etc.) but as in the client. Big difference here. I could care less what company says they have the best training, technology, or research. They are all biased. But, when a client or prospective client knows about the training, that is what counts. Details are very important!

Just a comment from a current PMD that just finished my first year in the program. It’s different everywhere. Some complexes won’t hire unless there is a team need, others hire and fire in multitudes. My experience has been good thus far, but can’t say the same for everyone. In an office that averages 10 PMD’s, I have seen 3-4 leave in a year (all within their first 18 months). I’m pretty sure they all went to other firms, and none of them have been contacted by legal. Maybe that depends on the complex you work for as well.

Also, something else to consider…Merrill just started the BFA program for PMD’s, which means if you can make it past month 9 hurdles (which is not difficult if you are working hard)then you can potentially pair with a team and enter a BOA branch. This is huge. Guys are already seeing their pipeline fill up, and closing business much faster than when they were cold calling. I am entering later this year, and am allowed to stay at the branch through graduation (and they suspend your goals for 4 months at the outset). Merrill is slowly starting to get it, and I believe the heat has come from BOA to make sure the retention numbers are more positive.

Also, training programs do not make anyone more or less likely to survive in the business. You’ve got to know who your market is, join the firm that supports that market, and work your ass off. Sure, I think Merrill has a great training program. However, if you aren’t comfortable around HNW folks, it’s not going to do anything for you. The best advice I could give you, is to make your decision based on YOUR CURRENT SITUATION, and not your perceived situation. Take a serious look at your natural market and figure out what firm is going to support you. You can be successful in your early years working for a firm that supports the mass affluent and then move that business down the road.

[quote=Mr. Sweaters]Just a comment from a current PMD that just finished my first year in the program. It’s different everywhere. Some complexes won’t hire unless there is a team need, others hire and fire in multitudes. My experience has been good thus far, but can’t say the same for everyone. In an office that averages 10 PMD’s, I have seen 3-4 leave in a year (all within their first 18 months). I’m pretty sure they all went to other firms, and none of them have been contacted by legal. Maybe that depends on the complex you work for as well.

Also, something else to consider…Merrill just started the BFA program for PMD’s, which means if you can make it past month 9 hurdles (which is not difficult if you are working hard)then you can potentially pair with a team and enter a BOA branch. This is huge. Guys are already seeing their pipeline fill up, and closing business much faster than when they were cold calling. I am entering later this year, and am allowed to stay at the branch through graduation (and they suspend your goals for 4 months at the outset). Merrill is slowly starting to get it, and I believe the heat has come from BOA to make sure the retention numbers are more positive.

Also, training programs do not make anyone more or less likely to survive in the business. You’ve got to know who your market is, join the firm that supports that market, and work your ass off. Sure, I think Merrill has a great training program. However, if you aren’t comfortable around HNW folks, it’s not going to do anything for you. The best advice I could give you, is to make your decision based on YOUR CURRENT SITUATION, and not your perceived situation. Take a serious look at your natural market and figure out what firm is going to support you. You can be successful in your early years working for a firm that supports the mass affluent and then move that business down the road.[/quote]

Unfortunately, the BFA program isn’t going to help a person who lives in an area where BofA doesn’t have a footprint(where I live).

If you get fired and go to work at another investment firm as well as have your Series 7 and 66 registered, they will not go after you for repayment of training costs. If you quit within the three year PMD training period and go to work for an investment firm and have your licenses registered, they will go after you. And it doesn’t matter what branch you work for. There is a law firm in Philadelphia that will send you a demand letter once they see that you quit and are registered with another firm. It’s happened to three guys who worked at my branch and they called the sales manager and complex manager…and they didn’t know that ML legal was going after them for training costs. Also, I know five people who were fired within the three year training period who resurfaced at other wirehouses and didn’t get a demand letter for repayment of training costs.

@MrSweaters – the BFA program is a good one to get in if you can. Very good prospecting from all aspects of the bank. Also the new ML team system will try to mirror the BFA internally. Meaning it will give greater benefits to older FAs who push off sub-1 mil accounts. Thus giving the younger FA the ability to have a steady stream prospects outside of the normal prospecting routes.

@MrSweaters – the BFA program is a good one to get in if you can. Very good prospecting from all aspects of the bank. Also the new ML team system will try to mirror the BFA internally. Meaning it will give greater benefits to older FAs who push off sub-1 mil accounts. Thus giving the younger FA the ability to have a steady stream prospects outside of the normal prospecting routes.

I start the BFA program in April luckily.

now, tell me a little more about your gang past. Very crucial detail in your story haha just stop

Do they drug test for this position?

@Teamnsk123 we have similar backgrounds. I wasn’t in a gang but I did have a rough upbringing. I’ve been in financial services for 8 years, and I’ve worked at both Merrill and Morgan Stanley. I’ve also been in the PMD program. I’ve been licensed for 5 years, have 75 million in AUM, and I’ll do about 680k in production this year. I’m a not part of a team. I’m 31 and I’ll be 32 in May. Take my advice/info for what it’s worth, and figure out how it may or may not help you. What I’m about to tell you is the truth, but it’s not gospel.

2.) As it relates to this business, the beautiful thing is that its a lot like life; there are no right answers and it is what you make of it. From a product standpoint and what you can offer clients, all the firms are the same. ML, MS, UBS, JPMPB, GS, they all offer the same solutions. The ways in which they differ relate to their strengths as a firm. I’d investigate them and then see which is the best fit for you. Don’t get caught up on the ‘prestige’ or cachet, that shit wears off. You gonna face the same challenges regardless of the firm you’re at.

ML is Bank of America. Remember that. Bank of America is concerned with increasing bank revenues. ML is a very small part of those revenues. What that means to you as an FA is that you will be treated as a commodity and used as a channel to increase profits for the bank. I’m not saying that’s wrong, but it will be the landscape you’ll step into.

The PMD program sucks and so does the BFA program. The PMD program is structured to incentive you to not build a long term business. The goals are also very aggressive. That doesn’t mean it’s impossible, it just means that it’s challenging and its structure won’t help you be successful in the long term. As long as you know that going in, and know how to combat that, you’ll be fine. The BFA program is good in theory, but is horrible in action if your long term goal is to be an FA. You’ll be sitting in a BOA branch referring larger relationships to ‘your’ team that might take you on as a JR. at the end of the program. If that team takes you or not really depends on you though.

Morgan Stanley has the best training program right now. That can and will change though. The comp plan is second to none, the goals incentivize trainees to build a long term business, and they do a better job of teaching trainees what they need to know to be successful in this business. With that said, all of these programs don’t do a very good job of teaching you that this is a sales job. Your job is to bring in clients and help them achieve their goals. Period. No matter what firm you go to, youll need to get new clients somehow and keep them. You’ll also need to understand that perceptions matter and clients do judge you. Wheather it’s your age, race, etc. you have to find a way to either change their perception of you, or make them feel comfortable with their perceived objection. Also, people will try to take advantage of you. Leverage the firm, but be prudent when working with other FAs. Don’t discount your value, but also don’t inflate it either. Know what you can handle and what you can’t, because if you don’t, you’ll be taken advantage of or miss opportunities.

I would highly suggest joining a team immediately if you do plan on going the PMD route. I am a PMD in the Dallas complex, so I feel like I should know you… But no one comes to mind matching your description…

Anyways…

You aren’t worth anything more to a team right now than your ability to pick up a phone and cold call. This is actually not a bad thing. From what I’ve noticed in this program is that everyone is responsible for building their own business, and once an FA is a few years out of the program they can transition into another role on the team.

First off, ML/BoA is a great company to work for. I have been on board for a little while. The PMD class is a very structured class with high levels of skill and work. The first thing you should ask yourself is, do I like the team in my current office? If not, go interview other offices

[quote=Prepare]I would highly suggest joining a team immediately if you do plan on going the PMD route. I am a PMD in the Dallas complex, so I feel like I should know you… But no one comes to mind matching your description…

Anyways…

You aren’t worth anything more to a team right now than your ability to pick up a phone and cold call. This is actually not a bad thing. From what I’ve noticed in this program is that everyone is responsible for building their own business, and once an FA is a few years out of the program they can transition into another role on the team.[/quote]

First off guys, ya’ll are awesome. So many replies to this thread. I haven’t been on here in a minute. These are all very professional and insightful answers. Really. I wrote this back in the days I was also on sites like AF and WSO.

Prepare,

I’m actually based out in Houston, TX. I wanted to keep my location private yet get an answer as local as possible. I would rather hear the opinions of Dallasites than Floridians. Office culture is huge.

I did the stint for about a month here in Houston and figured it wasnt for me. Just not enough on the investing side. Great gig but I quickly transitioned into trading. I am about to graduate U of H. Not a target school really but I just put the resumes out there and eventually they call back. Its fun. Eventually I’ll burn out. Who knows. Working with Optiver in Chicago.

[quote=Prepare]I would highly suggest joining a team immediately if you do plan on going the PMD route. I am a PMD in the Dallas complex, so I feel like I should know you… But no one comes to mind matching your description…

Anyways…

You aren’t worth anything more to a team right now than your ability to pick up a phone and cold call. This is actually not a bad thing. From what I’ve noticed in this program is that everyone is responsible for building their own business, and once an FA is a few years out of the program they can transition into another role on the team.[/quote]

First off guys, ya’ll are awesome. So many replies to this thread. I haven’t been on here in a minute. These are all very professional and insightful answers. Really. I wrote this back in the days I was also on sites like AF and WSO.

Prepare,

I’m actually based out in Houston, TX. I wanted to keep my location private yet get an answer as local as possible. I would rather hear the opinions of Dallasites than Floridians. Office culture is huge.

I did the stint for about a month here in Houston and figured it wasnt for me. Just not enough on the investing side. Great gig but I quickly transitioned into trading. I am about to graduate U of H. Not a target school really but I just put the resumes out there and eventually they call back. Its fun. Eventually I’ll burn out. Who knows. Working with Optiver in Chicago.

I am a PMD at ML entering month 12. Here’s the deal: PMD is like the Navy SEALS of FA training–if you can get out alive, you can survive. But here is the catch: you have to be prepared for 60+ hour weeks and prospecting adequately to get 5-8 conversations with prospects per week. You also need to get your stuff down so that it isn’t taking you 5 meetings to close an account, meaning, you have to develop efficiencies that allow you to make prospecting your primary focus. The pipeline is everything.

There is so much to say but a few salient points:

–Your complex matters; if you are in a crappy complex you are disadvantaged; before taking a PMD role ask to speak with PMD grads to get the scoop on the best complexes in your area–the most supportive management, the best-resourced and so on. Then try to work at one of those places if at all possible.

–The comp is confusing. Period. There are additional incentives when you supersede hurdles by X% but those incentives are hard to get, especially as they get higher.

–You want a largely annuitized book of business but you will still need transactional business to make hurdles, especially later on. This is the single biggest flaw of the program–the fact that they encourage annuitized business but make the hurdles so crazy instead of holding you to task on other metrics (affluent households, overall % charged on annuitized assets, etc.).

-The research and specialists available to you are top flight. You will need to spend a fair amount of time in the beginning to figure out what’s available to you and how to leverage it so that you are not reinventing the wheel.

-To this end-- you need to drink from the firehose. The learning curve is steep and quick. Basically there is too much information and you need to sift and filter through to figure out what you are looking for. You are really hanging out there unless you speak up, ask for advice or sit on a team.

-Teams can be good but are not for everyone. What tends to happen with PMDs on teams (unless it is a family team) is that they get the smallest accounts so their book affluence sucks. This is a big problem because you don’t get paid on the sub-250 accounts. They only count towards your hurdles. So you come out of the program in rough shape. Again, teams can be great but you really need to understand the expectations and your potential.

–Being a sole practitioner (me, so far) allows you to control your day. As a midlife career changer with a young kid I craved that flexibility. They don’t care if you are on Mars as long as you are bringing in assets and you are not running afoul of the law.

-Team FAs can also be affiliated with a bank branch. Yes, it is a way to fill your pipeline but you have to be OK sitting in a branch 5 days a week (and one Sat per month). You will also need to do things for the branch like open credit cards, write mortgages and so on. That’s all ok, but you don’t have the freedom of structuring your day. Again, too, the risk of a low-affluence book. That is very branch-dependent. Also very important–you have to have a good relationship with the branch manager for the flexibility you may need sometimes. You won’t be able to go out and leave to prospect generally.

Do I like ML? I came from a much less structured environment in my former career completely unrelated to finance, so I looove the structure. Everything is geared to facilitating the advisors and trying to deliver for the clients. You may cry foul, but the truth of the matter is that it has become a service business in the interest of having “sticky assets”–so if you don’t deliver the client leaves. It is a self-regulating situation.

There are hacks and jerks but they are the minority, frankly, because we have moved away from the broker/transactional model. I believe in the service model so it really works for me. The workload is un-freaking-real. Unreal. But I have my freedom and I am building my business and I will fight REALLY HARD for that.

Am I on hurdle? For now. I am top quintile nationally and walked in with no network and a tiny book of people (my family). I am at $12MM AUM entering my 12th month. I fought like an animal to get this far and it won’t get easier. I am trying to have an efficient book–assets that are working and not just sitting there. Sometimes that’s hard. My point–it can be done.

If you can survive the first year they tend to put more energy into you because you start to show promise. But you have to be psychotically motivated.

In short, this is the best thing I ever did for myself. It’s mine, I get to build it how I want. It is also the hardest career thing I have ever done, and it is not clear I will succeed ultimately but I am going to assume the best and stay focused because failure is not an option. I have had other adversities in life that puts this in perspective and takes away some of the fear (not all of it–a little fear is healthy).

And yes, we have PMD graduates. My complex is strong and the economy improved over the last few years making it easier to build a book and graduate. But they will all tell you it was brutal.

IMHO here are the top qualities you need to get through PMD:
–Motivators beyond the money itself–what is the vision of the life you want? What are your priorities? Write down that vision and post it next to your computer. It will be the thing that focuses you when you have a bad day (and you will). I was told and believe that if money is your core focus, you will be out of the program within 18 months because it is just too damn hard and there is too much delayed gratification to make it just about the money. A terrific advisor recently told me: don’t die within the first 3-5 years of your career in this business–it won’t have been worth it. Words to live by.
-A maniacal drive; workaholism helps. Mania helps. Sorry, but that’s a fact.
-Resiliency when you hear the word no 4,000 time a week. You have to really and truly not care, and know that you hit the balls you take a swing at. When the hurdles scare you, you have to be able to hunker down and dig deep.
-Ability to ask for help. Ask to be assigned a mentor. Do nice things for your colleagues and they will often be kind about giving insight.
-Take in as much info as possible and develop your own investment convictions.
-Assume no shortcuts.
-Facility with computers. Sounds dumb but I do see older advisors who are slower because it takes them a while to figure processes out–generating proposals, reviews, finding information… it is easy to kill hours with that.
-An ability to look at the big picture and the fine line–being able to assess every single day what the most important activities are.

I am sure there is more I am not thinking of but, in short, go in totally committed. You get out what you put in.

Hey so any update on how bhalbert or mr. sweaters pmd program experience is going?? i’m going to start in 2 weeks!

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