You have to remember though, at some ponit they was all in our shoes. They had senior guys licking their chops, hoping for failure as they worked their ass off to get where they are now. I think it is just the cycle of broker life, and I hope to be there soon

You have to remember though, at some ponit they was all in our shoes. They had senior guys licking their chops, hoping for failure as they worked their ass off to get where they are now. I think it is just the cycle of broker life, and I hope to be there soon

I’ve always been told the odds of surviving D-Day were greater than lasting 5 years at a wirehouse.  No idea if that is true, but I have seen lots of people come and go within my complex.

I have 2 days left in year 1. Did just ove 80K gross and just under 9 mil in AUM.

You can always stand on the street corner with a sign that says, “will provide financial advice for food”.  I hear that those guys bring in a lot of cash throughout the day.

[quote=apprentice]You can always stand on the street corner with a sign that says, “will provide financial advice for food”.  I hear that those guys bring in a lot of cash throughout the day.

I agree with some of the posts above - the failure rate is so high because people dont want to get out of their comfort zones and get face-to-face with real opportunities.  It took me a while to get to the point where I could put any nerves aside and approach anyone.

I started at a major wirehouse, and my first month of production was in 2006.  They track our production very carefully, and every month publish the numbers on our class rankings in terms of gross, number of new accounts, fee-based assets, and total assets under management.

Our class began with 65, and now 33 remain.  I know of at least three who left, but are still in the industry at other firms.  I know of a couple more who joined teams, but who for that reason are not tracked along with sole practitioners.  I know of at four more who will probably drop out in the next few weeks; their production just isn’t enough to pay their bills.  And I know of at least half dozen more who are still with the firm, but in another position that requires the 7:  portfolio manager, trader, institutional bonds.

So that leaves about two thirds or so, who are still in the business in some capacity.  And if you can hack through the jungle for four years, it’s likely you’ll be around for life, especially if you’re building an annuitized business.  BTW:  you NEED to build an annuitized business, else you probably won’t have one.

Good luck.

August marks my 30th month of production.  I’m in the bottom quintile in my class in assets ($11.5 million), second in gross (will be about $225k this year), and ranked number 3 in fee-based assets.  Also, my ROA is very high–2.48%–because of the type of business I do (equity trading with covered call writing).  I don’t open accounts unless I have full discretion, and they’re going into the fee-based programs.  That means my total AUM is low relative to my peers, but I don’t have any dead money on my book.  It also means no widows, no CD’s or treasuries or munis–that’s just not the business I enjoy doing.