Stephen Sawtelle’s case is 20 years old? Is that what they told you?

He got fired in 1997 and I’m not sure if he has yet been paid for W & R’s

behavior. He certainly hadn’t been since May of 2005.



Waddell, ex-broker mediation yields no resolution (Kansas City Business

Journal)

[quote=anonymous]

Stephen Sawtelle’s case is 20 years old? Is that what they told you?

He got fired in 1997 and I’m not sure if he has yet been paid for W & R’s

behavior. He certainly hadn’t been since May of 2005.



Waddell, ex-broker mediation yields no resolution (Kansas City Business

Journal)

[/quote]

Forget about Steven Sawtelle, WR is still the laughing stock of the

industry. Even the kids at american express laugh at them.

WR and SB offers come right from the BM according to my head hunter. of course I'm sure corp. gives them the discretion they need but under certian guidelines.

I'm hoping to hammer somthing down in the next week or so...

I see Inner Child didnt respond to me....I guess I'm Money! BoooYA!

[quote=cfgroup]

Inner child,  

who exactly do you work for since you know everthing?  I suspect that you dont even work in the field...youre just a wanna be.  A loser that can't land a job as an FA w/ anybody...you're probably still in college praying for the day that you can transfer from the local tech school that your at and maybe just maybe youll get accepted at a reputable university and maybe just maybe you'll land an internship at the local wire house. 

THe WR offers are based on experiance in sales. I have 7 years in sales so I qualified for the higher offer.

[/quote]

I work for myself.

So you run your on office as an FA?

What qualifies you to give an opinion on these firms? Have your worked for them?

I can’t imagine how anyone could equate SB with W&R in terms of AUM or

product offerings. If you honsetly believe that they are equals, go with the

one closest to your home and be done with it. However, please don’t think

that anyone with any knowledge of our business at all, here or anywhere

else, to validate your decision. That would appear to be all that you want

anyway.

[quote=cfgroup]

So you run your on office as an FA?

What qualifies you to give an opinion on these firms? Have your worked for them?

[/quote]

Listen, little girl... if trying to discredit me makes you feel better about the career limiting move you are making, keep your head in the sand. Better you than me.

well I equate them based on their product offerings. they are about the same. sure WR is more oriented towards MF's but they can basically do anything. SB has their on MF's also.

As for you inner child, that was a great come back. still dancin around like a fool and refuses to answer my questions. I can tell you dont work as an FA. In fact I'm not sure many people reading this forum do b/c if you did it would be too easy for you to offer up a couple sound points of view thats based on facts, not just your arbitrary opinion.

To say that WR and SB aren’t even close to being in the same league by ANY

metric, including product offerings, is a gross understatement. My only

advice to you would be to check your research very carefully before signing

anything.

[quote=anonymous]

Stephen Sawtelle’s case is 20 years old? Is that what they told you?

He got fired in 1997 and I’m not sure if he has yet been paid for W & R’s

behavior. He certainly hadn’t been since May of 2005.



Waddell, ex-broker mediation yields no resolution (Kansas City Business

Journal)

[/quote]



Stephen Sawtelle (On Wall Street)

It all happened back in the 80’s, we are now in the year 2006 “welcome”,

which equals 20+ years. Even your own article states still in arbitration in

1997 over 10 years ago. Point is don’t hold that against W&R. I have

never said that Waddell & Reed is a better or even equal company to the

major wirehouses. Fact is I could care less what name is on the front

door, all I care about is where is the best place for me to make the most

money. All I ever asked was “can I make money at Waddel & Reed”, then

everyone and their secretary (except for My Inner Child, No secretary

there) started dogging W&R. I don’t care who is the best wirehouse all I

care about is making myself and everyone around me more money than

they can ever spend.

WADRED, the article states that Mr. Sawtelle was fired in 1997, and that

the arbitration has been going on for eight years. It goes on to say that W&R

is facing a rash of cases, totaling $32.5 million. While I might agree that the

firm shouldn’t be slammed for an isolated case, this number suggests that

the behavior is systemic.



My point is that if I were trying to decide between offers from a firm with

this kind of problems and a major, well-respected wirehouse, there would

have to be something extraordinary in the offing from W&R.

You're a retard and you should go to WR with the other retards. Have a nice day.

I'd hate to know your inner child. You've got about as much intellectual firepower as "Joe duh browkah" going on this string or forum. "All us kids at American Express" think you are really funny. Thanks for the cheap adrenaline shot.

This is the dumbest conversation I have ever heard. W&R is crap. The people in the office near me are the most unprofessional people I have met in the business. While that doesn't mean that's how it is everywhere, let's explore only the obvious:

It has already been brought to your attention that (just like with eddy jones) they will "force" you to push certain products.  How they do that, I don't exactly know.  I actually interviewed at my local office and was told you can offer other products, but their products are so good that it is "frowned upon" to offer anything else. I of course walked out the door with no intentions of going back. 

Secondly, are you seriously going to compare the resources you will get at SB with the resources at W&R?  I have not worked there, but if it's anything like MS (and I am sure it is) you will have experts in every possible area at your disposal.  If they are not in your office, they are a simple phone call away.  If you have a serious money prospect, you'll be surprised to know that they will do anything in their power to help you secure them as a client, which means if someone local can't help, they will fly an expert in or at least go through a conference call with you.

There are many more, but I have already typed too much, so I'll just mention that you will have many more products to offer.  For me, it's our second to none fixed income products and alternative investments.  For you, if you land the SB job, you obviously have superior banking products and services at your disposal.  These of course should count towards you asset goals as a trainee.  If you are not sure about that, ask the BM.  It's amazing how much easier it is to get in and talk with someone with money when you have something different to offer.  Where is W&Rs competitive advantage?

Sorry about the long post, but you wanted clear and concise reasons why MS, ML, SB, UBS are better.  I hope this helps.

 I don't care who is the best wirehouse all I care about is making myself and everyone around me more money than they can ever spend. 

Considering the boomers are in trouble, Social Security and Medicare are failing, and the level of financial ignorance in this country, that shouln't be too hard. With America's leadership position in free marketing and the development of Asia, and creative debt restructuring, the party should continue.

As for the little blowhards at the big wires (not the big producers who already feel good about themselves), let them pump themselves up here before their next review with their sales manager. They're just trying to feel better in case they get moved out of the bosses' window desk.

Here is WRs competitive advantage as my competitor: staying power, and down to earth individual reps, like anywhere else. Some folks can't wait to get to MS, (which was in the dog house with reps a year ago), so they can figure out if the grass is greener at ML, SB, UBS. Some reps just have a need to pee on their industry colleagues to feel good about themselves.

Wadred, can we assume that you failed any test that included reading comprehension?  

I believe I discussed the "down to earth" part of our local W&R office.  The most unprofessional people I met with in my few interviews.

Whether they are like that everywhere (as it appears is most people experience in here) or not,  you don't have much right to attack my post.  I kept it specific to the facts for the most part, and W&R will ALWAYS be fighting an uphill battle because of those facts.  That's all cfgroup wanted to hear; compelling reasons why not to go with W&R.  I think I provided him something to think about.

As far as your MS attacks go, you aren't hurting my feelings.  Your "exposing" MS as being in the doghouse last year, and their complete turnaround this year is a perfect example of how volatile this business can be.  Who really cares.  It's the same story everywhere, if you don't produce you get shown the door.  I agree that we shouldn't attack our colleagues (a philosophy that you aren't exactly following that well right now, either).  I just don't support companies that push particular products.  It's not ethical.  Believe it or not, when the big wigs come down from NY to talk with us, they tell us to do what is best for our clients every time.  I've heard the stories about W&R and EJ "pushing" non-compliant people out of the door one way or another and it upsets me.  At least the major wirehouses tell new hires upfront that if they don't reach certain goals by certain time periods they are out.  If you don't like it you have the option to do something before hand.

[quote=tenthtee]

 I don't care who is the best wirehouse all I care about is making myself and everyone around me more money than they can ever spend. 

Considering the boomers are in trouble, Social Security and Medicare are failing, and the level of financial ignorance in this country, that shouln't be too hard. With America's leadership position in free marketing and the development of Asia, and creative debt restructuring, the party should continue.

As for the little blowhards at the big wires (not the big producers who already feel good about themselves), let them pump themselves up here before their next review with their sales manager. They're just trying to feel better in case they get moved out of the bosses' window desk.

Here is WRs competitive advantage as my competitor: staying power, and down to earth individual reps, like anywhere else. Some folks can't wait to get to MS, (which was in the dog house with reps a year ago), so they can figure out if the grass is greener at ML, SB, UBS. Some reps just have a need to pee on their industry colleagues to feel good about themselves.

To all the individuals asking for input on their interest in Waddell and Reed.

First, understand that this is not a career choice like most others...where you choose to work WILL greatly affect your opportunities down the road. 

If you are really successful at Wadell then fine....you'll have many options.

Someone commented (as a potential NEW Financial Advisor) that they don't care about what name is on the door, just where can he make the most money.  OK, for a little insight...NAME does affect potential for success.  If you were a wealthy person and you had to choose between a broker who could TRULY leverage a world class financial firm with expertise ranging from industry leading stock and market analysis to the intricacies of estate planning or insider stock/options transactions who is also a household name....OR some 'down to earth' guy who could essentially hawk mutual funds, VA's and insurance?

I don't care what Waddell and Reed says about what products they offer.....they are NOWHERE near a major wirehouse.  I know this because I worked with a lady who came to a wirehouse from W&R (I assure you it's extremely rare for a wirehouse to hire an 'average' W&R rep) and she was EXTATIC about the exponential increase in capabilities she had at the wirehouse. 

I also ended up going to work for a bank that promised they could do everything that a wirehouse could (other than fee based)...well, I found out that in order to do stock business I had to buy a subscription for research from a company that covered maybe 500 companies and my recommendations had to be limited to those stocks!!! In addition, I did not have any access to quotes, realtime or otherwise, I had to go to the internet!  I said "forget it" and ended up hawking mutual funds and annuitites.

For people who have no clue about the business to be strutting around like they do is stupid.  

Sure some posts are a bit harsh here, but what do you want; people to be nice or straight up honest.  Truth is of value whether wrapped in thorns or rose petals.

You're getting free career advice here, which you asked for and most here who have been around are shooting you straight: Waddell and Reed is a hack shop where it will be much more difficult to gather assets, grow a business and become truly competent at delivering a complete financial package to your clients.

Quit digging yourselves into a hole.  Remember that right now you have no clue what this business is like...I did probably 10 times the research that most do before getting into this business and I was completely suprised by all the misconceptions I had.  Take heed if you truly care about your success....pride will get you cut down real quick.

F this punk. Let him learn his own lessons. It’s a moot point because he can’t get hired by a real firm anyway. His only choice is WR or cosmetology school.

dude, you are so right and i was going to post to that effect but this individual is choosing not to listen. the problem with people at certain firms is they don’t know what they don know because they have never had access to the product and platforms they don’ know.

[quote=skolbrother]dude, you are so right and i was going to post to that effect but this individual is choosing not to listen. the problem with people at certain firms is they don’t know what they don know because they have never had access to the product and platforms they don’ know. [/quote]

Who’s on second?