Looking for a clue
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Category: Introductions
Forum Name: Greenhorn Introductions
Forum Description: MAKE YOUR FIRST POST HERE!
URL: http://www.advisorheads.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=2886
Printed Date: Mar/26/2026 at 9:21pm
Software Version: Web Wiz Forums 12.03 - http://www.webwizforums.com
Topic: Looking for a clue
Posted By: gresmi6
Subject: Looking for a clue
Date Posted: Apr/26/2011 at 9:56pm
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Here goes my first topic and my story thus far.
I am 21 and just offered a job for mutual of omaha as a financial advisor. I have been interested in Securities for 5 years and have been reading anything I could get my hands on ( I.E. Liars Poker, Common Stocks Uncommon Profits) however never look too much into advising others. I come from a blue collar family with no real connections. My closet consits of off the rack jc penny suits and I drive a 1999 S-10. I would love to take advantage of this oppertunity and feel I have the knowledge that the career takes. The series 7 was a breeze and the 66 does not look much harder. I am fearful that I will not be able to make this work because I will be judged before I have the chance to make a sale. Please advise a future advisor. Thank You.
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Replies:
Posted By: Iamlegend
Date Posted: Apr/26/2011 at 10:01pm
| Don't worry about what you drive. I didn't know Mutual of Omaha did securities?? |
Posted By: Wet_Blanket
Date Posted: Apr/26/2011 at 10:01pm
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Are you currently at another firm? If not, how did you already take the 7? Also, I don't believe you should be concerned about being judged - its all sales and tied to production. ------------- The true 🤡 was the Biden voter all along. |
Posted By: gresmi6
Date Posted: Apr/26/2011 at 10:05pm
| Sorry I should have been more descriptive. Mutual does not do securites just life, 401ks, and Long Term Care. I got on with mutual earlier this month and am still working my other job until august to build up some capital to make it through the first couple months. I was able to do the series 7 last week. |
Posted By: Wet_Blanket
Date Posted: Apr/26/2011 at 10:07pm
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Not to interrogate you, but who sponsored the 7 if Mutual doesn't do securities? ------------- The true 🤡 was the Biden voter all along. |
Posted By: Iamlegend
Date Posted: Apr/26/2011 at 10:07pm
| why do you need your 7 then? Are you hoping to move to a firm that you would need it with or are you just getting it instead of the 6. I say if you like the biz go for it! |
Posted By: gresmi6
Date Posted: Apr/26/2011 at 10:09pm
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I had the option to do either the 6 or 7 I figured I would go with the 7. Thinking it would leave me more options down the road. |
Posted By: Wet_Blanket
Date Posted: Apr/26/2011 at 10:10pm
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Smart thinking!
Your story checks out - welcome!  ------------- The true 🤡 was the Biden voter all along. |
Posted By: gresmi6
Date Posted: Apr/26/2011 at 10:12pm
| Good to know I am in. Anybody ever start in the same situation and succeed and or fail? |
Posted By: Iamlegend
Date Posted: Apr/26/2011 at 10:13pm
Good thinking!
If you like the securities part of the biz you may want to check with a firm like Wells Fargo Adv, Edward Jones, to see if you can get on there. Otherwise, just go with what you have.
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gresmi6 wrote:Posted By: Wet_Blanket
Date Posted: Apr/26/2011 at 10:18pm
------------- The true 🤡 was the Biden voter all along. |
Posted By: gresmi6
Date Posted: Apr/26/2011 at 10:18pm
| I can get EDJ to even look at me, I have been trying to get on as a branch admin too get my foot in the door and not one call back. |
Posted By: RIArules
Date Posted: Apr/26/2011 at 10:20pm
------------- “We are all Antifa” - Hacksaw 9/12/2025 |
Posted By: Wet_Blanket
Date Posted: Apr/26/2011 at 10:21pm
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That is funny. Why not just go for FA???? ------------- The true 🤡 was the Biden voter all along. |
Posted By: RIArules
Date Posted: Apr/26/2011 at 10:22pm
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Sorry, don't take that the wrong way. You are way ahead because of that. ------------- “We are all Antifa” - Hacksaw 9/12/2025 |
Posted By: gresmi6
Date Posted: Apr/26/2011 at 10:24pm
| RIArules not a fan of EDJ? |
Posted By: Iamlegend
Date Posted: Apr/26/2011 at 10:25pm
| You are better off at Mutual of Omaha as an FA or agent than an assistant at Jones or any firm. |
Posted By: Wet_Blanket
Date Posted: Apr/26/2011 at 10:26pm
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Would he be better off as an EJ FA than a FA at Omaha? ------------- The true 🤡 was the Biden voter all along. |
Posted By: Iamlegend
Date Posted: Apr/26/2011 at 10:30pm
| Yes, but if EJ won't even interview him for an asst....not much of a chance for FA, but you never know. |
Posted By: SometimesNowhere
Date Posted: Apr/26/2011 at 10:30pm
In this case I think so. He isn't doing securities business there. At least Jones will allow him to sell PG stock and JPM bonds while they suck his soul. |
Posted By: Iamlegend
Date Posted: Apr/26/2011 at 10:31pm
If you already have your 7, check with WFA since they are having a real push to hire trainees. You may have a chance. bonuses for managers are riding on headcount.
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Posted By: Guests
Date Posted: Apr/26/2011 at 10:31pm
| He would be better of at EDJ, IF he can make it...which at his age, it's a big IF. I'd take the job and getting fully licensed with Mut of Om. Get a few years selling mostly insurance and then make the jump to full blown FA. I think you can probably keep your Mut of Om biz down the road as an indy producer. |
Posted By: SometimesNowhere
Date Posted: Apr/26/2011 at 10:32pm
He might have a better shot, especially if he's licensed, getting an FA gig. If there are no branches in need of BOA's they won't hire one. However we all know they will take anyone in an open market. |
Posted By: Sportsfreak
Date Posted: Apr/26/2011 at 10:42pm
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I agree wtih Ice. Stick with MofO. Sell enough insurance to stick around for a while. And focus all of your energy on doing two things .....learning to sell intangibles, and building relationships, with both clients and people who are in a position to refer to you. You are very young. After 5 years of doing what i just described, you will still be very young, but in a position to succeed in the securities advice business. Just my two cents. ------------- If you eat an entire cake without cutting it, then technically, you only had one piece |
Posted By: SometimesNowhere
Date Posted: Apr/26/2011 at 10:44pm
| Mofo...Ha! |
Posted By: gresmi6
Date Posted: Apr/26/2011 at 10:44pm
| By "at his age its a big IF" do you mean because I will be looked at as inexperienced thus not given the oppertunity to do business with anyone or just not have the maturity? |
Posted By: Sportsfreak
Date Posted: Apr/26/2011 at 10:47pm
I think a combination of probably looking very young (that should in no way stop or discourage you, you can earn peoples respect) and also not having experience. Remember its a sales job more than a securities job. Re MOFO - I didnt mean it that way, but it WAS pretty funny now that you mention it. ------------- If you eat an entire cake without cutting it, then technically, you only had one piece |
Posted By: Guests
Date Posted: Apr/26/2011 at 10:50pm
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I mean, not many people are going to give a 21 year old their life's savings. HOWEVER, a lot of people would be JUST FINE with buying disability, long-term care, of life insurance, from a 21 year old. So sell to your strength, and hone your sales skills. You'll naturally build a network, and you'll have a product people will be willing to buy from someone your age. When you're ready (at a whopping 25 or 28 years old), you can make the jump to securities...and probably keep your existing insurance book with Mutual of Omaha.
Then you'll have years under your belt, a network of COIs established that can refer to you, and a shit load of existing clients that already trust you with their insurance, and might give you a shot at their investments (or at least refer others to you). I'm not saying it CAN'T be done (going the securities route)...it can. But you best plan on a slinging a LOT of munis over the phone. It's going to be tough getting retirees to give you their 401K rollovers at age 21 with no experience. So you'll likely be cold calling on bonds and opening accounts over the phone if you want to keep your job, then transition to the planning gig when you are a bit older and more experienced.
Just my .02. FWIW, I started at 26, and the age thing has only been an issue maybe 3 or 4 times, and only cost me a client ONCE (which I then dripped on, and got him as a client a year later).
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Posted By: gresmi6
Date Posted: Apr/26/2011 at 10:53pm
| I appreciate the advice ICE. Did you start out with buddies to call on or family friends to get started with? |
Posted By: Wet_Blanket
Date Posted: Apr/26/2011 at 10:57pm
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Explore the board. Lots of good stories in there. ------------- The true 🤡 was the Biden voter all along. |
Posted By: Guests
Date Posted: Apr/26/2011 at 11:03pm
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Not really. I had a couple of friends from grad school throw a few bucks my way, and a couple of family members (I have a small family though). All in, I don't think I got $500K from friends and family my first year. I have more friends and family as clients now, but I bet it's still under $1.5 million AUM.
Friends and family DID send a few handy referrals my way (not a ton, but a few). And that's mostly what you want.
You don't want a ton of friends & family accounts because...
a) If you don't really know what you're doing (and trust me, you don't), you don't want to blow them up.
b) If the business is not for you, or you just can't make it, they are going to be stuck with shit you sold them, and an FA they don't know.
c) Friends and family business is just a crutch. If you get it early on, you'll think you're doing OK. Then when you run out of friends and family, you realize you don't know shit about prospecting, and you starve to death.
d) Lots of FAs don't even want friends & family as clients once they're established, so not relying on them early on, lets you decide if you even want to mix business & friendship down the road.
Note: When I say "and trust me, you don't know what you're doing..." that's not meant to be an insult. I came into this business with a degree in Finance that I graduated cum laude with, as well as an MBA, and a chip on my shoulder. Granted, I didn't learn much about "investments" and corporate finance from other FAs, or people on this board...but I did learn a LOT about other aspects of this business (financial planning, insurance, annuities, investor behavior, prospecting, selling, taxes, etc.), which is important since this is not an "investment management" job, it's a hand-holding sales job. You can't "run money" until you have enough clients to run it for.
I've said it before and I'll say it again...had I not joined this board, and the RR Mag board, I would've had my degree in finance, my MBA, and been looking for a new career path within 18 months of starting in this biz.
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Posted By: gresmi6
Date Posted: Apr/26/2011 at 11:14pm
How do these boards help other than the obvious? Being able to answer dumb questions people like myself are unwilling to ask in person.
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Posted By: Guests
Date Posted: Apr/26/2011 at 11:25pm
| Just lost a huge post because the power went out. Just read around the boards, you'll see why. |
Posted By: Spaceman Spiff
Date Posted: Apr/27/2011 at 9:46am
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gres - Jones has a program that's designed for, forgive me, young kids like you. We call it the PASS Program. Basic idea is to take people who just need a little more work and life experience, train them, groom them, then eventually put them into an open office somewhere in the country. You'd have to move 250 miles east for a couple of years, but that wouldn't be all bad. You'd at least have a good baseball team to root for. There are a couple of us from Jones on here. If you want to know how to give yourself a better shot at getting an interview with Jones, PM one of us.
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In the end, you're guaranteed an office if you make it through the program, which I believe is the norm. Posted By: BerkshireBull
Date Posted: Apr/27/2011 at 9:07pm
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I had 2 friends from my finance class go into this business. 1 went to AMP, 1 went to Mutual of Omaha, and I went to another Ins B/D. The AMP guy is long gone and me and the other guy are still hanging around, except with him I think people like his hanging around, with me it's more like a bad fart.
From what I gathered about his business he's got 7+66. Sounds like really rips it up with the Med Supps and then sometimes can develop that into a rollover or gets some money for a fixed annuity. He said he can change his B/D and keep his insurance book and renewals no questions asked if he ever wanted to. Most Ins FA's are 1099s which can be good and bad.
IMO if you're starting at an Ins B/D you will build from scratch but have a much higher payout than other firms. You may get unassigned accounts/policies, some home office generated leads, or the rare call-in/walk-in. You have to find a way to generate your own leads because of the good freebies they're going to the Vets, not to you.
Your friends and family are a great place to start but they will run out extemely quickly, if you do decide to sell them right away bank that money and consider it a gift you will need it for the lean times that are going to follow and you transition to strangers.
Do NOT take your mentor/mgr out to your friends and family and split commissions. If you don't think you can get it now, just leave it sit and come back in a year or two, you'll be more confident and they'll have a TON more trust by seeing you're still in the business as well.
Don't buy leads, as a newbie you have no idea how to handle the competition against 6 other experienced agents in a lead sale situation. Figure out how to generate your own. Have your securities license but focus on insurance your first year before branching out, it's simple to sell, the sales cycle is much shorter, and your payout is high vs investments. I'm not saying don't take the $50k rollover from the 35 year old who switched jobs and you're also writing some term life on, I'm saying don't waste time on and chase the investments of the wealthy 65 year old who bought a Med Supp from you.
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Posted By: pipieek
Date Posted: Apr/28/2011 at 9:25pm
Gresmi6, I'm only a few years older than you, but I look freaking young. One time someone told me that I looked like someone right out of high school. I had a few people that told me that my age would be a problem in this industry. I ignore those warnings. In one hand it's true that we usually hang out with people of our age so when it comes down to investment, our friends probably consist of people with no/little money. However, those young people do need to have insurance. If you come across someone in their 50s or 60s, you can ask them, would you rather work with someone who is going to retire in 10 years (that fat, 50 year old FA) or someone who is going to retire in 40 years (YOU)? When they are in their 80s and 90s, you'll still be around. Of course don't bring it up if they don't ask. I wear nice dress shirts and pants from Macy's & Ross. I do not wear tie. My car worth less than $7k, but it is only 6 year old. Good old Toyota. I had a meeting with a successful business owner prospect recently. After we went through my spiel about retirement plan, we talked about the city where I live and where he lives (different city). He and I bitched about the property tax, sales tax, etc. (yes, it was borderline politics, but nobody likes paying tax). At the end, he suggested me to run for the city councilor (small city). I guess he liked me. My point is just be confident, but don't be cocky. |
Posted By: BigFirepower
Date Posted: May/03/2011 at 5:04pm
| I started when I was 24. I never gave a damn about my age, never let anyone else worry about it either. I had no contacts, no money, and obligations beyond my means, first time father, with a girlfriend relationship that was falling apart at the seams. |
Posted By: TimesSeven
Date Posted: May/03/2011 at 5:12pm
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Did they have black and white TV back then? |
Posted By: Guests
Date Posted: May/03/2011 at 7:16pm
| Did you end up marrying the baby's momma? |
Posted By: Ron 14
Date Posted: May/04/2011 at 12:12am
| Gresmi- lets get back to reality. Don't let anybody take you away from your dream. Stay focused on why you got into this business and ride that vision to success. |
Posted By: squeaky
Date Posted: May/04/2011 at 8:46pm
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