NorthwesternM Vs Edward Jones Vs Bank of America(and Similars)

[Fin13]

I recently just got a job offered and accepted at Northwestern Mutual, past my life, health, accident exam, got a 200 contact list of people I know and I am waiting for a three week training to start.

The thing is that I just graduated 6 months ago with a double major Finance and Management and I really want to make a career as a financial advisor, but this new jobs seems more towards life insurance or getting my CLU in the first two years.

People have tell me to go edward Jones or corporate(ex. bank of america,chase,wells fargo)

What is better out of all these? Any help will be highly appreciated

 

[LGilmore]

Any of these will be what ever you make of them. You can succeed at any or fail at all. When you went to college did you make the experience the best it could be? If so, do the same here. There isn't a right answer, just yours. Interview with all and see which matches your personality and style.

 

[Stephen]

I recently just got a job offered and accepted at Northwestern Mutual, past my life, health, accident exam, got a 200 contact list of people I know and I am waiting for a three week training to start.

The thing is that I just graduated 6 months ago with a double major Finance and Management and I really want to make a career as a financial advisor, but this new jobs seems more towards life insurance or getting my CLU in the first two years.

People have tell me to go edward Jones or corporate(ex. bank of america,chase,wells fargo)

What is better out of all these? Any help will be highly appreciated

Repost your resume and see if you can get on with a firm that is fee based.

 

[jmhalvo]

I recently just got a job offered and accepted at Northwestern Mutual, past my life, health, accident exam, got a 200 contact list of people I know and I am waiting for a three week training to start. The thing is that I just graduated 6 months ago with a double major Finance and Management and I really want to make a career as a financial advisor, but this new jobs seems more towards life insurance or getting my CLU in the first two years. People have tell me to go edward Jones or corporate(ex. bank of america,chase,wells fargo) What is better out of all these? Any help will be highly appreciated

Do Jones. I did and learned a lot, made about 80 k each of first three years on avg. 200 family leads? Yup, that is ins.

 

[AnonymousOne]

I recently just got a job offered and accepted at Northwestern Mutual, past my life, health, accident exam, got a 200 contact list of people I know and I am waiting for a three week training to start.

The thing is that I just graduated 6 months ago with a double major Finance and Management and I really want to make a career as a financial advisor, but this new jobs seems more towards life insurance or getting my CLU in the first two years.

People have tell me to go edward Jones or corporate(ex. bank of america,chase,wells fargo)

What is better out of all these? Any help will be highly appreciated

Find someone, anyone in the business as closely relatedness to what you want to do and beg to protege, even for minimum wage or free if financially possible. You will get more from this in 2 months than 2 years selling IULs to your family.

 

[DHK]

I recently just got a job offered and accepted at Northwestern Mutual, past my life, health, accident exam, got a 200 contact list of people I know and I am waiting for a three week training to start.

The thing is that I just graduated 6 months ago with a double major Finance and Management and I really want to make a career as a financial advisor, but this new jobs seems more towards life insurance or getting my CLU in the first two years.

People have tell me to go edward Jones or corporate(ex. bank of america,chase,wells fargo)

What is better out of all these? Any help will be highly appreciated

The differences between these three aren't product or even training.

It's culture and focus.

NWM's culture (as reported by many others) is focused primarily on their company's permanent life insurance. They seem to also have a belief that they are the "superior" company, even if they are the 'quiet company'. No salary here. You may be expected to earn your Series 6 & 63 basic securities licenses here. You mentioned CLU, but they may also focus on the FSCP (the new sales training designation that replaces the LUTCF).

Edward Jones culture is all about door-to-door business & residential prospecting for small investment accounts... then to grow that relationship over time. You are an asset gatherer. The lure with them is having your own "office/storefront" and an assistant. However, once you start comparing B/D grid payouts, and what you're responsible to cover for your expenses... the tendency is to start looking for greener pastures. But don't do it before 3 years, or they'll come after you for "training expenses" of $75k. You'll be expected to get your series 7 & 66.

Bank of America, Chase, Wells Fargo... will have a similar payout structure as EJ. However, your advantage is that nearly all your appointments will be in a bank branch setting, and you can teach/train your branches on how to source referrals for you. It becomes more of a 9-5 type job. You may have a guaranteed salary for a period of time as well. Your focus will be in gathering assets and selling mutual funds, annuities and fee based accounts. Most of these guys are looking for people with prior industry experience and current licensing... unless they have a dedicated training platform for those with no experience. The drawback... is the management and bureaucracy of working in a bank setting. Tons of meetings and micromanagement.

The area you did NOT mention, are the wire houses - BofA Merrill Lynch, Wells Fargo Advisors (used to be A.G. Edwards), UBS, Morgan Stanley. These guys are going to be hard-core towards fee-based accounts. Some great training available here too... but on gathering assets. It may be a bit less structured or less regimented than at Edward Jones. But the hurdles to reach are higher. I think Merrill Lynch requires $15 million in AUM within 2 years? And they have the highest hurdles that I know of.


As you can tell from my descriptions, it depends on what you want. There is no clear-cut advantage of one over the other.

However, from a training perspective, I don't think you'll get any better prospecting training than from Edward Jones. To have to go door-to-door to collect 25 qualified names everyday for follow up will turn you into a prospecting machine... and those skills will help you survive & thrive in our industry... even if you choose to leave Jones later.

 

[Tahoe Ray]

The differences between these three aren't product or even training.

It's culture and focus.

NWM's culture (as reported by many others) is focused primarily on their company's permanent life insurance. They seem to also have a belief that they are the "superior" company, even if they are the 'quiet company'. No salary here. You may be expected to earn your Series 6 & 63 basic securities licenses here. You mentioned CLU, but they may also focus on the FSCP (the new sales training designation that replaces the LUTCF).

Edward Jones culture is all about door-to-door business & residential prospecting for small investment accounts... then to grow that relationship over time. You are an asset gatherer. The lure with them is having your own "office/storefront" and an assistant. However, once you start comparing B/D grid payouts, and what you're responsible to cover for your expenses... the tendency is to start looking for greener pastures. But don't do it before 3 years, or they'll come after you for "training expenses" of $75k. You'll be expected to get your series 7 & 66.

Bank of America, Chase, Wells Fargo... will have a similar payout structure as EJ. However, your advantage is that nearly all your appointments will be in a bank branch setting, and you can teach/train your branches on how to source referrals for you. It becomes more of a 9-5 type job. You may have a guaranteed salary for a period of time as well. Your focus will be in gathering assets and selling mutual funds, annuities and fee based accounts. Most of these guys are looking for people with prior industry experience and current licensing... unless they have a dedicated training platform for those with no experience. The drawback... is the management and bureaucracy of working in a bank setting. Tons of meetings and micromanagement.

The area you did NOT mention, are the wire houses - BofA Merrill Lynch, Wells Fargo Advisors (used to be A.G. Edwards), UBS, Morgan Stanley. These guys are going to be hard-core towards fee-based accounts. Some great training available here too... but on gathering assets. It may be a bit less structured or less regimented than at Edward Jones. But the hurdles to reach are higher. I think Merrill Lynch requires $15 million in AUM within 2 years? And they have the highest hurdles that I know of.


As you can tell from my descriptions, it depends on what you want. There is no clear-cut advantage of one over the other.

However, from a training perspective, I don't think you'll get any better prospecting training than from Edward Jones. To have to go door-to-door to collect 25 qualified names everyday for follow up will turn you into a prospecting machine... and those skills will help you survive & thrive in our industry... even if you choose to leave Jones later.

This post is spot on...I know a lot of financial advisors who "grew up" in this business in different ways. The common theme: the successful ones learned how to prospect.

Ed Jones has some great training for this. That being said, if you get offered a great bank branch (which you probably wouldn't without any experience) it can be the most lucrative early on in your career. The bank reps that I know who eventually went independent ended up with great books (after they navigated their non-competes).

You could also interview with an RIA. If you want to do comprehensive planning, that would be a good option. Are you pursuing an MBA or additional education? A large RIA shop will probably be looking for an education like yours with someone who is looking to expand their knowledge base. It will likely be salary (good early but not so good later) but you would have the potential to learn quite a bit...

Good luck!

 

[MPCFinPlan]

"But don't do it before 3 years, or they'll come after you for "training expenses" of $75k. "

$75k? Ouchhhhh...

 

[DHK]

Edward Jones does a lot of flying new reps to their St. Louis office, as well as another office in Arizona. Plus, if you get a store/office, there's costs to get that established as well.

Remember that EJ reps are 1 rep and 1 assistant to a particular office. Sometimes there may be 2 reps, but the 2nd one is usually there for FINRA office 'registration' purposes and is during a training period.

Oh, one huge downside to EJ: You can't chose or fire your assistant. They work for EJ... not you. So, if you've got an assistant that's a real PITA... you had better find a reason and a way to get them out of your office &/or out of the company.

 

[KidsGotHeart]

The differences between these three aren't product or even training.

It's culture and focus.

NWM's culture (as reported by many others) is focused primarily on their company's permanent life insurance. They seem to also have a belief that they are the "superior" company, even if they are the 'quiet company'. No salary here. You may be expected to earn your Series 6 & 63 basic securities licenses here. You mentioned CLU, but they may also focus on the FSCP (the new sales training designation that replaces the LUTCF).

Edward Jones culture is all about door-to-door business & residential prospecting for small investment accounts... then to grow that relationship over time. You are an asset gatherer. The lure with them is having your own "office/storefront" and an assistant. However, once you start comparing B/D grid payouts, and what you're responsible to cover for your expenses... the tendency is to start looking for greener pastures. But don't do it before 3 years, or they'll come after you for "training expenses" of $75k. You'll be expected to get your series 7 & 66.

Bank of America, Chase, Wells Fargo... will have a similar payout structure as EJ. However, your advantage is that nearly all your appointments will be in a bank branch setting, and you can teach/train your branches on how to source referrals for you. It becomes more of a 9-5 type job. You may have a guaranteed salary for a period of time as well. Your focus will be in gathering assets and selling mutual funds, annuities and fee based accounts. Most of these guys are looking for people with prior industry experience and current licensing... unless they have a dedicated training platform for those with no experience. The drawback... is the management and bureaucracy of working in a bank setting. Tons of meetings and micromanagement.

The area you did NOT mention, are the wire houses - BofA Merrill Lynch, Wells Fargo Advisors (used to be A.G. Edwards), UBS, Morgan Stanley. These guys are going to be hard-core towards fee-based accounts. Some great training available here too... but on gathering assets. It may be a bit less structured or less regimented than at Edward Jones. But the hurdles to reach are higher. I think Merrill Lynch requires $15 million in AUM within 2 years? And they have the highest hurdles that I know of.


As you can tell from my descriptions, it depends on what you want. There is no clear-cut advantage of one over the other.

However, from a training perspective, I don't think you'll get any better prospecting training than from Edward Jones. To have to go door-to-door to collect 25 qualified names everyday for follow up will turn you into a prospecting machine... and those skills will help you survive & thrive in our industry... even if you choose to leave Jones later.

What about insurance products with EJ? I almost worked whit me once giving thought to giving them a whirl.

----------

This post is spot on...I know a lot of financial advisors who "grew up" in this business in different ways. The common theme: the successful ones learned how to prospect.

Ed Jones has some great training for this. That being said, if you get offered a great bank branch (which you probably wouldn't without any experience) it can be the most lucrative early on in your career. The bank reps that I know who eventually went independent ended up with great books (after they navigated their non-competes).

You could also interview with an RIA. If you want to do comprehensive planning, that would be a good option. Are you pursuing an MBA or additional education? A large RIA shop will probably be looking for an education like yours with someone who is looking to expand their knowledge base. It will likely be salary (good early but not so good later) but you would have the potential to learn quite a bit...

Good luck!

Where can you find RIA's?