From financial advisor to analyst

PigBodine

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That's funny - I just got off the phone with an RIA in Newport Beach, and from what I can tell (I didn't say this), it seems insane for anyone not to go that route, on the retail side. You don't even have to deal with the NASD.
 
Out of the 6 Analysts/RA's in sector 4 have been retail brokers at some point...So the transition isn't impossible if you just keep working to improve yourself...In actuality on the sell-side firms actually perfer it because it usually means you aren't some dorky number cruncher but instead someone who can sell their ideas to institutional clients and bring business into the firm.

On the buy-side...I didn't really meet a ton of ex-retail guys but I did see a few.
 
Pigbodine?

Don't have to deal with the NASD? Of course you do. If you are A Registered Investment Advisor...Then you are Registered with the SEC, NASD and the states you do business in. All regulations apply, even in good ol' Newport Beach!
 
sorry, but yes you do. The National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD) is a self-regulatory body. The NASD works hand in hand with the SEC is regulatory standards.
 
The series 65 (IA exam) is offered by the NASAA and is administered by the NASD. Technically, it is a state requirement and not an NASD requirement. But functionally, unless you just offer advice and do not sell, you will have involvement with the NASD.


http://www.nasaa.org/industry___regulatory_resources/investment_advisers/456.cfm
 
Yeah-

I just got done meeting with 2 engineers he!! bent on not diversifying. Since they're number oriented, we spent most of our time going over the probabilities, std devs, R^2, etc. including running several monte carlos to convince them not to go with the flavor of the month/what gave the best return last quarter.

Of course, this was for their 401(k)s which bring no money to me, but it's important they do the right thing for themselves for when they're little old engineers.

Yeah- too bad we FAs are whack and don't know anything......

<grin>
 
Stealth, I see you are using Monte Carlo to estimate asset growth. What kind of distribution do you use for (1) inflation (2) expected returns. Just wondering...
 
I wonder how many folks responding in this thread have ever worked as a FA or even at a top brokerage firm?

I'm guessing not many.

Going from one to the other surely isn't easy...but it can be done. However, if you really want to get in as a Analyst why START as a FA trainee when you KNOW you don't want that career?

I would think you would be better off waiting tables until the right job came along.

Good luck.
 
CFAAtlanta Wrote:
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> Stealth, I see you are using Monte Carlo to
> estimate asset growth. What kind of distribution
> do you use for (1) inflation (2) expected returns.
> Just wondering...


Lognormal on assets
 
I didn't read all the posts in this thread except the last one about monkeys in suits.

FAs can make a ton of money. And once you start calculating trails, you are talking about money coming in for basically nothing. Then you have referrals. It's not that difficult to top analyst pay as a FA if you are working with a good team in a good location. It all comes down to who you are working with. I know of some FA firms where everyone brings in $1 million plus a year. Could you imagine that. Just because of who you work with, some no name firm that most people have never heard of. But it happens.

Financial Analyst jobs can be more dead end than FA jobs. Hell all finance jobs can be dead end. At least as an Advisor you build a business.

Do you realize that you can sell your clients? Your book of business has monetary value. There are stories of guys selling their books for $100k+. So you are getting paid on it each year and then when you are tired of it, you can sell it.

Anyone that trashes the occupation seriously has no clue about it. There are so many ways to leverage your managed assets as well. Going from $100 mil under management to managing a mutual fund could also happen.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at Monday, July 10, 2006 at 07:59PM by Fx.
 
ghetto_money Wrote:
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> retail financial services = a monkey in a suit. a
> well-dressed salesman.

Hmmmm, seems as if someone is trying to bait the FAs on the forum. Won't work..... You need to be quite the master baiter to get anyone riled up here.
 
100K would be very inexpensive for a book of clients, a good fee based book would fetch much more than that. Thats a lot of Bananas!
 
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