Associate Advisor - BIG BANK - Ask Away....

[vipon]

BG:
- been an associate advisor for over a year, by no means an expert
- graduated western finance (not ivey)
- work for one of the big banks in Toronto


Here are rules:
- don't pm me to ask me to hand in your resume because i won't (plus theres a hiring freeze)
- don't ask me about what branch location/which advisor/which bank

Have some downtime at work so i will check this a few times a day, so ask away if you have any questions...

W

[dondada83]

What's your salary?

[vipon]

Salary greatly varies, mine is on the low end i'd say and hasn't increased cuz cutbacks but its

$30k + a 1% comission on net revenue, which obviously varies.

[bruizeman]

What do you do?

I have someone at RBC who basically is my go to person for anything related to account transfers, credit facilities, etc. I think her title is account manager, is that similar?

[enginear]

1% of net revenue you bring in? Your group brings in? The bank brings in :P?

What group are you working for? Are you on the trade floor? What are you actually doing?

[vipon]

investment advising varies across the board, it REALLY depends on the team you are working for. Some specialize in heavy trading and are transaction based for their revenue, others do mutual funds which are more buy and hold and collect a fee. I do more of the first, which is rare/dying style i would say. Its a lot more work, more liability and anyone who wants to trade can pretty much do it themselves for 1/10th the cost (literally).

The idea though is "wealth management", to cover ones estate/will planning, insurance, retirement etc.

Since i work with the first one, i can speak more to that, but also know a bit about the latter.

The job is largely client servicing, but there is an administrative component (but once again depends on the team).

My suggestion to someone who wants to be an advisor (its VERY tough now, their are too many advisors...) is to work someone where outside the industry.....accounting, law etc.. This will help u build your network and therefore your client base....

[two_std_deviation]

Surprised no one has asked this yet, but I'll ask because somebody will want to know... What certs and/or charters do you have or are expected to get? Does your salary band increase the more CE (continuing education) you take? Do you want to do this for the rest of your life? Are you happy?

Ok. A question for myself:

How long are you hearing the hiring freeze will last?

[ffkly]

As I know this is a sales job, do you need to do cold calling or talk to people on street to generate sales, or just sitting in the branch to wait people or calls coming in?

[liorsyncro]

The idea though is "wealth management", to cover ones estate/will planning, insurance, retirement etc.

Basically active management, and as you work for a big bank there's the demand for profit from shareholders, which in turn comes from the pockets of your clients who probably are not even making passive market returns. What do you say to clients who ask you where your interests are aligned?

[pitz]

Ok, here's a question:

Do you see lots of people in occupations that are spoken of as having high salaries in RFD, actually having wealth and assets that are far below that claimed by RFD posters?

And another question:

Does it frustrate the h*ll out of you that when people receive inheritances, that they insist on putting such an inheritance in a completely seperate account, and investing it ultra-conservatively, even if this defies a person's asset allocation and risk tolerance statement on the Know Your Client forms?

And another question:

Do any/many of your customers think in terms of 'purchasing power', or 'protecting their ability to consume', rather than trying to protect their wealth from the ravages of inflation or deflation?

[vipon]

1% of net revenue you bring in? Your group brings in? The bank brings in :P?

What group are you working for? Are you on the trade floor? What are you actually doing?

how it works is its generally 1% of net revenues of what your advisor/advisors team brings in....

Not going to answer what group i work for, other question answered in other post...

Obv the % changes, some get more, some teams are bigger and some (if you are lucky) get gross...Net is after deductions and firms take...

[vipon]

Surprised no one has asked this yet, but I'll ask because somebody will want to know... What certs and/or charters do you have or are expected to get? Does your salary band increase the more CE (continuing education) you take? Do you want to do this for the rest of your life? Are you happy?

Ok. A question for myself:

How long are you hearing the hiring freeze will last?

The general certifications required for financial services are the Canadian Securities Course (CSC) and the Conducts and Practices Course (CPH), neither are particularly hard, more so tedious and neither are worth the paper they are written on outside of financial services (planning, advising, mutual fund sales). The pass rates are high, and everyone knows they are not difficult they are more of a primer.....but im sure there are posts that explain all this...

CE credits generally don't increase your salary, but you are requrired for licensing to do a certain number a year. You can get them by going to seminars, sitting through lunch meetings (free lunch ) from mutual fund/fund companies or doing a full course. Its pretty obvious which ones will give you the most.

Do i want to do this the rest of my life? No I can't see that happening. Aside from wanting more money, the job itself isnt that challenging (this depends of course if your role invovles building the client base). Not to say its a bad job, or that the pay potential isn't great, but its just not for me as a long term "career".

Am i happy......im not unhappy?

Lasty the hiring freeze will last untilt he markets recover more, but a lot of the "fat" has been cut out of the banks (the advisors who were on the brink), I imagine you will see IAA (advisor assistance/associates) sharing more IA's to save costs for the firm....

[vipon]

Basically active management, and as you work for a big bank there's the demand for profit from shareholders, which in turn comes from the pockets of your clients who probably are not even making passive market returns. What do you say to clients who ask you where your interests are aligned?

haha note the bold part, comissions will get you every time...

I don't think its really expected for retail level advisors to go in and crush the benchmarks, if someone could do this I do not suspect that they would be managing granny retirement portofolio, or their cousins RRSP account.

Its more to protect the clients from their own impulses and lack of knowledge, the stock markets a 0 sum game.......it by no way is easy. Retail is funny.....I guess to 95% of the general public we do offer some added value, how much is arguable..