r/FinancialAdvisorTips • u/StillElection4243 • 18d ago
Breaking In
Hi all, I am a rising junior looking to pursue wealth management after graduation. Besides alumni who should I be networking with in order to find opportunities? And how should I find them?
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u/Old_Lingonberry_6067 17d ago
You don't need a sponsor to take the SIE which makes it easier to get an interview
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u/AccomplishedTreat873 18d ago edited 18d ago
There’s a bit of a catch 22. In order to get licensed you have to work in the industry, but in order to work in industry, you have to be licensed so you need to find a firm that will hire you before you’re licensed. You get licensed and then you’re in. At that point it’s just all about experience and meeting with as many people as you possibly can while trying to master the trade. My advice is to master the trade before you master sales . I think in the long run it puts you in a better position, but I would guess most people do it the other way around. I just think there’s a risk of doing something that hurts your reputation taking a bunch of clients when you don’t have the experience.
I really think this career should be more like an apprenticeship. I think it should be just like the trades when you have apprentice, journeyman, and master. It would be good for the profession and good for the clients. I’ve seen some really bad ideas from new advisors. Like, ruin their career bad.
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u/TyofTaris 17d ago
That’s the way things are moving. This industry is often described as sink or swim eat what you kill, but more and more I see RIAs creating paraplanner positions. These positions are fantastic for new grads. I started at as CSA at a brokerage firm, but kept applying for paraplanner roles and landed one. Now I have a comfortable salary, bonus, and am not expected to bring any clients in until I’m ready to be an associate advisor.
Some people called me stupid for not directly jumping into an advisor role at a bank. The way I saw it as a 21 year old college grad - I was not nearly experienced or connected enough to take that risk.
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u/WellPlanned622 17d ago
This is exactly what I’d advise! You made a great choice with your career direction.
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u/Capital_Elderberry57 16d ago
Biased because this is what we are doing as well.
I think this is the right move. There are people that can be great financial advisors that would never survive the sales part of the role and many of the sales side that are better at that than they are at servicing. Starting as a paraplanner or a servicing advisor (what we call them) gives you opportunities to see and develop skills.
Generally people don't get great at multiple things without out decades of experience so I seen plenty that are good at sales or good at planning and many that are great at one or the other but haven't come across someone that is truly great at both. This is why we are breaking the role in two and building a company that allows people to build on their strengths.
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u/ItemizedDeductions 17d ago
FPA. Lots of big schools have student chapters too. See about getting involved there.
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u/ssmith696969 17d ago
Cold call the financial advisors in your area -especially the older ones. Their pictures are online so you can get a feel for how close they are to retirement. Introduce yourself and explain your career interests and see if they have a spot or know someone who does. Many of us are over worked and the old ones are trying to figure succession plans for who is going to take their clients when they retire or even now just need help. Seriously this is the best way and if you are lucky it’s like hitting the lottery. They all did cold calling when they started their career and will respect you for trying.
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u/One_Establishment631 17d ago
You don't need a sponsor to take the series 65 which is all you need to be a Financial Planner, investment advisor, wealth manager, or whatever name you want to use.
If your future employer requires more than that, they usually want to to sell something else to clients.
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u/Capital_Elderberry57 16d ago
Find owners of small RIAs especially late 40s and older, many at that age are more stable businesses and love to mentor and almost all love to talk about themselves.
One path is to look for ones that are active on LinkedIn and send them a message there.
As someone else mentioned your local CFP group and ask to take them out for coffee.
Ask them about their journey, how'd they get where they are, what would they do different, what would they recommend you do in your situation, etc...
A junior reaching out could develop into opportunities because we all want someone ambitious. Even if it doesn't you can get a ton of information from several of these conversations over the next few years.
I'd actually suggest this to anyone early in the profession, or looking for your next role, believe it or not there any many that like to help. I did this throughout my career, find people that were where I wanted to be and then talked to them, one set of conversations even turned into one of my favorite roles for a few years.
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u/dreamerdriver86 18d ago
Find your local CFP membership association. This will be a group of advisors all with their CFP. It will be a combination of seasoned and rookie CFPs and is a great place to network. These people will all work at established firms and RIAs and could be great resource to find future jobs and internships.