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Im not searching for a new job but an acquaintance reached out about a similar role at a similar energy company.Turns out 2 ppl threw my name in the hat. I looked into it and the position was posted 2 weeks ago.Their director wants to meet.I bet pay is one of the first things to be discussed so that no one’s time is wasted.Am I crazy for not wanting to entertain it for less than 20-25% base pay increase?Is it selfish to ask for more? I’m sure most salary conversations end in negotiation anyways?
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Wow, I am slammed with new clients . All referrals. This should be your busiest time, when there is uncertainty in the air, people start wanting help.
Ate you commission based or fee only. I was in about 8 years when I figured out that commussion based was not for me. I hated prospecting, did not trade much so always had to bring in more clients to sustain.
I switched to fee only AUM, it lets me get paid for giving ongoing great service about all areas of my clients financial lives, as well as managing their investments.
I have never changed my fees, charge 25 basis points per quarter in arrears for 1st half mln of every household's portfolio, with declining rate schedule for amounts above the half mln.
I don't know your circumstances, but if you like the markets and the relationship with your clients and have not tried fee only, I encourage you to look at it.
It's a great life.
Re how many clients at 30mln. I don't remember exactly. But it seems that 1/3rd of my clients are always pro bono. 1/3 are mid level and 1/3rd over 1 mln. I have no minimum account size. Do not charge people new to investing until their account reaches 10k. In my early years, 100k to 300k were great new accounts--and they were usually pretty straight forward for finacial planning so I could have more. As time went on I got wealthier people, i think that just like when I used to run marathons, "time on feet" is important. I think I had about 65 or 70, I know for many years I sent out 49 quarterly reports. So any number above 49 was pro bono work or hourly fin. Planning without investment management -- i started that at 100/hr, now I am at 275/hr. Ave account size was about 600k, but I had a range of 100k to a couple mln plus kids of my clients tiny accounts. So I guess probably 49 is the number you are looking for. That gave me early mornings to do investments, when all things were normal , one annual review a month, and they always took a few hours. We worked hard to make sure every part of their financial life was going smoothly. Then, if layoff, disability, divorce or marriage happened in a client's life it added more work. Basically it was like a part time job with a lot of flexibility, but also a lot of respnsibility.
I think, instead of number of clients, you might rate each client in a way that reflects their neediness and, thus, the amount of time you need to plan for them.
That is based on stage of life, investment experience, and personality. Then figure out hour many hours you want to spend on client care and financial planning and stop when your current clients expected needs fill that. Remember you have administration, investing and mass client communications to do too. So figure out your life style goals and then apportion appropriate portions to all those activities, or contracr some out.
I never had any minimum account or net worth requirements. But I know a lot of advisors do. In fact I took a 10k and a 60k account just last week because they are close friends of other clients.
What I mean about guessing financial planning time needs for clients: New marriages, means you teach them about separate propert, marital property, stop contributing to some accounts and open new accounts to establish marital estate, etc. Also, if necessary, coaching on how to not let money issues harm the relationship. How to craft a pirtfolios to satisfy the fearful one and to satisfy the spouse who wants aggressive growth or even speculate. Already married and starting a family means teaching and helping them evaluate how much they should put into 529 or other education accounts, helping them find the best ones and always remindinding them that paying for yesterday, living fully today and protecting tomorrow is the purpose of financial planning. Finding those lines is hard and unique to each client. And so on, with other stages of life. It takes time for most clients to build trust, so spacing their onboarding is good. Once things are smooth, then you can add another. One summer I was too busy and decided to tell people that I had a waiting list of 6 months. Never dreaming that anybody would wait 6 months for a financial planner, we told everybody January I would check in with them to see if they were doing okay. We ended up with 15 on the list (my assistant and I did not communicate or monitor the list). Of those, 7 were actually waiting for me! That meant I had to onboard those 7 people (about 8 mln in assets) which was actually about what I normally accepted over a 4 year period. That year I worked way too hard and missed a lot of fun with my kids. Really, wtf? Why would anybody, much less 7 people wait 6 months for a financial planner?!
What I have found is that whenever there are bear markets or major economuc disruptions people must express worry to their closest friends and family, because that is when referrals pour in. I do not believe that I am any better than any other advisor. I think the key is just always instilling my strong belief in our system of financial markets and making sure that they understand we have income sources identified and funds for short term goals protected. And that missing the best market days does more harm to a 20 plus year portfolio than missing the worst market days helps--in other words, missing the worst, if the cost involves also missing the best, hurts the 20+ timeframe. So my clients don't worry much. My phones are quiet when we have big declines and volatility.
Sorry to be so wordy. I need to clean house, so in avoidance mode.
Fee based model is like stacking pennies. You need to keep growing and eventually you have a predictable income that will continue to grow with your clients assets.
There are lots of firms/teams that do not have production requirements.
I’m fully independent fee only RIA with a separate insurance agency for life, fixed products and Medicare. It’s a great life with a ton of unsolicited referrals. I use Assetmark to outsource the investing and back office and I spend my time on in-depth planning and loving on my clients.
Wish I knew that 10 years back. Can’t live with pennies.. In a bind.
Also, not confident in prospecting
Enthusiast
Prospect your affinity segments. Stay with them, use all your tools - email, webinars, professional associations to stay in front of them. If an affinity segment doesn’t yield a client in a quarter think about rotating out of it.
Enthusiast
I may offer some suggestions, advice or provide a sounding board offline if you’re interested.