A friend of mine recently passed the Series 7, completed his brokerage firm’s training program, and became a full-fledged investment rep. Through a combination of hard work and good, old-fashioned luck, he immediately stumbled across a massive wealth-management opportunity.
The prospect had experienced a change in circumstances and needed help with…well…everything. The two met. They hit it off. Everything was going great until the prospect confided her plans to move to another city. “Do you know anybody who wants to buy a seven-million-dollar house?”
His question is a classic Catch-22 inside private wealth management. How do rookies demonstrate financial savvy, when they’re years away from understanding lifestyles of the rich and famous?
Alpha advisers aren’t born. They’re created. They’re the product of experience, more good decisions than bad, and long-term immersion in all things money. In his book “Outliers” Malcolm Gladwell argues that it takes 10,000 hours of practice to become a superstar in any profession. If he’s right, financial advisers must log four to five years before they’re any good.
I gave my friend the name of a high-end-real-estate broker, who could help address the prospect’s immediate question about her house. I suggested he develop relationships with salespeople from adjacent industries, like yacht brokers, who target the same clients but don’t compete.
With these alliances, my friend could learn to walk the walk and talk the talk. He could also trade leads without sharing commissions. It was a win-win for everybody, but still not enough. These new allies might build his pipeline but they wouldn’t teach him the core skills of wealth management. Knowing the basics of wealth management is very beneficial for companies, that is why there are wealth management firms online that can be accessed and liaised with, to help keep on top of financials for anything needed.
So I called Michael Battey, who ran the San Francisco office of Atlantic Trust before co-founding Emerald Bay Wealth Management with Hannah Sullivan. Emerald Bay serves affluent investors, with complex, intergenerational needs–exactly the kind of situation my friend had stumbled across.
Mr. Battey says true rookies should surround themselves “with older allies from whom they can learn about the very broad range of knowledge required.” There are lots of successful advisers out there, and “finding the ones who have positive motives for taking a new broker or adviser under his or her wing is critical both to early success and to lasting success.”
The priority is finding mentors who shield them from firm politics–and who pay them for their work.
Isn’t that the truth?
I then contacted Tom Trainor, a managing director at Hanover Private Client Corp. in Toronto. I described the situation and asked for his guidance on behalf of my friend.
This time I removed an option. “Let’s say he can’t partner with a veteran colleague from his firm.”
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The New York Times describes my novels as “money porn,” “a red-hot franchise,” and “glittery thrillers about fiscal malfeasance.” Through fiction I explore the dark side of money and the motivations of those who have it, want more, and will steamroll anybody who gets in their way.