Waddell & Reed Reviews

Pros

Brand recognition and established business facilitated initial entry into the business. Superior products, a broad array of financial solutions from third parties greatly reduced competition. Great people, great education.

Cons

I was very new to the business and failed to negotiate any favorable terms where I worked with someone who was well established. I was also deployed overseas with the military months after starting.

Pros

There are nice people you work for and work with. They work with your personal life whenever they can.

Cons

Usually on the lower side of the pay scale.

Advice to Senior Management

A wider scale of training would be beneficial. Showing both sides of how the company operates and how the industry operates.

Pros

Very laid-back the only thing the company really cares about is taking your tests. They ask you alot of times if you have completed your tests. During the testing phase you are not required to work that much and the job is very flexible.

Cons

There are way more cons than pros. The biggest con is the lack of professional training. Alot of times they come up with strategic plans to increase training within the divisions, but very rarely does it actually take place. The turnover rate is probably one of the highest among any companies. People come and go alot. Waddell and Reed has zero, I repeat zero brand recognition. Word-of-mouth does not work in today's tech reliant universe. The old strategies the company uses fail in today's society. It is all commission to so if you think that you can do very well the commission is a relatively lucrative payout structure, but the reality is most people don't make enough to put food on the table and look elsewhere in a financial career. They do sposor you for your series 7 though, although you have to cover the costs of the test and all the books.

Advice to Senior Management

Adapt and change!!! It is what good companies do to survive in this industry. Promote the people that do well and pay a minimum starting salary to younger advisors that want to survive in the industry. Not everyone has a rich uncle that they know that wants to dump his money into a Wadell & Reed IRA.

Pros

Great mutual funds and a solid investment team. Flexibility and potential to make a good living, more so than what most employers are offering today.

Cons

After more than 4 years with this company I've concluded that each one of the W&R Division Offices operates like a soveriegn nation. Each with it's own set of laws, and each different from Home Office's. The Financial Advisor experience will vary depending on which Division Office they work in. Financial Advisor's are "hired" on the pretense of receiving training. My experience working in an office with a highly dysfunctional management (Let's just say incompetent Managing Principal) is that there is no training, and Advisors are left to their own to survive. I have seen 30 "Advisors" come and go in my office alone. Many of them could have survived given proper training and support. I know there are offices with very capable Managing Principals who train, encourage, support, and "grow" their Advisors. But that's not consistent throughout the company. This is the toughest job I've ever done for the least amount of money I've ever earned. I've been in sales the majority of my adult life, I'm educated, hard working, and I've enjoyed many successes here, but there is no support to keep it going. If I can't make it here than most can't. In the end you'll probably die a slow death like myself.

Advice to Senior Management

1. Decide how you want to grow your Advisor force. Organically or through aquisition.
2. If you want to grow organically hire the best and incent for the best! Put a few dollars behind advisor support and don't pressure your MP's to fill a body count. Garbage in garbage out!
3. If you want to sell more financial plans take less than 46% of planning fees from the Advisors!
4. Be uniform. Every office should function identically. And don't let years go by with incompetent Managing Principals who decimate offices. Really, there's no excuse for that and you should be ashamed.

Pros

Think of this as your own business. You have the responsibility to make a go of it, but, you have te experience of many people to build upon.

Cons

Lack of upper management support. People at the home office are friendly, but, do not always have the appropriate answer. Also, no one knows Waddell & Reed. We need to build on marketing.

Advice to Senior Management

Build the company name so people know who about Waddell & Reed.

Pros

Good atmosphere and ability to advance my career.

Cons

The account processing is from the Dark Ages! No computerization. Everything is done on paper! No one seems to know what forms are needed and then the FA has to go back and get additional forms filled out and signed by the client.

Advice to Senior Management

Start being honest! Don't tell things that you can't or are unable to provide. Tell the real story to potential employees instead of hiding the truth or misrepresenting it.

Pros

Somewhat your own boss
High Commission pay outs

Cons

No benefits of any kind
Very cheap (They don't pay a dime for anything!)

Advice to Senior Management

Create a better benefits package to get advisors started in the career.

Pros

Good firm to work for, but not as a Financial Advisor attempting to build a practice. This could be a good firm to transfer a practice from another firm.

Cons

Paperwork is monstrous. Not much help for Advisors attempting to build a practice.
Management says to spend less time on paperwork then Home Office adds more paperwork. Then, management says, to bad, get it done. The paperwork was tripled in the last year!

Pros

You have control of your schedule and your industry focus (specialty).
High income potential.
Hybrid in the finacial services industry. Although sponsored by a fund company, you are able to sell outside investments.

Cons

100 percent comission. The job is as much or more of a sales position than a client management position. Particularly in the early stages. There is a high attrition rate.

Pros

Great place to work with good benefits

Cons

Not much growth in career in IT.