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Pros
Great team to get you up and running as a new associate Good work life balance
Cons
No base salary (or 24K base with lower bonuses which is not a good option) though business at the start but gets easier after 2,3 year
Pros
Structured first 2 years in the business with training, stable pay with unlimited upside potential in commissions, open architecture platform to service clients. Pushes a holistic approach to truly help clients instead of being a product pusher. All new advisors get fully licensed right away prior to starting. After 2 years, it switches to full commission + bonus and payouts are extremely competitive, much more than banking channels. Great benefits, and a clear career trajectory if someone wants to do management or producer groups.
Cons
It's a grind early on, the work/life balance is definitely earned. There is no bank backing Equitable so there's no existing client book to work (ex: Merrill Lynch). All of our new business comes from prospecting on our own. Friends & family, people who know us, building target markets, cold calling, etc. Working with friends and family is the best way to build a business in my opinion, but in my experience, we lose people because they want more of a bank offers.
Pros
Excellent commission structure with great bonuses Make your own schedule Access to a referral base Make your own target market and clientele Lots of trainings
Cons
No salary; 100% commission Lots of Trainings Hard to get started or for those who are new to the industry Get familiar with insurance
Pros
High income potential, Work Life Balance, supported independence. a career where you can grow in while helping others and making a lor of money. base pay, bonus, and commissions, plus benefits
Cons
it does require a lot of time and dedication and work to start off. usually the first 2 years are the hardest as you are building your practice.
Pros
Opportunity to make a substantial amount of money but it takes at least two years for this to build up. Decent team work and senior advisors to learn from.
Cons
1. You do NOT own your clients. Be careful when you sign your contract. When you leave the company, you are under a strict 1 year non-solicitation agreement meaning they will sue you if you attempt to take any of your clients with you. They will send you multiple letters after you leave threatening to enforce this. Management will gobble up your clients and can do so at any time for any reason. 2. CHARGED MONEY TO LEAVE. Equitable will send you a bill for any commissions they allegedly overpaid you when you worked there. A shady debt collector agency - Thomas George Associates - will reach out and demand you to pay - in my case of $12,000 and will threaten legal action. 3. Pressure to sell to friends and family. Without a natural market you are forced to cold call or work their retirement benefits group where you sell high fee variable annuities to teachers. They recently settled a $50M fraud charge with the SEC as a result of non-disclosure of fees to educators. 4. Mandated to Sell Equitable Proprietary Products. Heavy push for Variable Annuity products and variable life products. If you fail to sell these products they will cut your health insurance and other benefits. 5. Base salary is $24,000 for 2 years and you get paid half your commissions during this time 6. Required to pay for your own cubicle, technology, E&O insurance, phone, laptop, license fees, etc. 7. As a result, the turnover rate is astronomically high. Management's goal is to hire as many unsuspecting young people as possible so they get paid a bonus. Their bonus decline after 4 years when you are under DSF and then they cut you loose and try to cut your territory. Then when that person fails out, they will gobble up the clients and enforce the non complete agreement.
Pros
Team is good, employees are personable and helpful, health benefit options are diverse, paid for S7 and S6x certifications
Cons
Unclear/convoluted onboarding process, small bonus after passing S7 exam but no other compensation unless you're bringing in clients which is difficult as they use cold-calling as their primary source of gaining clients in the beginning, heavily reliant on friends and family to "invest" with Equitable to be fully contracted, long hours of cold calling random companies only to get maybe 1-2 meetings a day of which 1 person won't show up to the meeting and the other isn't really a viable client, lots of emphasis on selling life insurance to clients
Pros
Opportunity to make a substantial amount of money but it takes at least two years for this to build up. Decent team work and senior advisors to learn from.
Cons
1. You do NOT own your clients. Be careful when you sign your contract. When you leave the company, you are under a strict 1 year non-solicitation agreement meaning they will sue you if you attempt to take any of your clients with you. They will send you multiple letters after you leave threatening to enforce this. Management will gobble up your clients and can do so at any time for any reason. 2. CHARGED MONEY TO LEAVE. Equitable will send you a bill for any commissions they allegedly overpaid you when you worked there. A shady debt collector agency - Thomas George Associates - will reach out and demand you to pay - in my case of $12,000 and will threaten legal action. 3. Pressure to sell to friends and family. Without a natural market you are forced to cold call or work their retirement benefits group where you sell high fee variable annuities to teachers. They recently settled a $50M fraud charge with the SEC as a result of non-disclosure of fees to educators. 4. Mandated to Sell Equitable Proprietary Products. Heavy push for Variable Annuity products and variable life products. If you fail to sell these products they will cut your health insurance and other benefits. 5. Base salary is $24,000 for 2 years and you get paid half your commissions during this time 6. Required to pay for your own cubicle, technology, E&O insurance, phone, laptop, license fees, etc. 7. As a result, the turnover rate is astronomically high. Management's goal is to hire as many unsuspecting young people as possible so they get paid a bonus. Their bonus decline after 4 years when you are under DSF and then they cut you loose and try to cut your territory. Then when that person fails out, they will gobble up the clients and enforce the non complete agreement.
Pros
Unlimited earning potential, awesome atmosphere/colleagues, support available for new/experienced advisors, set your own schedule, etc. That's just to name a few, been a FANTASTIC career with this company. Equitable is super flexible, no time clocking in and out like advisors at banks and other firms. They're not limited to proprietary business, so the product potential for your clients is unlimited. I have many friends that work with advisory firms that advertise, and when we compare fee structure, bonuses etc, you can't beat Equitible's platform!
Cons
For beginners, financial advising is tough for anyone to get started. Thankfully Equitable offers plenty of joint work partners to help you close business. No con's for experienced advisors.