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“The path to success for a trainee has become substantially more difficult,” acknowledged Bill Willis, President and CEO of Willis Consulting, Inc. in an interview with Ilana Polyak, reporting for OnWallSteetMag.

The path to success for a financial advisor trainee has become substantially more difficult.

According to Polyak, “The famed Wall Street training programs that once spawned legions of reps for the wirehouses and the large regional firms still haven’t recovered to prerecession levels. To replace departing or retiring advisors, the industry has relied on fierce recruiting wars, luring away established advisors — and their clients — with enormous bonuses.

To be an attractive prospect, an advisor needs to have many years of experience under his or her belt and a sizable book of business, so it’s easy to see why young talent doesn’t fit the bill. Shrinking fees make smaller accounts unprofitable, putting tremendous pressure on new recruits to bring in large accounts and build up their books straight out of the gate. The attrition rate of these training programs is close to 80%.”

[pullquote]The minimum you need to survive is $10 to $15 million[/pullquote]Willis agreed that “The minimum you need to survive is $10 to $15 million and that naturally favors someone who is older with more contacts.”

The Polyak article of the challenges ahead for the wealth management industry can be found HERE.