E(asily)quitable -- College Graduates STAY AWAY - Financial Advisor Equitable Advisors Employee Review

If you are a college graduate interviewing for this role, you NEED to read this. - During the interview process, they will consistently leave out truths about the role. They bait you in with promises of $52k your first year, $60k the next and $75k+ ongoing-- do not believe this, or anything else--these are best case scenario projections and do not reflect the performance of 98% of advisors in their first 5 years. Senior management's goal in the interview is to get you 'bought-in', and then make the decision to join 'yourself', all while they're using reverse psychology to pull your arm and make it seem like the role is hard to be selected for. Management is compensated based on how many heads are under their wing and how much money is brought in. REGULATION BEST INTEREST: In July 2020, FINRA and the SEC released a new regulation called "REG BI", that require recommendations within the financial industry to be relevant and necessary to clients. As a financial advisor, your job is to make recommendations. Legally speaking, you're only allowed to recommend products that have a clear benefit to your client. The problem with REG BI and Equitable is that you are in a commission-based role--you get paid off recommendations. So, imagine an advisor who is young, only on commission, and trying to get started in this career--they're going to be hungry to make recommendations so they can eat! The compliance team at Equitable is working harder than ever because recommendations are two-sided: one part benefit to the client and other part commission to the advisor. When clients hear you're paid in commission, they back off, because commission-paid jobs are unattractive to the consumer. Think about it in terms of car salesman; everyone knows the car salesman doesn't care about you whatsoever, and only cares about getting you to spend as much money as possible on their lot. "Impact, Independence and Income"--3 huge lies. Impact: During my time at Equitable, the only impact I made on my network was bothering friends and family who you are encouraged to reach out to when getting your business started. In our current day and age, especially after COVID-19, you will not meet anyone that is suitable to your business. Your goal is to find people with money, presumably in their 30s and 50s+, who do not have a current advisor and will be willing to meet with you after a cold call. Realistically, most people with money 1: have an advisor, 2: are smart, hence having money, and will not deal with someone who is in their 20s getting started in the business and 3: definitely won't solicit a cold call. (If you're lucky enough to be in the RBG with Equitable, you will have a market of teachers to reach out to. However, they are overworked, underpaid and untrusting of cold callers). Independence: I don't have to stress this one too much, but I will highlight my experience with 'independence' in this role. Here's what Independence really means: a required 64 hours a week, over 10-12 hours a day Monday through Friday and another 6-8 hours Saturday. If you don't work those hours, management tells you that you don't care about your business. You have administrative responsibilities on Sundays, of all days, and you still don't get paid for any of it. Income: Here's the kicker; let's say you decide to go for this job anyway and tolerate the above issues I've mentioned--IT'S A COMMISSION ONLY ROLE! You make zero dollars and zero cents an hour only bringing in $100 at a time after chasing clients in your network to sling a life insurance policy (that's pretty much all you're going to sell, by the way). Let's say you make it to 'contract' where you sign your life away to the firm in exchange for a 'salary'--THEY CUT YOUR COMMISSION IN HALF AND GIVE YOU $24K A YEAR. The reputation of Equitable among financial firms is laughable. Just for having your Series 7 you will be paid a base of $50k with any other job out of college with zero experience, only working 40 hours a week, and not bothering people making cold calls and trying to make it in this industry. Another kicker on the money side: they make you pay for everything. Equitable will not spend a single dollar on you until you contract, and even then after dumping over $3350 (full and total cost from interview-contract) on exams, on-boarding/licensing fees and business costs, you will be reimbursed $1,000 at contract. Oh, the contract. You sign a two year agreement to stay with the firm under some very kind conditions: - If you leave within two years, you owe reimbursement back - Commission is cut to 50% of whatever you weren't making before - Increasing quarterly production minimums with 6 month 'safety nets'--so, similar to how interest works, if you get behind on production you might as well walk yourself to the door The problem with the contract and working for Equitable before the contract is the psychological game they will play with you day-in and day-out. The second you look up from the cloud of commitment they've stuck your head in to ask 'wait, is this the best I can get?', they will tell you fake horror stories of any other starter job you could get. They will consistently pat you on the back and reassure you that there is nothing better than where you are, and that you must stick with it for it to pay off. In reality, places like Equitable are only getting worse. In our day and age, again, it is only getting harder to market via cold calls, LinkedIn and through your network. People DO NOT TRUST 'standalone' advisors for a reason, especially when they're only getting paid commission. If you've read this far, I'm not discouraging you from pursuing a career here. But in 6 months when you look up wondering 'what else is out there for me?', just know you could have made more money working minimum wage at half of the hours you put in.