Howard Diamond Quoted
Breaking into the brokerage business is getting tougher as declining fees make small accounts less profitable and government restrictions on unsolicited calls make phone sales taboo. That’s leaving big firms struggling to replace a retiring generation of advisers who helped accumulate trillions of dollars of assets and generated steady profits for years.
Brokerages have cut back on training costs since the financial crisis to boost profits, helping increase the average age of advisers at the biggest firms last year to 53, up from 48 in 2009, Daly said. To maintain their ranks, they’re paying millions of dollars in bonuses to lure experienced advisers, said Howard Diamond, a recruiter in Chester, New Jersey.
“It’s an eat-what-you-kill kind of industry, and unless you can hit the ground running, the firms are just not that interested in you,” Diamond said.
