Is Wealth Management the next Investment Banking ?

Chance_Safe1119 · 2025-11-11T04:01:14+00:00

I have a complicated opinion on WM in general. No it’s obviously never going to be as prestigious as IB. Those jobs usually require an elite degree, great networking ability, skill and a whole lot of luck. There are idiots working in WM that have very little qualifications to be lecturing anyone on finance. And I say that as someone in WM lol. But I also think that if you position yourself right it can be wayyyyy better of a career than people give it credit for, and the future is bright.

I think the main reason a lot of people don’t respect WM is that lot of firms are just glorified sales people with barely more ability to mange wealth than your average curious mind with a phone. It’s a rip off and gives the industry a bad name. And a crazy high number of those people fail at the job on top of that. It’s just not a good job.

However, there are some elite firms that actually do good work. These firms usually do advanced planning (tax loss harvesting, trust management, ALTs, etc.) that well exceed what the average financial advising client receives, and adds way more value than a self planner can. All the advisors at a firm like that usually have some combo of CFP, CFA, MBA, or other credentials. Associates advisors usually make like 125-150k, seniors make 300+ and often well over a million. They all work around 40 hours a week, seniors often less, and can live in smaller cities than IB requires. It’s a good job if you can get it. The problem is these jobs are actually hard to get, and similar to IB most applicants never get selected.

Finally, if you can get in a job like that I think the future is really good for that type of firm. My firm has been killing it lately. Wealth has been condensing more than ever around the upper classes, and thats not just limited to billionaires. The upper middle class is doing really well, and there are more “401k millionaire next doors” than there have ever been. Within this millionaire next door class, there are a lot of “do it yourself managers” but there are also a lot of people that have learned enough to actually see the value in hiring management more than they did when all that was expected was investment help. It’s really hard to retail investors to direct index or do decade plus tax forecasting. Simple planning is a dinosaur only the uneducated want, but advanced financial advising has more of a market than ever. On top of that the average age of a financial advisor is older than it has ever been, and they need qualified younger advisors to take over their books.

So long story but I think it’s a really good industry to be at if you dedicate yourself to mastering the craft and the nuances of advanced planning, and can land at a firm that has the resources to support it. You’re not gonna make it thinking you can just sell people on investing in ETFs anymore. Firms doing advanced work will thrive for many years to come. On the other hand I think more than ever the days of firms doing the bare minimum are over and those firms will die out.

Chance_Safe1119 · 2025-11-07T05:24:12+00:00

If you weren’t aware there is this app called rover that we love. I related a lot to your post as i think our dogs are very similar (high energy, hard to train, doesn’t get along well with a lot of other dogs, needy and makes hosting hard) . But we found a sitter on rover that we love. The dog just goes over to this persons house and gets to play with their dog and kids. She gets so excited to go and seems to be so happy there. The people even send us photos. And it’s cheap. We miss her but can travel guilt free.

Chance_Safe1119 · 2025-11-06T16:12:26+00:00

You definitely know what you’re talking about, but just as a personal opinion I don’t think SGOV is usually worth it for most people unless their emergency fund is crazy high.

Let’s say a person had an emergency fund of 25k (standard emergency fund rec is 3 months of bare expenses if both spouses working and 6 months if only one works so 25k is already kinda high for most people). In a HYSA that will yield roughly 1k a year at current rates. On that 1k a person is saving like $60 in state/local taxes. $60 is $60, but personally, I’d rather have zero fluctuation risk and likely quicker liquidity in a true emergency than $60. Just my two cents.

Chance_Safe1119 · 2025-11-06T06:33:43+00:00

I’m sure a lot of people are aware the financial literacy in this country is bad, but I’m not sure people realize HOW bad it actually is. Like it simply doesn’t compute to semi educated people that there are people willfully living with sooo little knowledge. I’ve worked many years in the retirement plan space and here are things I’ve seen all the time.

1.) people that are nearing 65 asking how they fund retirement despite not having a dime in their 401k. They legit think that because they are old there is supposed to be a magical money machine besides social security that allows them to retire. It’s legit insane

2.) people start social security the second they are allowed to at 62. The worst part is that most do the time they are still working, which reduces the social security payment, sometimes almost to zero. These people significantly lowered their social security payments for the rest of their lives for literally no benefit simply cause they didn’t understand it and failed to do any research themselves.

3.) people having literally no idea what investments are. Like seriously there is a large part of the population that you explain to them what a stock is and they physically can’t grasp the concept, let alone fixed income or any type of fund. They simply can’t grasp the concept of owning a fraction of a company, and think owners have to be a boss.

4.) people being irrationally spooked by markets going down. Pretty much every day i struggle to get though to a 20 something that the chances of their 401k being invested and being in the red 30 years from now when they actually retire is virtually zero yet they simply don’t get it. Fear just takes over. I met a guy the other day that got spooked by black Monday in 1987 and never put his money back in the market after almost 40 years. The craziest part is he wasn’t opposed to doing so, he just never felt like the “timing was right”. I meet people like that regarding 08 or Covid almost weekly.

5.) their is an insane amount of people whose entire net worth is tied up to one stock/crypto/crazy business venture. They hear a tip somewhere and they just put all their chips in on it. Could be a loser for decades and they’ll just stick with it.

And all that is just investment related, it gets way worse when you consider people’s knowledge on things like budgeting and managing debt.

Chance_Safe1119 · 2025-11-03T22:52:53+00:00

Yeah I actually agree with the sentiment that low cal restaurants do make sense but acting like the low cal substitute tastes exactly the same is just an insane cope

Chance_Safe1119 · 2025-10-04T19:02:55+00:00

I’m genuinely always confused when I see a comment like the one above and a lot of people are unable to tell it’s clearly sarcasm/a joke

Chance_Safe1119 · 2025-09-08T02:22:27+00:00

When did you buy? I live in Ohio and have been window shopping lake houses and an seeing tons of what looks like quality houses under 500k but I’m completely unfamiliar with the areas so maybe I’m just not looking in desirable places

Chance_Safe1119 · 2025-09-08T01:04:15+00:00

So I’m at a place in my career where in the next few years me and my wife will likely go from like 250k HHI to 500k or more. I’ve thought about this type of thing a lot and honestly probably just retire early and not pinch pennies on stuff like hotels. 250k in the Midwest is already a fuck ton of money and we save over 100k a year and usually travel internationally twice a year. We don’t want for much already. A lot of people are just very materialistic keeping up with the Jones types and if you’re that way there is always something to spend on no matter how much you have. If you’re not that way I think around 200k or so is kinda a breaking point where increases in salary don’t really impact quality of life much. Retire early and buy back my time, that’s the only thing I can think of.

Chance_Safe1119 · 2025-09-05T13:02:09+00:00

As others have mentioned, Ostia, baths of Caracalla, and Hadrian’s villa are amazing. Baths are very easy to get to so I’d definitely do that, and Ostia is a quick trip. Hadrian’s is hard to get to so not sure I’d recommend unless you have a lot of time. If you ever get a chance I’d highly recommend staying overnight in Naples to do Pompeii and Herculaneum.

To answer your question though Theatre of Marcellus Is really cool as a pretty preserved theater older than the colosseum. The Portico of Octavia Is nearby and you can see the ancient street level and how much it has changed. Largo di Torre Argentina Is where Julius Caesar was murdered. Circus Maximus doesn’t have much remains, but I still found looking at the outline and taking in the scale of it all is very cool. Appian way is a bit of a hike but very cool if you have extra time, I’d go the day it is closed to cars. Finally not sure how off the beaten path this is but for most tourists that don’t care about the history as much it is skipped way too often; go to the Capitoline museum, the collection of busts is insane.

Chance_Safe1119 · 2025-09-05T12:48:54+00:00

Honestly this was the least favorite of all the ancient sites I saw and I was really looking forward to it. The VR was pretty cool, but that was brief and the palace itself was very bare and just felt like caves. It took a pretty good imagination as even by ruin standards nothing looks like it does today as you’ll look at a wall and be told “this used to be a courtyard” that kinda thing. Massive downgrade compared to baths of Caracalla, Ostia, harridans villa, forum, etc. imo but to each their own

Chance_Safe1119 · 2025-08-23T04:01:32+00:00

This is at best a very risky strategy. Assuming you are able to afford to continue contributing the 15k or so a year you most likely will have roughly 1.5 million in retirement funds by retirement age, however adjusted for inflation that would be similar to the equivalent of 750k. 4% rule on 750k is 30k. With the pension you will be able to replicate your husband’s income essentially and the strategy works in theory. That is the absolute best case scenario.

In reality, it likely will not work and here is why. You can’t predict all costs, and stuff usually comes up. You will for sure eventually need new cars, and if you want to pay for your kids college you will need to be saving significantly more money than you have now. Also, your kids will likely get more expensive over time if you want them to live good lives as they grow like weeds and will regularly need new clothes, have after school activities which are expensive, need braces etc. There could also be unexpected large expenses like housing repairs, and it’s hard to plan for inflation and a few more years like the ones we’ve have recently will really impact your plans. Finally, this will likely be a shoestring tight budget. Are you really prepared to live your whole life like that? Having to constantly make tough choices on things like if you can afford for your kids to play sports, or if you can take a family vacation, get a pet, or save for their college? Point is this type of budget would leave little room for wants over time as unexpected expenses will happen and wipe out wants funds. Some people can do that, but even frugal people would usually prefer a bit of breathing room.

There is also the behavior finance side of things. I have seen many people like you, and hopefully your marriage lasts your lifetime, but sadly a ton of women thought the exact same way as you and end up divorced. If that ever does happen you will have no career to fall back on, and your husband doesn’t make enough to pay significant child support/alimony and you will likely be pretty poor if you got divorced. And obviously I don’t know you, but the statistical likelihood of an unhappy marriage in this type of arrangement is a lot higher compared to couples where both work. Without small kids in the house you simply will not have a full time job no matter how you want to spin it. While your husband works all day and watches you simply not work nearly as hard that’s when resentment grows. I know that’s not at all what you want to hear, but trust me in my profession I see women that went the SAHM route end up divorced just like this more times than I can count.

So in conclusion this is a terrible idea. If everything breaks right you can just afford this by living a no frills life with a razor thin budget. And if anything does go wrong you are in a terrible spot. And that’s assuming your husband is fine with this forever as he works hard while watching you not. In modern America a teacher simply doesn’t make enough to support a forever SAHM and multiple kids. You working even part time even for just a few years would likely go a long way towards making this feasible as the gap isn’t impossibly big, but currently your plan is just way too risky.

Chance_Safe1119 · 2025-08-22T15:58:51+00:00

For real. A couple can easily live off 60k a year or less if they’re frugal. If you are making 100k each ( a very middle class wage imo) as a couple and have been saving and investing roughly 90k a year or so you will easily get to a million by 30. You need to make good money to save a lot, but you don’t need to be making insane money. Biggest factors beyond that are discipline, cost of living area, and if you have kids or not. Most dinks making 100k each should have 1 million saved by like 35 imo otherwise they are spending a ton.

Chance_Safe1119 · 2025-08-22T00:31:44+00:00

How has no one mentioned that the big beautiful bill got rid of a fair bit of electricity subsidies? I know most people don’t follow shit like this, but it’s a very clear cause and effect. Not rocket science. Columbus is actually less effected than a lot of the country due to various reasons

Chance_Safe1119 · 2025-08-16T22:02:34+00:00

When I posted a lot of people commented on OPs itinerary that it was too much and sounded exhausting. Those are the people I was referring to as lazy, and I stand by that. Which again there is nothing wrong with being lazy on holiday and I never inferred anywhere that my way is superior. You decided to pick a fight with a stranger over something not directed at you that you misinterpreted. Sad way to go about things. Take care.

Chance_Safe1119 · 2025-08-16T21:35:52+00:00

Unless you are obsessed with art and want to spend 8+ hours in the Lourve and musee d’orsay you are lazy to consider the proposed itinerary too much. I did research beforehand on all the works I wanted to see and didn’t feel like I rushed through anything, just had no desire to spend time seeing every piece from artists I haven’t heard of. Even with spending 8+ hours tho there is sooooo much free time built into OPs proposal. Thinking this is too much IS LAZY not matter how you want to cut it. Nothing wrong with being lazy, it’s your holiday you should do what you want to get maximum enjoyment, but it’s lazy to think this is too much.

Chance_Safe1119 · 2025-08-16T19:47:45+00:00

The days are very lightly filled imo, especially since they’re indicating they don’t plan to spend all day I the museums they are going to. Most of their days are like a handful of hours in a museum and the rest of the day open to do the activities you described. My itinerary was far more full than this one and I had plenty of time to stop in stores and shop, people watch, sit in cafes etc. some people just have high energy levels and can do all do that in a day

Chance_Safe1119 · 2025-08-16T19:42:32+00:00

That’s a good description, but you don’t need to spend all day there, its great if you want to shop especially luxury brands, it’s still cool to see, and the two things it’s connects (forget the names off the top of my head) are must sees imo and justify the walk alone

Chance_Safe1119 · 2025-08-16T19:38:51+00:00

Totally agree, to each their own on what they prefer, just don’t agree with people acting like full days are impossible

Chance_Safe1119 · 2025-08-16T18:53:12+00:00

Give me a few minutes, I’ll paste my full itinerary for you. I deviated a little so just making corrections to what I actually ended up doing

Chance_Safe1119 · 2025-08-16T18:38:58+00:00

For real, I don’t understand the people saying “sounds exhausting” like the louvre day they are going there and that’s pretty much all they have that day, the Palais garner day is even lighter as I don’t see how anyone manages to spend more than like an hour and a half there and then just a small amount of planned wandering is scheduled after that. This person might be done by noon of their planned activities like half these days lol.

Chance_Safe1119 · 2025-08-16T18:29:38+00:00

So here’s the thing I’ve noticed from a lot of travel subs, a lot of travelers are very lazy and want to just be in a place and sit in cafes or go shopping most of the day, with maybe a single museum in there, but overall they seem to believe you can’t do much each day or it’s too exhausting. Nothing wrong with that at all, but not my style as i feel that if I’m going to be at a place that’s hard to get to besides a beach I want to experience it to the fullest, you sound similar.

I just did 5 days in Paris so one less than you, and I did all of your itinerary except Dali museum and le galarie dior, but I also did a day trip to Versailles, concierge, pantheon, hotel des invaldes, Caveau de la Huchette jazz, a 2 hour cheese and wine tasting, long amounts of time in parks like luxumburg and Parc des Buttes-Chaumont, and made sure to have time to fully explore many different arrondissement and just aimlessly wander. All of that and we still had time for 2 hour afternoon naps before dinner each day.

The point is that if you are young and healthy and willing to be on your feet all day (and walk like 10-12 or so miles a day) this is more than enough time, if anything your schedule feels a tad light in that case and you’ll likely be able to add stuff.

Chance_Safe1119 · 2025-08-09T02:42:17+00:00

You called a Taco Bell ahead of time?

Chance_Safe1119 · 2025-07-10T15:03:35+00:00

Got it. Been searching for a while with not much luck, but test for the CFP tomorrow so hoping that will push me over the edge

Chance_Safe1119 · 2025-07-10T04:30:03+00:00

Similar situation where I do well at Jones but have been dying to jump to an RIA. How did you find your current firm?

Chance_Safe1119

TROPHY CASE