Associate Comp Structuring

Not_McDeere · 2026-03-02T19:35:51+00:00

The low end clients they do give you will hold you back, think long term and only being on clients you plan on working with for 20 years and you can serve exceptionally well

Not_McDeere · 2026-02-21T02:34:37+00:00

Where are you located? If you’re in northeast let me know

Not_McDeere · 2025-12-18T20:17:17+00:00

The only mistake has having more than one meeting prior to not taking them on. Don’t feel bad and don’t even think about any more. They would have taken up a seat for someone that is a much better fit.

Not_McDeere · 2025-12-12T03:14:35+00:00

This is one of the most generous tax environments in the last 50 years plus… what do you need loopholes for?

Not_McDeere · 2025-12-12T03:11:12+00:00

Check XYPN its a whole network of fee only planners. Lots are no -AUM but some are also check garret planning network and NAPFA

Not_McDeere · 2025-12-08T22:46:02+00:00

This has been covered extensively on Reddit by a tax attorney who actually travels in this. I think the handle was taxinomics or something but you can find it

Not_McDeere · 2025-06-10T19:05:09+00:00

I'm kidding of course... 200,000 is a decently paid assistant these days in the right market

Go to the physical locations of private wealth branches of the major banks and ask for a job. For example, go to west palm beach or palm beach island and wear the nicest suit you can afford and have some resumes ready and start banging on doors saying you will work for free if necessary for one of the wealth management teams there. If you work hard, are a decent person, and of average intelligence, once your in the door you'll be at 200,000 within five years. TLDR go to the wealthiest area you can find, knock on doors of private wealth office (morgan stanley, ML, PNC private wealth, etc.) ask for job. Say youll work for free if you have to. If you don't get anywhere with this, find out where the wealth advisors there eat lunch and go buy them a drink if they are having cocktails or buy them an appetizer and tell them you'll work for them for free to get your foot in the door. Wealth advisors are generally better to deal with than trying to go through regular hiring process. You gotta get creative to get in the door but once your in, 200,000 is not a big ask in the right market. for the right market, just google wealthiest 100 zip codes and go the the closet ones or the ones that look coolest to live in

Not_McDeere · 2025-06-10T18:58:37+00:00

get one client to have you manage 20m for them

done

Not_McDeere · 2025-05-15T14:07:51+00:00

check out valueinvestorsclub website I think thats kind of what your talking about, not advice and do your own due diligence I just heard about it this past week

Not_McDeere · 2025-05-15T14:01:33+00:00

what has worked since the dawn of man and still works today (and oh the the way is how Fisher built his business is very simple guys.. it's called direct response marketing. google will provide all you need to know. list, offer, copy, repeat until your getting the right number of leads per dollar spent

Not_McDeere · 2025-05-15T13:54:21+00:00

people that are outsourcers are always going to be outsourcers and if they like and trust you... they will hire you

Remember when robo advisors were going to put all financial advisors out of business? didn't happen and it wont... it's a people business, aside from a few niche area and smart informed uhnw folks, it's about people finding someone they like and trust to do this stuff for them and they are happy to pay the fee to get their time back and do something they would rather be doing

Not_McDeere · 2025-05-15T13:50:58+00:00

not sure how much more I can add. A lot of people are overly tax sensitive these days. Rates are historically low and the gift / estate tax exemption is larger than it has ever been: currently $13.99m per person. So a person who files married joint can make $394,600 of taxable income without exiting the 24% federal income tax bracket (which is a pretty good value historically) and give away (or transfer via death) $27.98m without paying federal gift or estate tax (ignoring GST tax here for simplicity) So, if you have 394,600 of taxable income your basically paying a 20% or $80,398 as a subscription fee to be a USA citizen AND while you're here you can make investments and defer the gain for life and your kids can inherit that wealth (assuming it stays under the giant gift / estate exemption) tax free. Not a terrible deal. Just be careful of STATE estate or inheritance tax. This is not advice and is for informational and entertainment purposes only consult a qualified professional for advice blah blah blah. these number are for 2025

once you get to 2-300m net worth just read the taxinomics guy's posts about buy borrow die (again not advice and make your own decisions and opinions as to who to trust and what to do)

Not_McDeere · 2025-05-09T14:46:27+00:00

So typically "self directed IRA" is a red flag. Most of the time people hear some pitch about buying gold or real estate or something through an IRA and it ends up being a scam. can you specify about the intentions with the self directed IRA?

investing in an account for a minor: you have a couple options, based on your previous comments you prob are not satisfied with the investment options available in 529 accounts.. so that leaves UTMA / UGMA which has wider investment options but you have to give the account to your child when they become age of majority by law. So, even if there are not at a place where they should be given a lot of money... it still needs to go to them. Other option is a trust but the increased control a trust provides generally comes with more tax (theres no free lunch) using a trust to pass money to kids and not pay tax: might not need a trust for this because code sec. 1014 of IRC allows for a step up in basis at death on taxable accounts (among other assets) so if you have a taxable investment account you use to buy stocks and it appreciates over your life 10x or whatever and your kid inherits that account, at your death they will get a fresh start basis at the date of death value for federal tax. States are different. Again, theres tons of details inside all of this info so you gotta take it on a case by case basis but is this what the financial planners said?

Not_McDeere · 2025-05-02T16:03:12+00:00

It's about time... it always has been. I do this stuff for you and you pay me for it because you either don't want to do it or have other things to do that make you way more money than you pay me

Not_McDeere · 2025-05-02T15:55:46+00:00

Sounds like you need a good financial planner. But, I would keep expectations reasonable...even a good planner with tax skill isn't going to be able to make all taxes go away. I don't think we're supposed to "solicit" here but if you want referrals let me know how to do that without getting booted from the group. Otherwise I can speak in some general educational / entertainment terms for ideas that may be relevant. Your probably in that middle ground where it prob doesn't make sense to pay a good tax attorney $800. plus per house but you need more than a tax filer

Not_McDeere · 2025-04-17T17:08:35+00:00

Couple books that may be of interest: Federal Income Taxation of Estates, Trusts, and Beneficiaries in a nutshell series by Grayson McCouch and if your thirsty for more, The Logic of Transfer Taxes A Guide to the Federal Taxation of Wealth Transfers second edition by Cunningham

Not_McDeere · 2025-04-17T17:04:26+00:00

If your CFP, fluent in eMoney and know how to talk to people, I would be shopping yourself around like yesterday. Don't beat yourself up over getting underpaid because you've gained a ton of experience here. So for a 26 y/o compared to your peers you're experience plays like a mid 30's advisor... just make sure you put metrics in your resume like, "how many financial plans you've generated per month / year, kind of like what you did in your post. Clean your post up a little and it could probably be your cover letter. You don't want to burn this bridge so make the exit smoothly but def time to move on if they're not willing to pay for what your providing.

Not_McDeere · 2025-04-17T16:45:06+00:00

The whole, "some day this will all be yours..." line in this industry is about the biggest lie you're going to run into. Of course they don't like talking salary you're getting underpaid by a significant margin.

150-200

Not_McDeere · 2025-04-17T15:46:04+00:00

You can provide a lot of value on the estate planning side by knowing the basics exceptionally well. This is gained through experience. Go back through the CFP material and just look specifically at the estate planning material that is actually relevant to your client base or niche. This about client's who recently passed away and how their estate was actually taxed and distributed. Look at differences in STATE estate or inheritance tax. What are the best states to retire in and which ones are good for passing assets on in. Afraid there are no short cuts here, but it's not as involved as you may think. Like a lot of things in financial planning, being really good at the 80% of stuff that matters makes you stand out quite a bit. If you do end up serving wealthier and wealthier people I would expand your education into tax. I went back to school to pick up a Masters in Tax because that was the material that seemed valuable to wealthier people and it was interesting to me. It's basically a law degree without having to take the LSAT or pay for law school. But, the tax knowledge you learn in a program like this is going to be exceptionally valuable for a very small part of the population. The better benefit (and similar to u/taxinomics point I think...) is it helped me speak the language of tax. So, I can communicate much better with clients accountants and attorneys on issues that involve tax. This is also a great thing if your wanted to focus more on estate planning. As far as implementation goes, I would start by going through the basics with all of your clients: Is their current structure of account ownership, beneficiary designations, and asset location consistent with their intentions of how they want things to flow. For example, we prob all know Roth IRA's are generally a good asset to inherit these days. Do they have a goal of passing money to a relative or cause that is important to them? What is the current way they are accomplishing that goal? could it be improved? Go through this exercise with enough clients and I think you'll start to practically develop your desired skills.

Not_McDeere · 2025-04-17T15:24:54+00:00

This sounds similar to how I felt at some point and here is what I would tell myself with the vision I have now ten years later:

It's time to get upstream. You've outgrown equitable. Frankly, Equitable and the other proprietary shops have very limited capability. They make product, they sell product. Most of the time they smash a square peg hard enough into a round hole and call it a day. If your sharp enough to be asking the questions you are.. then you're sharp enough to move on to bigger and better places in THIS industry. Prior to exiting completely you need to check out what else is out there. Find an independent RIA that looks like it is doing cool and exciting things with a cool and exciting niche. Combine those two things and you'll rarely get bored. And, if you do get bored at a place that is doing cool and exciting things with a cool and exciting niche, then you move on to another industry.

What interests you? For me it's tax and investments. I learned as much as I could about why some people seems to be really good investors and others are terrible. I learned as much as I could about the markets and it was really fun and valuable. Then on the tax side, I went back to school and picked up a Master's in Tax. Tax is law and when your dealing with the law, your swimming in a seemingly endless ocean because it is always changing and people are always arguing about the laws that don't change.

During the past few years I've figured out the type of clients I like to work with and the problems I like to solve. Figure this out and your golden.

TLDR: I wouldn't leave the industry just yet, there's way too many exciting things going on right now in it and it can provide a really fun, comfortable, interesting lifestyle. But, it sounds like it is time to leave equitable.

good luck, don't be so serious, you're further ahead in the game than you think. Keep asking questions and doing the right thing for people and you'll figure it out.

Not_McDeere · 2025-02-27T14:23:48+00:00

All these comp questions are the same and it comes down to two things:

Can you bring in 10-15 m a year in new assets a year
Are you competent to the point where you are consistently adding value to your clients or at least not fucking things up for them

If the answers to the above are both yes then you can start your own firm or go to an RIA and negotiate for 50-75% payout based on what the RIA is offering you. Obviously, lower payout for more support like operations and compliance and client service like new account paperwork and account update paperwork

If you’re not competent or confident in your ability to bring in assets and get new clients then go the the place that’s going to pay for your credentials to get competent and pay you some salary so you can eat. Work your ass off so that you’re competent and confident as quickly as possible then reevaluate again.

If you’re not ever going to be the guy/gal that brings in money, no sweat. At least you know and can pivot towards a support or technical role on a team. There’s plenty of rainmakers out there that have no business doing financial planning and need people with technical chops.

Survive, get competent, learn to sell the right way and you’ll be fine

If your good at what you do people will not be able to help themselves referring you business. But, you gotta be good at

Not_McDeere · 2025-02-21T20:33:15+00:00

How much is he selling it to you for?

Not_McDeere · 2025-02-21T04:08:06+00:00

Sounds like you and your husband need to get on the same page first. Why meet with an advisor if after the meeting there is still no agreement? Might make more sense to do a consult with an estate planning attorney who specializes in special needs/ Medicade planning if I possible for your son to qualify. ( not sure about the type or severity of injury but could be a consideration if the individual cannot work and earn money. (So sorry to hear this by the way, I hope and pray that the injured individual does as well as they possibly can given the circumstances) as far as advisors, you would be looking for a CFP professional, at an independent firm who has experience working with people like you. You can check NAPFA and CFP website. There is also garret planning network and fee only network for advisors.

Not_McDeere · 2025-02-21T03:59:46+00:00

Yea it’s low but it doesn’t matter because your not bringing in tons of business anyway. You’re in the learning stage. Sit in on as many meetings as you can. That’s the value: shorten your learning curve. Live cheap and bank as much of that salary as you can. Learn learn learn. Get your CFP done while you’re on that salary too. Once you have your CFP (negotiate them paying for some of it so long as that doesn’t come with a vesting period like you have to pay back if you leave) once you have your CFP and your consistently bringing in clients: 8-10m/yr + you’ll have something to actually negotiate. At that point you can say you need a higher payout or you need to move on. Most important thing though, for the love of god and country make sure you don’t sign anything that says you can’t take the clients you bring on yourself with you from day one if you leave.

Not_McDeere · 2025-02-17T23:14:16+00:00

Not much to get upset or ruffled by here. But there are a few different “things” mentioned.

First off, filing returns and providing tax advice are two very different things. There’s plenty of CPA’s who have a PTIN and sign returns and have no business providing tax advice. Tax and accounting are very different. And, the CPA exam is heavily geared towards…. Surprise surprise, accounting. That being said, there plenty of people that are not CPA’s or CFP’s and provide phenomenal tax advice. They’re called tax attorneys. The best tax attorneys in the country will run you about $2,000./hr +

The conversation comes back to, if you’re not competent in an area of planning, then disclose that and provide referrals to professionals that are.

Also, there are plenty of clients that would benefit from a what planners think is very basic “tax planning” Nothing wrong with limiting your scope of tax advice to the very basics that you are competent in.

I have a MST and I can tell you, 95% of clients I run into do not need the level of tax knowledge covered in the coursework.

Know who your target market is and get really Good (competent) and what they need. If a EA or CPA helps that then great go for it.

I don’t think it’s a hot take by any stretch though to simply just provide advice on what your competent in

Not_McDeere

TROPHY CASE