Pros
Autonomy, Income potential, Licensing and learning to prospect and sell. As this was my first job out of school and having graduated with a degree in finance there are worse places to begin your career as an advisor or in the finance sector. I have learned a lot about the business in my time here. Opportunities to move into management and climb the corporate ladder.
Cons
I genuinely think the management here cares about the employees, but the way the compensation structure is built there is literally no way the client can ever come first. Make no mistake, financial planning/advisory is a SALES position. You have to bring in clients and assets. The question any young person should ask themselves, is do I know what I want to sell and what is your ideal business model. I cannot say this enough, TALK TO OLDER ADVISORS from different firms/ business models and ask them what they do!!! While you can sell products from a number of companies as well as do broker/dealer and advisory business, none of this is "benefits eligible" comp. You will not get a 401k contribution, pay S.S. tax, OASDI, health benefits paid for without selling an AXA proprietary product. When you start making good money from outside of the proprietary realm, this can be a real issue.