Pros
Pay is solid, benefits were pretty good and overall the work was fair for the compensation. Some TL's are very good and I really enjoyed working with them. I do know more about capital markets and that has helped me career wise. I also can deal with so much more now and I am grateful for my current employer. I think I had PTSD at my new firm for about 6 months. At my new job a client transferred away his accounts and I was freaking out calling and emailing the client trying to get him to stay. I was shocked when I went to my TL in our 1 on 1 fully expecting to be blamed but my boss just said "you tried and sometimes clients leave". He backed it up by still giving me a 100% on my bonus at the end of the quarter. At Fisher if a client leaves, for whatever reason, it is the IC's fault. Multiple people will search through notes and find reasons why it is your fault. No joke my last TL found something in a note 2 years earlier and found a way to spin it to make it my fault. The funny thing is the client for 8 months straight had complained about performance and I had a monthly call with him to try and get him through it. When he did term he stated it was performance and thanked me for being such a good IC. My TL still thought the issue (the issue was that I waited two days to follow up on an email he sent me) that came up two years earlier was the reason why the client termed and docked my bonus. So now I am very grateful for my new job and don't think I would be without having to experience the IC role at Fisher.
Cons
I think Fisher has moved from a small company to a large one but no one has told management that means things are different. I came to Fisher because they sold me on how in 2 or so years in the role I could move onto something else. I wanted different challenges and had been an advisor for over 10 years so that was a huge plus for me. Maybe 2 years in the role was true years ago or maybe they just say whatever they have to in the moment to keep people going. True story, I had been an IC for two and a half years and went to my assistant group manager and told him my desire to move into a new role. I was on the mentor pod and had done a lot of other side assignments (ya know the whole, will do attitude) and thought he would help me. He told me that I really needed to be an IC for another 18-24 months and then he could help me. I was disappointed but the worst part was the next week all the new IC's who get hired get to do a Q&A with the mentor pod IC's and the same group manager came in to talk to them. He told them, work hard and do well and in two years we will help you move to whatever position you want in the firm. The sad thing is I think this guy really believed what he was saying. Maybe one person in the new hire group (10-15 people on average) will get to be promoted but truth is many will quit in the first 6 months. A lot more will quit in the first few years when you realize the opportunity is just not there. If you were lucky enough to get promoted you still had to be an IC until they could transfer your clients away. I saw people who were waiting for over 12 months or longer. The thing is they just can't hire well enough or retain enough people. I knew that if I had to wait another year or two to get promoted I would have to do another 12-18 months after the promotion to actually get to where I wanted to be.