Dont get AXA Equitable, which is the insurance company, confused with AXA Advisors, which is the wholly owned subsidiary you are working for (where all your problems stem from). Aside from the fact that your experience will partially depend on which branch you get hired in (some provide way more support than others, another fault), here is the truth about AXA and the industry:
-The industry is contracting. Individual sales are less lucrative than they used to be, so now you are making up for it in volume
-The general public has little faith in your profession or your industry
-There are no legal definitions for terms like "financial advisor", so you are lumped in with fly-by-night insurance salesmen (in the public's eye, at least)
-Technology is gradually automating more of the products you sell, making them cheaper to deliver to the customer directly. People can now buy property/casualty/liability/health/term insurance online. You can get mortgages online. What makes you think permanent life insurance is so sacred it can't be sold online, allowing companies to cut out their commissioned sales forces? AXA managers will assure you permanent life products and annuities are too complex and special to sell online, but at one time the same was said about brokerage accounts and managed money (now being threatened by ever evolving robo advisors).
-The average middle class client will soon have little need for you; they will be able to get on demand advice online from a fee-based advisor anywhere, and that will rapidly devolve into a price war between thousands of registered "advisors" competing for the same piecemeal business. Do you want to wade into that arena? No. Which means:
-You will eventually try to target a much smaller pool of wealthy, complex clients who have a legitimate need for a financial advisor, except they will be flooded by solicitation from agents just like you.
As far as AXA Advisors goes:
-Salary is worthless and untenable for someone who doesn't have a big cushion of savings or family support, especially if you have student loans / bills. (24k year one, 12k year two, that's it)
-You will be actively discouraged from soliciting managed money business and from spending time learning in depth market trading concepts (the excuses will sound something like "It takes forever to make money doing that, why not sell insurance, which has bigger commissions?" Or "Just give me (your manager) the managed money and I'll put you in on an insurance or annuity case"). Would you trust an "advisor" who has such little understanding of trading that their excuse is "I don't pretend to know the market, I'm just here to help you manage your risk"? Because that's someone who only knows insurance.
-Another refrain you will hear is that you are here to counsel people against their worst behaviors and impulses (like buying high and selling low). Are you looking to become a behavioral therapist or a technical professional?
-AXA is an insurance company first and foremost. And when you are a hammer, every problem looks like a nail. Despite everything you hear about the "open architecture" you supposedly have available to you, an AXA product or service is somehow magically the final answer almost every time.
Additionally:
-All the products you sell are commoditized, so it is much more difficult to differentiate yourself from the other solid products out there. So now you are selling uphill / with one arm tied, since you can't rely on the strength or novelty of your products to pique people's interest into meeting with you.
-You can't control or change the products you offer
-You can't control the pricing or competitiveness of your products
-You will encounter tooth and nail resistance if you leave and try to take your clients with you.
Does any of that sound "entrepreneurial" to you? What entrepreneur in their right mind would enter into such an arrangement? At best you can be considered a franchisee--you are expected to adopt someone else's brand and products as your own, with no control. And no equity.
If you are a true "entrepreneur", find a way to efficiently fund your living expenses while developing your idea. If you are a good salesperson, you could do well here, but you are better off finding a company with a more specialized / differentiated product that you will be able to leverage more clearly and effectively.
Ask a long-time AXA producer (preferably in a producer group), who isn't a partner or in management, what the industry was really like "back then" and how much better it used to be. You will continually hear the party line from management about how much easier you have it because of the tools available to you, but the reality is that 20 or 30 years ago the general public was much more open to doing business with you and you would have been paid way more for doing it.
If you are totally set on a career in financial services, and you are going in "cold" (i.e no connections in the industry or very warm, wealthy markets to sell to) do whatever you can to get into another company that has an actual hands-on advisor "track". They will groom you over a period of a few years to learn the business, support established advisors, learn techniques, get your CFP / other credentials, all while obtaining an actual livable salary (which allows you to focus on learning and frees you of low-end ethical dilemmas, like selling something to people who don't need it, or selling a higher commission product). Make sure the company you choose will allow you to learn insurance AND investing, and you will become a true, well rounded "advisor".
