Indie, 403b Market

Originally posted by iceco1d You're not an idiot - that's what I thought too, which is why I'm so confused.

Well, you could go work for VALIC, but remember, when you start, they will give you a book of business of people that don't contribute to their accounts, don't have any money, and will call you constantly for loans and distributions. Then, your manager will get you to sign up all of your friends and family members. You get looked down upon by brokers and advisors and make a below average living but gain experience. Now, you get fed up with the company and want to leave; but, you forgot you signed a contract with them and you can't take your accounts with you because VALIC won't sign the Protocal. So now your friends and family members are stuck at the company that you hate. If they do want to move over, they will have surrender charges, and then VALIC will sue you.

Advisors that leave VALIC discover that they make 2 to 3X more with other companies or firms. However, only select few companies will hire you because in the investment world, VALIC advisors have a huge black-eye. Meaning, you are viewed upon as a servicing agent and not a financial advisor. The reason being, they have no capabilities to provide actual advise. Furthermore, I hope you like paperwork. You will spend most of your time doing sales reports. You will spend approximately 20 hours a week doing paperwork and 10 hours a week doing reports requesting why you aren't producing new sells.

I will say they have a great training program on how to sell, and sell hard. A lot of people go on to successful careers at car dealerships and time-shares.

Lastly, everybody has an attitude because they are at the bottom of the industry with regards to compensation. Seriously, people don't like working there.

Other than that, it's a great place to work.