Measuring the Costs of Fresh Talent
March 26, 2019 by Rich Blake
The cry for a more accelerated youth movement in the financial advisory space keeps growing louder. Whether to augment a graying team amidst changing demographics — or to shake up a talent roster based on cost effectiveness — the push is on within the industry to fill lower-rung roles, such as associate advisor and relationship manager.
But, when infusing young blood, as Kehrer Bielan and Cetera Financial Institutions asked in their recent report, “Trends in Associate Advisor Compensation,” just what should these individuals get paid? And how does a financial institution know that it’s getting these figures right?
Schwab’s latest survey of compensation at RIA firms is a useful measuring stick in terms of defining what can be considered appropriate. The study looked at data from some 900 firms and found the median all-in pay for junior relationship managers was $102,000. About 20 percent of that total is incentive pay, with the rest being base salary.
By way of comparison, the Kehrer Bielan/Cetera research floated several compensation models for associate advisors. Setting aside some apples/oranges considerations, there was one example (the higher base-salary model) suggesting these positions should start at $50,000 base for the first two years, with incentive pay sliding upward (and base downward) in year three. The Kehrer Bielan/Cetera report estimated a range of first-year employee compensation costs, excluding benefits, at various production levels.
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