America's Top Next-Generation Wealth Managers is our first ever list featuring 500 resilient millennials.
Why resilient?
Most of the names on this list entered the workforce amid the Great Recession.
They started their careers at the peak of the financial crisis— in finance no less—when markets were crumbling, financial firms struggled to stay alive and the economy was on the brink of collapse.
Today they represent the top-performing young advisors at their firms, and the future of the industry.
What's more impressive is that these millennial advisors, all born in 1980 or later, were newbies on the job when many Wall Street firms were shutting down the advisor training programs they’d just joined.
For years, firms like Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley and & UBS were breeding grounds for financial advisors in training.
Their programs have created some of the country’s top financial advisors.
But that all came to a halt when the housing market collapsed and financial services were faced with major cutbacks.
Top millennial advisor Meghan Railey recalls sitting outside a manager’s office in 2009 as her peers walked out with one-way plane tickets home.
She survived the mass firing and managed to launch a successful practice in San Francisco by becoming an expert in specific areas including employee stock options.
Vikas Mohindra took to the phones and called and pitched every C-suite executive he could to grow his book of business and keep his job as a young Merrill Lynch advisor.
His persistence paid off and he now runs a growing practice at the firm.
This next generation of advisors hasn’t just worked hard to stay in the game.
They are also viewed as the future of their respective firms.
Today the average age of a financial advisor is 51 with 38% of advisors expecting to retire in the next 10 years, according to Cerulli Associates.
Just 10% of financial advisors today are under age 35.
That means young financial advisors are faced with the huge challenge of inheriting and managing trillions in assets for individuals hoping to retire well. The good news is these millennials are here to do just that.
According to Cerulli, 86% of rookie advisors said a desire to help others reach their financial goals was a major factor in their decision to take on this career.
