hii (≧◡≦)
today im gonna talk about something that still makes me mad when i remember. the investment market is a jungle and no one says it out loud. so im gonna tell u a bit of what i saw working there.
commission model is a scam
most advisors work on commission. seems harmless right? but in practice it creates a huge conflict of interest (╥﹏╥)
the guy literally shoves any trash product into the clients portfolio just to get his commission. doesnt matter if it makes sense or not. the advisor isnt thinking about whats best for the client, hes thinking about what pays him more.
and this is super normalized. people dont even question it anymore. u go to the bank, the manager offers u something, u think its trustworthy bc its a big bank right? wrong. sometimes its the opposite.
when the advisor earns more selling product A than product B, he will push A even if B was better for the client. this isnt theory, its daily reality. the clients portfolio becomes a showcase of whoever pays more.
the horror portfolios
when i worked there we got clients coming from banks or other advisors with absolutely horrible portfolios (╥﹏╥) some losing to savings accounts and in the red. the person had zero liquidity for emergencies and still had to swallow that absurd discount to try to get rid of the stuff pushed on them.
and sometimes it was even better to just hold. but the client was already desperate, thinking they had to do something. and the worst part is these people trusted someone. they went somewhere that should be safe and left with garbage in hand.
and putting long term investments for elderly people happened a lot too. omg the disrespect honto ni yabe. the person is 70 and the guy puts them in a product with 10 year term and 3 year lock up. how does that make sense??? the client might need that money tomorrow and the advisor doesnt care. just wants to close the sale and get commission.
fee based was different
good thing there are places that dont do this. like portfel where i worked which used fee based. in this model the consultant earns a percentage of the clients wealth, so if the portfolio goes up, both win. if it falls, he feels it too.
this aligns interests in a way the commission model simply cant. the consultant is incentivized to make the portfolio perform, not to fill it with paid trash.
too bad the commercial side is so hard and i couldnt attract people (・_・;) the company was actually good. nowadays who knows how it is. hope theyre still keeping the standards.
what companies actually value
theres something that deeply annoys me in this market. a lot of investment companies unfortunately value sales skills way more than technical knowledge.
the guy might not understand anything about products, might not know what hes doing, but if he sells well, if hes "good with words", the company loves him. meanwhile the professional who actually understands the market, who studies, who cares about the client, gets left behind bc they dont have that used car salesman vibe.
its surreal... u see people with no education, not understanding the basics of fixed vs variable income, earning way more just bc they know how to make someone sign paper.
there are worse things that enter this darker area of the market that im not gonna expose here. the retaliation risk isnt worth it, better stay quiet and protect urself (˘_˘) but i imagine anyone whos worked in the market knows what im talking about.
whats the point of work anyway
in the end working just to make rich people even richer brings zero satisfaction.
i left that market precisely bc i couldnt see myself there anymore.
if u have money and are gonna invest, please learn the basics. dont blindly trust an advisor, dont blindly trust a bank.