Name, Age, City and State:  Jenica Raney, 26, Des Moines, IA

Job-title:  Registered Brokerage Associate

Web/blog site URL:  www.wellsfargo.com

Give us your job description in 25 words or less.  A registered brokerage associate supports/assists a financial advisor in day-to-day sales activities, including trades, reviews, and administrative tasks.

Describe a typical workday. 

During a typical workday, I meet with my financial advisor and plan out the day’s events.  I prepare the financial data, including performance overviews and reallocation recommendations, for the following day’s meetings.  After my financial advisor meets with the day’s clients, I place the associated trades that were agreed upon in the meeting.  I also field all incoming calls to the office and help clients with their service needs.  Some days, I am asked to transfer/deposit funds.  Other days, I receive calls notifying me of the death of a client and I am responsible for preparing the estate/death claim paperwork.  There is much variation in my duties from day-to-day, depending upon the calls I receive from clients.

What led you to realize that you wanted to do this type of work?  When I started college, I was not one of the lucky that knew exactly what I wanted to do.  I displayed strong mathematical skills in high school and started with an advanced calculus class.  While I enjoyed crunching numbers, I felt that a career in mathematics might lack direct interaction with others and the ability to help people on a personal level.  This led me to check out the business school.  I dabbled in the accounting program and eventually found finance and marketing.  I loved both of these subjects and eventually made the decision to major in them.  From there, I graduated and accepted a position as a financial advisor with Morgan Stanley.  I quickly learned that it is very difficult to start out in the financial industry as an advisor because it is a challenge to convince people to invest their life’s wealth with a fresh college graduate.  Most serious investors prefer that their advisors have a breadth of knowledge and experience and I struggled to bring on clients of my own.  I, then, decided to explore the career of brokerage associate.  This allowed me to work directly with an experienced advisor and his clientele.  If you have an interest in becoming a financial advisor, I would strongly encourage you to consider the career of a brokerage associate.  It is an excellent backdoor into the industry and a great way to learn about investing and develop relationships with clients.

Did you have any heroes or mentors in your industry that you admired?  I have worked with 7 financial advisors over the last 4 years and I have learned much from each of them.  I also had a close friend that dove into the business and became a very successful financial advisor straight out of school.  It helped to learn from the experienced, but it was also nice to learn from a fellow college grad that was successful in becoming a financial advisor.

What type of education or training was required to land your job?  My job required a 4yr degree in Finance, Accounting, or related field.  Once hired, I was required to obtain several licenses before being able to speak directly with clients.   My licenses include the series 7, 63, 65, 3 and I also have an insurance license.

What do you love most about your job?  I love when I receive calls from clients that are frustrated/upset with a service issue.  This is an opportunity for me to help and I always enjoy the challenge.  It is such a great feeling to relieve their concerns and receive a much-appreciated “thank you” after I have resolved a tough issue.

What one part of your job do you wish you could hire someone else to do?  I call them the double D’s.  In my job, I am on the frontline to help clients distribute their wealth after a death or divorce.  As the Bible warns, money can do horrible things to a person’s heart when they make it their god.  Occasionally after a death and quite frequently after a divorce, I am faced with the unfortunate task of dealing with individuals that have put their money above all else in their life.  As a Christian, I have found that these situations present me with the opportunity to show compassion and do my best to mediate.  However, it is not always an easy task and it is a constant reminder to me that money is a temporary thing and will not follow you when you leave this earth.

What advice would you give to teenagers wanting to get into your field of work?  I would encourage you to take several finance courses and also some marketing classes.  While marketing is not a requirement, it is incredibly useful in the professional world for just about any position that involves the general public.

How does your job allow you to use your God-given gifts?  My job requires a great deal of organization, attention to detail, and analytical thinking.  These are all gifts that I use on a daily basis.  More importantly, I have the opportunity to be compassionate to people that call in every day.  Some of my favorite clients and calls have little to do with money and all to do with the personal relationships I’ve developed and the stories these clients have shared with me.