BEWARE - RECENT COLLEGE GRADS - Financial Consultant Equitable Advisors Employee Review

1.0
Apr 27, 2024
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Opportunity to make a substantial amount of money but it takes at least two years for this to build up. Decent team work and senior advisors to learn from.

Cons

1. You do NOT own your clients. Be careful when you sign your contract. When you leave the company, you are under a strict 1 year non-solicitation agreement meaning they will sue you if you attempt to take any of your clients with you. They will send you multiple letters after you leave threatening to enforce this. Management will gobble up your clients and can do so at any time for any reason. 2. CHARGED MONEY TO LEAVE. Equitable will send you a bill for any commissions they allegedly overpaid you when you worked there. A shady debt collector agency - Thomas George Associates - will reach out and demand you to pay - in my case of $12,000 and will threaten legal action. 3. Pressure to sell to friends and family. Without a natural market you are forced to cold call or work their retirement benefits group where you sell high fee variable annuities to teachers. They recently settled a $50M fraud charge with the SEC as a result of non-disclosure of fees to educators. 4. Mandated to Sell Equitable Proprietary Products. Heavy push for Variable Annuity products and variable life products. If you fail to sell these products they will cut your health insurance and other benefits. 5. Base salary is $24,000 for 2 years and you get paid half your commissions during this time 6. Required to pay for your own cubicle, technology, E&O insurance, phone, laptop, license fees, etc. 7. As a result, the turnover rate is astronomically high. Management's goal is to hire as many unsuspecting young people as possible so they get paid a bonus. Their bonus decline after 4 years when you are under DSF and then they cut you loose and try to cut your territory. Then when that person fails out, they will gobble up the clients and enforce the non complete agreement.

Explore other reviews about Equitable Advisors

5.0
Jul 2, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Very fun work place and great work environment. Awesome incentive trips, great culture. Good management. Very motivational culture. Very lenient schedule depending on manager.

Cons

Bad pay within first couple of years. Back paying salary through "recovered commissions". Not much support in terms of finding clients.

1.0
Jun 26, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Complete freedom to build your book of business anmd schedule.

Cons

Horrendous place to start. Managers run their own practice and have little to no time to actually help you outside of your joint meetings so you're on your own. They only give you 2 options to get clients, cold calling or their retirement benefits group through schools. Basically the whole advising piece is to just to sell life insurance and annuities. The support staff is thin so you're kind of on your own with paperwork and compliance docs. They just genuinely offer you nothing. No help with covering costs (you pay for all your licensing and marketing materials), they even charge you for using the company laptop and fees for programs you will never use. They will mislead you about the commission payouts and you only really get something if you get them to buy an annuity or life insurance. If you also have a remaining balance of any fees when you leave, they will literally sending you threatening letters demanding the money and threaten you with claims court if you don't pay it back.

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