Attention all NEW financial advisors and trainees. Under no circumstances should you accept a position with Merrill Lynch. The base salary looks appealing but the fine print and ever changing compensation plan will lead you to certain failure. Merrill Lynch of Greensboro misled me into accepting a sales/Financial advisor position without describing the quarterly and yearly total asset goals needed to stay in the PMD program. They confuse new advisors with fancy acronyms such as PC credits, NNA and NNH.

I asked on several occasions what these acronyms meant and I was not provided a clear answer. I was given the impression that all was needed was approximately 8 million in new assets to be gathered in 3 years to graduate training program. The truth is that you need 27-30 million in total new investable assets to achieve your production revenue hurdles and other two criteria. This was disclosed a few months after I was registered. The sales goals are totally unreachable and unrealistic in today's investment climate in the piedmont triad of North Carolina and would not be easy to do in Los Angeles or NY. The hiring manager will not tell you this. If you can fog a mirror you will get the job and any training you think you will get will not happen.

There is no sales training, just online tutorials. You are only to prospect $250,000 and larger households. Merrill Lynch loves structured products which almost always lead to client losses. The sales coach and resident directors are a joke and only interested in their personal client book. Trainees are left to their own devices and are considered the competition. The compliance department and resident director is like n**i Germany. If you make a mistake or unknowingly break a policy there is no 2nd chance or verbal warning. You will be FIRED!! and permanently tarnished. All of the future broker firms you apply to will see Merrills retribution on your U5 and unlikely to hire you. FINRA will not help you.

Absolutely 0 leads from Bank of America. Absolutely 0 leads period. Good luck on prospecting the mass affluent and high networth. The only chance a trainee has is to be from a super wealthy family and network of daddies rich friends. Merrill Lynch is not the same Merrill Lynch from the 70's and 80's. Merrill Lynch is a bank owned product pushing organization that loves to pretend they are superior to all. The truth is they are NOT!. In the 1 in 10000 chance you do graduate from the PMD program ,your commission will be 30-35% leading to almost an immediate paycut from your 3 year salary.

The Greensboro office Resident director and compliance director wrongfully terminated me over Merrill Lynch policies that I could not have possibly been aware of. I have the Series 66 study materials to back up my actions. Regardless that my conduct was in total compliance with FINRA and the SEC. My U5 has been permanently tarnished by Merrill Lynch in regards to the reasons of termination. The only way to expunge or remove comments is to sue Merrill Lynch and pursue arbitration. This process is costly and often ineffective. God help you if you try to leave or are terminated from Merrill Lynch during the training period. They will make sure you can't take your clients with you for at least 2 years and attempt to prevent you from obtaining future employment with a competitor firm.

In closing, if you like the following realities listed below, please by all means subject yourself to a certain doomed career as a financial advisor with Merrill Lynch.

A. Arrogant and superficial peers to work with
B. Military style compliance with 0 tolerance to any compliance mistakes
C No hands on sales training.
D Misleading or difficult to understand comp plan
E.COLD Calling every day
F. No leads
G. Unrealistic sales goals and expectations.
H. No teamwork or mentoring without giving up half of your new account.
I. Inferior and non transparent structured products to sell.
J.Possible permanent damage to your reputation if you leave or are terminated.
K. Bank of America being in the news every day.

Well that tells it all. All of the above applies to new brokers and advisors who are considering a career with Merrill Lynch. If you are a seasoned advisor with a large transferable book of business your experience will probably be much different. Be Careful what you sign. Merrill Lynch does have quality research, superior technology and innovative wealth management tools. They are probably a good fit for some Million dollar producers.

Click Here to read other Ripoff Reports on Merrill Lynch, Fenner and Pierce

6 Updates & Rebuttals

JAJAMIKOK

Georgia,
USA

Doug Please Contact Us

#2Consumer Comment

Tue, March 10, 2015

Doug, many advisors that have gone through the same thing you went through are getting ready to put together a large class action lawsuit against Merrill Lynch. Contact us at [email protected] if you are interested in joining.

We have an attorney that will not charge you anything. Many advisors went through this horrible layoff with Merrill Lynch and Merrill Edge.

Karl

Highlands Ranch,
Colorado,

Doug,

#3Consumer Comment

Thu, April 11, 2013

If you 'Google' this- FRONTLINE: THE WARNING, and watch it on the web you will hear about the $595 Trillion in derivatives at around 45 minutes and 20 seconds into that documentary. (45:20)

Please feel free to give us an update to your Ripoff Report when you get a chance. Thanks.

Karl

Highlands Ranch,
Colorado,
USA

O'BOMB-A.......

#4Consumer Comment

Thu, March 01, 2012

is the title to a song that is available at this website.

Just type in 646259 at this site and it appears in 'Consumer Comment #202' at Ripoff Report #646259.

Thank You

Karl

Highlands Ranch,
Colorado,
USA

$595 TRILLION POEM

#5Consumer Comment

Thu, February 09, 2012

$595 TRILLION POEM

Five hundred and ninety-five trillion
That's a heck of a lotta dough
That's the amount of garbage
In the false economy, you know
Let's hope that things stay stable
Let's hope that folks are kind
Let's hope that all the garbage
Will never ever unwind
I guess this poem is over
Be happy don't be blue
Just type in 513874
Some songs are there for you.

End.

Anyone can type in 513874 at this site and go to the consumer comments section at Ripoff Report #513874 and sing the songs.

Feel free to 'Google' this- FRONTLINE: THE WARNING, and watch that video on the web. It appears that there are at least $595 Trillion in credit default swaps, derivatives, CDOs, and other things that make up the artificial economy in our world today, according to what was stated in that video.

Let's hope that all of those credit default swaps and other things don't start 'unwinding' when Greece defaults on its debt, because that could create a contagion that might spread all over the world, right?

Thank You

"Knowledge is power."

POWER TO THE PEOPLE

Karl

Highlands Ranch,
Colorado,
USA

Encore presentation of- CREDIT DEFAULT SWAP POEM

#6Consumer Comment

Thu, January 26, 2012

CREDIT DEFAULT SWAP POEM

Where's my money
Go call the cops
Hey, what's that smell
Credit Default Swaps
No regulation
But lots of fraud
The world's collapsing
Oh my God
Keep printing money
Hope they don't see
Bail-out the banks
And A.I.G.
No more Recession
Things looking fine
4th Quarter's here
In 2009
Go call Bernanke
'Cause he's our man
That last one stunk
Poop hit the fan
This poem's over
Go ring that bell
Now 'Google' this-
YOUTUBE THAT SMELL

End.

Anyone can type in 502469 at this site to see that the above poem was posted on November 27, 2009, in the consumer comments section at Ripoff Report #502469. (It appears as 'Consumer Comment #31'.)

Feel free to 'Google' this- FRONTLINE: THE WARNING, and watch that video on the web. Pay close attention to what was stated regarding the amount of 'credit default swaps' that there were/are. I believe it was stated that there were $595 Trillion in credit default swaps in 2007. That's Trillion with a 'T'.

Try to imagine a pile of cash that contains $1 Million.

Now try to imaging one million piles of cash that each contain $1 Million. That's $1 Trillion.

Now try to imagine 595 Million piles of cash that each contain $1 Million.

That's $595 Trillion.

That's the amount of credit default swaps that there were/are in the world today.

WOW!

Let's hope that they don't start 'unwinding' anytime soon.

Thank You

***NERVOUS ALERT: Anyone can 'Google' this- WHY IS THE FED STILL SO NERVOUS?, and read the related articles that became available on the web today, January 26, 2012.

Possible answer: Because the Fed knows that there are hundreds of Trillions of dollars in credit default swaps all around the world that could start unwinding very soon.

Karl

Highlands Ranch,
Colorado,
USA

*****URGENT ALERT FOR ALL FINANCIAL ADVISORS: FEEL FREE TO TYPE IN 269041 AT THIS SITE AND READ 'CONSUMER COMMENT #3'..........

#7Consumer Comment

Wed, January 25, 2012

at Ripoff Report #269041 for important information.

Pay close attention to what is stated starting at paragraph #4. That was posted on August 21, 2007, which was thirteen months BEFORE the collapse of the banking system and the stock market crash. On September 29, 2008, the Dow Jones lost a record 777 points in one full day of trading and the banking system in the USA 'melted down'.

Anyone can 'Google' this- FRONTLINE: INSIDE THE MELTDOWN, and watch that video on the web to see how the U.S. economy and the banking system collapsed in 2008.

QUESTION: When will the next collapse take place?

POSSIBLE ANSWER: When Greece defaults on its debt.

***WHY WOULD THAT CREATE A COLLAPSE?

Because when Greece defaults on its debt, all of those credit default swaps will begin to unwind. As the credit default swaps unwind in Greece, it will most likely create a contagion throughout Europe, which will also affect the USA.

Make sure to 'Google' this- FRONTLINE: THE WARNING, and watch that video on the web also. Pay close attention to what was stated in that video regarding 'credit default swaps'. I believe it was mentioned that there were $595 Trillion in credit default swaps and derivatives. (That's Trillion with a 'T'.)

Thank You

WELCOME TO THE GLOBAL ECONOMY- ONE BIG PONZI SCHEME THAT'S BEING HELD TOGETHER WITH CREDIT DEFAULT SWAPS AND OTHER FINANCIAL INSTRUMENTS OF MASS DESTRUCTION THAT WERE CREATED BY THE BANKERS ON WALL STREET