As my time
in Brazil dwindles down, I am starting to plan all of my remaining weekend
voyages to various Brazilian cities. I
am planning on visiting my friend Pat from high school who just so happens to
be studying in Florianópolis, an island located in the Brazilian state of Santa
Catarina. Before settling down in his
apartment in Florianópolis, he was backpacking for three weeks in Argentina and
Brazil. Just before starting school, he
visited Curitiba for three days. My host
mother graciously allowed Pat to stay at her house for 2 nights. While he was here, I worked in the morning which
allowed me to come home in the early afternoon in order to show my friend
around Curitiba. We had a great time and
my host mother really took to my friend, in part because he is fluent in Portuguese,
having studied the language all throughout college.
In addition
to visiting my friend in Florianópolis, one of my colleagues at TORO
Investimentos has amiably invited me to go with his family to Iguazu Falls, one
of the seven natural wonders of the world.
Furthermore, I want to visit Sao Paolo, Brazil´s largest city in terms of
population, because it is only a short bus ride away and is the financial
center of Brazil. Brazil has many
wonderful cities that are definitely worth a visit, so I will definitely be
visiting Brazil again in the future to explore Rio de Janeiro and Recife, among
others.
My host
family continues to support me in every possible way and I have to say I have
been extremely lucky in terms of my family and internship placement. I have bonded with my family here in Brazil
and continue to learn Portuguese inside and outside of the classroom. I celebrated St. Patrick´s Day this past
weekend with Mariah, one of my Brazilian host sisters, and her boyfriend. We went out to Sheridan´s Irish Pub, one of
two Irish bars in Curitiba, and celebrated the holiday as it should be celebrated. I happened to meet a guy at the bar who was
from Boston originally, but has lived in Curitiba for the past six years
working for an international investment firm.
After explaining my rationale for interning in Curitiba, he indicated
that I was ahead of the curve and that his time in Brazil has greatly added to
his resume and his chances for sustained success. He also understood the challenges of learning
Portuguese, as he indicated that when he first arrived in Brazil, he didn’t speak
a word of Portuguese.
Since my
last blog post, TORO has added two new interns that are both currently studying
at FAE Centro Universitário, located in downtown Curitiba. Diego works in the morning and Augusto works
in the afternoon with me. Diego is
studying Economics and Augusto is studying Management. They are both unsure of their career plans
after graduation but are enjoying interning at TORO and learning the day to day
life of a financial advisor in Brazil. After
discussing life after interning with TORO with my fellow interns, I understood the
realities of working for a relatively new financial firm without an established
client base or marketing strategy. TORO
Investimentos is a dynamic and collaborative environment to work in, but they
cannot offer the same benefits as an established bank or broker can offer here
in Brazil.
As I start to begin my own search for
employment after graduating in May, I have come across similar situations within
financial advisory firms in the United States.
Put simply, I have an option to either work at a relatively new advisory
firm that has plans to expand rapidly or work at an established brokerage. The differences between the two are clear. If I choose to work at a relatively young firm,
I will receive practically nothing to start and have to work arduously in order
to pass all of the required tests. Upon
passing, I will be paired with a senior advisor who will work with me individually
to help me with marketing and obtaining my first few clients. After my first interview, I was impressed
with this prospective firm´s marketing strategy and firmly believe it would be
easier to land clients initially with a proven marketing strategy that goes
after a niche market. In addition, they
are offering significantly more commission then any established brokerage would
offer to a new advisor.
If I choose
to work at a more established firm, I will be given significantly more
compensation initially while I study for the appropriate tests to be certified
as a financial advisor. That being said,
each additional year I work for that brokerage I will receive less and less in
base salary because in the end, financial consultants are paid as a percentage
of the money they manage for their clients.
In addition, larger firms require their new consultants to be highly
self-motivated, because after the first few months of studying and training to
be an advisor, you are pretty much on your own.
Long-time advisors already have their own clients and are paid
individually based on the money they bring in.
In other words, these established advisors have no incentive to help out
a new advisor bring in additional clients.
Given the fact that I am moving to a new city to start my professional
career, I have to give some serious thought into which option is best for me.
As I
continue to explore my options, my experiences at TORO Investimentos have
allowed me to gain a perspective in terms of understanding the challenges and
opportunities when working for a young and independent firm. Before coming to Brazil, I had interned for
MassMutual Financial which gave me a glimpse of what it is like to work for a
larger and established firm. That being
said, I will continue to enjoy each and every day I have left in Brazil because
once I return to the U.S. and graduate in May, the real world will begin and I
will be on my own.
