A Wells Fargo branch office in New York (Photo: Bloomberg)
Wells Fargo shared its 2019 compensation grid and related details with its advisors this week.
Next year, registered reps who have been with the firm for at least seven years, but who fall below $250,000 in revenue for the prior 12 months, will see their pay rates fall to 19% from 22% for the base level of their monthly targets and to 47% from 50% of additional revenue.
"It's not that onerous," said Andy Tasnady of Tasnady Associates in an interview.
"Other wirehouses and some regional firms have penalty rates for longer-term reps of $300,000," he explained. "It's probably only a small percentage of advisors in the below-$250,000 range."
Plus, the compensation consultant says, a decline of 3% is far less than drops some rival firms have made in recent years — which include going from 34% down to 20%, Tasnady says.
The Wells Fargo cut might represent a 15% cash reduction in some cases versus the 40% to 50% drop in cash that some other firms have made, he adds.
Can advisors can get around the $250,000 hurdle by joining a team?
Yes. "We believe teaming is great for supporting clients, and this would be an option for anyone to consider," according to Rich Getzoff, Wells Fargo Advisors' head of advisor-led business for the eastern regions.
For those with over seven years with WFA and about $200,000 in trailing 12-month fees and commissions, "You could contemplate trying to find a team and getting on it," Tasnady said. That might make sense for someone who is "good at servicing clients but maybe not at adding new ones."
There are different criteria that advisors on teams have to meet, according to the '19 grid, such as having more than 75% of accounts top $250,000 in assets and having at least one advisor per team with more than $800,000 in revenue.
With a "team benefit payout" of 50% on all revenues, this might result in "a meaningful and big bump for someone near the $250,000 revenue level, who might only be getting about $85,000 pay on that … revenue [in 2018], but could get an extra $40,000 … and [then have] $125,000 in [total] pay" in 2019, if they satisfy the grid's criteria, Tasnady explained.
