Meet 6 up-and-coming financial advisers at Morgan Stanley, Wells Fargo, and Merrill Lynch who are managing hundreds of millions and navigating a cutthroat industry

• We talked to young, stand-out financial advisers from some of the largest US wealth managers whose practices have grown early in their careers.
• We spoke with FAs from Morgan Stanley Wealth Management, Wells Fargo Advisors, and Merrill Lynch Wealth Management.
• These rising-star FAs have only come up in the industry in recent years, and they discussed why they got into the business, how they've grown their client bases, and what advice they would give to newbie advisers.
• Succeeding early on as a financial adviser is notoriously difficult. Around three-quarters of adviser trainees exit the business during their first year, according to an estimate from the industry research firm Cerulli Associates. At the end of 2017, the average age of financial advisors in the United States was 52.
• Visit BI Prime for more wealth management stories.

Succeeding early on as a financial adviser is notoriously difficult.

Around three-quarters of adviser trainees exit the business during their first year, according to an estimate from the industry research firm Cerulli Associates.

That figure tends not to fluctuate much, either, as many newcomers have to build up their own client base from scratch - and keep on acquiring assets to survive. The average age of financial advisors in the United States was about 52, according to the most recent data.

We talked with six rising-star financial advisers from some of the largest US wealth managers whose practices have grown early in their careers.

We spoke with FAs from Morgan Stanley Wealth Management, Wells Fargo Advisors, and Merrill Lynch Wealth Management, who have only come up in the industry in recent years, about why they got into the business; how they've grown their client base; and what advice they would give to newbies.

Similarities emerged among our rising stars, whose practices are all based in different states. Many entered the industry during the global financial crisis or soon after, when the national unemployment rate shot up to 10% at its worst while big banks reduced their own workforces and began backing away from some ultra-risky investments.

It was also a period that gave rise to pure-play roboadvisers, a trend many advisers attribute to a view that in the coming years their populations will shrink, the research firm Greenwich Associates has found.

But many of the advisers on our list stuck with the profession as they found great mentors or landed on adviser teams (teams are now the norm among big wealth managers' adviser forces,) with senior advisers and specialists who helped them along the way.

While our criteria for rising stars was not completely rigid or bound by age, we're featuring advisers early in their careers who, in the eyes of their firms, have done an outstanding job by their clients and peers.

Meet our inaugural class of up-and-coming financial advisers.