Waddell & Reed

5 stars to Financial Adviser.
0 stars to Office Principle.
I met with a very friendly, articulate, 20+ year experienced corner-​office adviser within the office of Rob Williams suite address for a free consultation. It was my first experience with a financial adviser and I wanted to understand the services offered, the fee structure, and end-​game if I were to sign over my IRA accounts under their control. I left feeling 51% leaning toward giving it a try since I’m a poor investor on my own.
However in the weeks since I’ve received random spam emails from two different Waddell & Reed offices including this office of Rob Williams asking me to apply for a position as a financial adviser as «We do not require any experience, as we offer an extensive training program, benefits and transition pay to assist you in getting started. I believe you may have some of the needed skills to be successful with our firm.»
Nothing in my online resume is financially related. I have no financial skills, background, or desire. This forced me to research a bit online regarding the public opinions of Waddell & Reed’s corporate hiring practices and business model during a large cup of coffee.
I’m sure the senior financial adviser I met with is very qualified however I’m no longer comfortable moving my investments based on the bigger picture.

I have not used Waddell & Reed. However, I am inclined to give them a terrible review because they have cold emailed me, twice, about becoming a Financial Advisor at their firm.
I am not in a financial field. I have never been in a financial field. As a matter of fact, I am terrible at my own finances. I have a graduate degree in Anthropology, and have worked for over 20 years in the tech sector. Nothing on my resume points to anyone who would be the «great fit» they claim I would am for a Financial Advisor with them. The only «great fit» that exists is that their office is 20 minutes from my house.
It seems to me they don’t care about having qualified people advising their clients, they want bodies in seats who can generate revenue. That doesn’t sound like a firm I want advising me on my financial future.

I can’t say enough good things about Andrea M. Hamilton. We are having a baby in a few weeks, and decided to contact Waddell & Reed a few months ago for general advice. We got a large tax refund and were not sure what to do with it; should it go towards debt? Should we invest it? We were clueless.
Before we went in, I figured we would get a-​talkin to about my enthusiastic trips to Target and our penchant for spending $ 60 on pizza from Amicci’s. I figured there would be finger wagging and lots of language using the words SHOULD. You should not go to Target. You really should MAKE pizza at home. Basically I figured it was going to be a giant guilt trip.
My previous experience with a financial planner was when I was living back east and had a sky-​high credit card debt — so it helped that I wasn’t (ahem, we weren’t) in that particular situation. After our first meeting, we bought Quicken and did an analysis of our spending and turned it over to Andrea. I was seriously stunned at how much we were spending on groceries and eating out, but she said that was pretty normal for a couple in the Bay area. Phew. We walked through all of our accounts, debt, pensions and the lack of IRAs. We looked at our net worth, which was um, humbling. They created a well-​thought-​out plan for us to invest here, save here, spend here. Most of all, there was no finger wagging or scolding. We spent the $ 800 on the baby stroller without guilt, cause we had budgeted for it and put it into our plan (and I will say, cut back heavily on other baby stuff).
Result: each time I leave their offices, I feel lighter, more responsible and really, really in charge of where my (our) lives are going, financially. We have life insurance. We’re going to write a will. We’re starting Roth IRAs. We’re out of credit card debt and have a plan to get rid of those pesky student loans.
It’s been worth their nominal fee, 10x over. I can’t recommend Waddell & Reed and Andrea Hamilton more. Go see her. It’s incredibly empowering to start making changes in your life to create a smart financial future.