I am going to tell you boys a funny story. In the wake of 9-11 my firm had shut down I believe to inconsistent management as it always is. I decided I would use my new found skills to prospect for a position with the big leagues. I had gathered names and numbers of the chairmans and presidents of all of the wire houses and I had thought they would like the appearance, well, maybe one. I was shut down everywhere, merril, was especially pissed. It was too funny , I forgot the guys name but he was pissed. I loved it. I had the last on my list - lehman which I had been welcomed warmly by a sales manager. He had told me it was a very bad time as doomsday was on the horizon and hiring was on hold. But, he said he would have taken me on any other time. Moral of the story- get a wharton ed, then apply to lehman. Still my top wire pick. Europacific is that smaller bd I would get involved with, they have connections to markets wordwide. Very smart man by the name of peter schiff owns the firm. He is on cnbc regularly known as doctor doom. He is funny as hell.
Lawsuits, NASD suspensions, and jail time will stop you from doing that. When I went from Morgan to Merrill I was threatened with this because I took a client from another MS broker. I didn't steal the info really, I did vacation coverage for the MS broker and made a good connection with the client. A big part of it was just an on going battle between the MER manager and the MS manager. The offices were in the same building. Nothing happened other than I had to lose the client.
My little brother is doing it right now W/ td waterhouse in Toronto he gets 43,200 per year + 7% bonus + benefit and all that stuff. Not bad for a 22 y. o .... . In case you wondering about his education He has a degree in Social Science and his CSC( canadian securities course)