UBS Financial Seeking Boomers as Financial Advisers

Richard Craver, writing for the Winston-Salem Journal reports that the Winston-Salem (NC) office of UBS Financial Services Inc. has been actively recruiting employees 50 and over for positions as financial advisers. Even though most of them have lacked professional financial-services skills before being trained by UBS, the manager of the UBS office thinks that it makes perfect sense to have a baby boomer sitting across the table to provide financial and wealth-management advice to a clients preparing for life after retirement.

Craver writes that "[a]nalysts said that UBS' strategy bucks the hiring strategy of many financial-services companies, where younger advisers are considered a cost-efficient means for assisting clients" and suggests that it "runs counter to the trend of financial officials considering their early- to mid-50s as prime retirement time rather than the time to start a new career." However, he quotes the manager as saying "we want advisers who have been through, or are dealing with, the same life experiences as our clients. . . . Those shared experiences, whether saving for retirement, paying for college or preparing to transfer wealth to the next generation, can build up a relationship, and ultimately trust, with a client."

Source: Winston-Salem Journal "AGING FORCE: UBS takes on older workers" (July 23, 2006)