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As head of Merrill Lynch Wealth Management, Andy Sieg oversees the so-called thundering herd of 14,820 financial advisors, the second-largest workforce among the big brokers.

Barron’s: What advice would you give investors to get the most out of an advisor?

Andy Sieg: We encourage clients to be very specific about what success means to them, and even more specifically what their intent for their wealth is. In many cases, clients have thought about this, but may not have articulated it. When we encourage clients to be more specific about their intentions for their wealth, it produces clarifying conversations—not just with the advisor but also between the members of a couple, or across generations in a family.

Deep into this bull market, where does Merrill see investment opportunities?

It’s very easy right now to talk yourself into a sense that we’re in the late innings of the bull market. We think a much better perspective is to take a step back and say that we’re probably only 10 years into another 50-year bull-market cycle.

The drivers of this bull market are a very powerful extension of the baby boomers’ productive lives, the silver economy, which is powering a lot of economic activity in the U.S. and around the world, and the rise of the millennial generation, which is a larger and even more economically powerful cohort than the boomers. The growth of the middle class in emerging markets around the world will be a lasting, sustained growth engine. And supercharging all of this is the technology innovation cycle, which we see year after year.

Over the last 50-year bull cycle, almost every year there was a reason that people worried. The big risk for individuals is that they become paralyzed by the bears and the negative news at the moment. By not being in the equity market, they’re not participating in the global economic expansion. That’s the real risk that families have.

What is your advice for graduates entering the workforce this fall?

My first advice is to take a careful look at the wealth management industry. It’s a growth industry, and it promises tremendous careers for those who have what it takes. For grads entering wealth management, my most important advice is to remember that this business begins and ends with clients—everyone’s success in the financial industry broadly comes from their ability to serve clients well. The combination of a tremendous work ethic, rock-solid integrity, and an ability to build relationships with people around you are the three ingredients to long and successful careers.

The industry is graying. Are there going to be enough financial advisors to go around 20 years from now?

Yes is the short answer. There’s an awareness that we are in a golden age for wealth management or, as we like to say, a bull market for advice. With boomers moving into retirement, there’s a need for sound, long-term financial planning at a scale we’ve never seen before, and it’s causing ever-greater interest in wealth management as a career path.

We’re sensing much more interest on campus around careers in wealth management, and more universities with degree programs around financial planning. And when people predict a shortfall of advisors, I think they’re very much underestimating how many advisors are eager to extend their careers. There is no such thing as 65 as the normal retirement age for our advisors. I think that is going to help ensure that we have the ranks of advisors we need.

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What should investors make of the unusual climate in Washington, D.C.?

You need to avoid getting wrapped up in the day-to-day noise and focus on fundamentals. The fundamentals are that U.S. economic growth is strong. This is a more pro-business climate than we’ve seen in quite some time. The benefits of last year’s tax bill are real and lasting. Our midsize- and small-business-owner clients are very optimistic about what they’re seeing in their local markets. The eternal risk to investors is to be distracted from fundamentals by the day’s headlines or the day’s tweets. My strong advice is to focus on the long term. A bullish perspective has been the right perspective for a long time in America, and I don’t think that’s changing anytime soon.

Thanks, Andy.



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