Brokers, meet your new competitors

I think the article glosses over the more interesting story - how shabbily those most of those newcomers will be treated by the brokers that "sponsor" their licensing as salespeople. The instructor who says the newbies will be treated as a commodity is putting it mildly. The one clue is the $500 charge for business cards. You can get nice business cards for much less, but salespeople have to order through the brokerage house and pay a huge markup. That's just one example of the barriers to making a decent living during the intial two-year apprenticeship. It's not as though you can just take the test and start selling.

As for the main thrust of the article, the statistics don't really match the spin. If applications have already dropped ~25%, and the state has reduced the exam frequency by 33%, isn't that a pretty significant slowdown?

Ah, interesting, how brokers prey on other brokers with these tactics. Good to know. In my field, I would never sponsor someone else, after all, perhaps I am threatening my own job. Should I be forced to cut my own throat?