Any advice for someone who wants to become a Financial Planner?

I have been doing what I do for many years now and have just become totally disinteresed in it (I think they call it burn-out). The field of Financial Planning is something that I am very interested in, and am seeking advice from others who are currently in the field. I am thinking of doing an on-line course in Financial Planning in order to get the educational requirements necessary to sit for the CFP, but don't know if that would be a waste of my time and money or not. These courses can be VERY expensive so I want to make sure that is the way I want to go. What is the real scoop on Financial Planning as a career?

The starting pay for a financial advisor with CFP certification is pretty solid. My friend LAMoneyGuy at It's Just Money is actually going through the process right now of getting certified. You might want to read about it.

http://itsjustmoney.blogs.com/its_just_money/cfp/index.html

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, personal financial advisors earned an average of $79,990 in 2003. In 2002, the middle 50 percent earned upward of an annual income of $100,540. Financial planners can earn their incomes through fees, commissions, and salary. - Kaplan

Hope that helps ya.

A career in Financial Planning can be very rewarding as you get the satisfaction of helping everyday people attain financial stability through investments that are suited for them. However these days with so many advisors out there and with the internet making it easier for people to invest themselves it is hard to find clients and keep those clients. If you are considering being an advisor it would be wise to use the services of a marketing company that can help you build your clientle-especially if you are new in the field. (Advertising reference deleted by Athena53) comes to mind as one of those referral companies that is making it easier and easier for financial advisor to grow their business. (Advertising reference deleted by Athena53) is constantly putting financial advisors in front of potential customers. If you are interested in becoming a financial advisor and are new to the "game" it would be wise to consider (Advertising reference deleted by Athena53) to give you a head start.

i have to both agree and disagree with tom (after he quit advertising). it can be amazingly fulfilling to help others. you can certainly be an expert at this profession - the best of all others - if you want to apply yourself. in addition, while compensation is commensurate with the responsibility (meaning high comp and high responsibility), i think it important to outline what tom was wrong about.

the fact of the matter is that open source information on financial planning (especially the internet) is most certainly NOT helpful to the vast majority of people. its diametrically conflicting advice and its propensity to both advertise the hottest thing on the market while lambasting what was hot a short time ago is actually more hinderence than help.

there will ALWAYS be room for professionals in this field. a recent survey shows that those people who have less than $10K to invest, only about 24% are looking for professional advice. for those with more than 10K but under 100K, 56% of those people want professional advice. for those with over 100K, a whopping 94% are looking for professional advice.

sure, all of these "rich" folks could be wrong. but if people are right in that the rich just keep getting richer ... well, the rich people (and those wanting to be) will be looking for COMPETENT, PROFESSIONAL, financial advisory services.

good luck in your decisionmaking!

p.s. it is NOT an easy profession (course, nothing worthwhile ever is).

A Tale of 2 Financial Planners

My Dad decided to try his hand at this after he retired from his first career. He was a metallurgical engineer by training but, like me, avidly interested in investing. He joined a major brokerage firm with a good reputation. He passed the requisite exams. He worked his rear end off trying to get customers. It was VERY hard work- he spent most of his time making cold calls on the phone. Many entrepreneurs in Myrtle Beach, where they lived, were foreign nationsals who sent all their money home. He'd convince nice old couples that some of their CD money should go into higher-yield investments and as soon as they tried to withdraw money from the bank the bank manager would sell them those investments- not that the manager ever brought it up before. One couple asked him a lot of basic investment questions and when he followed up they'd also bought through the bank. The nice young lady there said they should go to a broker to learn about products and then come back and buy them from her. He also found the firm occasionally pushed him to sell things he thought were not right for his customers. Now he's REALLY retired and quite happy.

Then there's my advisor. He was a bond trader on Wall Street for years. He also joined a major firm and went knocking on doors to find clients. Four years later, he's managing $50 million. I suspect it's due partly to the contacts he had from the old job- people who knew him, who had lots of money, and trusted him with it.

I think my Dad's story illustrates the 2 biggest roadblocks- getting customers and finding an employer that won't pressure you to sell whatever they're pushing that week- but it's certainly possible to be successful.

My 2 cents...

Financial Planning, advising, consulting, "brokering" - whatever you want to call it - is sales.

Anyone who is considering a career in this field, or a change of careers to one in this field, must understand the educational/licensing requirements and success in the career itself can be relatively unrelated. Obtaining your securities or insurance licenses, or obtaining designations such as ChFC or CFP, is one thing. It's a completely separate issue as to whether or not you can then build and expand a client base to provide yourself with an income. Whether or not that income comes via hourly fees, commissions, wrap fees, or all of the above is a non-issue if you cannot successfully market and sell yourself and the value of your advice. In my experience, this is the part that is often glossed over by the recruiters in the industry who hire en masse into broker/dealers and wirehouses under the guise that if you obtain these licenses, you're good to go. Unfortunately, it's not that easy. Clients will not beat down your door, they will not call you, and advertising rarely works. You will be expected to find them, and lots of them, or you will be dismissed from your firm, or you will starve. Nowadays, it's even more difficult than it used to be. At least years ago, in the good ol' days, you could telephone anyone. Now, with the "do not call" legislation, the government and the states have basically eliminated that avenue - which was a main avenue.

In my opinion, individuals who want to succeed these days need to at least satisfy one of three conditions: 1) purchase an existing book, which is not available to everyone, 2) have an existing "natural market" to do business with that is affluent enough, or sizeable enough, to sustain you early on while you are drumming up your own business, or 3) have cash reserves, or a spouse's income, that can sustain you while you spend 70 hours a week knocking on doors or networking in order to meet potential clients.

My point is, this career is more than knowing how to build a portfolio, passing licensing exams, or wanting to help "everyday people attain financial stability". All of those attributes don't mean a thing if you can't sucessfully get yourself in front of strangers.

SADALE brought up another option taken by someone I know- an actuary who bought the existing book of a retiring financial advisor. He'd spent years as a Partner at a large consulting firm, which probably gave him the financial resources to buy into the book, and given his background, was also skilled at finding and keeping clients. He became a CFA and has been there for 5 years now so it must have worked out well for him.

I'll echo the others - Financial Planning can be a very rewarding career, but it can be very hard work getting started. I'd suggest you spend a little time researching, specifically to read a book called "So You Want To Be A Financial Planner" by Nancy Langdon Jones. It is an extremely insightful book that will help you to understand the questions you need to ask, both of yourself and of prospective employers.

the financial services industry is a hard game to crack! but it can also be very rewarding. Being new to the field and establishing a client base would probalby be your hardest goal as that is where your revenue will come from. If you are considering becoming an advisor and are new to the field you might want to try the services of <spam deleted>

Just a thought... please be judicious when deleting "advertisements".
Sometimes when a company name is used in a reply/comment/opinion, it is not a blatant advertisement/spam but instead it is listed to let others know of the writer's experience with said company or simply what is available out there.
Surely we're not going to delete every reference to Fidelity, T. Rowe Price and Vanguard too(?)
I'm curious as to what tomeradv had listed here... must have been pretty blatant?
Thanks all.
Rookie

Visit my website at [url="http://www.ad_deleted[/url]

Just a thought... please be judicious when deleting "advertisements".
Sometimes when a company name is used in a reply/comment/opinion, it is not a blatant advertisement/spam but instead it is listed to let others know of the writer's experience with said company or simply what is available out there.
Surely we're not going to delete every reference to Fidelity, T. Rowe Price and Vanguard too(?)
I'm curious as to what tomeradv had listed here... must have been pretty blatant?
Thanks all.
Rookie

Rookie,

I researched it, and all five of tomeradv's posts have had deleted, personal advertisements by different moderators, so it is safe to say that one was the same, and not some good advice.

Dingo

Thanks Dingo - I should have thought to check there as well.
Rookie