Art of Manliness - Latest Comments in So You Want My Job: Financial Planner

Re: So You Want My Job: Financial Planner

Andy — Thu, 26 Sep 2013 05:55:38 -0000

is it impossible to obtain internship right out of high school ?

Re: So You Want My Job: Financial Planner

Mike — Sun, 01 Aug 2010 19:31:36 -0000

You're an idiot if you don't listen to an experienced financial planner, and think you can do better on your own. There's a reason they have certifications.

Re: So You Want My Job: Financial Planner

Eric — Tue, 11 May 2010 12:43:55 -0000

@ Mr. Rose

Any good books that you can recommend for this profession?

Thank you,
Eric

Re: So You Want My Job: Financial Planner

linda — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 10:41:53 -0000

I have been unemployed for about 4 months now. Without any income coming in for that long because my company I worked for felt they fired me for just cause, I had to depend on my boyfriend to support me and my kids. That made me very uneasy but I won my appeal finally and in the past months I have had a LOT of time to rethink my employment issues. Do I want to continue doing what I was doing or do I want a change? I have checked on going to college either online or campus but couldnt decide on a field or didnt really have any inclination of what I wanted to do now. I was as far as I was concerned, perfectly content in the job I had. But with time on my hands I weighed my options and decided I should just get another job like I had. Then I woke up this morning and I was happy and stress free. Yesterday I sat down with my boyfriend and told him what we were going to do financially. I explained what the order of getting the bills paid and caught up was going to be and by when we should be out of debt to be able to look further at when we do get married and need to get life insurance or plan for the future for retirement or whatever we may need. Just doing that yesterday and waking up today the way I did makes me feel good about financial planning. Long story short, I am glad I came across this site. What kind of schooling would I need to be a financial planner? I've never went to college, have 3 kids and dont know if it is even feasible to be thinking about changing careers at age 42. If online courses would even be acceptable or not to get a job once completed? I dont want to continue being dependent on my boyfriend while trying to do this if it turns out that it wouldnt matter anyway. Any advice would be much appreciated. thank you

Re: So You Want My Job: Financial Planner

Ivan — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 03:02:19 -0000

Hi there,
My name is Ivan and I am a financial planner in Hong Kong. Your article is great and educated. Good to learning more from you. However; Financial planning is a tough job and I am kind of out of calls now since I am new. Therefore; please advise me some efficiency ways to get more people to know me and try my restaurant, thanks

Ivan

Re: So You Want My Job: Financial Planner

Wil — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 13:03:09 -0000

Your article was very helpful. I have been doing paralegal work for over 10 years and was layoff a year ago. I am in the process of obtaining my series 6 license but faced financial hardship and its now hard to pass diligence in order to take the series 6 exam. I have my life & health license. My questions to you is how could I get into the financial field with my credit being a factor. Could I take the series 63 and 7 with out a sponsored by a company.
Thank you advance and when I get back on my feet I will start investing. You just made a new client.

Re: So You Want My Job: Financial Planner

santhoshi — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 11:51:20 -0000

hi, i want to know how can i start my career in investment banking. i have done my graduation in business management and then PG in International Business. worked with SIEMENS for a banking process as a customer accounts manager. now in US with my husband and want to start my career in investment banking.

Thanks in advance

with regards
santhoshi

Re: So You Want My Job: Financial Planner

Stephanie Watson — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 17:26:10 -0000

I am in a Master's Program with the University of Alabama majoring in Family Financial Planning & Counseling.

Before I started my program what I envisioned was to become a Financial planner working from home helping normal families plan their family finances. I don't want to make commission on products and saw myself as "fee for service."

Now that I am in the program, while I LOVE LOVE LOVE the classes I have discovered it's not so easy. I have been told I will need to work under another financial planner for three years before I can work on my own.

Is this true?

Can you recommend a path for me that will enable me to do what I want from home? I currently work as a Virtual Assistant at home and love it, I simply saw this as another avenue to work from home doing something I love, and a much tighter niche.

Advice?

Re: So You Want My Job: Financial Planner

Jeff Rose — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 01:33:26 -0000

@ Matthew

Although your career is not finance oriented, at least you are working with people. Helping people find solutions is what I do. Starting off though, many of my clients were very responsive to me being a finance major. Being enrolled in the financial planning courses is definitely a good start.

Working for a big firm will definitely get you good experience, but just don't think it will be easy to walk away. Most firms will require you to sign a contract and if you decide to walk away. will go after you to recoup training costs. Figure anywhere from $50-$100k that you will be expected to payback. Luckily, I had been with the firm 5 years, which satisfied my contract period.

You could also consider an independent RIA (Registered Investment Advisor). They are growing everyday as wirehouse advisors are jumping ship. Try to get an internship, even if unpaid. That will get you a lot of the experience you might be seeking without having to be locked down for a specific period.

Re: So You Want My Job: Financial Planner

Matthew — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 01:18:26 -0000

I am currently a college student majoring in Agricultural Consumer Economics with a concentration in financial planning at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. I am mainly interested in financial planning because I have a knack for finance and I really enjoy helping people. I am currently working at the UIUC IT Help Desk as a consultant. We provide IT support for various computer-related issues. I know it isn't personal finance oriented, but I have to assess situations and provide solutions to a client base that includes all of UIUC's students, staff, and alumni.

@Jeff
First of all, thanks for the awesome information in the interview. Do you think my Help Desk job is something that would actually help me in my job search after graduating college or should I look for something more finance-related? After graduation, would I want to look for a position with a large firm so I can learn what I like/dislike and can go from there? I know larger firms push certain investments and have quotas for consultants to reach. That's why I'd like to end up being part of a smaller firm eventually.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Re: So You Want My Job: Financial Planner

Jeff Rose — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 01:18:02 -0000

@ Rob

Sorry for the technicalities. As part of the exam and one of the requirements of the Financial Planning board is to utilize the correct trademark and copyright designations. So in essence, I'm letting the financial planning board ,who allow me to use the proper credentials, do the talking.

Re: So You Want My Job: Financial Planner

Rob — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 11:50:11 -0000

This 'interview' could have done without the copyright and trademark bugging for the professional designations. All right, we get it that you jumped through all the hoops to get the CFP. Well done. Spare us the branding assault. Manly men don't let their credentials do their talking for them.

Re: So You Want My Job: Financial Planner

Jeff Rose — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 09:59:40 -0000

@ G Monk

Apparently, you've never seen Office Space. Have you ever had a run in with a copier that's on the frits? It's not a pretty sight my friend. Don't even let me begin with the paper cut incidents. Or the time we ran out of regular coffee. The natives were mighty restless that day.....

Re: So You Want My Job: Financial Planner

G Monk — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 00:17:37 -0000

Since when is financial planning a manly activity? Phhhhht!

Re: So You Want My Job: Financial Planner

Ryan — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 17:48:02 -0000

@Mrs. Micah - I am not suggesting that commissions are without flaws (brokers can be heavily incentived to push certain products that may not be best for a client). But it is better than a single up front fee, on which I'm assuming the arrangement is Investor pays Manager a fee and Manager is tasked with managing money on Investor's behalf. In this case, the fee is probably much larger than a single commission. So, if the Investor is dissatisfied (note it's dissatisfied, not that the Manager has acted maliciously) the Investor is out a much larger fee than a single or even a few commissions.

The reality is that all compensation methods have their flaws. Even a pay-for-performance model with an advisor who co-invests has flaws (I referred to this above as the private equity/hedge fund model). In this case the Manager is heavily motivated to make riskier bets to reach a loftier payout but the Investor bears a disproportionate share of risk.

No "good" system has been found yet so we've been forced to live with the best alternatives until a better system is discovered.

Re: So You Want My Job: Financial Planner

PT Money — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 17:21:49 -0000

Great interview, Jeff. Good to learn a little more about the profession.

Re: So You Want My Job: Financial Planner

Mrs. Micah — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 16:57:34 -0000

@Ryan, IMO commissions based on selling you stuff are NOT the best compensation because they make giving bad advice more tempting. They create a bad situation for both parties because the client is suspecting that maybe the advice is based on what it'll earn the planner and the planner may be tempted to make a particular recommendation which is about as good but not as good because it's better for them.

I agree that there's always the possibility of a fee-only adviser neglecting you after the fee's paid, but I believe they have certain ethical guidelines too, if they're part of an organization (name I can't remember right now, Jeff?). That doesn't mean commissions are any better of a model, in fact they probably provide greater ethical quandaries for honest people trying to make a living.

Re: So You Want My Job: Financial Planner

Ryan — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 16:45:46 -0000

Jason - "...pay an up front cost for services... "?

Think about motivation that is solely compensation driven. If you get paid up front, what incentive do you have to perform well? Accountants and many other professionals are engaged to perform specific services which are in conformance with rules backed by a governing body (e.g. the AICPA has strict rules regarding what constitutes a proper audit). These rules ensure that there is limited ambiguity on what constitutes a job well done.

Unfortunately, it doesn't work this way for financial advisors. Frankly, I'm not sure how it could work this way (except in cases of criminal or grossly negligent behavior). So, the best alternatives are commissions and pay-for-performance (the private equity/hedge fund model). But both of these have their drawbacks.

Any suggestions to improving the system would be very beneficial to the financial services industry as this has been a very hot topic lately.

Re: So You Want My Job: Financial Planner

Jeff Rose — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 14:54:59 -0000

@LS Hmmm. I assure you my job is not that bad. I hope you're planning on wearing a helmet first.

@Jason. I can strongly relate to your situation. One downside with my profession is that there are so many crooks in the industry. Why that's good for me is that people that get to work with me enjoy the working relationship and that goes for every good and decent advisor out there.

@J. Buck. Absolutly right. I've ran into several people that don't have a financial planner, especially the younger generation. But I've noticed as people get older and need help constructing an income plan, that's where a planner is instrumental in guiding them through retirement.

Re: So You Want My Job: Financial Planner

J. Buck — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 14:07:06 -0000

Although what Jeff has brought up has its truths... in defense of financial planners, the big picture IMO is that just seeing a financial planner will help to get you involved and on track toward saving and investing for retirement. It's a behavioral thing... most people are not going to invest on their own..they're reluctant..unless they have the (sometimes) gentle prodding of a financial advisor trying to point them in the right direction. I can think of my own parents as an example.

Again, the big picture being that just by having a financial planner there, it can help to get people to at least THINK about the fact that they should save and invest for their retirement so that something can be done about it.

Re: So You Want My Job: Financial Planner

Jason — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 09:23:22 -0000

In my eyes all financial planners are dubious when they make their living through commissions. The interest of most financial planners are at odds with the client when the pay is anything but a fixed up front fee.

My mother was told by her financial planner before the dot com bubble burst to leverage her home and invest heavily in mutual funds which undoubtedly paid a handsome commission. What kind of advice is this for a widow with two children? The adviser was eventually taken to court and shown to have given irresponsible advice and a large portion of the money was repayed.

Everyone who wants unbiased advice should pay an up front cost for services like you would an accountant or other professional. All other "advisers" are salesmen.

Re: So You Want My Job: Financial Planner

LS — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 01:14:08 -0000

I'd rather have my head caved in with a hammer than be a financial planner.