A Financial Advisor is a professional who manages the financial situation of their clients by giving them financial services. Most countries make sure that financial advisor must complete their training and get registered if they are willing to provide advice.
There is an exam like qualification or examination of a financial advisor who carries a Series 7 and Series 65 or Series 66 licenses in the United States. For public View their qualifications and designations must be reported according to Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) in U.S. The financial advisor is specified in the following groups by FINRA such as Investment Advisor, Insurance agents, Lawyers, Financial planners, Brokers and Private bankers.
Financial Planner: – A qualified financial advisor is a financial planner. They focus on investments, retirement, tax and estate planning of their clients by practicing in full service of personal finance. A financial planner’s work as a general rule can include a lawyer, accountant, stockbroker, insurance planner, and more services.
Certified Financial Planner (CFP): A financial advisor who is approved by the board of CFP or Ceritfied financial planner board, gets this designation when he gets a certification from the board. CFP is affiliated with 25 other organizations of Financial planning Standards Board (FPSB).
The candidate must meet examination, education, ethics requirement and experience to become authorized CFP and he also has to pay a fee for the certification. By becoming a member of Chartered Institute of securities and Investment CISI), the CFP license is also available in United Kingdom.
Initial certification requirements(1): There are four categories of requirement which an individual must give supporting documents for such as education, experience, examinations and ethics.
Education: – From an authorized college or university, the candidate must have completed his/her bachelor’s degree or similar another level of qualification in no specific discipline. After passing the examination for certified financial planner or CFP within 5 years, the bachelor’s degree requirement may be completed, and the requirement is not necessary to take the examination of CFP Board Certification. Students must write at least a hundred different topics on different aspects of financial planning. If you’re a PhD holder in either economics or business, you don’t have to fulfill these requirements.
Examination: – The format of the exam is computer based with at least 170 multiple choice questions. The whole exam is conducted in two different sections with a break of 40 mins in between the sessions. Lastly, you are given a total of 3 hours for each session.
To know the ability for applying his/her knowledge of the antecedent areas to financial planning situations it includes two main case studies-based problems, with single questions and many mini case problems.
Ethics: – The students need to adhere firmly to the ethics of the board, understand professional responsibilities and need to go through the standards of financial planning practices. The right of CFP Board is to impose them via the Procedures and Disciplinary Rules designed by the board.
Retirement Planning: – The issuance of savings for retirement refers in a financial context as Retirement planning. To get financial independence are the goals of retirement planning. Their process of planning aims to.
- To improve readiness – to –retire, identify their actions.
- Get financial planning knowledge.
- A desired retirement age and lifestyle is given by upraise readiness – to – retire.
- Motivate for good saving practices.
Obtaining a financial plan(2): – Clients make their retirement plans with the help of professionals such as financial advisors or financial planners, where earning is based on fee or commission. Retirement web – tools are in the form of mathematical models, calculators are available online.
Personal planning: – Here’s what personal planning is all about.
- Working environment should be made.
- For retirement life, make new interests to stay busy with.
- To change the impact of retirement with home life, you must make plans and prepare.
- You must busy yourself in part – time, contract work or overextend yourself and make plans about how to be active after retirement.
- Regularly connected with community.
Pros of a financial Advisor: – Becoming a Financial advisor might offer some pros, let’s start with the good sides of this profession.
- Unlimited Income Potential: – It is the most interesting pros. Your earning capacity is essentially unlimited because everything depends upon what you put in. the average financial advisor takes in a yearly income of $ 90,530, according to World report and the U.S News.
For building a book of business, they must get more clients because they are heavily dependant on clients. Good marketing skill can be helpful for a financial advisor.
- It’s a high Growth Industry: – For Financial advisor between 2016 and 2026 the growth of the job opportunities should be 15 %, according to BLS. It is a high growth rate than the average of 7 % estimated for all occupations.
- Flexible schedule: – For establishing the schedule of your own choice unlike a traditional 9 to 5 by becoming financial advisors. To fit your most productive time between work and family, you can finally cater your work – life balance
Cons of being a Financial Advisor(3): – Like pros, you must understand the cons as well.
- Steep learning Curve: – Easy job is far from financial advising, you have to study the basics for more clients. If you want your CFA, your study level is more. Because each level requires 300 hours of study.
- High Stress Industry: – In the long run poorly managed stress can lead to many problems. Such as.
Burnout
Lower productivity.
Disturbed physical health.
Depression
Before developing a fruitful carrier, you must manage your stress level for avoiding burning out.
- Requires Continuous Prospecting: – As a financial advisor it is much harder to find clients. That’s why you have to make constant prospects for work and solid market plan.
References.
- https://www.investopedia.com/articles/fa-profession/090316/qualifications-every-financial-advisor-needs.asp#
- https://www.investopedia.com/terms/f/financial-advisor.asp
- https://www.nerdwallet.com/article/investing/how-to-choose-a-financial-advisor
