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Posted by on March 1, 2007, 5:00 am
I'm interested in becoming a Financial Advisor, but I'm not sure of
the best way to become one. I'm told that I will need to take
certification exams, but do I need to get certified, then look for a
job? What are some of the companies I would contact about a job once
I have my certifications. Are there any companies who hire people as
"trainees", in which you get paid and prepare for the certifications
at the same time?
Thanks
Sam
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Posted by John A. Weeks III on March 1, 2007, 7:38 am
samadams_2006@yahoo.ca wrote:
> I'm interested in becoming a Financial Advisor, but I'm not sure of
> the best way to become one. I'm told that I will need to take
> certification exams, but do I need to get certified, then look for a
> job? What are some of the companies I would contact about a job once
> I have my certifications. Are there any companies who hire people as
> "trainees", in which you get paid and prepare for the certifications
> at the same time?
Many folks get involved as Financial Advisors by joining one of
the big firms, going through their excellent training programs,
and then working there for a few years. The company formerly
known as American Express has a notable training program that
teams new advisors with successful older advisors to help them
jumpstart their business.
There are other options. You can go the insurance route, and
then pretend to be an advisor. Or you can join Primerica and
do it the multi-level way.
Most places expect you to take the exams during or at the end
of the training program. It is helpful to have some education
in the field, but some very successful people have come in cold
and done well. For example, my advisor was a CPA before joining
his firm. Suze Orman was a waitress in Oakland before becoming
one of the top stock brokers at Merrill Lynch in San Francisco.
-john-
--
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John A. Weeks III 952-432-2708 john@johnweeks.com
Newave Communications http://www.johnweeks.com
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Posted by kastnna on March 1, 2007, 9:28 am
If I remember correctly some of the certifications require
"experience." For example, the Certified Financial Planner (CFP)
designation requires 3 years of full-time qualifying work experience.
This alone can make it tough for someone to "jump in head first".
There are also minimum education requirements (bachelors, masters,
etc) and pre-approval courses must be completed just to sit for the
exam (with limited exception).
Internships, assistantships, and entry-level training programs are all
a good start. You will see CPA, CFP, CLU, ChFC, CFA and a number of
other designations attached to the names of many financial planners.
CPA leans towards taxes, CLU is insurance oriented, CFP is
comprehensive (little of this, little of that), ChFC is close to CFP,
and the CFA trends towards investments. Any and all are worthy and
compentent titles. I most often see CFP and CPAs doing comprehensive
financial planning.
I wouldn't recommend earning one or more of these titles BEFORE
looking for a job. As I stated, its not even an option in some cases.
Also, the costs of these programs can be very high. Even though I have
Economics and Business admin undergrad degrees I was not even close to
covering the pre-requisites for a CPA cert. Our company estimated the
costs to be > $70k for the accounting pre-reqs, a masters of
accountancy, and the CPA certification process. On the other hand my
CFP was easily less than $10k. Companies will sometimes pay the
expense for you also!
Good luck in your endeavours. I am sure I forgot a designation or two,
and I apologize in advance. If you want to know more, google any of
the common designations and you should hit paydirt.
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Posted by nosmo king on March 1, 2007, 1:11 pm
>
> Many folks get involved as Financial Advisors by joining one of
> the big firms, going through their excellent training programs,
> and then working there for a few years. The company formerly
> known as American Express has a notable training program that
> teams new advisors with successful older advisors to help them
> jumpstart their business.
>
Research the company and the jobs before commiting to their training
program. A few years ago, when I was laid off, I looked into a
program at AXI (which may have been part of AmEx). One of the
"graduates" told me that once you completed training, you were
expected to make 100 cold calls per day, which an expected hit rate of
~3%. The successes were then turned over to the more experienced
planners to handle.
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Posted by kastnna on March 1, 2007, 2:00 pm
> Research the company and the jobs before commiting to their training
> program. A few years ago, when I was laid off, I looked into a
> program at AXI (which may have been part of AmEx). One of the
> "graduates" told me that once you completed training, you were
> expected to make 100 cold calls per day, which an expected hit rate of
> ~3%. The successes were then turned over to the more experienced
> planners to handle.
Definitely research the firms, but the you'll experience a similar
situation with many of the large firms (not all, of course).
Before you have the necessary SEC/NASD licenses (series 6, 7, 63, 24
etc etc) you are not legally allowed to talk to a prospect about
certain topics. Add this to the fact that you won't have these
licenses before your employ means that you have no choice but to hand
over the sale. Telemarketing in this fashion is common, but is more
associated with brokerage firms than it is comprehensive financial
planners.
In the FP industry look more for a mentor environment than a sales
environ. You may start out with just a small salary and you'll assist
the CFP/teacher with his cases. Plugging in numbers, doing the math,
learning the right questions to ask, and perfecting the process are
all part of learning.
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