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how to become a finance consultant
Financial advisors do exactly what the name suggests. They work with clients to assess their current financial status and future plans, economic conditions and forecasts, and regulations, to provide financial advice. Read on to learn the steps you must complete to become a financial advisor.
STEP 1: Earn a Bachelor’s Degree
Good news! If you’re currently enrolled in college and working toward your bachelor’s degree, you’re already on the path toward becoming a financial advisor. Most practicing financial advisors majored in some type of business or finance program. If you’re considering a career in financial advice, it might also be a good idea to find and interview someone who is currently working in the field. Tell them you’d like to become a financial advisor, and ask them specific questions about what an average day looks like, what factors influence their compensation, and what they like and dislike about their career. This will give you an accurate picture of what to expect in the career for which you’re preparing.
STEP 2: Complete an Internship
While still in school, it’s a good idea to pursue an internship with a financial advice firm or sole practitioner. Internships will help you get a first-person look at the career and understand what it means to be a financial advisor on a day-to-day basis. Internships also represent an opportunity to network with existing financial advisors and potentially find a mentor. Some of the relationships you form as an intern will follow you throughout your career. Finally, an internship looks good on your resume. Most employers prefer to hire people with experience. Of course, as a recent college graduate, you won’t have much, if any, experience. An internship provides a priceless opportunity to gain experience and demonstrate your active interest in becoming a financial advisor.
STEP 3: Find a Job
Once you’ve earned your degree and gotten some experience as an intern, it’s time to start job hunting. There is no shortage of resources available to help you write an effective resume. Here’s a few tips for writing a resume that will get noticed:
- Go beyond your education and work experience. Talk about what makes you a great employee, and the skills you have that make you a great fit for the position.
- Don’t waste words. Short and impactful statements on your resume make it easier for the employer to identify and remember the points you’re trying to make.
- Put the important stuff up front. It’s ok to work from a template, but you’re trying to present yourself as a unique individual to potential employers. Feel free to take liberties with the template to make sure it effectively sells you as a potential employee.
STEP 4: Get Certified
The field of financial advising is competitive. Many advisors pursue certifications or licenses to help them develop a specialty or differentiate themselves from their competition. Once you’ve logged some experience in the field, you will get a better idea of the type of work you enjoy as a financial advisor. This experience will help you decide which certification(s) are a good fit for the career you want to build. Some common certifications and licenses that financial advisors pursue are:
CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™
Chartered Financial Analyst®
Securities licenses
Insurance licenses
STEP 5: Pursue Additional Education
A thirst for knowledge will serve you well in any career. Financial advice professionals will often go back to school to pursue a graduate degree, or even a doctorate. Your job relies on your ability to provide valuable financial advice to clients. The pursuit of further education is a tangible way to demonstrate your commitment to providing excellent service as you continue in your career. Demand for financial advisors is high and will continue to grow as our society becomes more financially literate and recognizes the importance of making sound financial decisions. Now that you understand how to become a financial advisor, you are prepared to chart your own career path and get started providing valuable advice.
What do you need to become a successful financial advisor?
There are three fundamental concepts that make for a successful financial advisor:
- Having an excellent track record of great service and performance
- Maintaining a professional reputation in order to retain and attract clients
- Developing business acumen through training and education on market conditions and finance
Dedicating your time to these three fundamentals may help you overcome challenges, discover new opportunities and create a successful career.
Traits of successful financial advisors
Here are some common characteristics that make a financial advisor exceptional at their job:
- Passion: Having a genuine passion for finance keeps advisors motivated and excited. The finance industry is constantly changing, and an excellent advisor should keep up with industry developments like laws, standards, methodologies and products.
- Analytics: An in-depth analytical ability is crucial to structuring an investment portfolio. A successful advisor should be able to analyze the risk and return relationship for every aspect of a financial plan in order to structure an investment portfolio properly.
- Sales technique: Advisors must be comfortable pitching their services to clients to grow their business. They should be able to communicate well, understand a client’s desires and offer services that genuinely help the client.
- Interests: A client’s interests should come first. However, the financial interests of both the client and the advisor need to align for a prosperous relationship to occur.
- Curiosity: It can take some analytical work to figure out exactly what a client needs. Financial advisors often have to piece together different financial details to come up with a comprehensive solution for the client.
Tips for being a successful financial advisor
To become an effective financial advisor, consider the following tips:
Practice good communication
Communication requires both listening and speaking. It’s easy to get caught up in proving your knowledge, demonstrating your experience or reciting your sales pitch. However, most clients will already assume you are the expert, so focus more on listening than talking. When you spend most of your time listening to your clients and asking good questions, the conversation can later transition into a discussion about your services and fees.
Seek peer reviews
When you first begin your career as a financial advisor, it can help to have a peer reviewer. You can ask a trusted coworker or mentor to review your plans and to provide constructive feedback on ways you can improve. Having a peer review your work may help save you time, catch your mistakes and build your skills. You can feel confident presenting your work to clients knowing that someone you respect has already reviewed it.
Utilize marketing opportunities
Multiple channels for marketing may help optimize your exposure. In addition to your firm’s website, you can take advantage of social media, use printed materials like business cards and flyers or hire a marketing expert. Sharing your philosophy and valuable knowledge through blogs, videos and articles may motivate clients to come to you for more information and your services.
Invest in yourself
Take the time and resources to invest in your skill set. If you need to improve your sales conversion rate, try taking a sales training course. If you want to learn more about life planning tools, there may be a business conference on this topic. Hiring a business coach can help you focus your time and energy to meet your goals. By making efforts to improve your abilities, you can also improve all the different aspects of your business.
Track progress
Measuring your activity as a new financial advisor can help you notice trends and patterns. Rather than only measuring your results, it’s helpful to measure your progress so you can track your conversation rates. Some things to track might be the number of meetings with clients, retained clients, one-time clients, meetings with professionals and the average revenue for each client.
Create a celebration folder
Set aside a folder and use it to collect your wins. Your folder might include things like positive feedback from clients, thank you notes and other big moments you consider a win for your business. When you’re having a rough day, pull out your celebration folder and look at the amazing things you’ve accomplished for some positive motivation.
Stay engaged
Financial planning isn’t always a client’s first priority, especially after the initial sale. Find ways to stay present in your client’s minds by doing little things like sending follow-up emails, mailing birthday cards, passing along interesting articles, recommending books or sending links to relevant content. Be creative and make sure the little reminders hold some kind of value to the client.
Volunteer locally
If you have the ability to do volunteer work, this can benefit your overall reputation and the community you serve. Some ways to get involved locally include volunteering for pro-bono events, the local library or your local Financial Planning Association chapter. If you’re having trouble finding local opportunities, virtual meetings are also an option.
Specialize
You have the ability to be creative when building your client base. While it’s fine to serve any clients you can find, some financial advisors take a special interest in working with a certain group of people. Maybe there’s an aspect of financial planning you find especially enjoyable, such as working with individuals from certain age groups or careers. Developing and marketing a specialty may help you consistently access the type of client you most enjoy helping.