Articles About Financial Advisor Personal/Career Development

When it comes to focusing on a niche for financial advisors, business owner clients can be an appealing target as they can have complex financial planning problems ranging from cash flow management to tax planning to acquisition strategies. However, while business owners can be compelling clients, they can also be difficult to find and prospect in the first place. One component that feeds this dynamic is that business owners have many people vying for their attention; another is that business owners have limited time and resources. So, the dilemma for advisors looking to find business owners and convince them to become clients often comes down to finding business owners who can benefit from (and want) financial planning services and demonstrating expertise in a way that can build trust.

An effective strategy for attracting business-owner clients is to engage with a CEO Peer Group. These support groups, typically comprising 10–12 business owners, generally meet monthly and allow members to discuss issues, brainstorm solutions, and share resources. Most importantly, CEO Peer Groups provide space for business owners to work 'on' their businesses – rather than 'in' their businesses – with highly trusted peers.

Advisors have a few options for getting involved in a CEO Peer Group. One is to become a Strategic Partner (SP) and create a new group, serving as both sponsor and host. This option allows advisors to establish themselves as experts and resources for other Peer Group members, where they can also better understand what business owners want and need from the complex situations they discuss with their Peer Group. Additionally, when the advisor shows up and facilitates fruitful discussions every month, providing relevant resources as the group's SP, business owners begin to see the real value the advisor can offer. Group members get to know and trust the advisor in a non-sales environment, making them more likely to become prospects (and then clients) of the advisor.

Instead of engaging with a CEO Peer Group by serving as a Strategic Partner (which can be relatively time intensive), a second way for advisors who are firm owners to engage with peer groups is to become members themselves. This lets them reap the benefits of having both the support and guidance of a Peer Group and access to a level of prospective outreach through networking within the group as a group member. A third way for advisors to engage with a CEO Peer Group is to partner with a peer group moderator to serve as a Center of Influence for the group, allowing the advisor to connect their own network of resources with group members to help solve their various problems, or even providing members with resources through their own planning services to answer questions on issues such as taxes, insurance, and scaling.

Ultimately, the key point is that for advisors who work with (or would like to work with!) business owners, CEO Peer Groups can provide an organic way to connect with, market to, and ultimately onboard new clients. Whether serving as a Strategic Partner, a group member, or a Center of Influence, CEO Peer Groups can provide advisors with a valuable opportunity to learn from like-minded business owners to help them expand their own network of trusted peers!

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One of the main goals of financial advisors who market themselves is to build a foundation of trust with their prospective clients so that they feel comfortable in discussing often-sensitive financial topics and ultimately acting on the advisor's recommendations. The challenge, though, is that advisors usually have only a short amount of time to build this trust, and while advisors can use different channels (e.g., their websites, newsletters, and social media) to demonstrate their expertise, these channels often don't give advisors enough time or space to convey what makes them ultimately worth hiring. This is because telling the full story of an advisor's background, philosophy, and expertise could easily fill up a book; in fact, many advisors have written books to share their knowledge and experience, which can establish them as trustworthy and desirable professionals for prospects to seek out.

In this guest post, Michael Levin, a New York Times bestselling author and ghostwriter, writes about how financial advisors can make a more effective impression on prospective clients by writing, publishing, and distributing a book that establishes their authority, confidence, and, above all, trust.

When writing a book, the first goal is to make the reader feel like the author understands them, which draws them in and makes them want to know more about the author. Establishing that the author understands the reader's problems (e.g., through examples of how the author has solved those problems for others) early on in the book creates a connection with the reader. And because of this rapport, the reader will want to listen to the advisor's story. Put differently, since people care (and want to read) about their own problems, then by extension, they care about the people who understand and can solve those problems, too.

After creating the initial connection, the next goal for the author is to establish expertise in a captivating way. One way to do this is to create value on every page by giving readers clear and authoritative information that they can actually use. Some advisors may be wary of giving away too much information and providing the tools that readers could use to do everything themselves (rather than hiring the advisor). However, in reality, there's almost always more that could be said when a current or prospective client is in the room with the advisor. So, while advisors may want to avoid providing so much information as to be overwhelming to nonexpert readers, being otherwise as generous as possible (for instance, by outlining a detailed process to solve a specific problem) can develop a sense of gratitude in the reader, while giving them a glimpse of what could await them if they became a client.

Finally, as with many other forms of marketing, ending the book with a call to action makes it clear to the reader what they can do next. A brief, clear description of the types of clients the advisor works with, the services provided, and what to expect after the client's initial outreach helps the reader understand whether they might be a good fit as a client and how they can become one (which, if they've made it to the end of the book, they hopefully want to!).

The key point is that while an advisor's book can showcase the advisor's expertise and empathy, the story's real hero is the reader, not the advisor. By keeping the reader and their challenges front and center, the author demonstrates relevant expertise and encourages the reader to trust them with their problems. And when the reader can see themselves reflected in the pages of the book, they'll want to know more about how that advisor can be a part of their journey!

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From the sudden changes to everyday life brought on by the pandemic to navigating the new world of hybrid or remote work, employees have endured a challenging few years. At the same time, this shock to the system has led many individuals to reflect on where they are in their careers today and where they want to go in the future. But thinking about career goals is not necessarily enough; instead, employees need to take ownership of their careers to achieve the career goals they seek.

In this guest post, Stacey McKinnon, Chief Operating Officer (COO) of Morton Wealth, discusses her career path and the steps employees can take to build their own desired careers.

The first step to career advancement is to understand your current mindset. For instance, an individual with a sense of curiosity or open-mindedness will likely be better prepared to take ownership of their circumstances than one who is merely trying to protect their current position. In addition to understanding mindset, it is vital to understand your personal ‘why’ or purpose. Defining your personal ‘why’ helps give meaning to your work, serves as a North Star that offers direction when making big decisions, and provides motivation to keep pursuing your goals during tough times.

The next step is to discuss career intentions with personal stakeholders, including friends and family. For example, if your spouse knows your ‘why’ and understands what you are trying to achieve in your career – and how that will impact your family life – they are more likely to accept when you have to stay late at work or spend extra hours studying for a designation. But when personal stakeholders in your life do not understand what you are trying to achieve, it can become much harder to grow a career because of the increased likelihood of conflict and disagreements.

Building a professional community is another important step in advancing your desired career path. Such a community could include a sponsor (a leader who has direct influence over your career and will give you advice that leads to advancement), a mentor (a person who has been where you want to go and will be a safe space for you to seek guidance), and a confidant (someone unrelated to your company that will be there to help you work through issues and solve problems). These people will make up your team of coaches and provide you with specific advice that will lead to better decision-making around your career.

Also, because companies typically look for people who will go above and beyond to improve the company, seeking ways to add value can help you advance within the firm. This could include creating a proposal to enhance the firm’s growth, resiliency, profitability, or client experience and sharing ideas with your direct manager before moving it up the leadership chain to understand better how upper management might respond to the idea. You can also be proactive about gaining expertise by pursuing relevant designations or training in soft skills like leadership.

Ultimately, the key point is that successful careers rarely just ‘happen’ to individuals; instead, the most meaningful careers typically result when people take the initiative regarding their professional development. From finding ways to add value to your firm to building your expertise and network, there are many ways to claim ownership of your career and move toward your goals in the coming year!

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Financial advisors are often responsible for working with a wide range of individuals, both among their client base and coworkers, who each have their own personality, beliefs, and style of communication. While it can be rewarding to build a large breadth of relationships, it can also be challenging to appeal to and feel accepted by so many different people all at once. One way that some advisors cope with this challenge is to 'cover' – that is, to downplay or conceal aspects of their own personality or values in order to fit in.

Research has shown that covering is a common phenomenon in the general population, and the most recent Kitces Research study on wellbeing has shown that it is also common among financial advisors: Approximately 40% of advisors responded that they hide aspects of their personal lives from both their coworkers and clients. Importantly, advisors who strongly agreed that they cover in the workplace also reported lower quality-of-life scores, presumably because spending so much time in an environment where they feel they cannot express their true selves would understandably cause a decline in wellbeing.

While covering is a universal phenomenon, Kitces Research suggests it is more prevalent among advisors at larger firms (defined as those with seven or more members) than those at smaller firms. While it makes intuitive sense that advisors at a larger firm might feel more pressure to downplay personal traits among their coworkers, what is notable is that advisors at larger firms are also more likely to do so with their clients. Which suggests that covering might not just be an issue of an advisor's personal insecurity, but may also be rooted in the culture of larger firms. And this may encourage advisors to suppress their unique personalities and fit in with the crowd.

In addition to firm size, several other factors are also associated with covering. Advisors whose personality traits do not align with stereotypical gender roles – e.g., confidence and assertiveness in males; gentleness and deference in females – may feel pressured to conform to what they think is expected of them. Likewise, advisors with more junior roles and less experience also feel less confident in expressing themselves than their more senior colleagues.

Ultimately, most everyone feels pressure to cover at some point, but when that pressure is present in one's work environment every day, it can have a detrimental impact on wellbeing. It's important for advisors to find ways to authentically express themselves – whether by building deeper relationships with work colleagues or clients, or seeking out mentors or study groups – and also for firms to provide a culture where employees feel comfortable doing so. Allowing advisors to openly share what makes them unique can help create a more diverse, inclusive, and happier financial planning industry!

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Many aspiring and current financial advisors pursue the Certified Financial Planner (CFP) certification for its career-enhancing benefits and the credibility it provides to prospects and clients. Because the CFP mark demonstrates to consumers that an advisor has a baseline of competence and ethical behavior, obtaining CFP certification entails a rigorous process to help ensure that only qualified individuals can hold themselves out as CFP professionals. In addition to Education, Exam, and Ethics requirements, aspiring CFP professionals must also complete an Experience requirement, which helps prepare them to provide personal financial planning services to clients. This requirement can be fulfilled using 1 of 2 pathways: the 6,000-hour Standard Pathway or the 4,000-hour Apprenticeship Pathway.

The more flexible option for candidates to complete the Experience requirement is the Standard Pathway, which involves a 2-part requirement: 1) the candidate’s experience must fall within 1 or more of the 7 primary elements of the personal financial planning process. and 2) it must involve at least 1 or more of 5 specified types of experience (e.g., personal delivery to individual clients or direct or indirect support of individual clients).

While it takes fewer hours to complete, the Apprenticeship Pathway has much more stringent experience requirements: qualifying experience must include all 7 of the elements of the personal financial planning process, all the hours must be delivered by personally engaging with individual clients, and all hours must be completed under the direct supervision of a CFP professional who will verify and attest to the candidate’s experience.

Given that aspiring CFP professionals come from varied backgrounds, there are a wide range of opportunities available for candidates to fulfill the Experience requirement (particularly using the Standard Pathway). For example, those with previous experience related to financial planning can report this experience if it was gained within 10 years prior to passing the CFP exam. For those without enough previous experience to fulfill the requirement, working in a full-time position (whether at an established firm or by starting one’s own firm) is the fastest way to complete sufficient hours for the requirement. And those who are unable to commit to a full-time position can seek out other opportunities, such as a part-time (virtual) paraplanner position or pro bono planning, that can not only expose the aspiring planner to a range of experiences, but also give them a head start on experience hours if they decide later to move into a full-time position.

Ultimately, the key point is that there are many ways to fulfill the Experience requirement for CFP certification and the best way to do so will depend on a given individual’s previous experience, career aspirations, and current employment status. By creating a plan that not only fulfills the requirement, but also develops the range of skills needed to be a successful planner, an aspiring CFP professional can start their career on a more solid footing and develop the needed skills to better serve their future clients!

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The COVID-19 pandemic has led many workers to consider changing careers, perhaps for greater pay or flexibility. For those with an interest in personal finance and helping others, a career change into the financial advice industry could be an attractive option, particularly given that financial advisors generally report having a strong sense of wellbeing and that they have the potential to earn significantly more than the national median income. And with all of the ways that aspiring advisors can enter the profession, career changers have many factors to consider, including the type of work and career path they would ultimately like to pursue. Because the various financial advice career tracks come with different education and certification requirements, this decision will influence the career changer’s path as they pursue their first job in the industry.

For aspiring planners who want to work directly with clients but who don’t yet have leads of their own or experience with business-development strategies, one option is to start at a firm that assigns clients to advisors (so that the advisor can focus on practicing their financial planning advice skills as they learn how to generate new clients for the firm). Career changers who already have business-development experience (or who have access to many potential clients) might instead prefer to find a firm where they will be responsible for pursuing their own clients. Still, other career changers might want to eventually start their own firm; while this may allow for the greatest autonomy, this option also comes with the greatest financial risk (as the advisor will be entirely responsible for making up income lost after leaving their previous job!). For career changers who want to work in the industry but do not want to work directly with clients, pursuing a career track that allows them to construct financial plans and develop recommendations (without presenting them to the client) could be the best option.

After deciding which career path best suits them, a career changer can pursue the education and credentials that will help them stand out to potential employers and clients. For many, the first step will be to complete a broad financial planning education program to gain the technical knowledge needed to be a successful advisor. There are also designations (e.g., the CFP certification) and specialized training programs that can serve as a signal to future employers and clients that they have the skills and dedication to be effective advisors. Next, constructing a plan that makes the transition as smooth as possible (e.g., scheduling out time for classes, training, and job hunting; and budgeting the financial costs of a transition into financial advising) can help the advisor manage a potential salary reduction (for those pursuing an employee position) or foregone income (for those starting their own firm) as they get up to speed in their new career.

Ultimately, the key point is that while a career change into financial planning can be a fulfilling decision, it is important to plan in advance to ensure a smooth transition, from considering what kind of role in the industry is of interest to the education and credentials needed for that career track. Because with proper preparation, the career changer can increase the chances that they will not only have a good first job in the industry, but also have a successful long-term career in financial advice!

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