Introduction
Certified financial planners advise individuals or companies on how to manage their finances with an aim to meet their objectives. As a financial planner, you get the opportunity to navigate a business’s finances and find ways to make intelligent financial decisions.
In this blog, we will discuss who financial planners are, what skills they acquire, the scope of financial planning in North America, if financial planning is the right career option, and the best course you can pursue to become a skilled, certified financial planner and more.
Let’s start.
Who are Financial Planners?
Financial planners are professionals who help you manage your money with practical strategies and appropriate budgeting & planning. Financial planners ensure that your financial goals are met and that you stay liquid.
A certified financial planner also comes up with ways to help you grow financially and create wealth. They’ll help you understand your current situation and create plans to meet your long-term objectives.
They will also research your financial history, ask relevant questions to understand your situation and offer recommendations based on your financial goals.
How IMS Proschool can help you fulfill your dream of becoming a financial planner
If you want to become a certified financial planner, you can trust IMS Proschool to train you under the guidance of the best mentors and industry experts.
Becoming a CFP through IMS Proschool will allow you to learn from the best and get active assistance in case of any doubts. Proschool offers offline and online modes so you can choose to study at your convenience. Moreover, their mentors have adopted innovative methods to ensure that the students learn and understand complex concepts easily.
You’ll be studying case studies, and you’ll gain practical learning experience by solving real-life problems. Moreover, IMS Proschool offers 100% placement assistance, ensuring you’ll get the opportunity to work with top firms, management companies, and banks.
Role of a financial planner & Different Job Profiles of Financial planners
The main role of a financial planner is to provide assistance related to savings, budgeting, managing one’s expenses, and taking action to create wealth. Financial planners also have various duties up their sleeves. Let’s look into the roles of financial planners & their different job profiles.
Role
Financial planners offer various services to their clients. These services go hand in hand and allow financial planners to create a plan per your future requirements. Following are a few crucial services offered by financial planners:
Tax Planning
A financial planner will ensure that your tax-related issues are taken care of. In addition, your financial planner will try to come up with ways to help decrease the amount of tax liability and maximize the tax refunds.
Estate Planning
Estate planning is necessary to ensure the process gets easier for your family after your death. Under estate planning, a financial planner may help you prepare your will. Moreover, the financial planner will also take care of the estate tax you may be liable for.
Investing
A financial planner’s primary job doesn’t include managing assets. However, your financial planner may help you make specific investment decisions, like the kind of investments you should make and the amount you should use for investments.
Insurance
Financial planners ensure that one’s insurance needs get evaluated accurately. In addition, many financial planners have the license to be insurance agents, meaning you’ll also be able to buy insurance from them.
Planning & Budgeting
Planning & budgeting is the primary duty of a financial planner. Your financial planner will ensure that you spend wisely and not go into debt.
Various Job Profiles
Following are a few of the various job profiles of financial planners:
Financial Analyst
A financial analyst is responsible for supervising an organization’s financial performance by creating a strategy, evaluating market trends to make predictions, and offering assistance to the management in making effective operational and financial strategies. A financial analyst is a type of certified financial planner who maintains the company’s financial records. Financial analysts are also responsible for developing insights and offering assistance in making sensible decisions.
Treasurer
A treasurer is responsible for managing the everyday activities of the company’s employees in the financial department. In addition, treasurers supervise the employees to ensure they create accurate financial reports.
Business Management Analyst/Consultant
As a Business Management expert, your responsibility will be to come up with ways to increase the company’s performance efficiency. A management consultant is a type of certified financial planner who offers advice on how to reduce costs, increase revenue, and make the company highly competitive. Management consultants collect relevant information and organize it for the assessment of personnel, facilities, and procedures.
Skills Required to Become a Financial Planner
Communication Skills
A financial planner’s job revolves around networking with clients, dealing with new businesses, and maintaining good relationships with their organizations. Thus, it becomes important for financial planners to be good communicators. They need to be able to connect with people.
Moreover, the concepts of financial planning can be confusing and complex. So a financial planner also needs to be skilled in explaining everything in layman’s language. This will help ensure that the client understands the concepts and makes the right decision. Retaining a client relationship is as important as building the relationship for a financial planner.
Analytical Skills
Financial planners are responsible for solving various finance-related problems of an organization. Every client is unique, and their financial portfolio needs to be approached differently. Thus, financial planners need to have analytical and mathematical skills to help make quick and smart financial decisions.
Organizational Skills
Organizational skills are one of the most significant skills a financial planner needs to hone. Organizational skills help allow effective management and prove fruitful for the client and the financial planner. For example, effective time management ensures that the financial planner is able to offer their services efficiently.
Wealth Management
Financial planners are skilled professionals who help create and maintain the wealth of an individual or organization. A financial planner’s wealth management skill allows them to offer appropriate advice to ensure their clients make smart money decisions. This skill is also necessary to ensure the financial planner provides good investment advice and helps the clients generate more income.
Research Skills
Financial planners need to have impressive research skills. That’s because every client is different, and they require personalized financial assistance to grow their wealth. Having good research skills will ensure that a financial planner can understand the client’s financial history and examine the changes that need to be made.
Research skills also ensure that a financial planner helps clients meet their financial goals with the help of effective strategies.
Leadership Qualities
Financial planners should have leadership qualities to ensure they are able to guide their clients and lead the team of experts working under them. In addition, financial planners should be able to come up with ways to make their clients understand the technicalities of their process and make informed decisions.
Benefits of Having a Career as a Financial Planner in North America
Profitable Career
There is no limit to the earning potential of a financial planner. A financial planner’s earning limit is determined by the number of clients they can handle. Thus, the more you work, the more you earn. While the pay structure of a financial planner differs depending upon their job profile, they can earn as much as they want to by adding to their list of clients.
Flexible Work Schedule
Established independent financial planners have a flexible work schedule as they can manage their work hours according to their availability. With a fixed client base, you’ll be able to schedule your meetings on your own time and ensure that you manage your off days easily.
Growing Network
The job of a financial planner revolves around working with many people. Thus, as a financial planner, you’ll be able to grow your network and find opportunities to make vital professional and personal connections. Financial planners can use their network to find new clients and make beneficial connections.
Educational Requirements to Become a Financial Planner
Get a Bachelor’s Degree
The basic requirement to become a financial planner is to get a bachelor’s degree. Most companies look to hire financial planners with bachelor’s degrees in business, accounting, or finance. Thus, earning a bachelor’s degree would be best to ensure you land good entry-level job positions as a financial planner.
Complete Your Training
Once you get your bachelor’s degree, you can bag an entry-level job. You should grab these opportunities and work under experienced financial planners to get an understanding of the industry and gain practical experience.
Get Certified
Becoming a certified financial planner will help upgrade your resume and increase your chances of being selected by big companies. Getting a certification can help advance your career and add to your credibility. As a CFP, you’ll become a professional financial planner, and it’ll open doors to various lucrative career opportunities for you.
Pursue Higher Education
You can also advance your career as a financial planner by pursuing a master’s degree in finance or business administration.
Scope of Financial Planning in North America
The demand for financial planners is growing by the day. Individuals/organizations from every industry require these skilled professionals to manage their finances and meet their financial goals. A career in financial planning has a broad scope in North America. As a result, there has been an increase in the number of CFP jobs in the USA.
Let us look at a few statistics related to support our statament. :
- As per the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the demand for financial planners is estimated to grow by 5% between 2020-2030. The demand is as fast as the demand for individuals in any other occupation.
- One of the reasons for the increasing demand for certified financial planners in North America is going to be the growth of the number of people preparing for retirement.
- The demand is also set to grow as the young generation becomes aware of the importance of certified financial planners and they start seeking professional financial assistance.
The increasing demand for financial planners in North America makes it a great career option for you. Certified financial planners are valuable assets to the companies because these professionals help individuals/companies make the most of their funds and generate long-term wealth.
How Do You Know if Financial Planning is the Right Career for You?
Wondering if financial planning is the right career option for you? The best way to find out will be to ask yourself various questions like:
- Do you enjoy working with numbers?
- Do you like to work in a dynamic work environment?
- Do you like to network with people?
- Do you want a flexible work life?
Analyzing your answers to these questions will help you understand whether becoming a certified financial planner will be good for you or not.
Conclusion
In this article, we discussed who financial planners are and what they do. To become a financial planner, you’ll need to have knowledge related to personal finance. Moreover, it will be vital for you to hone various skills, including communication, networking, and analytical skills.
It will help if you become a certified financial planner as it will open doors to better work opportunities and ensure a lucrative career. Financial planners have a wide career scope, and becoming a financial planner will ensure that you excel in your career.
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