A Career As A Personal Financial Advisor

A personal financial advisor is someone who takes his or her client’s money goals and devise plans to achieve those goals. Considered to be a part of the middle class, financial advisors wages average $89,160 a year (“Personal”, 2015). In college, students take a variety of courses to help prepare them in the economic world, and after college, they take exams to test their skills. If they pass the exam, students become certified to be a personal financial advisor. Most financial advisors never stop learning and growing in their career as they strive to become successful business owners, yet this job is only for those who are willing to accept challenges and help their clients thrive.

What It Means to be a Personal Financial Advisor

Most financial advisors have a bachelor’s degree in some form of business including finance, economics, and mathematics. It is usually recommended to take courses in investments, taxes, estate planning, financial planning, and/or risk management to improve their knowledge and performance in the field. At Saint Mary’s College in Notre Dame, Indiana, it is required for students to have fifty-four hours to graduate with a business degree. Their financial concentration degree courses include investments, personal financial planning, financial analysis, and international financial management. Seniors are required to take the BBA comprehensive examination to test skills like communication, analyzation, quantitation, and problem solving. These skills are vitally important for personal financial advisors to succeed in their career. They also require three papers because they believe that writing like a business professional is critical for a financial advisor, but the learning does not stop there (“Requirements”, n.d.). Financial advisors have to continue to learn about how money works day to day in the world because it is constantly changing. After college, most personal financial advisors enter an on-the-job training period which lasts more than a year in most cases. Senior advisors train new advisors about their duties as a personal financial advisor. New advisors then begin to build a network of clients

Depending what firm they are in, advisors have to register with state regulators or with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Several advisors also acquire the Certified Financial Planner certification to help boost their reputation. Another way for advisors to advance in the business world is to go back to school to get a master’s degree. (“Personal”,