A Career In Financial Planning: Pros & Cons

Careers in financial planning are more in demand than ever, with baby boomers retiring and millennials entering their peak earning years. As you consider a career in this field, you’ve undoubtedly been told the timing couldn’t be better.

But is a career in financial planning the right fit for you?

At Consolidated Planning, we help financial advisors launch their practices. Over the past four decades, we’ve seen the good, the bad, and the ugly in this career. We’ve distilled our experience into a practice building playbook for new advisors.

In this article, we’ll share the top 3 advantages and disadvantages of a career in financial planning. By the end, you’ll be well equipped to decide whether a career in financial planning is right for your career path.

 

Top 3 Advantages To A Career In Financial Planning

There are dozens of advantages to this career path, but three rise to the top for their presence in all successful advisory practices.

 

Pro #1: Opportunity To Make A Meaningful Difference In People’s Lives

Finances are consistently ranked as the number one source of stress in people’s lives, with 73% of people reporting financial stress, according to a study by CreditWise. High levels of financial stress can even impact physical health and well-being. 

As a financial advisor, you can positively impact your clients’ lives and reduce stress by providing quality financial advice and guidance.

Working with clients to organize, protect, and focus their dollars toward their highest and best use based on their needs, wants, and goals helps set these priorities:

1. “Being happy” as a top priority
2. Having enough money to enjoy life
3. Staying fit and healthy, and
4. Retiring with a stable and adequate income

 

These priorities are not age or income specific but rooted in the sense of emotional security. Our planning process creates a framework for clients to accomplish these priorities. As an advisor, you have a front row seat to watching your client’s dreams unfold throughout their relationship.

 

Pro #2: Unlimited Income Potential

You may not be able to buy personal satisfaction with cold hard cash, but for everything else, this career offers unlimited income potential. At the end of the day, we all work to earn a living. And as a financial advisor, your hard work and success directly translate into more money in your pocket.

Financial advisors earn a percentage of the revenue they create through fees and commissions. In many cases, this revenue is recurring and continues to grow yearly. The longer an advisor is in business, the more substantial this recurring revenue can be.

 

Pro #3: Freedom and Flexibility

Freedom and flexibility of time and schedule, especially today, are often the top advantages of this career. As a financial advisor, you control your schedule, client base, service model, and practice specialty. However, it may not always feel that way when you first start.

On day one, you have all of this control but also have clients to help, goals to hit, and revenue to produce. Sometimes that pressure can cause advisors to feel out of control. 

Here at Consolidated Planning, monthly meetings are held to help advisors work on their personal business, not just in it. This intentionality restores the balance of control to the advisor and increases confidence.

As your practice matures and your client base grows, you will experience an increase in freedom and flexibility. You may establish a “lifestyle practice” built around your wants and needs, or you may choose to build a team to support your practice growth. In either case, like so many things in this business, the choice is entirely up to you.

 

Top 3 Disadvantages To A Career In Financial Planning

While freedom and flexibility is an incredible advantage, it can also bring about thoughts and feelings aligned with disadvantages. Let’s dive into the negative side of this career so you can weigh the pros and cons for yourself.

 

Con #1: High Stress

Financial advisors are responsible for finding their own clients and closing business to generate revenue. So while you are rewarded for your success, it can also create significant stress when times are tough. And there will be tough times. 

This pressure is especially prevalent in the early stages of building your practice when you don’t have a large client base to support you.

As an advisor, you’ll have hard conversations with clients about their spending and savings. You’ll guide them through personal tragedies and down markets. You’ll make recommendations directly impacting your client’s current and future goals. The importance of your work is a heavy load to carry.

Some advisors thrive under this pressure, and others crumble.

 

Con #2: Hard Work To Build Client Base

Everyone (and I mean EVERYONE) can benefit from working with a financial advisor. Even Warren Buffett has a financial advisor. Since literally everyone can benefit from working with an advisor, building a client base should be easy, right?

Wrong.

Building a book of business from scratch is hard work. Period. End of story.

Launching a practice and onboarding clients requires you to get outside of your comfort zone. You will face rejection. Prospects will ghost you. Things won’t go according to plan no matter how perfect the plan was. It happens to everyone.

Persistence and determination are the keys to building your practice. Consolidated Planning has a playbook for building a practice that works well, but this playbook recognizes the challenges to gaining clients. You’ll start more than 160 conversations with prospects in your first year to close the 30 planning clients you need to be on track for success.

It’s not easy, but it’s entirely possible. We’ve seen it happen again and again. If you put in the work, you will see the results.

 

Con #3: Regulatory and Compliance Requirements

The financial services industry is heavily regulated. Which is a good thing. But as a financial advisor, you’ll be responsible for keeping up with these regulations. One of the primary ways you’ll accomplish this is with ongoing continuing education requirements – around 24 hours per year.

In addition to continuing education, you’ll also need to stay on top of your firm’s compliance procedures to ensure you are operating your practice appropriately. Any checks received from clients need to be recorded and promptly deposited. Marketing materials must be reviewed by a compliance officer for approval before they are distributed. Correspondence with clients must be archived.

The regulatory burdens and compliance requirements aren’t unmanageable, but they can be a hassle if you fall behind.

 

Is A Career In Financial Planning Right For You?

A career in financial advising isn’t for the faint of heart. It will require grit and tenacity as you work to build your book of business.

The good news is, if you’re in it for the right reasons and you find the right firm for you, you can build a sustainable practice that gets you excited to put in the work each day.

If you believe the pros of this career outweigh the cons, reach out to a team member at Consolidated Planning to learn more about reaching your income and practice goals.

 

Exp. 10/2027

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Consolidated Planning, Inc. is an Agency of The Guardian Life Insurance Company of America® (Guardian), New York, NY. Securities products and advisory services offered through Park Avenue Securities LLC (PAS), member FINRA, SIPC. OSJ: 6115 Park South Drive, Suite 200, Charlotte NC 28210, Phone # 704-5528507. PAS is a wholly owned subsidiary of Guardian. This firm is not an affiliate or subsidiary of PAS. This material is intended for general use. By providing this content Park Avenue Securities LLC and your financial representative are not undertaking to provide investment advice or make a recommendation for a specific individual or situation, or to otherwise act in a fiduciary capacity.