Financial Advisor’s First Year Income With Consolidated Planning: What To Expect

If the path to becoming a financial advisor sounds like the right fit for you, the next natural question is, how much will I realistically earn in my first year as a financial advisor?

And you should be wondering that. After all, you wouldn’t jump headfirst into a career without thinking about how your personal finances would be impacted. Financial advisors have variable income based on their revenue production. So how much you’ll earn is entirely dependent on you.

Here at Consolidated Planning, our four decades of experience paired with a time tested planning process creates a prime environment for advisor success.

In this article, we’ll cover the basics of financial advisor compensation and the average income of a first-year financial advisor at Consolidated Planning to help you make an informed decision about the next steps in your career.

How Do Financial Advisors Get Paid?

The question all aspiring financial advisors are wondering. Most financial advisors are paid based on the revenue they produce for their firm – revenue is the commissions or fees they earn by working with clients. There are a number of factors that can impact financial advisor compensation, which can often be overwhelming, so for this article, we’ll focus on the basics of financial advisor compensation so you’ll have the knowledge you need to understand how you’ll be paid as an advisor.

At Consolidated Planning, our financial advisors generate revenue in three primary ways:

Planning Fees – Fees charged to clients in exchange for ongoing financial advice and guidance within the scope of the planning agreement.
Insurance Commissions – Commissions earned when clients purchase life and disability insurance based on advisor recommendations.
Investment Fees – Fees charged to clients based on assets under management (AUM).

As you can see, income as a financial advisor is heavily based on your work with your clients, which brings us to our next question.

How Many Clients Do Financial Advisors Need?

If your income is based on the work you’re engaged in with your clients, just how many clients do you need to build a successful practice?

At Consolidated Planning, we have found that an advisor needs to acquire 25 planning clients during their first year to be on track for long-term success. A planning client is defined as a client that is fully engaged in our planning process, not just a transactional product sale.

New advisors are often required to obtain 100 or more clients during their first year at a more product-focused firm. With an emphasis on a comprehensive approach for your clients – you are encouraged to provide insurance and investment business for all clients as appropriate in addition to charging planning fees as a standard.

This well-rounded approach allows you to serve as your client’s one-stop shop for their financial needs, creating deeper, more meaningful relationships that, in return, drive more revenue for your practice.

Solutions for New Financial Advisors Challenges

Your first year as a financial advisor will likely revolve around two questions: How will I get clients? What will I do with my clients once I get them? Consolidated Planning helps advisors address both of these challenges in a few ways:

• Mentoring: Each new advisor is paired with an experienced mentor to help guide and lead by example, answer questions and direct them to resources. Joint work is also encouraged as hands-on learning can be very impactful.
• Development: Each week, our advisors report their activity, highlights, and questions. In return, they receive a coaching email with practical advice and development tips.
• Training: Consolidated Planning offers a formal training program that includes a 3-day live training event, virtual training every Monday, training on our Living Balance Sheet (LBS), and ongoing training for both new and experienced advisors.
• Consulting: The Advisor Performance Group (APG) provides consulting on case design, strategy, and implementation by appointment. Consultations that are tool-based and more technical in nature can also be scheduled with LBS.
• New Business: The New Business Hub allows advisors to focus on their strengths and unique abilities rather than on paperwork. This team prepares applications for life insurance, disability insurance, investment accounts, retirement accounts, and process servicing forms.
• Case Management: Each advisor at Consolidated Planning is assigned a dedicated case manager who helps manage their pipeline of business and serves as an advocate during the underwriting process.
• Business Planning: Consolidated Planning has an entire team dedicated to working alongside advisors on business planning cases which include business agreements, employee retention strategies, tax efficiencies, retirement planning, and more.
• Specialists: Life and disability product specialists are available to consult with advisors. When it’s time to place business, specialists can even help run illustrations for policy issuance.

 

What Will Your Income Be As A Financial Advisor?

Your income during your first year as a financial advisor is based on your revenue production. Consolidated Planning has spent 40 years training new financial advisors and has seen that first year advisor income can vary wildly. Still, over time we’ve seen the averages play out, and the chief indicator of first year success is having 25 planning cases. 

25 Planning Cases

For our practice building playbook, you’ll need 25 cases during your first 12 months to be considered on track. A case is any individual, family, or business actively engaged in the planning process with you. 

These 25 cases should generate $1,000,000 of new assets in fee based accounts. Due to the time it takes to get licensed and then bring in the accounts in year one, we don’t account for any income from these accounts during your first 12 months in this example. 

In our experience, about one-third of cases will pay planning fees. This amounts to the advisor about $13,320 of planning fees and $7,700 of income. 25 cases should generate about $80,000 of life/disability insurance premiums which will generate $64,000 of first year commissions when your new advisor subsidies are considered. 

The average compensation for a first year financial advisor at Consolidated Planning is around $71,700 with these 25 planning cases.

Years Two And Beyond

As you move through your career, your income will begin to shift. First year insurance commissions make up a smaller percentage as investment and planning fees grow and your insurance renewal base builds. Income in year 5 is a three legged stool: 

• $100,000 of income comes from investment and planning fees
• $88,000 comes from first year insurance commissions, and 
• $60,000 from insurance renewals

However, the results in year 5 depend on consistent building in years one through four. That’s where three stages come into play:

Identify Stage 

• Begin meeting with the marketing team to review year one outcomes and align on growth goals for year two and three
• Evaluate current prospecting efforts and uncover new opportunities beyond the Natural Market Inventory
• Begin establishing a digital presence on social media through tailored marketing strategies and content guidance

Define Stage 

• Clearly define and refine your target market to focus your efforts
• Segment your audience and create detailed profiles of your ideal client
• Collaborate with the marketing team to build a focused, actionable marketing strategy tailored to your goals and target audience

Growth Stage 

• Develop a recognizable personal brand that reflects your strengths, values, and niche market
• Use marketing campaigns to increase visibility and build long-term client relationships
• Get ongoing support to adapt your strategy as your business grows and evolves

With the right firm and support, you have strong income potential from day one.

What Can You Expect During Your First Year At Consolidated Planning?

There’s a chance that you may still feel unsettled about your potential income even after reading this. And rightfully so.

Your first year as a financial advisor will set the tone for how your career will unfold – from the clients you choose to work with to how you conduct that work.

To better understand what your income will be made up of, talk with a team member about our 250k in 5 playbook or 750k in 5 playbook.

 

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Exp. 4/2027