Personal financial advisors

College Majors Business Major
1

<p>I have a whole spew of questions, so bear with me:</p>

<p>[ol]
[li]How do these guys get started? Do they open up cold turkey, or do most of them work as salaried employers for a few years? (I suspect the latter).</p>[/li]
<p>[li]Does the school you go to matter, so long as you obtain a bachelor's degree? (I go to UCSC if that means anything).</p>[/li]
<p>[li]Does your major matter (when choosing between, say, economics/business management economics/global economics)?</p>[/li]
<p>[li]How stable is the field, and how is the pay?[/ol]</p>[/li]
<p>Thanks a lot to anyone who answers.</p>

2

<p>Interesting that you should ask about this since my son is majoring in Financial Planning at Bentley College,which has one of the only masters in Financial Planning on the east coast that isn't a purely online program.</p>

<p>Let me address your questions in the order presented:
How do these guys get started? Do they open up cold turkey, or do most of them work as salaried employers for a few years? (I suspect the latter).</p>

<p>Does the school you go to matter, so long as you obtain a bachelor's degree? (I go to UCSC if that means anything).</p>

<p>Response: nope, although some schools have programs in financial planning in grad school. I think these are Texas Tech, Bentley College, University of Georgia ( or is it Georgia State) , UC SD have grad programs in planning. There are very few programs that offer enough courses as an undergrad for your to take the Certified Financial Planning exam. Towson University, as part of their accounting program, does offer six undergrad courses.</p>

<p>Does your major matter (when choosing between, say, economics/business management economics/global economics)?
Response: The major doesn't matter per se. However, there are certain majors that are better in terms of giving you a better background for the material. I would say the best majors are accounting and finance. If you are going to take the CFP exam, you need to take at least 6 mandated subjects. They involve insurance, retirement, tax, investments, and two more that I can't recollect.</p>

<p>How stable is the field, and how is the pay?</p>

<p>Response: The field is quite stable and can be VERY lucrative. I personally know of two planners that earn in excess of 1 million per year each. However, and understand this: financial planning is generally a sales oriented job. If you are not willing to sell, there are fims hiring planners to help with back office stuff,but these folks earn about $40,000-70,000 a year depending on competancy and experience. The real money comes to those who are willing to market themselves!</p>

<p>You probably want to check with State Board of Financial Planners and get some recommended colleges. The ideal background would be to major in either accounting or finance as an undergrad and get a masters in Financial Planning in grad school,but this isn't needed. It is just nice to have.</p>

3

<p>it is pretty difficult to get started.</p>

<p>you'll start earning a very low base salary and go through somewhat of a rotational program to learn the ropes.</p>

<p>it doesn't seem like it, but it is EXTREMELY sales oriented. if you think about it, you're basically trying to get random complete strangers to trust their money with you. i interned for two financial planners and would never consider going into the field.</p>

4

<p>What post number 3 said is quite correct. Financial Planning is a marketing job. However, don't let it scare you off if you have a driven personality and good people skills. Financial Planners who are good at what they do and can market will make more money than just about any other profession including doctors, lawyers, engineers etc. In addition, when they build up a book of business, this money keeps coming in year after year with residuals!</p>

5

<p>I want to do this too.</p>

6

<p>Financial planners are sales people pitching investment ideas to people. However, the returns the clients get are often dismal because of the layers of fees paid to the financial planner and the investment companies. These fees generally wipe out any real gains. People are always better off, making better returns putting their money in low cost index funds.</p>

7

<p>Cbreeeze, this is CLEARLY not always true. You are generalizing. Yes, there are a fair number of unscrupulous planners that I wouldn't send my dog too, I am sad to say. I also know people who are scrupulously honest and competant and have great track records with client's money. It depends on the person. In addition, MANY adults that I know are horrendous at dealing with their investment despite being brilliant in their field of endeavor. A planner takes the emotion out of investment and ensures diversification and asset allocation based on risk tolerance and age, at least the good ones do.
Can people do this individually, maybe, but it usually isn't done and usually if tried, isn't done well. If you think I am wrong, let me give you a sobering statistic: less than 2% of all the peole who reach age 65 can retire with the same standard of living that they had while working. 98% must either continue to work, reduce their standard of living or rely on some form of charity or kids! If people were so smart with their money, this wouldn't be the case.</p>

<p>In addition, it is many times not any more expensive to use a planner with mananaged money accounts who charge 2.5 % at most vs. even a mutual fund who almost charges that in fees and doens't do the asset allocation or risk management. Again, you need someone competant and HONEST,which is easier said than found.</p>

8

<p>But then, do you NEED to live in that 4000sqft house on 2 acres after all your kids moved out and it's just the two of you? I'd say it's wise to move to a smaller place.</p>

9

<p>Yes, that's true. Americans are great consumers, not savers. And now we need them to spend even more to prevent a recession.</p>

<p>I've been investing most of my life, having learned from a grandfather and a father who both graduated from Wharton. When novices ask my opinion, I just point them to Vanguard index funds.</p>