Financial Advisor Career Guide

Financial advisors guide individuals, families, and businesses in making smart choices for their financial futures, focusing more on long-term goals such as retirement and investments. To accomplish this ambitious goal, advisors form long-lasting relationships with their clients and help with many different financial topics, such as retirement and buying stocks. This job is a good fit for anyone interested in finance with a willingness to help companies and families develop their own financial plans.

Financial advisors spend most of their days meeting with clients. Before an advisor can make a suggestion to a client, he must get a full picture of the client?s financial health by looking at their financial history and making detailed spreadsheets. As an advisor, you must also spend time keeping up with new market trends in order to make relevant suggestions to your customers.

If you wish to pursue this career, you will need a bachelor?s degree in a related field, such as finance or business administration. Before you can start work as a financial advisor, some states require you to earn one or more licenses. Since the majority of work as a financial advisor involves helping people, you need to excel at explaining complex topics to people with little financial experience. Therefore, communication skills are essential. Analytical minds with a niche for math are also well suited for this career. If you enjoy working with figures and spreadsheets, this job may match with your interests.

To learn more about a career as a financial advisor, read the career profiles below. Through one-on-one interviews with professional financial advisors, we give you the inside scoop on what it takes to become a financial advisor, how much you might earn in this career, and the pros and cons of working in the field.