by Bala Rajendran
Students who would like to be self-employed and are interested in finance may want to look into this career. Personal finance advisors help their clients make investments. They help the clients with insurance and with taxes as well. Most of all, Personal finance advisors help their clients to create a portfolio of investments so that the returns are high and are protected.
They typically work part-time meeting their clients during weekends and evenings.
Responsibilities:
- Financial advisors explain the risks associated with the investments.
- They provide various investment options to their clients.
- They also provide advice on specific investments such as education fund, retirement fund etc.
- They meet the clients in person and help them to set their financial goals.
- They regularly meet their clients and explain the investment reports and advise further changes as per the client’s financial goals.
Personal financial advisors generally have a bachelor’s degree in finance, economics, mathematics, accounting, business or law. Financial advisors who directly buy or sell stocks, bonds, and insurance policies are required to obtain a combination of licenses based on what they sell. Smaller firms usually register themselves with the state regulators and larger firms are registered with Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Those who sell insurances have to abide by the rules of North American Securities Administrators Association. To enhance their reputation and to attract more clients, they can complete certifications. One such certification is the Certified Financial Planner (CFP) certification provided by the Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards.
Salary
BLS states that the median annual salary for these personal financial advisors was $67,520 in May 2012.
The top 10% earned more than $187,200. The wages of financial advisors in various industries is shown below:
Job Outlook
Bureau of Labor Statistics (www.bls.gov) states that in 2012, 20% of the financial advisors were self-employed. The industries that employed personal financial advisors are shown below:
The jobs for financial advisors is projected to grow at an rate of 27% from 2012 to 2022. The growth rate when compared to other jobs is shown below:
