From the article: Financial Advisor
Financial advisors fill key positions in the financial services industry, and are key drivers of profitability in major securities firms. Moreover, as the crucial interface between these firms and the investing public, financial advisors have a highly visible role. If you're a financial advisor, used to be one, or are attempting to become one, please share your experiences with our readers. What are the chief pros and cons of this career path, as you see them? Would you do it again? Would you do anything differently? What tips can you offer our readers who are interested in this line of work? Thanks for your time! Share Your Experiences
Hard but easy
- The actual job is easy but managing your emotions can be hard. The median pay is not accurate for people that work for full service brokerage firms. They are probably getting lots of the the median, from bank brokers. The job takes alot of confidence, deligence and the ability to manage you and your clients emotions
- —Guest tough
The Pros and Cons of a Financial Advisor
- I've been a financial advisor little over a year now and I can definitely share the joys and hurdles. This is also for those people out there considering becoming a financial advisor. The major pro of becoming a financial advisor would be the compensation and the freedom over your time - meaning that your earning potential is limitless and you are your own boss. Ironically, this is also the con of becoming a financial advisor. While it's true that income potential is limitless due to the compensation system being 100% commission for most major companies, this also means that if you don't manage your business, your income could be 0. Contrary to popular belief, you do not have to be excellent at communication skills, be overly enthusiastic, or be a great salesman to become a successful advisor. Diligence, perseverance and relationship management is all that is important to be successful.
- —Guest Richard
Potential FA
- I have been looking in to become a Financial Advisor for the past year. It is very intimidating to think about the commission based salary. However, the freedom of running your own office and the unlimited earning potential are worth the risk. From what I've heard, as long as you are disciplined, work hard, and don't give up this can be an extremely rewarding career.
- —Guest jlace
financial advisor pros and cons
- As a financial advisor for the last 13 years, I would say that you have to work extremely hard like any new small business owner. Perseverance, enthusiasm, salesmanship, and discipline are the keys to success. Don't expect to make any money for at least 5 years and I would highly recommend working with an existing established team as opposed to starting on your own...The ideal candidate for this business is someone who is very connected in the community and has a lot of experience working with affluent people..and already has a level of trust with that community. I definitely don't recommend this job for recent college grads looking for their first job.
- —Guest mike c
Weighing Pros and Cons
- In the midst of my career at Merrill Lynch, I explored becoming a financial advisor. I used my contacts to discuss this with several leading (and former) FAs with the firm, then I set down on paper a balance sheet of pros and cons, including my own strengths and weaknesses. It all came down to this: on the positive side of the ledger were my confidence in my analytical abilities, my own success as an individual investor, and my communications skills; on the negative side, I felt that my sales skills were not strong enough, and I was sure that I wouldn't sleep easy, worrying about my clients' accounts. So, I decided to stay in administrative roles rather than take the plunge.
- —mkolakowski
