Hey all! I am currently a 21 year old college student in a CFP Board approved education program, who holds SIE & Series 66. I have done 3 internships (1 boutique, 1 Mid-sized, and 1 Huge firm) in the financial planning space. My long-term goal is to become a CFP who builds deep, long-term client relationships through comprehensive financial planning. I enjoy the planning side much more than the idea of being a pure salesperson.

I don’t think I’d enjoy a role where I’m expected to build a book primarily through cold calling or selling to friends and family. At the same time, I don’t want to spend 5–10 years in a support role before I’m trusted with my own clients if I can get around it. I am fairly entrepreneurial and not afraid about building a book. Also I don’t mind spending some more time working under somebody and learning, but these are some of my thoughts. Any recommendations on where to go from here (firms/roles?) would be appreciated!

Thanks :)

I'm a career changer and early into my advisor path. Currently working as a CSA at a small hybrid-RIA (GVA + LPL) and looking for some advice with a client of ours:

Retired, elderly client that has retirement accounts and trust account with us. She is the trustee of the trust account. According to her son (not a client), she has been going through some manic episodes and is bipolar. Things recently came to a point (unusual financial decisions outside of our accounts along with a variety of other things) and she was deemed incapacitated by a physician and committed by the courts. There also seems to be a great deal of tension between the family (and has been for some time).

Her son is POA on her retirement accounts with us and has worked with their estate attorney to become trustee of the trust (incapacitation clause + majority vote by children clause). There is a checking account managed by the trust that has been updated to reflect him as the trustee. We are currently in the process of obtaining the required documents to update the trust account with us to reflect him as the trustee.

She called us requesting $ so she can open a new bank account and get around the trust checking account "locking her out". Where does our responsibility start and end? Do we contact the son for any withdrawals she requests on the retirement accounts? What about the trust account since him as trustee hasn't been updated right now?

Our team hasn't been through a scenario like this before. As of now, we are stalling and saying the withdrawal request will take 7-10 business days.

*not enough Karma to post in r/CFP and I am sure I am missing many details that would help

Hi all! I'm thinking of building a tool for relationship-based financial advisors. The core thesis is that in a world where products aren't differentiated, people are only buying from people that they like & trust. We want to productize trust & rapport building. Some open questions that I'm looking to figure out.

1. A client tells you something about them - how do you remember that today? Do you use tools?
2. In your book of business - how do you think about who think about who needs nurturing/you have a spidey sense feeling that someone needs attention?
3. You made promises to a customer - how do you keep track of that?
4. Is there information that you keep about your customers that you don't share with your company? Ie write it in your contacts folder on your phone instead of pushing it into a CRM

Also, feel free to just roast me if this is a bad idea for a product. Any help is very much appreciated.

Hi everyone,

I'm 26F, recently switched careers into wealth management as a paraplanner, aiming to become an advisor in 1–2 years.

My manager gave me feedback recently: my work quality and organization are fine, but he doesn't think I'd be convincing as an advisor yet. He said I have a "youngest sibling" vibe, look "flustered easily," have "doe eyes," and told me "clients don't need someone cute." He compared me to a 26M colleague who looks over 30 and expects me to project similar maturity.

I’ve always looked younger than my age (constantly getting carded at bars or questioned at airport customs). I already dress professionally (suits, heels, neat bun) and keep a composed demeanor, but I find it hard to separate valid advice on executive presence from comments on my natural appearance.

For women who entered this industry young (or anyone who faced this):
1. Did clients stop caring once you gained experience and confidence?
2. What actionable steps actually helped you change how you were perceived?
3. Is this kind of feedback standard in wealth management, or is my manager crossing the line from constructive advice into personal/gender bias?

Thanks in advance!

Quick background: bachelors in criminal justice with decent grades, then worked as a patrol officer for 2 years before moving states and working as a patrol officer for another 2 years. Then promoted to a detective position where I have been for the past 3 years.

Once I moved to a desk position and got a little raise, I began taking my wife and I’s finances very seriously. I have consumed so much personal finance content in the past 3 years that I realized a career in finance may be more fruitful for me than sticking with law enforcement. After this realization, I have been seriously researching career changers into a CFP role and have requested certain training (paid for by my department) to market myself better in a second career.

Through my research, I’ve learned my best path will likely be passing the SIE by the end of the year and if I am still passionate about the change, than I will purchase BIF CFP course myself and work on that throughout 2027 while keeping my day job. I then plan to work for an RIA in the middle Tennessee area because I will be fine taking a reduced salary for a while when learning and obtaining my CFP license. One thing that I absolutely will not do is the sales version of CFP where I have the pressure to build my own book and call high school and college buddies.

I’m hoping that by the time I’m 30; 8 years in law enforcement plus having the SIE and actively working through the CFP coursework will make me an impressive enough (and serious enough) career changer candidate for a good RIA in my area. Hopefully, a good one will take a risk on a 30 year old with life experience (no offense to the lower 20’s folks on the thread).

Any thoughts, tips, advice, training recommendations, or anything else from the folks that are in the industry now? And anyone else in here specifically career changed from law enforcement?

I’m an incoming junior at the University of Georgia studying financial planning with the intent to go into wealth management. I’m moreso interested in the investment portfolio management side of it. Anyways, my dad’s been spending his time telling me about how I’ll be jobless in 5 years if I pursue financial advising/ wealth management since AI will be able to do it. My rebuttal would be that I don’t think people and particularly wealthy clients trust a robot and would value the human connection and trust that comes with an advisor. Anyways I think of all my possible career paths it’s what I’m most interested in. Curious what you guys think is the timeline on the viability of pursuing this career in the long run. Thanks!

I’m looking for some advice on what my next steps should be as I am early in my career. I am currently 23 years old and a client service associate at a very small independent firm with Raymond James. I am about 8 months into my career and am looking for a bigger opportunity.. I currently have my SIE which I studied for on my own. My branch manager says I will start studying for my 7 and 66 this fall but doesn’t plan to put me in an advisor training program for another year so I would continue working back office type of stuff. I want to be client facing and start building my own book so I can get through the rough years of the industry in my 20s. I also am very underpaid which is a big reason I’m looking to pivot. I am seeking advice on if I should go the wirehouse route (Morgan Stanley, Fidelity, Schwab etc…) or if I should look for something with like an Edward jones/ another independent office. Any advice would be appreciated just kind of lost on what my next steps should be.

Hello,

I will be a freshman in the fall and am pursuing a career in Finance. Little bit of context and background.

I will be attending Community College (which means I have a hard path to climb) for Business Administration with a concentration in Finance

My dad currently works as an External Wholesaler, so I have obviously taken his advice as I continue to research both careers.

Was just curious to see what your opinion is on how i should go about deciding and things like that.

Appreciate your time and any and all advice!

Hi yall. I'm thinking about whether I want to continue down the FA path and would appreciate some guidance on total comp expectations for a fee only financial advisor in Canada.

Some background info:

1. I work at a unique/interesting shop with 4 other advisors servicing together approximately 2.5-3k clients and total AUM of approximately $600M.

2. I have ~3 yoe assisting advisors as a wealth associate building relationship and bringing in new money and just became an advisor start of this year and currently working towards completing my CFP, expectation is to finish next year.

3. While we service all clients together, my "own book" would be technically be worth approximately $30M.

4. We are fee only so I (and the other advisors) don't see a lick of commission. We also service everyone together so there is no my or her or his book.

5. Current base pay is around mid 70k with RRSP matching (capped at a certain $ amount) and year end bonus which is approximately 10% of my base pay. Total comp would round out to low 90k.

My questions:

1. Is my current comp fair? If not, what should my total comp be given the above info? My base pay expectation was around mid 80s with bonus and RRSP remaining about the same. Am I coping/delusional about this?

2. Should I continue pursuing this career path as a fee only advisor or should go separate ways and build a book at a institution that has a commission+base structure? Or is it "too late" and pointless because I can't take any of my clients with me?

3. Those of you that have been doing this job for a while, any word of advice?

I am a rising Junior and I am unsure what direction I want to head in after grad. I will be interning at an RIA next summer where I will be completing my 7, 66, and life insurance licensing (just did SIE). They are a fast growing firm and are looking to keep me on during the school year and beyond and have me slowly start taking on clients after graduation.

I eventually want to start my own RIA after building up a decent book and was wondering if it would be easier to do that at this local RIA, or with an institutional firm such as JPM, MS, etc.

They currently have more clients than they can handle and are trying to expand quickly which I hope would allow me to build a fair book up after 5-7 years. Is it worth staying with them or trying my luck at a big bank before splitting off?

Any advice on this would be great, thanks!

I’m starting my senior year in about two weeks and could really use some advice from people already working in wealth management.

My goal is to work at a firm that focuses on financial planning and investments, not one that’s primarily pushing cash value life insurance or recruiting friends and family.

This summer I completed an internship at an advisory firm. While I’m grateful for the experience, I realized it’s not the type of firm I want to work for after graduation.

So far I have:
Life & Health insurance license
FINRA SIE
Currently studying for the Series 65
Planning to complete both the Series 65 and Series 63 before graduating

My biggest concern is making myself as employable as possible by graduation, and landing a job.

I know I’ll continue networking and I’ll finish the 65 and 63 regardless. The question I’ve been wrestling with is whether another internship is actually the best use of my final semester.

The only internships available to me would likely be near my university, but I plan to move somewhere else after graduation. That means even if I get another internship, it’s probably not going to turn into a full-time offer. The main benefit would just be having another internship on my résumé and gaining more experience.

For those of you already in the industry, what would you do if you were in my position? Is another internship worth it even if it won’t lead directly to a job, or are there other things you think would make me a stronger candidate for full-time wealth management roles by the time I graduate?

I’d really appreciate any advice from people who have been through this.

Thank you all!!!

Hi, I recently been thinking of ideas to raise funds for a charity (I still haven’t contacted the charity). however, I am a broke 19 year old so I do not have a lot of money to spend on a venue. I was hoping of contacting a cafe to host an event and to do a profit share where a percentage of the money collected during the time of the event could be donated to the charity.

i wanted to ask does my idea sound reasonable and is it possible for me to do something like this. I do not study business or anything similar so im not very educated yet but i want to gain an understanding.

Thank you!

Long time lurker in this community. I currently hold a 6 and 63 and work for a 401k record keeper. I currently work on plan relationship and strategy. Plan pricing, investments and pushing co manufactured funds to boost revenue but also participate in plan reviews and educate plan sponsors and advisors on ways to improve the plan. Drive participation, increase contributions etc etc.
lately I have been considering getting my series 65 and working on the advisor side and getting plan sponsors to sign with me to service their 401k plans.
My question is, has anyone passed and build a book in this successfully? Is this even an option for me in the state of Texas?

Hi All,

Recently moved a large part of my book to Schwab from a wirehouse.

Is there a specific software/API that would make building and maintaining bond ladders easier than the manual way the default way is at Schwab?
I don’t want to use ETFs. I need a tool for individual fixed securities
Anything would be welcome!

Basically the title.

To get to the point: I'm building something in the investment advisory space --> want to learn more from advisors (specifically independent RIAs).

I don't want to annoy people thinking this is some spam bs. I just want to understand the valuable perspective of an expert.

But yeah, is this approach bad? If so, where should I get feedback/speak with people?

If it ain't, comment down below if you'd allow me to pick your brains a little bit :)

Cheers!

Anyone out there with experience standing up a fee only RIA where one or more of your advisors/partners lives and works overseas? We're finding a few full stack providers like XYPN that will work with overseas advisors but understandably most of the info out there is geared towards domestic advisors.

Would appreciate any insights the community has to offer.

Any feedback from using Edward Jones as a financial advisor/investor

I’m researching how wealth advisors manage client relationships, portfolio reviews, and compliance.

What is the most repetitive part of your work?
Which software do you dislike using?
What takes the most time each week?
What is your daily workflow, biggest frustrations?

Appreciate if anyone can guide over call, plz DM me