Before I started my program what I envisioned was to become a Financial planner working from home helping normal families plan their family finances. I don’t want to make commission on products and saw myself as “fee for service.”

Now that I am in the program, while I LOVE LOVE LOVE the classes I have discovered it’s not so easy. I have been told I will need to work under another financial planner for three years before I can work on my own.

Is this true?

Can you recommend a path for me that will enable me to do what I want from home? I currently work as a Virtual Assistant at home and love it, I simply saw this as another avenue to work from home doing something I love, and a much tighter niche.

Advice?

Although your career is not finance oriented, at least you are working with people. Helping people find solutions is what I do. Starting off though, many of my clients were very responsive to me being a finance major. Being enrolled in the financial planning courses is definitely a good start.

Working for a big firm will definitely get you good experience, but just don’t think it will be easy to walk away. Most firms will require you to sign a contract and if you decide to walk away. will go after you to recoup training costs. Figure anywhere from $50-$100k that you will be expected to payback. Luckily, I had been with the firm 5 years, which satisfied my contract period.

You could also consider an independent RIA (Registered Investment Advisor). They are growing everyday as wirehouse advisors are jumping ship. Try to get an internship, even if unpaid. That will get you a lot of the experience you might be seeking without having to be locked down for a specific period.

@Jeff
First of all, thanks for the awesome information in the interview. Do you think my Help Desk job is something that would actually help me in my job search after graduating college or should I look for something more finance-related? After graduation, would I want to look for a position with a large firm so I can learn what I like/dislike and can go from there? I know larger firms push certain investments and have quotas for consultants to reach. That’s why I’d like to end up being part of a smaller firm eventually.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Sorry for the technicalities. As part of the exam and one of the requirements of the Financial Planning board is to utilize the correct trademark and copyright designations. So in essence, I’m letting the financial planning board ,who allow me to use the proper credentials, do the talking.

Apparently, you’ve never seen Office Space. Have you ever had a run in with a copier that’s on the frits? It’s not a pretty sight my friend. Don’t even let me begin with the paper cut incidents. Or the time we ran out of regular coffee. The natives were mighty restless that day…..

The reality is that all compensation methods have their flaws. Even a pay-for-performance model with an advisor who co-invests has flaws (I referred to this above as the private equity/hedge fund model). In this case the Manager is heavily motivated to make riskier bets to reach a loftier payout but the Investor bears a disproportionate share of risk.

No “good” system has been found yet so we’ve been forced to live with the best alternatives until a better system is discovered.

I agree that there’s always the possibility of a fee-only adviser neglecting you after the fee’s paid, but I believe they have certain ethical guidelines too, if they’re part of an organization (name I can’t remember right now, Jeff?). That doesn’t mean commissions are any better of a model, in fact they probably provide greater ethical quandaries for honest people trying to make a living.

Think about motivation that is solely compensation driven. If you get paid up front, what incentive do you have to perform well? Accountants and many other professionals are engaged to perform specific services which are in conformance with rules backed by a governing body (e.g. the AICPA has strict rules regarding what constitutes a proper audit). These rules ensure that there is limited ambiguity on what constitutes a job well done.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t work this way for financial advisors. Frankly, I’m not sure how it could work this way (except in cases of criminal or grossly negligent behavior). So, the best alternatives are commissions and pay-for-performance (the private equity/hedge fund model). But both of these have their drawbacks.

Any suggestions to improving the system would be very beneficial to the financial services industry as this has been a very hot topic lately.