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As a financial planner you are not just working with numbers but also with people. Some may remain your clients for many years.
You will learn about your clients’ hopes and goals and create strategies to help them achieve those goals by:
- Providing a holistic approach to financial planning
- Having an extensive knowledge of financial markets
- Understanding trends and identifying potential risks
- Taking a global outlook
Professional financial planners use a six-step process to help a client work out where they are now, what they may need in the future and what they must do to reach their goals.
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Gathering your client’s financial data, including details on income, debt levels, financial commitment and so forth. |
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| Step two |
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Identifying your client’s goals. These may include buying a house, funding education, travel, etc. |
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| Step three |
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Identifying any financial issues |
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| Step four |
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Preparing a financial plan that identifies recommended investments and pays heed to the client’s attitude to risk |
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| Step five |
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Implementing the financial plan |
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| Step six |
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Reviewing and revising the plan to ensure it stays up-to-date and relevant to the economic climate and the client’s changing lifestyle. |
Specific services a financial planner provides
A financial planner can offer overall wealth-creating and wealth-protecting advice and assistance across all financial markets, or specialise in areas such as:
- Retirement planning
- Superannuation
- Estate planning
- Small business financial management and planning
- Trusts
- Taxation
- Investing on the share market
- Debt and risk management
- Core, life and general insurance
- Managed investments, securities and future markets
Income expectations
In Australia, income levels range depending on qualifications, experience and regional variation from approximately $55,000 to over $100,000*
Financial planners earn income in a variety of ways:
- Fees charged on an hourly rate, a flat rate per plan, a percentage of the value of the client’s assets and/or income, or a combination of these methods
- Commissions from investment or insurance companies for insurance products sold as the financial plan is implemented
- A combination of fees and commissions
- Salary for those employed by financial organisations or other institutions.
*Source: Financial Recruitment Group (FRG) survey conducted for Money Management (2007)
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