5 Myths about being a Financial Advisor
The career of a Financial Advisor, like many other professions, is plagued by many misconceptions. In this blog, we’ll run through 5 of these myths and see if there’s any gravity to the statements.
Myth #1 “You can do it all yourself without any support“
Although technically you can, many will massively struggle with juggling all the responsibilities single handedly. Only a small portion of experienced Financial Advisors under unique circumstances can operate effectively in this way. Undertaking all aspects such as admin, paraplanning, marketing, sales AND the actual financial planning advice on top of this could limit your business potential. This could lead to you struggling to manage your own diary, meaning that one (or more) of these responsibilities will slip, bringing the whole business down! The reality is that many Financial Advisors couldn’t run their practice or effectively work within a company without any support.
Myth #2 “Financial Advisors only think about themselves“
One point that may put people off becoming a Financial Advisor is that people have the view that they are out for themselves, when this simply isn’t the case. If Financial Advisors only looked out for themselves and a client caught on, the likelihood of them continuing to run a profitable firm or continuing employment is significantly reduced. As a Financial Advisor, you will not get anywhere looking out for yourself especially when you have a back office team around you. This is because top support staff will always focus on doing their job correctly which means doing right by the client and therefore right by you!
Myth #3 “There is no job security being self-employed“
This is a really common topic that we hear at Premier Jobs UK and one that we often have to disprove, so much so that we have written an entire blog about employed or self-employed. Our main point when speaking on this is that when you are self-employed you are in control of your own job security because ultimately your income comes from your output. Granted, this can not always be in your control with things like the economy and the landscape but on the whole, you will get out what you put in. In an equal amount, you are constantly at risk in an employed position to involuntary redundancy, job loss or personal circumstances forcing you out of employment.
Myth #4 “Sales skills are not important as a Financial Advisor”
As a Financial Advisor, not everyone will know or understand the service you are providing. Whilst educating new and existing clients is a fundamental part of financial planning, in order to grow your client portfolio you will need to promote your services and importantly, the benefits of financial planning. You can do this yourself by advertising your services which will be a theme of one of our other upcoming blogs or you can invest in a specialist sales / marketing tool to help your growth, this could be through a software or through hiring a marketing specialist.
Myth #5 “Once I’m qualified, I don’t have to learn anything else”
Whilst it is true that the diploma does not expire, your knowledge can and will! It would be unwise to stop learning after you achieve your diploma due to the ever-changing Financial Services landscape which is constantly changing with new regulations and customer expectations. Part of your duties as a Financial Advisor is to consistently undertake continuing professional development (CPD) to keep your knowledge current and ensure that you are providing the most accurate and up to date information for clients so that they receive the highest level of service.
Conclusion
To conclude, the career of a Financial Advisor has many misconceptions by industry hopefuls, clients and even industry veterans! If you enjoyed this blog, please let us know so that we can revisit this topic with more misconceptions.
Looking for your next Financial Advisor role? Check out our dedicated page for Financial Advisor jobs which contains our latest Financial Advisors jobs and content. Alternatively get in touch with us:
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