Financial Planner
Financial planners determine how their clients can meet lifelong financial goals through management of resources. They examine the financial history-past and current-of their client's assets and suggest exactly what steps the client needs to take in the future to meet her goals. Although other professional financial advisors usually focus on one area of a client's financial life, the broad-based approach to financial advice that financial planners offer distinguishes them from the rest of the profession. In this sense, financial planners are jacks of all trades, but they do not work alone. Financial planners will inevitably meet with their client's other advisors-attorneys, accountants, trust officers, investment bankers-in order to fully understand their client's financial goals. The last thing a financial planner wants to do is map out a plan that conflicts with investments that their client has already made with their bankers. It is a research-heavy profession, as well as a stressful one: You are suggesting how to use other people's money, which can make those people touchy. It is a very corporate profession as well, and you will be expected to look and play the part. Although many financial planners are asked to devise comprehensive plans for their clients, some people hire planners to handle a specific interest and financial goal, such as planning for retirement, buying a home, or investing an inheritance. A financial planner will conduct questionnaires and personal interviews to put together a client profile detailing financial objectives, current income, investments, risk tolerance, expenses, tax returns, insurance coverage, retirement programs, estate plans, and other pertinent information to put together a plan that meets the client's overall, or specific, financial agenda. The plan itself is a set of recommendations and strategies for the client to use, or to ignore, and financial planners should be ready to answer hard questions about the integrity of the plan they map out. Because of this, financial planners must constantly be updating their plan and watching the all-important market for trends that will affect the plan they have offered. According to the Institute of Certified Financial Planners, planners spend the majority of their time, in descending order, advising clients on the following: investment planning, retirement planning, tax planning, estate planning, and risk management. All of these areas require different types of financial knowledge and planners are generally expected to be extremely competent in the disciplines of asset management, employee benefits, estate planning, insurance, investments, and retirement. On top of all of this required knowledge, a financial planner must also have good interpersonal skills since establishing a client-planner relationship is essential to a planner's professional success. It also helps the planner to be a great presenter since even the best financial plan, if presented poorly to a client, can destroy the client's trust.