Certified Financial Planner

starshard0 · Post by **starshard0** » Sun Jan 16, 2011 4:36 pm

I think I've discovered my sort of "dream job". I would like to provide low-cost financial planning services to college students and middle and working class families.
I figure that this combines two things I like, money and helping people, and it's something that I could do as much of or as little as I like.
Does anyone have any experience with the world of professional financial planning?

Robert Muir · Post by **Robert Muir** » Sun Jan 16, 2011 7:24 pm

The challenge would be finding "college students and middle and working class families" willing to spend money on those services.

KevinW · Post by **KevinW** » Sun Jan 16, 2011 8:26 pm

What Robert said, there's a catch-22 where the people who need financial advice most desperately tend to be the least willing to go out and get it.
Secondly "low cost" implies that you'll need high volume which means a lot of work at marketing and sales.
My $.02: this is a great volunteer or semi-volunteer activity but it's hard to make a living at it. You might consider being a professional planner on your way to ERE, but realistically you'd probably mostly work for wealthy and older individuals.
Finally, by participating in this forum you are providing low-cost financial planning advice to "college students and middle and working class families."

Post by **jacob** » Sun Jan 16, 2011 8:55 pm

It seems somewhat to be in the same league as "certified personal trainer". Hence, there are two kinds... I'm just going to use the fitness world terms; the parallels should be obvious
1) Your main function is to provide motivation and lead slackers through simple exercises which they could do on their own but probably wouldn't do if they didn't pay you to tell them to do it. The technical part is easy enough that anyone can figure it out for themselves if they wanted to. So the question is: Do you like motivating people?
2) You're one of those hardcore "by invitation only" guys who charges exorbitant amounts for your weekend seminars. Your main focus is to select people at the front door and only let the hardcore in. That way you can claim that you're making hardcore people. Granted, you may actually know something that people can't just pick up from a book or some other guy, but this is usually just a question of time. So the question is: Can you remain continuously innovative in a limited field?
Come to think of it ... this is also the difference between an expensive private university and the local community college.
You can look at ERE as a case study in unCertified financial planning. ERE is innovative (not exactly new, more like a rediscovery presented in contemporary terms), but personally I don't feel like going out and "inventing" a new system and besides it would get highly confusing if I started a second dog and pony show on how to become rich, say. What I'm mostly doing now is to motivate and I don't enjoy that.

HSpencer · Post by **HSpencer** » Sun Jan 16, 2011 9:34 pm

@Jacob
As it has begun already, I suspect a term called "un-voluntary simplicity" will emerge somewhere. Clueless people will seek something or someone to tell them why their financial life has absolutely dissolved into little or nothing.

Unfortunately, as long as the US is solvent, the government programs will pick them up.
ummmm I guess it would be "involuntary simplicity". That's probably why I got the red error on my spelling.

Mo · Post by Mo » Mon Jan 17, 2011 12:51 am

My office manager offers free financial planning advice at her church. She tells me that it can be very challenging due to the combination of intractable situations and unrealistic expectations.

starshard0 · Post by **starshard0** » Mon Jan 17, 2011 5:27 am

@KevinW I was actually thinking that it would make a great semi-volunteer activity post-ERE. Just to supplement my income a little. I agree that it would be tough to make a living doing only that.