One of the few positive effects of the impending explosion of the retirement rolls as 77 million “Baby Boomers” approach the age of 65 can be found in the outlook for employment of Personal Financial Advisors. Few ‘Boomers’ have made adequate plans to extend their lifestyles beyond their working years and are in desperate need of the assistance of Personal Financial Advisors.
This is excellent news for anyone seeking a lucrative new career opportunity.
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2008-2009 Employment Outlook, reports that “Personal Financial Advisors are projected to grow by 41%, which is much faster than average for all occupations”.
The Baby Boomer, a creature with the life expectancy of a Galapagos sea turtle but with less than two years of income saved in a qualified retirement plan, is in urgent need of solutions to his or her retirement quandary.
Independent Financial Advisors consult with individuals or families who are in need of various financial products and services to meet their long term and short term financial goals. Independent Financial Advisors are not tethered to or employed by a specific company, but can offer a range of products and services from a variety of providers.
For the ‘cold war generation’, the rules of the game have changed. It’s no longer about asset accumulation. We have run out of time to build significant assets and need a strategy that addresses the three quadrants of our personal balance sheet which have, up to this point, gone largely ignored.
Income: For this generation, it’s not how much we have that matters. What matters is how much sustainable lifetime income we can get from what we have. Independent Financial Advisors have access to newly developed financial products that enable us to grow our retirement income bucket with a high rate of return, and then, guarantee annual income distributions for life, regardless of how long we live.
Expenses: We need to start saving as much as possible, as quickly as possible. Independent Financial Advisors can assist us in getting control of our monthly expenses and enable us to save much more money for our retirement.
Liabilities: We know that the ‘UFO’ generation is up to its’ pointy ears in debt. We can’t afford to carry this debt into retirement. An advisor can recommend new and innovative equity based strategies that will enable us to get completely out of debt, including our mortgage, before we retire.
If you’re considering tapping into this emerging career opportunity, here are two valuable tips to help you get started.
1. Avoid involvement with any kind of securities products as a new advisor. You would need to become a “registered representative” under the guidance and control of the NASD and the SEC. Your clients may not need these risk based products and you don’t need all of the regulatory compliance headaches that come with this title.
2. You’ve got to plug into an independent marketing organization’s system. If you think you can do it your way, you’ll have enormous difficulty starting and maintaining a successful practice.
Independent Marketing Organizations, in exchange for commission overrides, provide turn-key systems including advisor training, product training, product access, provider contracts, assistance with licensing, marketing, lead generation, and regulatory compliance.
In any business model it’s all about positioning. If there is a problem and a solution to that problem, by positioning yourself between the two, you become valuable. The bigger the problem and the easier the solution, the more successful you will be.
There is an enormous need for new personal financial advisors to lead this generation down the path of financial freedom. Those that come forward will discover a career that offers a great deal of personal satisfaction as well as significant income potential.