Financial Consultant Career - Essay Example

Financial Consultant Career Financial Consultant Career At a point in life, everyone wants to be part of something. In my opinion, a career choice should be driven by your passion. My career choice is to become a financial consultant. I have always had a passion and admired to be one. A Financial consultants’ role is to give clients advice on financial matters. Financial advisers are sometimes referred to as financial planners or wealth managers (Charles, 2012). This includes giving recommendations on ways to utilize their money. To be able to advise clients, financial advisors are obligated to research the current trends in the market, products and services available. They should be aware of the decisions that best meets their clients needs. Consultants may specialize in particular products, depending on their clients. For instance, selling employee pension schemes to companies, giving mortgage, giving investment advice or pensions to clients. Other financial consultants are just general. They offer advice to their clients in all areas. In order to give financial advice, consultants need to have professional qualifications and follow strict financial industry rules. According to Brigitte (2009), there are two types of financial advice and advisers: independent and restricted. Independent adviser or independent financial advisers (IFA) research and consider retail investment products or suppliers available to meet their clients needs. They have to provide their clients with unbiased and unrestricted advice. Restricted advisers give restricted advice. This means that they focus on a limited range of products or products from one or limited number of suppliers. All advisers have to consult their clients before giving them advice, whether independent or restricted advice. The duties of a consultant typically involve: Contacting clients and setting up meetings, either in the office, clients’ homes or business premises. Conducting thorough reviews of their clients’ financial circumstances and future aims. Analysing information and preparing a plan best for their clients requirements. Doing risk analyses. Researching the market and advice the clients accordingly. Designing financial strategies. Helping clients make informed decisions. Reviewing and reacting to clients’ changing needs and financial circumstances. Negotiating with suppliers on behalf of the clients for favourable rates. Producing financial reports. Contacting clients with helpful information that might affect their investments and wealth. The short description above is part of what I will be willing to part of as a financial consultant. Personally, I have always wanted involve myself in financial investments. They have caught my attention for as long as I can remember. There are ways in being involved in the investment industry. One way is to be an investor. Then I would have to hire my own adviser. Secondly, I can be the adviser instead. I prefer the latter. Why? That is because I find it more interesting than just hiring someone else to tell me what is best. I aspire to be the one who tells what is best. As stated in the obligations of a financial adviser, one has to go out there and do the research on the market. As I am out there, I like to think that I am more part of what is going on. I want to be somebody who does the research and whose judgement is trusted by their clients. There is a sense and feeling of gratification that comes with the job. The thought of I helping people with their investments and relying on my advice makes me feel good about myself. Part of the work that I find interesting is the mobility. I do not always have to work behind a desk. Financial consulting involves a personal attachment and convincing. I do not think that one can do convincing when sitting behind a desk all day. I can visit the clients at their homes and even take them out to lunches to discuss business. Additionally I can work from home if I want to. This means in the consulting business and people often end up involving a part of their personal lives, and I like it. On the other hand, part of why I prefer the career path is because the financial industry is growing fast (Fox, 2009). The financial industry is part of every modern day citizen. This means that opportunities are high for me. I will have the prospect and opportunity to explore my career and continue doing what I like. Jackson, (2010) postulates that there are limitless opportunities for professional development that comes with financial careers. I also like the thought of self-employment in financial consulting. A financial consultant does not have to be hired by a company. I can set up my own services back at home or anywhere I want. All I have to do is make a name for myself and earn the trust of potential clients. Despite my passion for a career, there are aspects that pose a challenge that I do not like. For instance, the demand for financial consultants and analysts depends on the nature of the stock market. Since financial advisers deal mostly with trade, when the stock is in jeopardy, so is their employment. At the same time, world markets are permeating all over the media. As a result, the financial advisers have to navigate the randomly changing markets in order to adjust. Additionally, they have to try to maintain strong ties with their clients and retain their trust (Rachel, 2013). I do not like the negative effect the media evolution has had on the relationship with the consultants and their clients. The internet and media bombards the consumers with information. Some of the information is not correct or sometimes inaccurate. This made todays investors different from the ones 10 years ago. They have gained a new perception towards advisors. Citizens have even lined up at Wall Street protesting. This has given the career a bad name and receives bad attitude from the public. As I mentioned before, becoming a financial consultant involves personality. I have not chosen this career path unaware of my potential. My personality makes me confident that I will be a successful and professional financial consultant. My passion for the career makes me proactive. I can always keep the lines of communication open, updating my clients on current issues and opportunities. I am good at simplifications and can make complexities understandable. I am a patient person which will make me worthy of my clients time. I always want to have a good reputation. Therefore, I do what I need to do to earn the trust, which means being honest to my client. I also always find myself composed, that is, I do not panic in difficult conditions. Like I said, I am patient. I always take time to evaluate situations. If I take this trait with me all the way in my career, I know it will always come in handy. A good financial consultant does not always go for the latest popular stock pick with a sense of urgency (Linda, 2013). He or she needs patients in order to favour their clients in terms of long term growth. This quality will also help me understand my clients’ situation in terms of their financial status. A good financial consultant should always have a holistic view of their clients financial circumstances. This includes investigating the clients banking, investment, insurance and credit needs. Additionally, I will have to understand the clients spending habits, life goals and even debt obligations. By understanding these aspects, I will be able to formulate a strategy for my client. I take myself as a charismatic person, which means, I can earn my clients trust. I am good at invoking trust from the people around me. I am good at making people calm and less afraid when in situations that prove challenging. My ambition to become a good and well reputed financial consultant will drive me to explore more. I want to always learn more. If I hold on to this, I will be good at what I do. It will make me a professional and ethical financial planner. A good reputation comes with a good team behind you for support. This, according to Peters (2013), is important for success for anyone in any career path. I am a good team player and fully capable of the necessary cooperation that my line of work needs. A good team player is of course a good planner. Part of being a team player implies that I have to include the client, as part of the group. I believe in working with the client rather than work for them. I stand for giving the client the necessary attention, which is part of being professional. I always observe punctuality in whatever I do. To work with clients, I will need to meet with the client regularly and sending necessary documents. This means attending meetings on time and finishing up my work on time. Naturally, I am always ahead of things. I do not bulge into a situation without knowledge of what I am putting myself into. I have a strategy in place before handling a big situation. With this quality, I can replicate the same for my client. The client is always looking up to you like ‘the one who knows best, therefore, you I will be a vanguard when it comes to assess financial situations. By analysing what I am about to do for the client, I should not, in any circumstances, jeopardize their financial status. As a professional, I always put the person I am serving first. Professional consultants formulate a plan for the sole purpose of their clients’ success. As a consultant, I should not push products on the client simply to meet quota or get a commission. I am a persuasive person when I need to be. This quality helps me when I have to convince clients in making decisions I think is best for them. Additionally, I need to convince suppliers on behalf of my clients for best rates. I am flexible. Flexibility has to be every consultant’s quality since clients have to make their own decisions. We have to give them room think and make their own decisions. However, I have to be firm on my own decisions when I need to be. It is up to me to balance both. Despite my capability to do what I like to do, I have weaknesses. Weaknesses are part of me, and I do not consent them to get in my way. For instance, keeping time has not been my strongest point. Sometimes I would get too consumed into something and lose track of time. Although I have never missed a deadline, sometimes I would wait till the last minute to rush things. Sometimes I would spend more time on something than I needed to, which I could have delegated somewhere else. However, I have come up with ways to handle my weakness. Setting up a schedule is a simple answer to dealing with it. After learning to set my priorities, I have learnt to finish up things in good time. I do not rush at the last minute anymore when I have a good time management plan. At this point, despite the challenges I am bound to face in this career path, I still hold my stand in perusing it. Every choice comes with its consequences, and I am ready for them. Being a financial consultant has been a fantasy for me for a long time. So far, I have not imagined myself anywhere else. The reason I am buoyant of this is because I have the passion and ambition to be a financial consultant. These are the basic needs one needs to go after whatever they want. After thinking about my personality and my desires, I believe I will be good at what I do. There are necessary steps that I need to take to accomplish this career. Frist of all, I have to study hard and smart. I have to achieve the best I can to my academic work. Secondly, I need to gain the necessary experience in the field. I cannot learn all my skills by relying on my classwork. To earn the experience, I need to apply for internship programs in financial consulting companies. The third step is to involve myself in a lot of research. Financial trends are constantly changing. To be a good consultant, I need to be up to speed with current market status. My research should also involve the best ways to carry out consultancy work Sometimes plans may not work out. Of course, I have a secondary preference. In case my pursuit for financial consulting does not consummate, I would go for a risk management career. I prefer this because it is still in my line of preference, which is a financial career. The role of a risk manager is projecting any market trends. They come up with strategies which are bound to favour the company to avoid any loss (Miller, 2004). A risk manager still seems an interesting field for me, and if my consulting career, this is what comes to mind. References Rachel, F.E. (2013). Financial Advisors challenges. Retrieved from http://www.financial-planning.com/news/pershing-mark-tibergien-3-biggest-challenges-for-advisors-2685241-1.html [accessed 2041 16th Mar. 2014] Linda, R., (2013). Personality traits for a good financial advisor. Retrieved from http://work.chron.com/careers/ [accessed 2049 15th mar 2014] Charles, A., (2012). Becoming a financial consultant. European Journal of Business and Management. 13(7). P. 123-124 Peters, C., (2013). Challenges in financial careers. Journal of Economics and Sustainable Development. 19(4). P 12-15 Miller, S., (2004). Career Counsellor: Financial Planning. Retrieved from www.latimes.com/classified/jobs/Counselor [Accessed 1345 15th Mar. 2014] Jackson, F., (2010). The stock market dynamics. Journal of Financial Economics. 13(4). p. 45-49 Fox, D., (2009). Financial Consultants. The Wall Street Journal. 23(12). P 34 Brigitte, Y., (2009). Competitive Financial careers. Journal of Financial Economics. 12(9). Kane, A., (2013). Essentials of Investments, 9th Edition. New York: McGraw-Hill/Irwin Read More