The career of a financial planner can be a little mysterious. There tends to be very little information about what this particular career has to offer when it comes to job growth, flexibility, earning potential, and job satisfaction. For organizations like The Advisor Center which works to increase awareness of the financial planning and advising industry, the lack of awareness is one of the main reasons that many young people in America’s colleges and universities have shown relatively low interest in pursuing a career as a planner.
According to Theresa Gralinski, marketing director for The Advisor Center, financial planning has become the “unknown profession” although a growing number of investors in the United States are going to require financial advisers and planners in the years to come.
Part of the problem, according to Gralinski, is that the current community of financial planners in America is somewhat advanced in age and sometimes has trouble relating to the younger investors that continue to seek their services. A recent survey found that no more than 5 percent of America’s financial planners are under the age of 30. Conversely, 43 percent are over the age of 55 with the average age being 51 years old.
While the more seasoned planners by and large still have several years left before they retire, most have already started to develop a succession plan.
Many investors both young and old take that to mean that the minds of these older advisers are not fully invested in their financial interests. Therefore the industry as a whole is in need of planners who are not necessarily young but who are able to understand the needs of young investors. And according to Gralinski, there is a plethora of information about the benefits of pursuing a career in financial planning but that information is not being shared readily enough.
The goal of The Advisor Center, she says, is to reverse that trend.