A financial planning assistant primarily assists more senior financial planners with research, drafting, and rote tasks. A financial planning assistant is, in almost all cases, a junior associate in a planning firm. The position is that of an entry-level consultant: assistants often have the training but not the experience to be full-fledged planners in their own right. Young professionals learn the ins and outs of investment strategy as assistants, as well as how to take on and manage their own clients.
Although the term “financial planning” has many meanings, in the context of a job, it usually refers to professional money management and investment counseling services. Financial planners serve as advisors, assisting individuals and businesses in making sound financial decisions. Some people are more concerned with investments, while others are more concerned with basic budgeting and money-saving strategies. Professionals require extensive training in all cases. Assistant jobs are frequently planners’ first jobs after graduation.
Different planning firms have different hiring programs, but there are typically two types of financial planning assistant jobs: those who work in teams, often collecting data for multiple projects at the same time, and those who work directly for more senior planners, often in a mentorship or direct training relationship. The responsibilities of a financial planning assistant are the same in both cases. Assistants learn the trade and are familiar with the company’s policies and procedures.
A large part of the job of a financial planning assistant is observation. The assistant is usually tasked with assisting other more senior planners, as the title suggests. This usually entails going over client files, researching various options, and gathering data on various planning strategies. Assistants usually accompany clients to meetings, but they rarely have their own clients. Their primary responsibility is to learn the intricacies of a specific type of financial planning.
Despite the fact that assistants are typically considered junior-level employees, they must be fully qualified in terms of education in order to be promoted to independent planner. A bachelor’s degree in finance or accounting is almost always required. It’s also beneficial if you have an interest in or experience with a firm’s main planning areas.
The assistant position allows new graduates to hone their skills and carve out a niche for themselves. Even with specialized education, financial planning is a broad discipline that can be difficult to break into. Rules, protocol, and conventions differ greatly from one jurisdiction to the next, and even within a jurisdiction, from discipline to discipline. Planning strategies for a company are different than those for a family, for instance, just as small businesses have different planning needs than charity groups. Many planners accept assistantships as a means of furthering their education in a particular field.