What can I earn as a Financial Advisor?
While the latest statistics are the median salary is $116,648* per year the top advisors earn in excess of $500,000 per year**
*Salary.com 2/27/2023
**Michael Kitces Nerd’s Eye View Blog – Financial Advisor Compensation Trends
“How long does it take to complete the course?”
The course is self-paced and you can complete it on a schedule that works for you. Our students who work full-time, generally complete the program in 14-20 weeks. For those who have a demanding work and family schedule, they generally take 20-26 weeks. You have an entire year to complete the program but that never happens.
“How is the course delivered?”
The program is delivered in an asynchronous, virtual environment - online. We use Canvas as our learning management system. If you have ever taken a college course online or if you have helped your kids with homework online, then you have likely either used Canvas or Blackboard. We get great feedback from our students about their experience with Canvas. They tell us that it’s easy to use and very intuitive.
“What human interaction is there in the course?”
You will be assigned a cohort partner during the first week of class. You will complete 6 Business Development projects with your cohort partner. We also highly recommend that you have a weekly one on one with your instructor. In addition, you can always grab one-off time with your instructor.
What if I don’t want to work on commissions?
You may be very interested in helping others, and having a career with flexibility and unlimited earning potential, but working on commission is out of the question.
There is a common misconception that all Financial Advisors are compensated solely by commission or revenue share. That simply isn’t true. Financial Advisors who work in a bank environment are paid a very attractive base salary plus a revenue share. Financial Advisors in the direct channel, think Fidelity or Schwab, earn a substantial salary plus an annual bonus. New Financial Advisors in the Wirehouse channel earn a very attractive salary for the first few years before they transition to a revenue share.
“I need to make money now"
I totally get it. The vast majority of our students work, either part-time or full time while completing this course.
“The $50,000 base salary guarantee is less than I am making now.” or “I need to make more than the $50,000 guarantee.”
Understood. As you know, we guarantee that you will receive an offer with a base salary of $50,000 within 90 days of completing the course. Most of our graduates start in the low $70,000 range. Those who start at only $50,000 are generally younger or recent college graduates with little to no business experience. The people who complete our program as older career changers or 2nd career people start at a much higher number because they bring business and life experience to the table.
“Do you offer financing?”
We do. 20% of our students pay cash while 80% finance. For those who pay cash, we offer a 6% discount. We offer 100% guaranteed financing and have several options as well as in-house lending. All of our lending partners do a soft pull of your credit to see if you qualify so your credit score will not be affected. Once your loan funds, the company where you chose to do the financing will do the full credit pull. Our Enrollment Counselors will be able to walk through your options with you on your call, should you be invited to the program.
“What channel do the majority of your students get placed in”
This changes throughout the year based on hiring trends among the 6 distribution channels.
That said, the direct/discount, the bank, and the independent channels are commanding the bulk of placements currently.
“Do I need a college degree?”
Some firms have a policy that requires that you have a college degree. But let’s read between the lines. What is really being said: “In order for us to consider you as a candidate, you either need a college degree, a securities license with an existing book of business OR a securities license and the ability to demonstrate that you can develop business.
That training includes your life and health license as well as your SIE registration, the Series 7, and the Series 66 - we provide the sponsor. Our program also includes an intense business development regimen that demonstrates that you have the ability to develop business.
“How can you guarantee job placement?”
Financial firms are STARVING for new talent. But they aren’t so hungry that they will hire anybody. The only way to get a job in this industry today is to already be licensed and have a book of business OR be licensed and have proof that you can develop a book of business.
During your course, you will be doing work in the Business Development part of the program that includes role-playing some assignments with your cohort partner. Beginning in chapter/week six, we begin to share those videos with our hiring partners. They are literally interviewing you before they meet you. That’s why it’s so important to do an A+ job in the Business Development part of the program. When you are ready to take your Series 7 exam, our partners have had an opportunity to get to know you virtually by watching your work product videos but you will have also interviewed with our partners. Oftentimes, one of our partners that sponsors you for the Series 7 exam also makes you an offer.
The value in our program is not merely getting your life and health license or having the SIE registration or the Series 7 and 66 registrations. Those are merely requirements to even be considered for an interview. The interview will end when the interviewer learns that you don’t have a book of business or when they learn that you have not been through a business development program for Financial Advisors. Since we are the only non-profit in the country with a business development program for inexperienced Financial Advisors, we are the only real choice.
Employers call us regularly and ask us if we have any graduates or soon-to-be graduates in xyz zip code. We don’t have enough students to fill the demand in the marketplace. Firms know that they have an 85% likelihood of making a good hire that will stay for many years when they hire our graduates and that is why we are able to guarantee placement.
“Do hiring firms offer a signing bonus?”
About half of the hiring firms have some sort of a “reimbursement of our course or bonus” arrangement. We are currently seeing that the insurance channel and the independent channel are the most generous with that. We recommend that you make your decision as to where to work based on the totality of the facts, the right fit for you in terms of compensation, culture, location, and channel? We recommend that you sort that out in your weekly 1 on 1 with your instructor so he or she can help you see through all the facts and make an apples-to-apples comparison, so you make the right choice of firms for you. We are agnostic to the firm you choose.
"I can do this on my own for cheaper"
Cheap means less money but it doesn’t mean a better value. If you walk into any independent firm today and want to affiliate with them, you will have to write a check for $3,000- and that does not include the cost of licensing and exams. That’s just to affiliate. Yes, you could take your life, health, and SIE exam on your own. But you cannot be sponsored and take series 7 without an exam sponsor. You also cannot use the corequisite Series 66 without a sponsoring firm.
The value in our program is not merely getting your life and health license or having the SIE registration or the Series 7 and 66 registrations. Those are merely requirements to even be considered for an interview. The interview will end when the interviewer learns that you don’t have a book of business or when they learn that you have not been through a business development program for Financial Advisors. Since we are the only non-profit organization in the country with a business development program for inexperienced Financial Advisors, we are the only real choice.
Lastly, doing it on your own will cost substantially more than taking our program. People who “do it on their own” flounder for 9-18 months after they get licensed and start seeing clients. During that 9-18 months, there is very little to no income coming in. The likelihood of success is only 15%. Let’s say we get you through our program in 4 or 5 months. You will be earning at least $50,000 annually from day 1 with a 100% guarantee. Doing it on your own will cost tens of thousands more than taking our program, let alone the opportunity cost.
“How long has the Financial Advisor Training Institute been doing this”?
The founder of FATI has been in the financial Services Industry for 33 years. The program that we have been delivering at the Financial Advisor Training Institute since 2019 is the exact same program that our founder delivered to thousands of new Financial Advisors over 33 years. Those who have completed this program have had very successful careers and earn well into the seven figures.
"This is too good to be true"
Well, thank you for the compliment. You say too good to be true…I say non-profit.
Some people are of the mindset that “if it sounds too good to be true then it probably is.” I say “if it sounds too good to be true, then I should take advantage of it.” I think what I hear you saying is that “This is a really good value.” You are right, it is a great value.
We were recently contacted by a woman who received an email from us. She was not interested in our program but she purchased the program for her son who is 19 years old and recently out of high school. She felt that in our program was a significantly better value than spending $100,000 for her son's education with absolutely no guarantees. What we are providing is the opportunity and the framework. What you are providing is the work. We don’t give away the job at the end, you have to do the work to earn it.
“The cost is WAY TOO high.”
That’s funny. I just got off the phone with someone who said that this is too good to be true. The cost of a college degree can cost $50,000, $80,000, $100,000+ and take 4 or more years to achieve and there is absolutely no guarantee of a job. We talk to potential students every day who are saddled with college loan debts and are unable to find a job. There are 307 colleges and universities in this country that have a personal financial planning undergraduate degree. We hear from the professors of those programs that their students spent $100,000 to get a degree in personal financial planning and they are unable to get a job as a Financial Advisor because they are unlicensed and either does not have a book of business or they have not been through a business development specifically for Financial Advisors.
The value in our program is not merely getting your life and health license or having the SIE registration or the Series 7 and 66 registrations. Those are merely requirements to even be considered for an interview. The interview will end when the interviewer learns that you don’t have a book of business or when they learn that you have not been through a business development program for Financial Advisors. Since we are the only non-profit organization in the country with a business development program for inexperienced Financial Advisors, we are the only real choice.
Keeping in mind that 85% of the people who come into this industry fail within 4 years when they have not been properly trained. When we were in the process of deciding on the exact right price point for our program, we conducted two study groups. One study group was with 20 people who came into the industry and failed in the first 4 years and they did not go through a business development program for Financial Advisors. The second study group was with 20 people who came into the industry and were one of the 15% who made it past 4 years. These people also did not go through a business development program for Financial Advisors. After showing our program to those 40 people, we asked them to tell us how much they thought the tuition should cost for the value received. The answers among those 40 people came to an average of $40,000. Our cost is a mere fraction of $40,000.
We have talked with some of the 307 colleges and universities in this country that have a personal financial planning undergraduate degree and have an interest in putting our program in their curriculum. They have priced the value of our program at $26,000. Our cost is nowhere near $26,000. The cost only seems high if you don’t compare it to something else.
"When will I have my job package and what to expect during the hiring process?"
We guarantee that you will receive an offer from a premium financial firm, within 90 days of completing the course, with a base salary of at least $50,000 annually-though most of our graduates start in the low $70,000’s. The process of getting hired begins in Chapter 6 of our program where you will take an assessment from Wiley Corporation I spoke about before. The assessment will tell us, you, and hiring firms which of those channels you will have the highest likelihood of success. Once we have an idea of the channel or channels in which we have the highest likelihood of success, we begin to put our attention into looking at that channel. It begins with adding some information in the education/certification section of your resume. We have you add the details of the program with FATI. Then, we have you post your resume on 9 different job sites. You will not be applying for jobs at this point because you are a passive candidate until you pass your Series 7 exam. Both in-house (staff recruiters) and contract recruiters use Artificial Intelligence platforms to search for candidates. While you are a passive candidate, we want those AI platforms to see your name over and over so that when you become an active candidate after passing the Series 7 exam and start actively applying for positions, you will be a known entity. This is the first step in the process.
The second step in the process is where we start making introductions to financial firms with which we have a relationship. During your course, you will be doing work in the Business Development part of the program that includes role-playing some assignments with your cohort partner. Beginning in chapter six, we begin to share those videos with our hiring partners. They are literally interviewing you before they meet you. That’s why it’s so important to do an A+ job in the Business Development part of the program. When you are ready to take your Series 7 exam, our partners have had an opportunity to get to know you virtually by watching your work product videos but you will have also interviewed with our partners. Oftentimes, one of our partners that sponsors you for the Series 7 exam also makes you an offer.
The reality is that our students get a job from the posting activity that they do 50% of the time and we get our students a job with a partner 50% of the time.
Firms know that they have an 85% likelihood of making a good hire that will stay for many years when they hire our graduates and that is why we are able to guarantee placement.
“What If I Can’t Pass The License Exams ?”
We hear this a lot. Last year, we had a 100% first-time pass ratio for all exams. The #1 reason why people don’t pass the exam is that they are only reading the book. We use Kaplan and STC, the industry leaders for exam preparation. We have a custom dashboard with them and we can see exactly where you are in your progress with the exams. That dashboard tells us the exact likelihood of you passing the exam BEFORE we even schedule it. We recommend that you meet with your FATI instructor every week so we can make sure that you are tracking toward a passing score.
We had a student who recently came to us from a firm where he was working and he enrolled in our business development-only course. Just before his class started, we learned that he had taken and failed the Series 65 three times. His boss asked me if I could help. So, along with his business development program, we took on the task of getting him through the Series 65. We learned that he studied for the exam the same way all three times! He read the book and took practice exams. That will NEVER get the job done. The book only contains 65% of the learning material. The rest of the learning material is in the on-demand videos and the practice exams and practice quizzes. The correct way to study for all of the exams is to read two chapters, watch the videos for two chapters, and take practice quizzes for those two chapters. Then repeat that throughout the entire book. Then, take the progressive comprehensive practice exams.
We are here to support each of our students, toward the completion of ALL exams.
“I Have Heard The Term Rev Share, What Exactly Is That?”
In addition to salary and bonuses for hitting specific new client targets, Financial Advisors can also be compensated by commission and revenue share. Commission is when a client purchases or sells a security and there is a commission paid by the client. For example, a client buys $50,000 of ABC stock. The client pays $50,000 plus a commission of say $1,000 (2%). The financial advisor receives from 20% to 90% of that $1,000 in the form of commission, depending on their compensation agreement with their employer. A transaction like this is what the Series 7 is for. A revenue share is different. Let’s say that a Financial Advisor has an account with a client and that account has $1,000,000 in it. The client has agreed to pay the Financial Advisor 1% per year to manage the account and make investment decisions for the client. The client is paying the financial firm $10,000 per year to manage that account. The firm pays the Financial Advisor a revenue share of 20% to 90% of that $10,000. The commission payment is a one-time event. The revenue share is ongoing and that client will continue to pay and the Financial advisor will continue to earn the revenue from that account as long as the account exists. This arrangement is known as a fiduciary relationship and this is what the Series 66 is for. 90% of the business today is revenue share as opposed to commission.
“Do you take military benefits?“
At the current time, we do not accept military benefits. The process to be able to accept them is many years long and we are in process with that. We do, however, have financing plans available with several options and terms. We also have in-house lending. All our options do a soft pull of your credit to see if you qualify so your credit score will not be affected. Once your loan funds, the company where you chose to do the financing will do the full credit pull.
“Can You Get Me A Job At XYZ Firm?
The short answer to your question is “yes” but I am curious as to why you mention them specifically out of 4,000 financial firms in the US. There are 6 channels of product and service distribution in the retail financial services industry. Family office, direct or discount, bank, wirehouse, life insurance, and independent. During chapter 6 of our program, you will take an assessment from Wiley Corporation. The assessment is 50% cognitive and 50% behavioral. Among other things, the assessment will tell us, and you, and hiring firms, which of those channels you will have the highest likelihood of success. Another factor to consider is current hiring trends. For example, Fidelity is on a hiring binge right now. They are advertising that they will hire 5,000 new Financial advisors this year. Fidelity is in the discount channel. Why be laser-focused on only firm XYZ if Fidelity has the better offering currently?
"I want to be a financial consultant, what's the difference and how is financial advising better"
In reality, there is no difference between a Financial Advisor and a financial consultant. Companies in the direct/discount channel use the term “Financial Consultant” because their model is to dispense education to their clients and “let the client decide what they want to do.” All of the other channels use the term Financial Advisor because their model is to dispense advice to their client and make a recommendation to their client.
“Are you accredited?”
We are a 501(c)3, a tax-exempt non-profit, and as such, we have been fully vetted by the IRS. We are not a Title IV school so we do not need to be accredited.
"I can do it on my own through XYZ company and they'll pay me for training, not the other way around"
We hear that a lot. The reality is that nearly every firm in the United States has done away with its inexperienced and unlicensed training program. It has just gotten too expensive for them. When a firm is willing to license and train an inexperienced person, 95% of the time, it is a proprietary life insurance company like Northwestern Mutual or New York Life
Proprietary life insurance companies will want you to focus your time on selling their life insurance and annuity products. They generally do not WANT you to get the Series 7 and Series 66 because you do not need those to sell their proprietary products.
Our program teaches you to become a well-rounded and holistic Financial Advisor and not a life insurance salesperson. The Series 7 allows you to do transactional business like stocks and bonds while the Series 66 allows you to charge fees as a fiduciary and to charge for financial planning. Proprietary life insurance companies don’t want you to do transactional business or fiduciary business because that is not how they make money. They make money by selling the life and annuity products that they manufacture. Do you want to be a life insurance salesperson or a holistic Financial Advisor? And more importantly, where do you think your future clients will want to be served?
"My company said I don't need the series 7 or 66."
It sounds to me like you may be interviewing at a life insurance company. Proprietary life insurance companies will want you to focus your time on selling their life insurance and annuity products. They generally do not WANT you to get the Series 7 and Series 66 because you do not need those to sell their proprietary products. Our program teaches you to become a well-rounded and holistic Financial Advisor and not a life insurance salesperson. The Series 7 allows you to do transactional business like stocks and bonds while the Series 66 allows you to charge fees as a fiduciary and to charge for financial planning. Proprietary life insurance companies don’t want you to do transactional business or fiduciary business because that is not how they make money. They make money by selling the life and annuity products that they manufacture. Do you want to be a life insurance salesperson or a holistic Financial Advisor? And more importantly, where/how do you think your future clients will want to be served?
“What if I have a firm that will sponsor me?”
If you already have a firm that will sponsor you for the Series 7 exam and the corequisite 66, then we give you a discount of 17%.
“Is there anything that would prevent me from being able to start”?
The financial industry is one of the most highly regulated industries in the United States. As such, FINRA and the SEC have tasked financial firms with having written supervisory procedures with regard to recruiting and hiring. Here are the things that would ultimately not allow a firm to hire you:
- A non-medical bankruptcy within 10 years
- A medical bankruptcy within 5 years
- Things like current liens, current collections, or current judgments are decided on a case-by-case basis but the rule of thumb is that there has to be proof that there is a workout plan in place before a firm would/could sponsor you for the exams or hire you.
- A single felony conviction where it is considered a financial crime is a disqualification.
- Two or more felony convictions are a disqualification.
- A felony conviction that happened within the last 10 years.
- A single misdemeanor conviction that is considered a financial crime is a disqualification.
- Most non-financial misdemeanors are fine. DUI, impaired driving, etc. are fine.
