5 Reasons Why Advisor's Love What They Do

It’s no secret that I think financial advisors have one of the greatest jobs on the planet.

They get the privilege of helping people with their money, which impacts their whole life. It’s immensely rewarding, both personally and financially.

I recently sent an email out to several hundred financial advisors and asked a simple question:

“Why do you love being a financial advisor?”

Here were some of the responses…

You get to help people.

I think of financial advisors as superheroes. In every superhero saga, there’s an evil villain that must be battled on a regular basis. The “villain” is this scenario are the horrifying facts about most people’s finances. Consider these statistics:

According to The Associated Press NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, two-thirds of Americans would struggle to come up with $1,000 in an emergency.

Only 24% of millennials demonstrate basic financial literacy, according to a study from the National Endowment for Financial Education.

According to the Urban Institute, 35% of adults with a credit file have debt in collections.

These stats are just the tip of the iceberg.

And while some financial advisors have account minimums (to ensure good service) and can’t work with everyone, they serve a valuable function by striving to improve everyone’s financial literacy, one person at a time.

At the end of the day, financial advisors are superhero teachers who help people learn and fight the “villain” that is financial illiteracy. They go out into the world every day and help people secure and protect their futures.

You meet lots of different people.

When you work as a financial advisor, you get the opportunity to meet people from various backgrounds and walks of life. Whether you’re working with individuals, advising employers on their retirement plans or insurance coverage, you get to encounter a wide variety of needs and situations.

Of course, I always tell financial advisors to specialize and a choose a niche (it makes everything easier, trust me) but you still get to hear many people’s stories. You can dig deep into their life and what’s important to them so you can help them in the best way possible.

Related: Eight Things Nobody Tells You About Being a Financial Advisor

There’s no such thing as a mundane day at work.

If you think that being a financial advisor is boring or mundane, you are probably in the wrong profession.

Some people are completely okay with doing the exact same thing every day, but it would drive me nuts. Financial advisors are lucky to have a profession that is anything but dull.

Like I said in my previous point, every client is different. Their goals are unique, their specific situations are different, and their priorities can change over time. This helps to keep you focused. Being a financial advisor isn’t for everyone, but if you like fast-paced work that keeps you on your toes, it might be a good fit for you.

You are constantly learning.

You can’t immerse yourself in personal finance literature and not learn something new every now and then. Nor can you spend all day helping people improve their lives without learning something that can help you.

After all, one of the best ways to truly internalize something is to teach it to another person. I experience this all the time - when I help financial advisors get more clients, I tend to improve my own marketing process in turn.

As an advisor, you always have the opportunity to learn and benefit from your ever-expanding knowledge.

Related: Why Money Shouldn't Be Your Goal

You have flexibility and independence.

Perhaps the biggest benefits of being a financial advisor is the personal independence that it affords you. The sky’s the limit - you can work as much or as little as you want.

One of the things that bothered me about having a fixed salary was this: I could work ten times as hard as Joe Blow next to me and we’d both get paid the same amount. I wanted to be in an environment where my compensation was tied directly to the effort I put in.

I still have the same philosophy… I expect to be paid in proportion to the value I bring to the marketplace. This is a wonderful philosophy to have because there’s no limit on your income. If you help more people in a bigger and better way, you get paid more. It’s pretty simple.

The financial advisors I emailed told me that they love having the option to work 16 hours a day or 3 hours a day if they want. Not many people have that choice in their own work life.

I’m giving away a free PDF with 57 of my favorite marketing tips for financial advisors. You can download that here: 57 Marketing Tips for Financial Advisor