Financial Planning & Wealth Management

Financial planning provides comprehensive guidance helping individuals and families achieve financial goals through investment advice, retirement planning, tax strategy, insurance planning, and estate planning.

Financial planners work with clients to understand goals, assess current situations, develop financial plans, and implement investment strategies.

Successful planners often specialize by client type (young professionals, pre-retirees, business owners) or niche (tech workers, doctors, divorcees).

The business model operates through several approaches: fee-only (charging hourly rates of $150-500+ or planning fees of $2,000-10,000+), assets under management (typically 0.5-1.5% annually), commission-based selling financial products, or hybrid models.

The industry trend favors fee-only fiduciary planners.

Services include comprehensive financial planning, investment management, retirement planning, tax planning coordination, insurance analysis, estate planning guidance, and education funding strategies.

Success requires CFP (Certified Financial Planner) or similar credentials, investment knowledge, understanding of tax and estate planning, strong analytical skills to model scenarios, excellent communication explaining complex concepts, and genuine care for client outcomes.

Building trust is critical given the intimate financial information involved.

The business requires securities licenses and registrations (Series 65 or 7/66) if providing investment advice or management.

Technology includes financial planning software, portfolio management platforms, and client relationship management systems.

Marketing emphasizes credentials, fiduciary standard, client testimonials, and often educational content demonstrating expertise.

Building a practice takes time as trust and minimum assets under management accumulate.

Target markets include professionals with complex finances, business owners needing planning, and those approaching retirement.

The business offers recurring revenue through AUM fees or ongoing planning relationships, with strong margins once established.

Challenges include lengthy client acquisition process, regulatory requirements and compliance, market volatility affecting client emotions and account values, and competition from robo-advisors and large firms.

Many planners develop niches where deep expertise creates differentiation.