What?
I called a qualified professional who helps individuals and
corporations meet their long-term financial objectives by analyzing the
client's status and setting a program to achieve that client's goals. Financial
planners specialize in tax planning, asset allocation, risk management,
retirement and/or estate planning.
The job goes by a lot of names, including Financial
Planner, Financial Advisor and Personal Financial Consultant, or formerly also known as
Insurance Advisor.
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| Financial Planning Puzzle |
Financial Planners earn a living by helping people sort
through and choose investments, insurance and other
financial products. They do retirement planning, college funding, estate planning, general investment and business planning.
More than half of all financial
advisors work for finance and insurance companies, including securities and
commodity brokers, banks, insurance carriers and financial investment firms.
However, more and more financial advisors are become self-employed that setup
their own firm, operating small financial consultancy firms like lawyer and
accounting firm.
What Education Will Lead to Employment?
Financial planning employers look
for candidates with a bachelor's degree in accounting, finance, economics,
business, mathematics or law. Courses in investments, taxes, estate planning
and risk management are also helpful. Programs in financial planning are
becoming more widely available in colleges and universities.Financial analysts may also seek the Certified
Financial Planner® (CFP®), the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA), the Registered Financial Planner (RFP) and the
Chartered Financial Consultant (ChFC) designations.
Generally, a license is not required to work as a personal
financial advisor, but advisors who sell stocks, bonds, mutual funds or
insurance may need licenses. These licenses are administered and regulated by Bank
Negara Malaysia.
Why?
Start Your Own Business or Financial Firm
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| Be You Own Boss |
Financial
Planner is a job that combines professionalism and entrepreneurship. Many
of the advisors that I work with are usually on their second or third careers
when they choose to become a financial planner. Some have a finance background,
some don’t. I think the most common characteristic is that they want something
great in life and pursuit of happiness. Whether you're a
veteran financial planner looking to get out from under a tyrannical
boss or a rookie just out of college, the dream of starting your own business
is probably an aspiration that gets you out of bed on even the rainiest of
days. Money, autonomy, convenient office hours and recognition within the
community all come as part of the package, at least in our dreams.
I find the
best part of entrepreneurship is that it allows me the flexibility to attend
events at my children's school during the day, as well as volunteer at their
school when necessary. A 9-to-5 corporate job would not allow me to do that. -
Angelica L. Cox, owner and operator, The Wizor
I have lived
by the motto, "It is not the money; it is the lifestyle." Because I
run my own business, I live a great lifestyle. - Beverly Solomon, creative
director, Musee Solomon
Job Satisfaction - Sell
By Creating Value
Money is just one of the resources at our disposal to help
us live the life we want to live. Ultimately, life is about the pursuit of
happiness. Some of financial plans might include putting kids through college,
having a successful career, retiring with freedom and choices, travel or
vacation, and finally maintaining the financial ability to make choices—rather than having them be made for
us.
Mistakes can be
incredibly destructive to our financial health. Not having a
long-term investment strategy (the impact of Malaysia Inflation), not having
adequate insurance protection (Medical Inflation Rate at 15% Yearly, RM300K
cancer treatment today will cost RM 600K in five years time), paying too much
in fees or taxes unnecessarily, having the wrong beneficiary on retirement
accounts, failure to set up a will, business closed down due to failure to plan;
the list goes on and on. What we have in common is that they are all very
costly and all very avoidable. A professional financial advisor will
look for gaps in their financial strategy and help them to correct them.
Only a generation or two
ago, going into business for yourself was considered risky, and the safest
route was to get a good job in a large firm. “That’s what my ‘poor dad’
taught me, “says Rich Dad Poor Dad author Robert Kiyosaki. “Now, working for a
traditional corporation has become the risky option.”
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| Fulfillment in helping others. |
Freedom to spend your time doing what’s important to you
Setting your own hours is a huge advantage. You know
yourself best and you’ll be able to build a schedule that’s most efficient for
you. If you want to work really hard one day, and take a half day the next day,
that’s perfectly fine when you’re self-employed. You can work all night and
sleep all day if that’s your personal preference.
"I have created an office environment where my team and
I can stay healthy. We work standing, sitting or stretched out on
the floor. We hang upside down on our inversion table. We bring healthy meals.
And we always have good chocolate on hand." - Linda L. Hoopes,
president, Resilience Alliance.
Life is short and time
is the one thing we’ll never get back. This makes time one of your most
valuable resources and you should treat it accordingly. Entrepreneurship gives
you the ability to balance your time.
If you have family or
other life circumstances come up, you can decide to forgo any work for that
day. You don’t have that kind of flexibility at a job. Your work should fit
into your life, not the other way around. The life part has to come first.
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| Enjoy to the max , the art if freedom and chose when to work. |
Job Security – You can’t get fire
This is a great reason in itself. In the self-employment world you can’t get fired! You can change your mind about certain business opportunities, but that would just be shifting the focus of your business, you’d never be firing yourself. This takes a certain amount of burden off your shoulders because you don’t need to worry about someone suddenly taking away your income just because of cutbacks even if you’re doing a superb job. Production industry could move from China to Vietnam, Information Technology team could move from U.S to India, Taxi industry now face huge challenging with Uber and Malaysian may not deposits their money in the bank in near future. The world is flat, the economy and industry is changing, try to find opportunities in the chaos and destruction of changing industries where a product or service that will enable you to earn a living despite while others struggle.
"I
can tell myself to go to hell and not worry about being fired." - MJ
Pedone, president and founder, Indra Public Relations
Be Challenged and Always Self Development
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| Career Advancement & Personal Development |
Most people will find that they not only reach a salary cap
when they work for someone else, but they also reach a point where they’re no
longer challenged. When you embark work for yourself, it’ll be a risk and it’ll
be a challenge in this industry.
You will find a lot of experience
business buddies and good mentor to help you in this
industry to ensure you continue develop to become a better person and continue
be challenged. A mentor can be equally important, particularly for newcomers to
the business. Having someone to ask advice of who can guide you through the
difficult stages is an invaluable aid for those who are still climbing up the
financial business. As you keep gaining experience and develop yourself to
become better person, you’ll continue to be more value and you will reach
higher and higher levels, same goes to your standard of living.
My biggest motivation?
Just to keep challenging myself. I see life almost like one long University
education that I never had — everyday I’m learning something new.” - Richard Branson, CEO and founder, Virgin Airline
The opportunity to control your destiny
When you work a 9-to-5 you’re at the mercy of your boss and
the company you work for. They can decide to hire or fire you, they decide how
you spend your eight hours every day and what happens in those eight hours
affects you beyond that time. You have little control and in exchange, they give you a
paycheck. The problem is today’s economy. Gone are the days of working at a
company for years and retiring with a pension. These days entrepreneurship is
the new pension plan. Your income is too important to leave in the hands of
someone else.
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| Decision to Destiny |
A million opportunities are laid out in
front of you, and you get to choose from these countless options. Being a young entrepreneur gives you the
liberty to try out different opportunities. When the pieces fall in place, you
create your own path. Carve out your destiny and shape your business by
interacting with like-minded people by networking.
“When you’re in business
for yourself, your write your own history, you write your own success story,
you write your own legacy and most important, you write your own paycheck,”
says Jeffrey Gitomer, best-selling author of Little Red Book of Selling.
