Why don't more young people want to be a financial planner?

Question

We need more planners in this profession! It is not easy to get started, but it is a wonderful career. Check out: www.careeerfinancialplanner.com

Answer 1

While I agree in general, the truth is that more young people are entering the profession than ever before. Unfortunately, they're up against some terrible attitudes, both within the industry and from the public.

Historically, the best planners arose from the ranks of experienced insurance agents and investment brokers expanding their practices. It's been perceived that no one without several years experience is to be trusted. Today, college students are graduating with degrees and advanced planning designations, and are years ahead of the veterans in knowledge and sophistication. Unfortunately ignorance has held these highly qualified individuals back. Hopefully, as things evolve, this problem will solve itself.

The only drawback to this trend is the fact that planners with a strong insurance background are by far the best. The new breed of planners may not possess that edge.

More important than these issues, is the necessity for the vocation to reach the professional status it deserves. The average individual needs to understand that he needs a financial planner as badly as he needs a physician, and that his planner deserves the same level of trust and respect. If this were to happen, the aforementioned issues would be moot.

Answer 2

I am not a financial planner but i am very much interested in the industry. I would like my money work for me when i get old and i think that being a financial planner would help me understand better how money works. i think that the reason why young people dont become financial planners is because:

1. lack of information
2. have already pursued on a different career
3. have not reached the stage in their lives to want to learn more about how their money works.
4. or maybe they already have too much money to spend so they dont need to become one anymore.

Answer 3

Starts at the schools. I went through 16 years of public schooling and obtained a business degree in college, but didn't really learn squat about personal financial planning. Maybe it has to do something with the fact that the teachers and professors have nice fat pensions and retirement plans that don't require a lot of thought?

A good course that focused on the basics of personal finance like investing early and often, asset allocation, the miracle of compounding, how 401k's, IRAs, and other accounts work, without going into the details of buying individual stocks and bonds would have been invaluable and resulted in my current net worth being much higher. Let's face it, most of us are really, really bad at buying individual stocks, I certainly have learned that the hard way, but thankfully fairly early on.

I finally got interested in my own financial planning when there was a significant drop in my retirement account balances back during the 1997 "Asian contagion". Fortunately I was sufficiently paralyzed by lack of knowledge that I left my funds alone and they recovered nicely. I watched a lot of my coworkers pull out of stocks in a panic, and lose a lot of money in the subsequent rebound.

Youngsters who generally don't have much money have no reason to get interested in how money works. We need to figure out how to communicate that youth/time are the biggest advantages that they have in eventually reaching financial independence, so long as that time is used wisely.

Answer 4

Its called risk. Young people would basically be risking the "Holy Grail". The innocence of how money works is the protection screen for most inheritors of their parents funds. Innocence used to be about sex and drugs and rock and roll and those issues were basically covering up the later financial insecurities of the embattled socialistically trended christian do gooders. In those days, noone realized that as people had less and less children, and inheritances started to roll in, that there would be a concern in an average class family about what happens to money. Everybody back then just earned a paycheck and tried to work towards a retirement between 55 and 60 years old or gave that dream up for social security if they lived that long, or a relaxed fade out on a farm front porch sitting in a favorite rocking chair. But times have changed. Now if you don't have a good nest egg as it were, your retirement account can be eaten up by inflation, forcing you into poverty if you are from those traditional settings mentioned above. So you didn't teach your kids about financial planning or investing, you taught them to get a job and stick with it, only ....the retirement jobs are fading. Now they need a 401. Meanwhile there were the rich people, people who had something to give to one child, who maybe worked all their lives, husband and wife or mixed marriages of more well to do working class that learned to start investing when they came into money, giving that business by and large to brokers and the like because they didn't want to be troubled with it. They want to retire. Then enter the kids of these people. The parents put their money with a broker, the parents having some idea of risk, shield the last bandit of innocence, money handling, because if their kids try this risky stuff or if somebody get ahold of their money, they realize they could be begging after that and lose their assets. Enter liability laws and liabilities and people realizing that you can lose everything from giving people bad advice and you can lose them as customers as well and consider the math and the diligence to detail, and if it is not a simple bank debit card transaction, it gets too complicated....and you want them to help you with your money? Liability can go on for the rest of your life. Laws change and people just want to fend for themselves and nevermind anybody else and really they are smart thinking this way. Perhaps the mix of computers and programming and liability and not being able to get ahold of anybody sometimes will just move the whole thing into the hands of electronics? The only people who need to know about financial planning are the ones who want to stay ahead of the liability damages they might suffer and wind up with nothing. So, if a young person feels they have nothing and their parents will probably give them a million, what's to worry? This has all happenned over many years of innocent seeking and protecting capitalistic apathetic freedom. Maybe it will change, but this guy doubts it. I am still trying to get my brain around options understanding?

Answer 5

I am young and enjoy planning my own finances but couldn't imagine doing it for a job. To me it just seems boring and not that interesting (no offense to anyone who does, you would probably find my career boring haha). But also a lot of young people are not concerned enough with finance and investing in general (even for their own futures) and I think that is also a major reason.

Answer 6

I think most business-type majors would rather work in investments than financial planning - basically, kids are following the money.

Answer 7

More young people are getting deeper and deeper in debt and financial problems.

Answer 8

young people are not smart with their money but unlesss you taught as a child how to save you don't know how to save or how to budget your money.

Answer 9

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