Do you dream of becoming a financial consultant in Singapore? Before you consider financial advisory as a career path, make sure you understand the industry well and have a financial advisor’s essential skills.
It would help if you first dissected what a financial advisor does to know whether you can succeed through this route. Love your job will help you succeed. That’s why you must check if it’s a job you’ll enjoy doing.
We’ve listed down three questions to ponder before you officially decide to take a career in the financial planning industry. But before that, let’s first look at what financial consultants do.
What Does a Financial Consultant Do?
Financial consultants guide clients in every aspect of their financial lives. They play various roles, including assisting clients with goal setting, assessing their financial needs, counselling them on the right financial decisions, and more.
Consultants don’t do the work alone. They collaborate with their clients to get a complete picture of their current financial status and future needs, such as starting families, sending children to school, planning a business, retiring, and so on.
Also, financial consultants help clients build an investment portfolio that comfortably matches their wealth. They must communicate regularly with their clients and review their investment portfolios to offer advice as needed.
Important Guide Questions to Help You Decide
1. Do I Like Working with People?
Financial advisors must have good communication and social skills. So if you’re serious about working as a financial consultant in Singapore, then you should enjoy working with people.
Being a financial consultant means that you have to develop an authentic relationship with your financial clients. Your job will require you to establish an ongoing rapport with your clients to ensure they’re getting everything they need.
It would help if you also learned how to communicate what your clients need in a way that they can understand. Using jargon or complicated terms will not help them understand your point, so it’s always best to speak in words they can easily comprehend.
Being a good listener is also part of being an effective communicator. You must listen to what your clients say (both verbally and non-verbally) to build a stronger connection and to provide the best financial solution for their needs.
2. Am I Willing to Invest in Myself?
Convincing someone to change their lifestyle or goals is one of the challenging tasks of financial consultants. That is where investing in yourself comes in handy.
Could you take a look at it this way? If you’re not willing to broaden your knowledge and become a better consultant, how can you expect other people to believe in you? For you to make people invest in you, you must first start on yourself.
As a financial advisor, it’s your job to invest in further education that will help you succeed in your chosen career path. Take training courses, attend seminars or workshops to gain more knowledge in the industry.
Acquiring designations or accreditations is also one way to demonstrate proven expertise in a specific area and boost your credibility.
Besides investing in your skills, it would help if you also created goals around health and fitness. Remember that a strong mind starts with a strong body. Take regular exercise and eat healthy food so you can always stay at the top of your game.
3. Am I Persistent About Getting Prospects?
Lastly, are you persistent about getting new prospects? If you’re the type of person who’s content with the small wins you get and isn’t consistent in making efforts, this job doesn’t suit you.
There are around 20,000 licensed financial advisors in Singapore. About half of them are actively acquiring new clients and offering investment-linked insurance policies, in particular.
This number will continue to grow as new professionals enter the financial advisory market. That being said, you should find ways to keep up with the competition. And this is where being persistent matters the most.
Avoid getting stuck on only a few clients and never stop prospecting. Fill up your pipeline with potential clients that you can pitch to. That way, you can assist more people with their financial needs, and of course, you increase your revenue.
Summing It Up
There’s nothing wrong with seeing yourself as a financial consultant in Singapore. However, starting a career in the said industry without looking at a few considerations will not help you succeed.
Assess yourself, your strengths, and your skills first. After all, no one in this world knows yourself best than YOU.
Punit