Difference between Financial Planner and Financial Advisor

financialtreat – will explain the Difference between Financial Planner and Financial Advisor that you will get in the following article. Let’s look at this article carefully!

Later many people wondere, actually, whether there is a difference between a financial planner and a financial advisor. The answer is there. There are various things that distinguish a financial planner from a financial advisor.

However, the difference is not very significant. In fact, some financial planners claim to be financial advisors as well. And vice versa. What is the difference between a financial planner and a financial advisor? Come on, let’s talk about it in this article!

Understanding Financial Advisors and Financial Planners

A financial advisor is a special advisor for planning finances for individuals and companies. If you have trouble managing finances or finances, you need a special advisor to help plan your finances. That way, the finances you have can be manage properly. To find out more fully what a financial advisor is, you can learn below.

Financial advisors provide financial planning advice to their users to be more mature. In general, financial advisors will provide several services, such as tax planning, investment management, financial problems and so on.

Financial advisors can work independently and work under the auspices of the company. Financial advisors have the task to provide services and information or procedures about financial management.

A financial planner is a person or professional institution that is qualifie to help individuals and companies meet their long-term financial goals. A financial planner can also be interprete as someone who focuses on building a financial plan to help clients achieve their end goals.

As the definition has been mentione, usually a financial planner is responsible to the client. They could be individuals, institutions, or companies. A financial planner is taske with consulting with clients to analyze the goals, risk tolerance, life, stages, and types of investments that are appropriate for them.

From the results of the analysis, the financial planner will plan a program that can help clients achieve their financial goals. The trick is to diversify investments that will provide income according to these goals.

Duties of Financial Planner and Financial Advisor

In a company, a financial advisor has the main task to help overcome financial problems, plan for short- and long-term finances, and review clients’ financial needs. Here are some of the main tasks that a financial advisor must carry out:

  • Meet or receive clients in the office to help and provide advice on financial matters.
  • Describe the types of products and financial services offere by the company.
  • Help clients plan financial goals, both short-term and long-term financial goals.
  • Train clients and provide advice on investment options and their risks.
  • Monitor the development of the client’s investment account.
  • Educate clients about financial problems, such as investments, insurance, to taxation.
  • Monitor client financial problems, such as investment developments and also tax payments from clients.

The duties of the financial planner are as follows:

Analyzing Client Goals and Characteristics

Each client certainly has its own goals and characteristics. For this reason, the first thing they should do is to analyze the characteristics and goals of their clients. Both of these things will be the main reference in planning finances.

Evaluate the Client’s Financial Condition

After successfully understanding the purpose and characteristics of the client, they must be able to evaluate the client’s current financial condition. Some points that must be evaluate are assets, expenses, savings, income, installments, and various other needs. From this, later they will know what has not been able to be done by their clients.

Financial Planners Must Make Financial Planning

The main responsibility of them is to make financial planning of their clients. The planning must be adjuste to the client’s current conditions and objectives. That is, they must bridge the client’s current financial condition with financial goals that will be achieve by their clients.

Delivering a Plan

After making a careful financial plan, then they will describe the financial plan that has been made to the client. This stage cannot be done in one direction, but must be done in a diu direction.

For that, later a financial planner will ask for opinions and also the availability of klieennya. If indee the plan will be considere unsuitable by the client, then they can change the plan base on the feedback given by the client.

Help Execute a Plan

If the client has agree to the plan that has been made by the financial planner, then the time comes for the client to carry out the plan. At this point, a financial planner can help with several things relate to the plan, such as opening a new account, managing assets, or other things neede by the client.

Supervise the Course of the Plan

When the financial plan has starte to run, then their responsibilities cannot just stop. They should be able to supervise the course of the plan. If in the middle of the road there will be a problem, then they must help the client in overcoming the problem.

Difference between Financial Planner and Financial Advisor

Responsibility

The main difference between a financial planner and a financial advisor is in terms of responsibility. Quote from Investopedia, a financial planner is someone who helps a company or individual create a program to meet his long-term financial goals.

Financial planners will consult with clients to analyze their goals, risk tolerance, lifestyle, stages, and the type of investment that is appropriate for them. From the results of the analysis, the financial planner is then responsible for planning programs that can help clients achieve that goal.

Usually, a financial planner has various specialties, such as investments, taxes, pension funds, and so on. In short, financial planners focus on the financial goals that clients want to achieve. Meanwhile, according to The Balance, a financial advisor is anyone who advises someone on financial matters.

Financial advisors have different responsibilities. There are several responsibilities impose on the financial advisor in carrying out his work:

  • Increase sales of financial products or services.
  • Ensure that the client or customer is fully aware of the product information offere to him.
  • Ensuring the client who submits his complaint or claim gets good service and the right solution.

Differences in responsibilities between the two

From this definition, you can see that financial advisors have wider responsibilities than financial planners.  Some of the tasks include, offering advice on how much money to save, giving investment advice, offering tax advice, to buying and selling investments on behalf of clients.

Financial advisors are not limite to a specific person or institution. Brokers, investment managers, insurance agents, accountants, and such professions can be include in the financial advisor. From this, you can conclude that the difference in responsibilities of the two is quite significant.

Financial planners focus on program planning to help clients realize their long-term goals. Meanwhile, financial advisors focus more on providing financial advice broadly.

Certification

In addition to responsibilities, another difference between financial planner and financial advisor is in terms of certification. Not just anyone can call themselves a financial planner or financial advisor. The reason is, there is a special certification that they must have.

Reporting from Think Big FG, a financial planner must pocket an official Certifie Financial Planner (CFP).  According to The Balance, there are several conditions that must be met when you want to take the certification.

For example, a person must have at least a bachelor’s degree, three years of work experience in planning, complete rigorous training, and pass an exam organiz by the Certifie Financial Planner Board of Standards. Meanwhile, a financial advisor who helps organize investments such as buying and selling shares must have a Series 65 license.

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Income

The last difference between a financial planner and a financial advisor is in terms of income. In fact, there are no exact figures regarding the income standards of the two. But report from SmartAsset, there are three financial advisor income options, namely fee-only, fee-base, and commission.

Fee-only means that financial advisors set prices base on the services they provide to clients. Fee-base means there is a down payment (DP) fee and commission on every financial product they sell. Meanwhile, commissions mean financial advisors get paid base on the specific financial products they sell. Unlike financial advisors, usually financial planners get a commission of several percent of the assets they manage. There are also financial planners who set flat fees and hourly fees.

That is the difference between a financial planner and a financial advisor. Although similar, there are some things that distinguish the two. If you need someone’s help to manage your finances, you can choose one of the two professions. Good luck!

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