Friday, May 30, 2008

CFP Firms Lead in Revenues

CFP Firms Lead in Revenues

A CFP certificate and an aggressive strategy for recruiting new clients are among the traits that are helping financial advisors grow their businesses, according to a new study.

“This year’s results call attention to the importance of continuing education within the financial planning arena,” says Mark Tibergien of Moss Adams LLP, a management consulting firm in Seattle.

“The results also suggest that firms will need to find ways in which to accelerate their revenue growth in order to combat rising costs.”


The study—issued by Moss Adams, the Financial Planning Association (FPA) and SEI Investments—found that advisor firms with a CFP® certificant on staff had, on average, exceeded the annual revenue of non-CFP firms by more than $300,000 in 2003.

Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Recession-proof job: Personal Financial Adviser

According to an CNN Money article dated April 29, 2008, baby boomers and market volatility are contributed heavily to the demand for financial planners making it one of the few careers actually booming during the recession.

Baby boomers want to safeguard their financial future and are actively seeking to protect their assets and prepare for retirement. The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects that jobs in this category, which includes Certified Financial Planners, will surge 41% between 2006 and 2016, adding 72,000 jobs for a total of 248,000. Salaries are competitive, according to the BLS, which estimates median earnings at more than $66,000.

With hundreds of thousands of jobs being lost during this shaky economic period, it's no wonder people are looking for career stability and high income potential to supplement for outrageous prices for commodities such as gas and food. The financial planning profession is not all about making money, said President Mark Johanneseen of the Financial Planning Association (FPA), it's about helping people.

"We're like doctors, but for your personal finances," said Chuck Bender, a personal financial planner at The Financial Consulate.

Professionals are looking to make themselves more marketable and stand out from the competition in hopes of landing a more rewarding, stable career. Certification is a great way of achieving this goal. Kaplan Continuing Education (KCE) guarantees success on the CFP Certification Examination through focused curriculum, esteemed faculty and cutting-edge technology. KCE's Certificate in Financial Planning program can be completed online in as little as 9 months. For more information on Kaplan Continuing Education programs, please visit www.kaplancontinuingeducation.com or call 866.542.4042.

To view the full CNN Money article, please visit http://money.cnn.com/2008/04/28/news/economy/financial_adviser/.

Friday, May 16, 2008

IT job growth amid uncertain economic times

The job forecast is not all bad nationwide, apparently. From an article on IT job growth:




The Buffalo Niagara region added 4,200 jobs in April from a year ago, showing employment gains amid uncertain economic times nationally.




Tim O’Brien, managing director of Spherion Staffing Services in Rochester, said he was “pleasantly surprised” by the state’s April jobs report. “It does reflect there still is opportunity here,” he said.



Spherion’s New York Employee Confidence Index increased in April. One of its findings: 72 percent of workers surveyed were confident in the future of their employer, up 13 percentage points from the previous month.




That could indicate people are more inclined to hunker down and stay in their current jobs rather than look around, he said. But in certain sectors Spherion serves, such as information technology, engineering and accounting and finance, demand is strong for new hires.