Career as a financial advisor

[tim1960]

Dear Swiss Redditors,

I am reaching out to all the finance pros here. I'm pondering a career pivor into wealth management / financial planning as an independent advisor.

For those of you already doing client advisory, how did you start? What do you need to do legally to become a financial advisor? I came across the iaf.ch certification for a "conseiller financier diplômé IAF" and the preparatory courses offered by Mendo or similar providers. Are those any good or a waste of time and money?

For a bit of a background, I am Swiss with a masters in finance from a French grande école and experience in (corporate) finance from an international company in suisse romande. I've been more and more drawn by the finance advisory world and want to explore if this could be an actual side hustle or even a full time career.

Thanks, appreciate any help & guidance.

 

[actuallyfun]

@tim1960 Pls do not become another one of the hundred of financial product advisors who keep fees pretending active managed funds are better than passive ones

 

[tim1960]

@actuallyfun In my mind, the idea is to advise clients facing specific circumstances around significant life stages / decisions. Not pushing 3a life insurance. Sometimes, the answer is ETFs. Sometimes, a more tailored solution is needed.

 

[hesmyrock]

@tim1960 Most important thing is trust.
So if you have no rich family or friends that trust you and help you with finding clients... you should "buy" this trust at a company by working for them first. Maybe something like VZ.
As your experience grows and your network does too you can start eith your thoughts about your own company.

Other thing would be cheap. Switzerland is not the best market for this, unless you want just to sell products. But if you wanna go for real financial advisory you have to build trust first.

 

[tim1960]

@hesmyrock The example of VZ is precisely what I have in mind. Perhaps with emphasis on the wealth advisory part first to build the said expertise and trust.

You mention "the other thing" would be cheap. What did you mean by that?

 

[hesmyrock]

@tim1960 If you offer a cheap solution you will get customers too.
Imagine it like a robinhood app in a world of swissquote brokers.
You could adapt this to financial advisory. I doubt that switzerland is a cool market for this but if you focus on DACH it could work too.
But this would rather be a tech experiment instead of a face to face advisory business.