What does an Investment Consultant do?
An investment consultant is an individual who gives investment products, planning, and/or advice to investors. Investment consultants formulate investment strategies to help clients fulfill their necessities and realize their financial objectives. They create internal research documents that outline real estate investment opportunities and private equity. It is also part of their job to review strategies of asset management that recognize estate and income tax needs.
Investment consultant responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real investment consultant resumes:
- Manage $3MM private investment portfolio consisting of mid-cap/large-cap equities.
- Research securities to determine value by analyzing financial statements, corporate filings and earnings reports
- Preform timely and accurate securities operational support functions, trade processing, settlement reporting.
- Adjust sector exposure to express personal macro views, selecting single stocks within sector base on fundamental analysis and technical indicators.
- Advance knowledge of annuities and interest rates.
- Team leader for license bank employees in the selling of tax-defer annuities.
- Monitor preparation of asset/liability management report.
Investment consultant skills and personality traits
We calculated that 12% of Investment Consultants are proficient in Financial Services, FINRA, and Financial Products. They’re also known for soft skills such as Interpersonal skills, Sales skills, and Speaking skills.
We break down the percentage of Investment Consultants that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Financial Services, 12%
Initiated innovative design of satellite office offering 2-day financial services seminars and face-to-face client interaction adding worth to branch.
- FINRA, 8%
Key Results: * Attained the following professional credentials: * FINRA Series 7, Series 63 and Series 65 registrations.
- Financial Products, 7%
Position involved marketing financial products as well as assisting clientele with managing investment portfolios.
- Client Relationships, 5%
Developed client relationships and delivered wealth management solutions to individuals and institutions.
- Investment Products, 4%
Profiled and analyzed investment products to develop customized financial strategies to meet financial needs.
- Client Satisfaction, 4%
Performed extensive troubleshooting and quality assurance to ensure client satisfaction and provided superior customer service.
"financial services," "finra," and "financial products" are among the most common skills that investment consultants use at work. You can find even more investment consultant responsibilities below, including:
Interpersonal skills. The most essential soft skill for an investment consultant to carry out their responsibilities is interpersonal skills. This skill is important for the role because "a major part of a personal financial advisor’s job is making clients feel comfortable." Additionally, an investment consultant resume shows how their duties depend on interpersonal skills: "utilized interpersonal skills and client relationships to salvage millions of dollars of assets of 2 high profile account groups. "
Sales skills. Another soft skill that's essential for fulfilling investment consultant duties is sales skills. The role rewards competence in this skill because "to expand their base of clients, personal financial advisors must be convincing and persistent in selling their services." According to an investment consultant resume, here's how investment consultants can utilize sales skills in their job responsibilities: "consulted with the managing regional director to formulate and execute territory business plan to meet and exceed stated sales goals. "
Speaking skills. This is an important skill for investment consultants to perform their duties. For an example of how investment consultant responsibilities depend on this skill, consider that "personal financial advisors interact with clients every day." This excerpt from a resume also shows how vital it is to everyday roles and responsibilities of an investment consultant: "presented essential information to enable clients to make informed investment decisions. ".
Analytical skills. A big part of what investment consultants do relies on "analytical skills." You can see how essential it is to investment consultant responsibilities because "in determining an investment portfolio for a client, personal financial advisors must be able to assess a range of information, including economic trends, regulatory changes, and the client’s comfort with risky decisions." Here's an example of how this skill is used from a resume that represents typical investment consultant tasks: "analyzed business plans, financial data and proposals for clients in facilitating large mergers and bulk sales transactions. "
Math skills. Another crucial skill for an investment consultant to carry out their responsibilities is "math skills." A big part of what investment consultants relies on this skill, since "personal financial advisors must be adept at working with numbers to determine the amount invested, how that amount has grown or decreased over time, and how a portfolio is distributed among different investments." How this skill relates to investment consultant duties can be seen in an example from an investment consultant resume snippet: "provided institutional clients with qualitative and quantitative manager, market, and investment analysis. "
The three companies that hire the most investment consultants are:
- Deloitte115 investment consultants jobs
- Bank of America74 investment consultants jobs
- Charles Schwab48 investment consultants jobs
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Compare different investment consultants
Investment consultant vs. Bank advisor
A Financial Advisor specializes in sharing their expertise with an individual or company on how to handle and boost finances. The responsibilities of a Financial Advisor include creating and proposing a strategy to attain financial gains through profits and investments, educating the client about new methods and opportunities, monitor and evaluate progress, and as well as plan policies according to the clients' life changes. Furthermore, it is also the duty of the Financial Advisor to research new investments that would be of great help to the client's assets.
While similarities exist, there are also some differences between investment consultants and bank advisor. For instance, investment consultant responsibilities require skills such as "finra," "client satisfaction," "asset allocation," and "investment decisions." Whereas a bank advisor is skilled in "cross-selling," "bank products," "mobile banking," and "liaising." This is part of what separates the two careers.
The education levels that bank advisors earn slightly differ from investment consultants. In particular, bank advisors are 0.4% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree than an investment consultant. Additionally, they're 0.4% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Investment consultant vs. Certified finance planner
A financial planner is responsible for handling client accounts and providing financial advice to determine the best investment options according to the clients' interests and risk appetite. Financial planners record the clients' living expenses as a part of their portfolio, identifying their long-term goals and objectives, and giving tax advice. They also educate clients with investment options and opportunities to improve the clients' account performance and sell financial products. A financial planner must have excellent analytical and communication skills to conduct data and statistical analysis, especially in researching financial instruments in the market.
While some skills are similar in these professions, other skills aren't so similar. For example, resumes show us that investment consultant responsibilities requires skills like "finra," "asset allocation," "investment decisions," and "wealth management." But a certified finance planner might use other skills in their typical duties, such as, "tax planning," "health insurance," "direct guests," and "investment planning."
In general, certified finance planners achieve similar levels of education than investment consultants. They're 4.3% less likely to obtain a Master's Degree while being 0.4% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.What technology do you think will become more important and prevalent for Investment Consultants in the next 3-5 years?
Margaret Franklin
President and CEO, CFA Institute
Ultimately, the combination of human intelligence and artificial intelligence will add more value than either component can alone. This is the future of investment management.
Investment consultant vs. Finance advisor
There are many key differences between these two careers, including some of the skills required to perform responsibilities within each role. For example, an investment consultant is likely to be skilled in "investment decisions," "market trends," "crm," and "due diligence," while a typical finance advisor is skilled in "team support," "strong computer," "training programs," and "good judgment."
Finance advisors earn the best pay in the finance industry, where they command an average salary of $83,789. Investment consultants earn the highest pay from the finance industry, with an average salary of $112,063.When it comes to education, finance advisors tend to earn similar degree levels compared to investment consultants. In fact, they're 2.9% less likely to earn a Master's Degree, and 0.2% less likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Investment consultant vs. Finance planner
Types of investment consultant
Updated January 8, 2025
