How To Become A Retirement Plan Specialist: What It Is and Career Path

What is a retirement plan specialist and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

4 min read

Quoted expert

Dr. Mindy Badía Ph.D.

The goal of most workers is to stop working at some point. People want to live out their old age in comfort while puttering around the garden, filling out crossword puzzles, and thinking about moving to Florida. In order to do that, people need to prepare for retirement while they are still working, which is where a retirement plan specialist comes in.

A retirement plan specialist can work for a company's human resources department or for a bank managing retirement accounts. They explain various benefits accounts to clients, help them choose the best one for their needs, and help them develop good saving habits in order to build up a good nest egg for retirement.

Retirement plan specialists usually need to know a lot about business and finance in order to explain various savings and investment options to clients. It's no surprise that most retirement plan specialists have at least a bachelor's degree in business or a related field.

What general advice would you give to a retirement plan specialist?

Dr. Mindy Badía Ph.D.

Professor of Spanish and International Studies, Indiana University Southeast

The three P's: be patient, be persistent, and be prepared.

ScoreRetirement Plan SpecialistUS Average

Salary

4.7

Avg. Salary $60,611

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

6.0

Growth rate 7%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

3.9

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.44%

Asian 7.84%

Black or African American 10.52%

Hispanic or Latino 15.22%

Unknown 3.78%

White 62.21%

Gender

female 45.64%

male 54.36%

Age - 45

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 45

Stress level

6.0

Stress level is manageable

7.1 - high

Complexity level

8.1

Complexity level is challenging

7 - challenging

Work life balance

6.1

Work life balance is fair

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a retirement plan specialist

Explore retirement plan specialist education requirements

Most common retirement plan specialist degrees

Bachelor's

76.1 %

Associate

10.6 %

Master's

8.4 %

Start to develop specific retirement plan specialist skills

Skills	Percentages
Life Insurance	13.64%
Financial Products	6.28%
FINRA	6.00%
ERISA	5.95%
Retirement Accounts	5.76%

Complete relevant retirement plan specialist training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 6-12 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New retirement plan specialists learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a retirement plan specialist based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real retirement plan specialist resumes.

Research retirement plan specialist duties and responsibilities

Generate sales leads for personal investments, annuities and plan sales.
Participate in establishing and testing pension plans on PeopleSoft to automate applicable calculations.
Call into the ADP payroll client base to cross-sell retirement products and work with payroll reps on joint sales.
Research and advise clients and attorneys on laws and regulations to comply with QDRO and federal guidelines.

Prepare your retirement plan specialist resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your retirement plan specialist resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a retirement plan specialist resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable retirement plan specialist resume templates

Build a professional retirement plan specialist resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your retirement plan specialist resume.