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What does a wealth management advisor do?

Updated January 8, 2025
8 min read
Quoted expert
Margaret Franklin

As a wealth management advisor, you will be responsible for advising and guiding clients on financial plans using your knowledge and expertise on investment and tax strategies, pension plans, insurance, real estate, and securities. You will be regularly checking clients to re-evaluate their situation and future financial goals. Additionally, you are responsible for assessing clients' tolerance for risk and providing an investment strategy to help them reach these goals. Other duties and responsibilities may include coordinating with your lawyers or accountants to minimize the tax owed by their clients and assisting clients with estate planning strategies.

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Wealth management advisor responsibilities

Here are examples of responsibilities from real wealth management advisor resumes:

  • Handle sales of permanent and term insurance, fix annuities, brokerage accounts, mutual funds, and manage money accounts.
  • Manage FINRA, NASD compliance, quality control and documentation for all stock, bond and option trades place by team.
  • Manage and strengthen customer relationships through cross-selling and up-selling to maximize retention and income generation by contacting existing and prospective customers.
  • Contribute MorningStar research reports for mutual fund portfolios.
  • Maintain and monitor files to ensure proper compliance procedures under FINRA.
  • Research and compare active vs. passive financial managers who utilize section rotation and ETFs to hedge risk and capture alpha.
  • Create PowerPoint decks for department and company presentations including: business development metrics, sales pitches, and new-hire training material.
  • Implement solutions ranging from individual stock portfolios to insurance and annuities.
  • Research and execute equities and securities trades consistently generating above market returns.
  • Execute all securities trading obligations, secure foreign currency transmittal and lending solutions.
  • Perform financial analysis, portfolio optimization, and investment research using Morningstar suite.
  • Learned current trends in financial industry and assist in developing PowerPoint presentations for clients.
  • Conduct initial and ongoing meetings with prospects and clients profiling and developing comprehensive wealth management strategies.
  • Review yields, process information from Bloomberg terminal.
  • Sort invoices and enter them into QuickBooks.

Wealth management advisor skills and personality traits

We calculated that 11% of Wealth Management Advisors are proficient in Customer Service, Insurance Products, and Securities. They’re also known for soft skills such as Analytical skills, Interpersonal skills, and Math skills.

We break down the percentage of Wealth Management Advisors that have these skills listed on their resume here:

  • Customer Service, 11%

    Fostered business relationships and provided a significant increase in customer service, resulting in solidification of client base and revenue expansion.

  • Insurance Products, 8%

    Develop cross selling opportunities by presenting customized reports with suitable recommendations on insurance products and other guaranteed income investments.

  • Securities, 8%

    Executed all securities trading obligations, secured foreign currency transmittal and lending solutions.

  • Portfolio Management, 7%

    Research, design and implement process improvement opportunities for the Project Management Office portfolio management processes.

  • Client Relationships, 7%

    Drive client acquisition by consulting with consumers, developing and presenting relevant investment strategies, and maintaining effective client relationships.

  • FINRA, 6%

    Maintain office policies and procedures in compliance with FINRA and SEC regulations.

"customer service," "insurance products," and "securities" are among the most common skills that wealth management advisors use at work. You can find even more wealth management advisor responsibilities below, including:

Analytical skills. One of the key soft skills for a wealth management advisor to have is analytical skills. You can see how this relates to what wealth management advisors do 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." Additionally, a wealth management advisor resume shows how wealth management advisors use analytical skills: "monitor deployment of all new equipment to ensure data integrity within asset management database repository. "

Interpersonal skills. Another soft skill that's essential for fulfilling wealth management advisor duties is interpersonal skills. The role rewards competence in this skill because "a major part of a personal financial advisor’s job is making clients feel comfortable." According to a wealth management advisor resume, here's how wealth management advisors can utilize interpersonal skills in their job responsibilities: "demonstrated strong interpersonal and questioning skills in working closely with clients in all facets of financial planning and portfolio management. "

Math skills. Another skill that relates to the job responsibilities of wealth management advisors is math skills. This skill is critical to many everyday wealth management advisor duties, as "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." This example from a resume shows how this skill is used: "supported hr projects such as voe results and diversity statistics. "

Sales skills. For certain wealth management advisor responsibilities to be completed, the job requires competence in "sales skills." The day-to-day duties of a wealth management advisor rely on this skill, as "to expand their base of clients, personal financial advisors must be convincing and persistent in selling their services." For example, this snippet was taken directly from a resume about how this skill applies to what wealth management advisors do: "provided consultative sales of financial services to pre-retirement prospects through b2b prospecting. "

Speaking skills. A commonly-found skill in wealth management advisor job descriptions, "speaking skills" is essential to what wealth management advisors do. Wealth management advisor responsibilities rely on this skill because "personal financial advisors interact with clients every day." You can also see how wealth management advisor duties rely on speaking skills in this resume example: "presented findings and research to hr generalists. "

All wealth management advisor skills

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Compare different wealth management advisors

Wealth management advisor vs. Finance professional

The primary job of finance professionals is to provide financial services using their knowledge of finance, tax laws, and accounting. These professionals typically help with corporate finance, personal finance, or both. Their duties include helping clients develop financial plans that will ensure their financial stability, developing the company's financial strategy, and forecasting corporate profits and losses. Additionally, finance professionals are responsible for negotiating credit lines, preparing financial statements, and working closely with outside auditors. To become successful in this role, you need to have strong customer service and analytical skills.

The annual salary of finance professionals is $36,054 lower than the average salary of wealth management advisors.While the two careers have a salary gap, they share some of the same responsibilities. Employees in both wealth management advisor and finance professional positions are skilled in customer service, insurance products, and securities.

While similarities exist, there are also some differences between wealth management advisors and finance professional. For instance, wealth management advisor responsibilities require skills such as "portfolio management," "asset management," "business development," and "investment management." Whereas a finance professional is skilled in "excellent interpersonal," "strong work ethic," "llc," and "financial guidance." This is part of what separates the two careers.

Finance professionals really shine in the insurance industry with an average salary of $57,846. Comparatively, wealth management advisors tend to make the most money in the finance industry with an average salary of $95,796.The education levels that finance professionals earn slightly differ from wealth management advisors. In particular, finance professionals are 5.9% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree than a wealth management advisor. Additionally, they're 1.0% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.

Wealth management advisor vs. Corporate finance analyst

Corporate finance analysts make significant business decisions based on the data they gather. Typically, corporate finance analysts work within an organization and support management decisions through actionable financial information. They monitor the taxes, expenses, financial statements, and other financial details of where the company sources its income. This position requires a formal qualification in accounting. It also necessitates the analyst to develop interpersonal skills, knowledge in information technology software, financial reporting skills, and experience in management.

On average, corporate finance analysts earn a $15,582 lower salary than wealth management advisors a year.Only some things about these jobs are the same. Take their skills, for example. Wealth management advisors and corporate finance analysts both require similar skills like "securities," "business development," and "due diligence" to carry out their responsibilities.

In addition to the difference in salary, there are some other key differences worth noting. For example, wealth management advisor responsibilities are more likely to require skills like "customer service," "insurance products," "portfolio management," and "client relationships." Meanwhile, a corporate finance analyst has duties that require skills in areas such as "financial models," "hyperion," "balance sheet," and "financial data." These differences highlight just how different the day-to-day in each role looks.

Corporate finance analysts earn a lower average salary than wealth management advisors. But corporate finance analysts earn the highest pay in the finance industry, with an average salary of $96,991. Additionally, wealth management advisors earn the highest salaries in the finance with average pay of $95,796 annually.In general, corporate finance analysts achieve similar levels of education than wealth management advisors. They're 0.2% more likely to obtain a Master's Degree while being 1.0% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.

What technology do you think will become more important and prevalent for wealth management advisors in the next 3-5 years?

Margaret FranklinMargaret Franklin LinkedIn profile

President and CEO, CFA Institute

Artificial Intelligence will continue to enhance the investment process. There're two aspects that are important to the investment management industry: the first is making the business more efficient by democratizing financial advice and services to make them available to a wider array of audiences, the second is the ability to access more data to inform investment decisions to find greater risk-adjusted returns in the investment process.

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.

Wealth management advisor vs. Individual pension consultant

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.

On average, individual pension consultants earn lower salaries than wealth management advisors, with a $47,830 difference per year.Using the responsibilities included on wealth management advisors and individual pension consultants resumes, we found that both professions have similar skill requirements, such as "insurance products," "client relationships," and "annuities.rdquo;

Some important key differences between the two careers include a few of the skills necessary to fulfill the responsibilities of each. Some examples from wealth management advisor resumes include skills like "customer service," "securities," "portfolio management," and "finra," whereas an individual pension consultant is more likely to list skills in "financial issues," "customer issues," "asset retention," and "retirement accounts. "

Most individual pension consultants achieve a lower degree level compared to wealth management advisors. For example, they're 6.3% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 0.9% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.

Wealth management advisor vs. Finance planner

Finance planners average a lower salary than the annual salary of wealth management advisors. The difference is about $19,998 per year.While their salaries may vary, wealth management advisors and finance planners both use similar skills to perform their duties. Resumes from both professions include skills like "insurance products," "client relationships," and "financial services. "While some skills are required in each professionacirc;euro;trade;s responsibilities, there are some differences to note. "customer service," "securities," "portfolio management," and "finra" are skills that commonly show up on wealth management advisor resumes. On the other hand, finance planners use skills like financial aid, disability insurance, tax planning, and fafsa on their resumes.The insurance industry tends to pay the highest salaries for finance planners, with average annual pay of $71,594. Comparatively, the highest wealth management advisor annual salary comes from the finance industry.In general, finance planners hold lower degree levels compared to wealth management advisors. Finance planners are 6.0% less likely to earn their Master's Degree and 0.7% less likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.

Types of wealth management advisor

Updated January 8, 2025

Zippia Research Team
Zippia Team

Editorial Staff

The Zippia Research Team has spent countless hours reviewing resumes, job postings, and government data to determine what goes into getting a job in each phase of life. Professional writers and data scientists comprise the Zippia Research Team.

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