The financial planning profession has changed substantially since I joined almost 20 years ago. While these changes have been mostly for the better, we are still struggling with the hiring and training of new financial planners.
I see it every day as CEO of New Planner Recruiting, each semester as an adjunct faculty member at the University of Georgia's financial planning program, and as a certified financial planner with a local RIA.
Many of the smaller independent RIAs don't have the infrastructure, desire or bandwidth to train their new hires. Instead, they have been forced to hire more experienced planners away from large financial service institutions after those institutions have trained new planners out of CFP programs.
This can work, but it hardly moves the needle if we are going to continue to grow the independent advice channel to keep up with demand. And honestly, the training these new planners have received doesn't always include the types of knowledge that many independent RIAs need.
I have seen so many bright new planners flock to these large firms because they will hire without prior experience and may provide new planners with their best shot at being trained — only to find out after a few years that they are not being taught true financial planning, at least from an independent standpoint.
Frustrated that these planners quickly become disenchanted with our profession, and seeing a good number settle for less-than-ideal situations or leave the profession altogether, some colleagues and I think there has to be a better way.
Sue Chesney, Carrie Jones and I have started a new venture called Planning Zoo, where we are hiring students pursuing their CFP education to provide outsourced financial planning data entry and data migration services to independent planning firms.
We have experienced planners proficient in each of the most popular financial planning software programs. These experienced planners are teaching the hired students how to understand the information they are receiving, enter the data points into the software, identify any information gaps, and provide a list of basic red flags/opportunities for the advisor to consider as they create the plan for their client.
