PARTING SHOT

The advisor profession needs to do a better job of laying out a welcome mat for new recruits .

OR THE LAST FIVE YEARS , I ’ VE SPENT A SIGNIFICANT AMOUNT of my time running the Externship , the only online training program for new and aspiring financial planners . More than 3,200 externs have completed what is now considered the premier training experience in the profession .

I created and launched the program in 2020 as a solution for students who had lost their summer internships . Some were at risk of not graduating on time , and all were losing valuable experience that would propel them into their careers ( and certifications ). This was not only detrimental to the students ’ own career aspirations ; it was a blow to a profession already facing a talent shortage .

When 1,900 people signed up , we quickly realized we had created something much bigger and broader than a temporary solution to a temporary problem . We had created a program that addressed some of the more systemic challenges facing the financial planning profession . Namely : access .

Five years and 3,200 alumni later , I ’ ve learned a lot about the future of this profession and the new and aspiring planners entering it . If you ’ re considering hiring a new planner for your firm , here are five lessons to consider — things I ’ ve learned in the last five years leading the Externship .

LESSON 1 : Entering this profession is harder than you think . I ’ ve always known there are steep barriers to entry into the financial planning profession , but it wasn ’ t until I started regularly engaging with aspiring planners that I learned just how daunting these barriers are .

This is a profession with no clear entry point , and it has extensive experience requirements . The training for new planners is , at best , inconsistent . At worst ,

Only the privileged few have the personal connections to get a foot in the door or have access to the training and experience needed to flourish . it requires fresh-faced industry entrants to arrive with a network of wealthy friends already in place or a family to call upon .

Each of these things is a sizable barrier — but put them together and it ’ s a wall too high to climb . Only the privileged few have the personal connections to get a foot in the door or have access to the training and experience needed to flourish .

It ’ s not an “ easy ” career path for a vast majority of people . For career-changers , the barriers make it nearly impossible .

There has to be a way to keep our training standards high for new financial planners while not assuming that success comes down to connections , luck or privilege . Can you imagine if other professions operated like this ?

What if we hired 100 lawyers , didn ’ t train them , and told them that by the end of the year all but one would be fired — and he would get everyone else ’ s book of business ? What if we told a newly minted gastroenterologist that step one was cold-calling her parents ’ friends to drum up business ?

LESSON 2 : Don ’ t discount career-changers . When 1,900 people signed up for the Externship in 2020 , most of them were not students . No one was more shocked about this than I was . When I envisioned continued on page 58

60 | FINANCIAL ADVISOR MAGAZINE | JUNE 2024 WWW . FA-MAG . COM