I recently had the opportunity to speak about my career at my high school alma mater. My wife Katie is a business teacher at Seymour high school and she asked if I would give a presentation on all of the career opportunities available within the field of financial planning. I’m not a great public speaker so I was kind of dreading having to sit down and put together all of the components that go into a presentation. But putting the presentation together gave me a chance to reflect on my career in the financial services industry and all of the things that I’ve learned along the way. When you look at the different components that go into financial planning, there are a lot of great career opportunities.
A sound financial plan starts with insurance planning. A financial planner’s first priority is to make sure their clients are protected by having the proper life insurance and disability insurance in place. The life insurance field is vast and there are many opportunities to work at various life insurance carriers throughout the state of WI. WI is home to some very well-regarded life insurance providers including Thrivent in Appleton, Northwestern Mutual Life in Milwaukee, and American Family in Madison. I worked at Thrivent Financial in Appleton before I came to Woodmen Financial Resources. It was a great place to work and the company does a good job of investing the time to train their employees as they start a career in life insurance or the annuity industry.
The second component to financial planning is tax planning. A good financial planner has to know where their client falls within the various tax brackets to be able to calculate their taxable income. Good financial planners help their clients take advantage of the various tools available to lower their taxable income such as making contributions to their employer sponsored retirement plans or individual retirement accounts. This is often done in conjunction with the client’s tax accountant. My wife teaches accounting as part of Seymour’s business curriculum, so this was a logical part of the discussion.
Investment planning is the next step in building a financial plan. A financial planner has to first determine an individual client’s appetite for investment risk and understand their time horizon to determine the best asset allocation for the client. The planner will then use the many investment asset managers they have at their disposal to build an investment solution. Asset managers like American Funds, and Jackson National employ thousands of people at their home offices right here in the Midwest.
Estate planning is the final component of a well rounded financial plan. The financial planner works with the client to ensure smooth, tax efficient transfer of the client’s assets to their designated beneficiaries. A successful estate plan often requires that the financial planner work with the client’s attorney to establish a will and or trust documents to facilitate this transfer.
As I concluded my presentation, I wanted to impress upon the students that a career in financial services is not just a job where you get a degree or certification and then you know everything that you need to know. To really be successful in a career in the financial services industry you must immerse yourself in a state of continuous learning. There is so much to do and learn in this field that no class, degree or certification can come close to covering everything there is to learn. Each day on this job is an opportunity to learn more about the field and get better at our craft. I’ve been working in this field for almost 20 years now and I still feel like I have so much to learn. I’m proud of the work that we do at Woodmen Financial Resources and I hope I learn as much in the next 20 years as I did the first. I know I’ll have the opportunity to learn a little more every day.
Enjoy each day,
Chris Grassel