Anybody become a CFP in ER as a hobby j_b ?

[Delawaredave5]

Has anybody become a CFP in ER as a "hobby j_b" ?

Seems like it might be a neat way to help people and make some extra money while doing "finance stuff" that you'd be doing anyhow ?

I don't know the education requirements, how hard the board exam is, or what kind of "net hourly rate" is reasonable (billed dollars divided by total time consulting, administration, and marketing).

Any other certifications ? Is this the main association ? CFP Board

Appreciate any insight.

 

[pb4uski]

From what I understand it is a pretty challenging exam. I think I have better things to do.

Besides to meet the experience requirements you would have to go back to w*rk. Not happening.

 

[brewer12345]

I am a CFA charterholder and could go into the advice business. I will not. Simply put, if I could get past the not wanting to work thing, there are two big problems with the business:

- generally the biggest liar gets the clients. not interested in compromising my ethics.

- liability. Yes, you can get E&O insurance, but I have seen the inside of compliance operations often enough to not want to find out if the insurance is enough to avoid going bankrupt.

 

[friar1610]

I looked into this when I was ready to retire for good (foolishly thinking I could do it part-time.) Here's what I found out:
- financial companies want people who can "sell," vs helping people.
- if you want to become a CFP you not only have to pass the exam but you have to have 3 years experience. Pretty much the only way you can get the experience is to "sell" for someone.
- even if you want to work for a "fee only" only firm, you still need the experience to get the CFP designation. And it's really hard to get clients if you're not already a CFP.

The bottom line for me was that I didn't want to do this kind of work so bad that I was willing to pay the dues to get there. Others might reach a different conclusion and, if so, more power to them.

 

[daylatedollarshort]

I started on a masters in financial planning years ago and dropped out when I found out all the graduates of prior years just went into sales jobs.

I have thought about volunteering to help seniors and low income people with budgeting and signing them up for social service programs they may be eligible for and not know about:

Food Stamps Avoided By Millions Of Eligible Americans

We decided not to take on any jobs or business ventures in retirement that would have a high risk of getting sued, so that rules out many jobs in the financial area.

 

[JoeWras]

Everyone I know with this plan turn into annuity sales droids.

No thanks.

"Friends don't let friends sell annuities."

 

[vlagirl]

I'm taking a CFP certification course for fun, using some of my GI Bill money, but I don't plan to actually work in the field for most of the reasons listed above. I may or may not sit for the exam - seems pretty meaningless since I don't have the work experience. But the courses have definitely been interesting and informative.

 

[jkern]

That was my original plan. Once I found out about the 3 year work requirement before the exam, that was the end of that idea!

 

[Midpack]

Wife of a friend completed CFP certification. She did it to educate herself, and hasn't seriously considered taking on clients. I wouldn't take on clients either, as I am sure most clients would "blame" their CFP when markets hit a downturn - no thanks for that (often misplaced) grief. I assume most clients that can't invest for themselves expect a CFP to guarantee positive returns in all markets...

 

[PatrickA5]

If you like taxes, you could get a "hobby" job with one of the tax prep firms. After I semi-retired from the accounting profession, I went to work for Block doing taxes. You won't make much money at first, but I enjoy helping people with their taxes and provide a limited amount of financial advice - mainly dealing with Roths, etc. If you build up your client base, you can make a decent hourly wage for a part time, seasonal job. I'd say that 70+% of Block employees are retired professionals. In my office we have 5 CPAs and two attorneys - but it isn't the typical office.

 

[heeyy_joe]

I looked into this when I was ready to retire for good (foolishly thinking I could do it part-time.) Here's what I found out:
- financial companies want people who can "sell," vs helping people.
- if you want to become a CFP you not only have to pass the exam but you have to have 3 years experience. Pretty much the only way you can get the experience is to "sell" for someone.
- even if you want to work for a "fee only" only firm, you still need the experience to get the CFP designation. And it's really hard to get clients if you're not already a CFP.

The bottom line for me was that I didn't want to do this kind of work so bad that I was willing to pay the dues to get there. Others might reach a different conclusion and, if so, more power to them.

+1

 

[haha]

Sales jobs don't fit well with helping people. Sales jobs can be good jobs, you just have to grab something that is hot, and that doesn't take forever to qualify for, and get started moving the merchandise. The sort of loose, self interested culture of many of these things can be appealing to people who have been bored in some buttoned-up career.

But most of these good jobs are for young people, and in some fields they can make excellent money.

For the most part, unless a retiree has existing connections and a client base, don't leave working until you have plenty of money, or you are young and you are making a well researched career change.

Most of us know people who consistently embark on stupid, failure prone quests, or even worse spend money and valuable time preparing for some money-making role that ten minutes consideration by a normally alert person would make clear that for this person at least, it could not work.

A lot can be learned from these hapless individuals.

Ha

 

[Mulligan]

Sales jobs don't fit well with helping people. Sales jobs can be good jobs, you just have to grab something that is hot, and that doesn't take forever to qualify for, and get started moving the merchandise. The sort of loose, self interested culture of many of these things can be appealing to people who have been bored in some buttoned-up career.

But most of these good jobs are for young people, and in some fields they can make excellent money.

For the most part, unless a retiree has existing connections and a client base, don't leave working until you have plenty of money, or you are young and you are making a well researched career change.

Most of us know people who consistently embark on stupid, failure prone quests, or even worse spend money and valuable time preparing for some money-making role that ten minutes consideration by a normally alert person would make clear that for this person at least, it could not work.

A lot can be learned from these hapless individuals.

Ha

Yes, I have witnessed a few of them. Only to return back to their previous career with tail between legs realizing the grass wasn't greener on the other side of the fence. Concerning CFP, I have found most of my college educated friends to be unwilling and unable to listen to anything. I usually cannot get them to even understand the difference between a regular IRA and a Roth IRA. For the company I have kept with, the only kind of CFP that would benefit them would be one who kept it simple. "Each month you are going to show me your spending and income. If you did not follow what I told you to do, I am going to beat the crap out of you. Just do what I say and you won't get beat up."


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[JoeWras]

If you like taxes, you could get a "hobby" job with one of the tax prep firms. After I semi-retired from the accounting profession, I went to work for Block doing taxes. You won't make much money at first, but I enjoy helping people with their taxes and provide a limited amount of financial advice - mainly dealing with Roths, etc. If you build up your client base, you can make a decent hourly wage for a part time, seasonal job. I'd say that 70+% of Block employees are retired professionals. In my office we have 5 CPAs and two attorneys - but it isn't the typical office.

I'm throwing that idea around myself. The only problem I have is that some of these firms really put the squeeze on their employees to sell crap like refund loans. That is giving me considerable reason to reconsider.

Ideally, I'd like to work in an independent firm as a back office tax monkey during the season crush, but not sure how easy it would be to get there.

Finally, I occasionally toss around the idea of training for the EA exam, just for the heck of it, and to exercise my brain. I'll probably need something. After 35 years of computer code, I need my brain to "chase rules." CPA is out, that window passed. Law? Forget it. Ah, tax code. Now that may work...

 

[Sarah in SC]

I am a CFP and work in wealth consulting. I don't sell anything, especially not annuities.
I could see taking some of the courses as a hobby for folks interested in the process, but probably not going all the way to taking the exam and the experiential requirements to gain certification.
You could probably gain satisfaction from volunteering with credit counseling at a non profit or something like that, without getting into the issues of liability inherent in the financial planning field.

 

[haha]

Yes, I have witnessed a few of them. Only to return back to their previous career with tail between legs realizing the grass wasn't greener on the other side of the fence. Concerning CFP, I have found most of my college educated friends to be unwilling and unable to listen to anything. I usually cannot get them to even understand the difference between a regular IRA and a Roth IRA. For the company I have kept with, the only kind of CFP that would benefit them would be one who kept it simple. "Each month you are going to show me your spending and income. If you did not follow what I told you to do, I am going to beat the crap out of you. Just do what I say and you won't get beat up."


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

This would be a real help to my children.

Ha

 

[rothlev]

I'm throwing that idea around myself. The only problem I have is that some of these firms really put the squeeze on their employees to sell crap like refund loans. That is giving me considerable reason to reconsider.

Ideally, I'd like to work in an independent firm as a back office tax monkey during the season crush, but not sure how easy it would be to get there.

Finally, I occasionally toss around the idea of training for the EA exam, just for the heck of it, and to exercise my brain. I'll probably need something. After 35 years of computer code, I need my brain to "chase rules." CPA is out, that window passed. Law? Forget it. Ah, tax code. Now that may work... __________________

that is what I did, I just sat for and passed the EA exam. Block payed for the study program materials and refunded the test fees. It is an o.k. retirement job, they do try really hard to get you to sell their products, which I find annoying. And the tax prep fees, well, sometimes, they are hard to explain to the clients. The plus is it is seasonal, it pays reasonably well after a few years, and you do get to work with and often help people with finance. There are no more refund loans, IRS put a stop to that. I thought about the back office tax monkey drone, and decided I'd rather work with people.

 

[friar1610]

I'm throwing that idea around myself. The only problem I have is that some of these firms really put the squeeze on their employees to sell crap like refund loans. That is giving me considerable reason to reconsider.

Ideally, I'd like to work in an independent firm as a back office tax monkey during the season crush, but not sure how easy it would be to get there.

Finally, I occasionally toss around the idea of training for the EA exam, just for the heck of it, and to exercise my brain. I'll probably need something. After 35 years of computer code, I need my brain to "chase rules." CPA is out, that window passed. Law? Forget it. Ah, tax code. Now that may work...

For those interested in volunteering (i.e., retirees for whom the income is not that important) AARP has a program where they give you a week of training before the tax season and then you help seniors, generally lower income folks with their taxes.

 

[RE2Boys]

that is what I did, I just sat for and passed the EA exam. Block payed for the study program materials and refunded the test fees. It is an o.k. retirement job, they do try really hard to get you to sell their products, which I find annoying. And the tax prep fees, well, sometimes, they are hard to explain to the clients. The plus is it is seasonal, it pays reasonably well after a few years, and you do get to work with and often help people with finance. There are no more refund loans, IRS put a stop to that. I thought about the back office tax monkey drone, and decided I'd rather work with people.

I also went the Block route for general training in taxes, but found the same issues with fees and selling other products. After 5 years with Block, moved on to the back office tax monkey role at a CPA firm for last 8 years. Disadvantage is you seldom deal with the client, though the more years I work there, the more client contact i have, mostly requesting missing information. At least for me, it pays way better than Block ever did and I'm allowed to set my work hours.

Due to a merger though, a lot of mega-corp BS is creeping into the work schedule (was a small regional firm before) such not sure how much longer will enjoy the j*b. Looking into possibly volunteering in a free tax prepare program run by a local charitable foundation. We'll see.......