What Are the Different Financial Advisor Duties and Responsibilities?

A financial advisor is a position in finance that also has several other professional titles associated with it. Financial advisors serve in many capacities, including financial consultant, stockbroker, account broker and account representative. Financial advisor duties and responsibilities all come down to assessing the financial situation and goals of an individual or business and then helping these individuals or businesses to put together an investment plan to reach these goals.

Financial duties and responsibilities start with getting to know everything they need to know about their client. Typically, the financial advisor goes through an extensive questionnaire. The questionnaire covers every aspect of the financial lives and goals of the individual or business.

For example, if a financial advisor is meeting with a married couple, the questionnaire will ask how much money they have to invest and where the money is now. It will cover each of their incomes, how many children they have and what type of college funds they have set up for the kids. The questionnaire also covers any assets, such as a home or boat they own, and their liabilities such as a mortgage and credit card debt. In this case, the financial advisor duties and responsibilities allows the advisor to gather the knowledge and information he or she needs to guide the client in the right direction.

After collecting all of this information from the clients, the advisor talks with the client about their different financial goals. It may be that the couple wants to retire by 50 and generate enough income from their investments to live off from the time they are 50 until they pass away. The clients may need to create a trust for each of their children. Financial advisors may help a client plan to get out of debt and save money for college educations and retirement, simultaneously.

Financial advisor duties and responsibilities are then to assess the risk of the investors, so the advisor can come up with a short-term and long-term plan that will help the clients reach the goals they have set.

The financial advisor then continues to work with the client to choose and put together a diversified portfolio of investments that will reach each of the goals they have set. The financial advisor may make suggestions as to how the client should invest their money or use their money to pay off their debt. The financial advisor also works with the client over time to assess any changes that need to be made to the plan because of life changes such as death, marriage, the birth of a child, lottery winnings and more.