You Don’t Invest In Your Education Part 1

Norm Trainor remarked on another big shift in the industry.  In the 70’s and 80’s, many agencies had captive advisors, but things are very different today.  Now, out of 2,000 financial institutions in Canada and the U.S., only 33 agencies have captive financial advisors.

Financial advisors unknowingly adopted an employee attitude, which leaves them short sighted when it comes to making an investment in their own training.  They are unconsciously waiting for “the company” to do or provide the training.  They must understand that today, they are the company.

In my experience, the average financial advisor will invest between $2,500 and $3,500 per year on continuing education or development.  That’s a far cry from the cost of something like coaching.  Industry research suggests that coaching fees run from $5,000 to $25,000 per year.

Once their initial training is complete, the majority think that is it – for life.  This is very sad; as there is so much value financial advisors can give back to humankind.

When I talk about education, I’m talking about three different things:

1. Professional development
2. Personal development
3. Product development

1.  Professional Development

According to www.wikipedia.com, “Professional development often refers to verbal and tactile skills required for maintaining a specific career path or to general skills offered through continuing education, including the more general skills area of personal development.  It can be seen as training to keep current with changing technology and practices in a profession or in the concept of lifelong learning.  Developing and implementing a program of professional development is often a function of the human resources or organization development department of a large corporation or institution.” (Retrieved July 7, 2008)

The last sentence of this definition identifies the symptom.  It is no wonder that most financial advisors only participate in continuing education if it is given to them for free; they’re not part of a large corporation or institution (as we covered in the previous symptom, “You’re thinking like an employee”).

When their initial training ended, some advisors adopted the positive belief that, “if it is going to be, it is up to me.”  They went out and continued to invest in their own professional, personal or product development and they grew and became successful.

Other advisors fell victim to their own negative beliefs, suchs, “I gave this company everything and now they will not give me the time of day.  Woe is me.  I guess I won’t be able to get any more training.”  Consequently, their outcome was limited growth and mediocre success.

 This article was originally published in Curing The Unmet Needs Disease © Simon Reilly 2008