A Day in the Life of a Financial Advisor

Effective time management is essential for financial advisors who want to stay productive and focused on their goals. A typical day often involves juggling a range of responsibilities, from client meetings and prospecting to handling administrative tasks. By structuring your day intentionally, you can prioritize high-impact activities that drive your business forward. All without burning out in the process.

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What Does a Financial Advisor Do?

A financial advisor’s main job is to help clients manage their finances more effectively so they can reach their goals. Financial advisors can offer advice on retirement planning, life insurance, estate planning, college planning and investment management. Some advisors may choose to focus on a niche. Others pick a specific demographic or client profile, such as women investors or members of the LGBTQ community.

Financial advisors can own their own boutique firms and work independently, or be employed by a financial services company. In addition to having extensive financial know-how, financial advisors also need to be skilled at marketing. Being effective communicators also helps them better understand the needs of their clients.

Financial Advisor vs. Financial Planner

The terms “financial advisor” and “financial planner” are often used interchangeably as someone who helps clients with their overall financial picture while helping prepare for the long term. However, a financial planner can also be a type of financial advisor that helps clients prepare financially for retirement or their long-term stability. Either one can assist with full financial plans that involve estate planning, tax planning, retirement saving and more.

What Does a Day in the Life of a Financial Advisor Look Like?

Every financial advisor’s daily routine is unique. But most share common elements when it comes to the types of tasks they tackle each day. For many, the day starts with a morning routine designed to boost energy and focus before diving into work. This might include activities like exercising, meditating, reading or enjoying a nutritious breakfast to set a positive tone for the hours ahead.

Once those initial tasks are out of the way, an advisor’s day can revolve around the following activities.

Prospecting (2-3 hours)

Reaching out to prospective clients can take up a little of your day or a lot, depending on the state of your business. If you’ve just launched a new advisory business or accepted your first position in the financial services industry, then you’re likely starting from scratch.

You may spend two to three hours each day on prospecting. This can include cold calling, meeting people in person, participating in community events or marketing your business online. This is where an online lead generation tool can help. It’s a simple way to save time while only connecting with prospects who meet your ideal client profile.

SmartAsset AMP can help you automate lead generation for new clients with a single subscription. You can be matched with high-intent investors that match what you’re looking for in a potential client. SmartAsset AMP takes care of referrals, sales campaigns, CRM integrations and more. You could even be directly connected with live leads so you can make an appointment right away.

Here’s how it works: Investors seeking financial guidance complete a detailed survey outlining their investment goals and financial planning preferences. Based on this information, SmartAsset matches them with advisors who meet specific criteria, such as geographic location and asset thresholds. Once a match is made, the advisor receives the lead via phone or directly to their inbox for immediate follow-up.

After receiving a lead, advisors can quickly initiate contact and begin nurturing the relationship through automated email and text messaging campaigns. To support different growth strategies, AMP offers three service tiers. This allows advisors to tailor their approach and aim for acquiring 3+, 7+, or 15+ new clients per year, depending on their business goals.

Client Management (1-2 hours)

Whether you have one client or 100 clients, you can expect to spend part of your day attending to them. That might mean meeting with clients face-to-face, answering client questions over the phone or via email, conducting portfolio reviews or sending out a newsletter to your email list.

Attending to these types of tasks is important for client retention. There can be another benefit, as well; satisfied, engaged clients may be more likely to refer you to their friends, family members or colleagues. The more referrals you’re able to generate, the less time you may need to spend on prospecting.

Financial Planning (1-2 hours)

Financial planning is central to a financial advisor’s role. Clients count on you to develop personalized strategies that align with their goals and circumstances. So it’s only natural that part of your day is spent creating or refining those plans.

This could involve modeling different asset allocation scenarios, updating plans in response to life changes or reviewing retirement timelines to assess progress. The better you understand each client’s unique situation, the more effective and efficient this part of your work becomes.

Continuing Education and Development (1 hour)

The financial services industry is constantly changing. And staying current is essential for advisors who want to remain competitive. A portion of your day might be dedicated to learning new skills, reviewing updated regulatory guidelines or keeping up with industry trends.

Outside of regular work hours, advisors often attend conferences, participate in workshops or pursue additional certifications to enhance their expertise. They may also need to complete training sessions to get up to speed on new software or technology introduced by their firm.

Networking (30 mins-1 hour)

Networking can help you to make invaluable connections as an advisor. So you may spend a small part of each day growing your network. That might be something as simple as reaching out to 10 new people on LinkedIn or sending an introductory email to an advisor you’d like to connect with.

If you have a larger block of time available, you might attend an in-person networking event. Participating in community events featuring professionals in the financial services industry and related fields is another way to invest your time wisely if you can grow your network.

Administrative Tasks (30 mins. to 1 hour)

Administration work can be tedious. But it’s necessary if you want to run a successful advisory business. A good part of your day might be spent on things like recordkeeping, drafting reports or accounting.

Delegating and automating can help you to save time while ensuring that nothing slips through the cracks. For example, you might hand off lower-priority tasks to a junior employee. Or invest in automation software to handle accounting and payroll if you own an advisory business.

Time Management Tips for Financial Advisors

An advisor talking about a day in the life of a financial advisor.

If you feel that you’re not getting everything done that you need to, then it might help to rethink how you spend each working day. Here are a few tips for getting more done as an advisor without getting burned out.

Follow a routine. Doing the same things in the same order each day might seem a little monotonous. However, it can help when managing your time. Creating a routine means that you don’t have to guess which tasks come next or where you need to focus your attention.

Map out your day the night before. Writing out your day before it happens can help you structure your time around individual tasks. You can also review each task and make note of which ones are your top priorities for the day.

Work in blocks. Time-blocking allows you to stay focused on a particular task or group of tasks for a set amount of time. For example, you might block off two hours in the morning for prospecting and one hour in the afternoon for administrative tasks. Time-blocking also makes it easier to build breaks into your day.

Use systems. Implementing systems can also be a time-saver. For instance, what if you don’t have a clear system for onboarding new clients in place yet. That’s something you might want to consider creating. The more you can streamline simpler tasks, the more time you can free up to focus on activities that are designed to produce profits for your business.

Keep in mind that everything a financial advisor works with involves dealing with what is known as the human element. This means that advisors will need to work with people to get most of this work done, from their own clients to other advisors or even professionals like lawyers. Advisors need to have strong people skills to navigate many of these situations.

Bottom Line

A financial advisor working with a client over the phone.

If you’re considering a career in financial services, it’s helpful to understand what a typical day as a financial advisor involves. In the early stages, long hours are common as advisors work to build their brand and grow their client base. Having a clear time management strategy can make it easier to balance these demands. As well as serve clients effectively without becoming overwhelmed.

Tips for Growing Your Advisory Business

Are you looking to expand the marketing of your financial advisor practice? Try SmartAsset AMP, our holistic client prospecting and marketing automation platform. SmartAsset AMP (Advisor Marketing Platform) is a holistic marketing service financial advisors can use for client lead generation and automated marketing. Sign up for a free demo to explore how SmartAsset AMP can help you expand your practice’s marketing operation. Get started today.
Digital marketing can be a powerful way to connect with prospects and establish your brand. If you haven’t created a digital footprint yet, you could be missing out on opportunities to grow your client base. Learning digital marketing strategies, including social media and email marketing, can help to increase your visibility online. This also makes it easier to attract clients to your business.