Becoming a Financial Planner as a Person of Color
I am entering in a small demographic of people. I made the decision to change careers and become a Certified Financial Planner. It’s only been a year and what a journey it has been. There has been a lot of crazy twist and turns. I wanted to share my story and what I’m doing for the next year as a financial professional.
Background
As a Person of Color, I recognize that my positioning is difficult because not only do I have to relay the importance of diversity for financial professionals and the industry, but I also have to create a bridge for consumers who are people of color to gain trust in the financial industry. When I say my goal is to make financial planning accessible for Women of Color, most of my family and friends has no clue what I am talking about. I’ve now become the money expert, and I find myself helping my family navigating retirement papers. That is a huge responsibility, but I knew what I was getting into.
When I told fellow people of color that I wanted to target my future services to women of color, they told me “good luck with that, because black people don’t want to learn.” When I told folks that were Allies, they told me that I was ambitious and left it at that. I realized that I have to put in more work than lots of other folks, and that might require taking a longer time to get my designation. Don’t worry I have some cheerleaders in my corner of all races.
From the big picture to the details, in this next portion I will describe in detail the steps that I took to make the leap into the Financial Planning industry as a person of color. This is completely honest to my own personal journey, but anyone that makes a decision to become a CFP professional doesn’t have to strictly follow my path. If there’s anything I’ve learned from being a teacher in the Mississippi Delta, it’s that when life gives you lemons, you make a meringue pie. Sometimes you just have to adapt as you go and try to make the best of it.
Make a Network Map
You know that joke, your network is your Net-worth? It’s true in this business. A Network Map is an excel spread sheet that has a on-going sheet to track who you know and who you want to talk to. I started to write out the names of people that had CFP designations. I used LinkedIn, Instagram, etc. I followed the certain hashtags #financialplanning #budgeting and I would take time out once a week to READ READ READ. Or research. I tried to figure out exactly what was interesting to me. This process takes time, and I would say that it has taken me a year.
After I made the Network Map I would actually try to connect with the people in my network map. There are a lot of folks that would be scared, but I read a lot of Tim Ferris and I am big fan of pushing yourself.
Take the Series 65
The series 65 is an investment registered exam. In a nutshell it’s a test that lets you This is something that I regret not taking it ahead of time. The test is a beast, and there are mixed feelings about how hard or east it is. I wish I took this before taking my coursework, because it’s an overview of investment and it also looks good on your resume. It gets your foot in the door. I’m still working on the coursework, and I keep starting and stopping.
Enroll into CFP coursework
One of the things that I should’ve thought about is what CFP classes fit for me. I rushed and took the first class, and I didn’t think about the fact that an MBA takes time. I’m working on me being a workaholic. My favorite CFP guru Michael Kitces has an overview of CFP schools
You’re probably thinking is there anything positive out of the to-do list? There is! There are a lot cool things that I’ve done in the past year. I started the Money and Flow Podcast and I figured out the people I want to work with, I am writing my business final project on helping accessing people of color understand financial planning. I also wrote a book. Life is good… But a lot of work.
I wrote this because I know that someone is thinking that they want to be a financial planner but don’t know where to start. I was all over the place and that’s okay.
I will look like Tim 2020. Not a guy, but laughing after this is done.