My CFP® Story: From Shucking Oysters to Financial Planning

I have known what the CFP® designation was since I was 12 years old. My parents had set me up a meeting with their Merrill advisor because I thought I wanted to become “an investor.” He was patient with me, taking time to methodically answer my questions and describe his day-to-day in great detail. I look back fondly on that meeting remembering how it made me feel, someone as busy as him taking a substantial chunk out of his day to throw time at someone as young and uninformed as myself. Having recently passed the CFP® exam himself, the importance of this accomplishment was made evident to me. This was something that set him apart from his peers, a signal to others that showed not only competence in the profession, but his commitment to uphold a rigorous ethical standard. He educated me about the future opportunities in this industry due to a disproportionate amount of older advisors versus younger advisors seeking out the certificate. (Even today the most recent board published demographics show roughly 3% of CFP® professionals being in their 20s). To a self-proclaimed “student of investing,” helping others achieve their financial goals and make smart decisions with financial resources was an open door I chose to fixate on.

After that meeting in 2005, over a decade ago, I knew that this was the field I wanted to enter.

Throughout high school I worked as an oyster shucker at a local restaurant so I could accumulate funds to invest. My parents opened up a custodial account where I could deposit the several hundred dollars I had saved and start investing. This often led to problems as, more often than not, quarterly announcements would be made while I was in school, and as a result, I was frequently getting into trouble for skipping class to make trades.

While working at the restaurant I began to develop relationships with customers who worked for an RIA headquartered in town. They were frequent patrons and were happy to satiate my seemingly endless financial curiosity. My borderline obsession with the industry helped to earn their respect and led to a job offer as an associate on the investment team.

After my junior year of high school, I began working full-time at the same RIA while attending night classes at a local community college to fulfill my high school senior year requirements. Ultimately, I ended up transferring and commuting an hour each way to SUNY Alfred, a State University offering bachelor’s degrees in Financial Planning. I worked at the RIA for four years, all through college, developing skills and learning my craft. Upon graduation I used a young financial planner recruiting service called “New Planner Recruiting” to locate a job at a RIA in San Francisco, California. I gave away practically everything I owned, loaded my car with books and vinyl and drove across the country.

That move was in January, 2015. Last week, at the age of 22, I successfully passed the CFP® examination.

My study plan was undoubtedly one of the more challenging things I have undertaken. The new city, job, friends and slew of exhilarating adventures stimulated every corner of my brain, and felt as exhausting as several jobs combined. The decision to start the study process was one I never hesitated on, but very quickly made me come to the realization that I was going to have to create a routine like none I’d ever implemented before.

Towards the beginning (6 months prior to the test) I simply tried to spend an hour a day reading the material. This was slow going and incredibly daunting. I felt as If I was blindly stumbling down an ally, slowly feeling the walls and allowing the picture to fill itself in, only to then turn a corner and realize there was another street I had never seen before, let alone known existed.

“The more I learn, the more I realize, the less I know”

               -Einstein

Day by day the walls started to fill themselves in, the universe shrunk and things started to become more manageable. I was at least starting to recognize the edges of the CFP® universe.

About 6 weeks prior to the exam I deleted all social media off my phone. For someone such as myself who is very connected, this was a challenge as I have been using social media for my entire adult life, not to mention much of my youth. I would spend two hours in the morning (5-7am) studying and two to four hours after work (4-7pm). Social sacrifices were initially hard to make, but as you get used to not being available, the people you surround yourself with become used to it too. People stop asking. It is just part of the plan.

The biggest struggle for me was always setting expectations. I wanted to know everything right away. I wanted to wake up one morning and think to myself “ok, I am good.” Even towards the end that never happened. The more you know the more you realize you don’t know, and the more you crave to learn. This test requires an individual to be familiar with a very broad range of topics, and for someone who likes to dive 10,000ft on a single topic, this was a challenge.

Being subjected to the classic case of exam induced insomnia the night before, combined with a complete lack of exposure to standardized testing, did not have me feeling confident the morning of the test. But after a hard run and a long train ride in deep thought, both my body and mind were ready to execute. I sat down at the computer, answered the first three questions, took a deep breath, let the adrenaline kick in, and as I like to say, “played the tape.”

The most exciting thing about the past 6 months for me wasn’t necessarily the fact that I had successfully passed the exam. It was making the decision to extensively study my craft, learn my trade, and pay my dues. For me, this was an unprecedented level of commitment to a specific goal. Similar to moving across the country to a place I knew no one, it proves that these seemingly daunting tasks are actually quite attainable. This has now raised the bar for future goals.

I am now here, at a coffee shop outside of Mission Dolores Park in San Francisco, sitting and thinking of what the next challenge is. I struggled to climb to the top of the largest mountain I could see, only to be standing on the top, seeing hundreds of different, taller mountains that are calling for me to ascend them as well. Studying for the CFP® examination involves following a set curriculum. Topics and concepts are laid out for one to learn, and it is more or less clear what content you are expected to know. I am now tasked with developing my own methods and curriculums in an attempt to constantly ascertain personal deficiencies and improve upon skills. Not being satisfied is a good feeling.

Learning To Communicate

Contrary to what one might expect, I have found communicating financial planning topics does not become easier with an increase in technical knowledge. It is a challenge to know how much information to share and whether or not what I am saying resonates with the client. This often occurs when I participate in client meetings with a more experienced advisor; a client will ask a question, and I will quickly attempt to think of how I expect the advisor to respond. My mind immediately races to rules and regulations related to the topic I think the client is asking about – be it early withdrawal penalties on 529 plans, maximum contribution limits to tax-deferred accounts or whatever else I can think of.

And then after a co-worker responds I begin to realize that simpler is always better.

After dozens of meetings almost identical to this (I am a slow learner) I am beginning to understand that learning the academics is one thing, effectively communicating, building empathy and trust, and truly connecting with someone are completely different.

Most feel comfortable taking advice and instruction from someone that resonates with them, someone who gets them. We can’t be like all of our clients, most of us are from different generations, educational and geographic backgrounds; can this be overcome? Should this be overcome?

I recently had some conversations with various advisors regarding the challenges of client communication. The way I see it, the financial planning body of knowledge can be learned fully in a matter of years, learning how to use empathy and effectively deliver takes a lifetime.

Mark Astrinos CPA/PFS, CFP® is a Wealth Advisor at a fee-only RIA based out of Palo Alto. Mark has nearly a decade of experience in the field. I asked him several questions relating to communication, generational divides and what he wished he knew.

Q: In your experience, what is the most challenging thing to explain to a client?

A: In terms of technical topics, the most challenging topic would be items related to tax or investments. With tax, there are the obvious challenges of being riddled with numbers and rules. With investments, people seem to have more experience and comfort with the topic, but the challenge is that sometimes what we're explaining may be counter intuitive. Adding more fuel to the fire may be the client's preconceived notions or "investment education" which may differ than what you're describing. This is even more challenging because not only do you have to explain the topic at hand, but you have to convince the client to overcome their biases, be open to a new way of thinking, or challenge what they know. The use of examples or analogies are often great tools to assist with these conversations. If you can tailor these to make them personal to the client then they're even more powerful. 

Equally challenging, but not technical are conversations around qualitative topics because often times there are no right or wrong answers.  These conversations may have some element of data/evidence to assist, however ultimately most of these conversations are personal choice. I'm not trying to make the case that all conversations are challenging! I am just saying that there are challenging aspects to all conversations for various reasons. 

Q: Do you find yourself confronted with generational divides? If so, do you confront them?

A: When I first started in this field I thought age was a big deal. I think it's probably because of all the industry old adages you hear or maybe your own fears. "Who's going to trust someone this young with their money" is one that you often hear. Over time, you begin to realize that it all comes down to trust, not age. How do you build trust, regardless of age? You establish credibility. If you are deemed as competent and you provide value to your clients, I think they overlook your age. I have clients my age and twice my age. The only common factor is that they needed help and I was able to establish confidence and trust in their mind that I could help them. 

If you're young and your age is a factor, there are plenty of reasons why this is an advantage in my opinion. In 30 years, when I'm old, I will of course explain all the reasons why this is an advantage :).

There of course will be some older clients that prefer to work with an older advisor and that is fine. You cannot be suitable to everyone. I would focus on learning your craft and adding value to people's lives and your age as a factor will slowly disappear.

Q: What are some of the things related to client communication that you wish you had known when you started your career?

A: When I first started in this industry, I remember being a lot more nervous when I spoke with clients. I think that's natural because it's new and you're not as confident in the material. I wanted to speak with the same ease as my peers who had 10 or even 20 years of experience, which in hindsight was crazy! You don't get really good at anything overnight. I wish I would have had more of this perspective because I would have been more forgiving of myself when I wasn't perfect. Not that I'm perfect now by any means. I think as an advisor you're constantly evolving and growing; and that's the beauty of it. If we weren't, then we would get bored and lose interest. It's this constant iterative cycle of learning more about yourself and your clients and maintaining great communication along the way. With that in mind, I would encourage those just starting their career to practice! Find friends or family and start teaching them about anything. This is a great simulation of a real client meeting. Notice how I didn't say "find other advisors". While I think this is more of a natural inclination and other advisors can give you great feedback because they speak the same language, don't just limit your practice to like-minded people. It is rare that your clients have the same depth and knowledge about your craft that another advisor would, so this can (and should) affect your communication style. You want to eventually have the flexibility on your communication skills to adjust the delivery style, content, approach, and examples used based on who you're talking with. When you start practicing with people outside your profession, you'll notice that it's a lot easier and you'll gain more confidence, which will then in turn help you with clients. 

Another client communication tip is to slow down! My mind tends to move a million miles an hour and this same pace sometimes carries with me when I talk to clients. This is exasperated when I'm excited about a topic (note: I'm excited about most topics and tend to be just more excited about things in general) I always have to remind myself to slow down when speaking to clients. Remember, these are topics that we deal with day in and day out. Clients aren't exposed to the same daily rigor and verbiage as advisors. Talking to your peers should be different than talking to clients. Speak in a way that they understand. Don't use industry jargon or acronyms unless you're dealing with a sophisticated client. I remember I used to feel a need to sound "smart". I don't anymore because I've realized the best way to connect with a client and gain their trust is to have them understand what you are saying. To be honest, this is a lot easier and more natural. 

Lastly, I've always been detail oriented and excited about the numbers because that is what my training has been in. However, I learned over time that not all clients share the same enthusiasm. Just because you have a spreadsheet that you may have spent countless hours on and are very proud of does not mean you need to walk the client through every corner of the page. That's why they hired you! Your job is to make things easy on them. Make sure this reconciles in what you communicate (content) and the how (the words you choose). 

I was also fortunate to have a chance to speak with Sarah Creath, CFP®, co-founder of BCK Partners, a fee-only RIA located in Upstate NY. Sarah has 16 years’ experience in the field. 

Q: In your experience, what is the most challenging thing to explain to a client?   

A: The most complicated thing to explain to any client is anything they’re not interested in learning about.  But, probably the complexities of health insurance – and Medicare in particular.  The process of selecting Medicare supplemental plans has so many moving parts and varies so much by person.  Where they live, whether they travel, their overall health, the prescription drugs they take, their choice of doctor and pharmacy all play into the equation.  On top of that is the fact that almost no one likes to learn about or deal with insurance companies!  It’s hard to explain that to a client when they don’t want to learn about it. 

Finally, the process of enrolling in a Medicare supplement plan requires the client to state (over the phone to the insurance company) that they understand the plan. The process of enrolling takes between 45 minutes and a couple hours per person!  I find that this area of help we provide clients is among those that they’re most grateful for.  

Q: What are some of the things related to client communication that you wish you had known when you started your career?

A: The most important part of communication isn’t talking it all – it’s listening!  The more I can know and learn about my clients, the better the result I can deliver. 

One of the many differences between this profession and most is that it requires a wealth of knowledge on a broad range of topics and the ability to explain those topics to the laymen. For this reason, the main differentiator between advisors may not be level of knowledge, but ability to effectively listen, and communicate.

I always find that I learn the most through observation and experience. I have had my share of extensive drawn-out book learning. But speaking with someone who has dedicated their life to a specific field, and watching how they operate, is invaluable.

“I believe in the discipline of mastering the best that other people have ever figured out. I don’t believe in just sitting down and trying to dream it all up yourself. Nobody’s that smart.” – Charlie Munger

FPA Residency: Boot Camp for Financial Planners

As we dive deeper into this profession, we find ourselves at a crossroad between financial science and financial art. More specifically, we quickly find that this industry is more focused on the "personal," than the "financial planning." Therefore, the art we look to create has to deal with combining complex financial concepts and then immediately applying them to fit our client's unique personalities. 

In my humble opinion, one of the largest challenges we face as NexGen planners is being able to connect to our (usually older) clients on a deep level. The secret ingredient to having a deep connection with anybody is empathy, but sometimes empathy can be difficult to curate if we haven't faced the same life experiences as our clients have faced. For instance, I believe that I'm a great listener and communicator. But if my client has children, they might understandably have a stronger connection with an advisor who also has children. This is not a rule of thumb of sorts, just an easy example of how life experience could play a role in empathetic communication.

Ironically, our greatest advantage in this industry sometimes doubles as our largest disadvantage - our youth. Most of us have studied the textbooks, passed a multitude of exams, and offered fresh perspectives to our traditional firm's dynamics, but our presumed lack of life experiences leaves me wondering one major question - are we ready to be financial planners? And if we are not, how do we help ourselves overcome this?

Fortunately, there are programs available to help us with some of these issues. I've had a chance to explore some of the options available to young planners and recently completed one that has done a better job at preparing me for real-life financial planning than anything else has at this point.

Financial Planning Association's Residency Program

Last month, I had the pleasure of traveling to Denver, Colorado for six days to attend FPA's Residency program. While I wish I had spent more time exploring the 16th Street Mall and Coors Field, I can genuinely say that this program will serve to be one of the larger turning points of my career as a financial planner. Disclaimer: Coors Field is a professional baseball stadium in Denver, not a field of beers (sorry, guys).

So, What is Residency?

I like to refer to it as Bootcamp for the soft skills of financial planners. The program is only six days long, but the program is so dense that the CFP(R) Board awards three months' worth of experience credit towards the CFP(R) designation; that's right - three months of experience is given to FPA Residency graduates. Not bad for six days of work.

For starters, this program is not to be confused with a conference. You're essentially paying for full days of training by trial and error, role play exercises, and other real-life application of financial planning concepts to clients. So if your goal is to skip out on a few days of work for "networking" purposes, this might not be the best bang for your buck.

Speaking of price tags, the program is relatively expensive compared to other FPA events. Early-bird registration for FPA members this year was $2,500 and the price steadily increased from there. It's important to note that there was a sizable wait list this year, which proves that there are plenty of planners out there who wanted to register and would have been happy to pay the registration costs out of their own pockets. NexGen planners should be particularly mindful of this - especially those who have employers that pay for all networking and training expenses - and learn if they really want to be one of the few participants. If you are not sold on attending the event yet, I can guarantee that someone on the wait list is. 

In terms of the sell-out crowd I just mentioned, there were around 35 Residents in total. The smaller size is completely intentional and a huge advantage for anyone looking to get the most out of their experience and receive individual attention from people who really know what they're doing.

Boot camp Begins

On day 1, I arrived in Denver and was picked up by a shuttle bus to take me to our Residency location - this year's event was at the Inverness hotel. Upon arriving at the hotel, we only had a few minutes to get settled into our rooms and mingle with some of the other attendees in the lobby before the main festivities began.

Once it was time, everyone found their way to our dedicated conference room - a room that we would get very familiar with over duration of the experience. Once everyone was settled, we all took turns briefly introducing ourselves to the room (much like the first day of class in grade school), including our 6 mentors. These mentors were all experienced financial planners and it was clear that they all genuinely care about the advancement of the industry. Most of these mentors regularly publish articles in periodicals like Financial Planning magazine, Journal of Financial Planning, and so forth, so most of us were already familiar with most of them (and perhaps a little nervous to meet them). 

I specifically recall being impressed by the distances that all of the Residents were willing to travel to attend. There seemed to be a strong San Francisco Bay Area presence, but I was also acquainted with planners from places like Texas, Florida, Tennessee, and seemingly everywhere in between. 

As I mentioned, there were around 35 Residents in attendance. Shortly after general introductions, we were then split into small groups of around 6-person teams. And for each team, there was an assigned mentor to help guide the teams along as they needed. The small size of each team was a critical piece, as it gave everyone a chance to share their voice and gain some one-on-one time with their mentors. It should be said that our assigned teams were completely random and participants should expect to get very close with the people you're assigned with, as you will likely spend more time with them than anyone else over the program.

Growing Pains

Almost immediately after introductions, it was time to get to work. Our teams gathered and met in a smaller, more intimate conference room to begin. Our first task was an ice breaker exercise. I won't go into details, but let's just say that you quickly get to know the personalities and dynamics around you. My initial reaction was something like, "this is going to be a long week..." I found that that my inner-thoughts were completely normal for this opening exercise. 

After every activity like this, we had a chance to bring our conclusions back into the main conference room and formally present our ideas to the entire class. Naturally, the spokesperson for the team is someone who is comfortable with public speaking, but the team members who were shyer were only delaying the inevitable, as there would be plenty of other opportunities to do some public speaking.

Once the icebreaker activity and presentations were complete, play time was over and it was time to jump straight into content. If I had to consolidate the subject matter, I would say that we focused on two core topics: client discovery and presentation.

The mentors began each of the core topics by walking us through in detail how their specific firms engage clients in these particular topics. Once we learned about their firm's approach, the Residents were able to jump in and ask anything they wanted. After the Q & A session, we would jump straight into role-playing, where the real (painful) growth begins.

As I mentioned, the two main focuses were on discovery and presentation, but it's important to say that the emphasis underlying of every exercise was on client communication and empathy. It was made very clear that everything we do as financial planners should be viewed through the lens of empathy and trust, and that begins with great communication. Regardless of which exercise we were practicing, the immediate feedback we received was largely in terms of how we communicated with our "clients" during the role-plays.

A huge disclaimer was made during introductions letting us know that Residents are already expected to understand the technical aspects of financial planning, so the mentors spent most of their time critiquing our soft skills and delivery. This is an important note for prospective attendees to be mindful of; you will not be tested upon your technical knowledge, but rather how you communicate that knowledge. 

The single largest benefit to the program was being able to practice being vulnerable (in front of a group of people) and then receiving feedback on our performances from some highly-seasoned financial planners who were watching and listening closely. After each exercise, each mentor had a chance to speak and give unique, individual feedback on what just happened - it was absolutely invaluable throughout the entire program.

Who Should Attend?

As I hinted at earlier, some technical skills in financial planning are a prerequisite. You simply won't be able to focus on crafting the art if you are still trying to understand that science. Indeed, we were expected to come up with some technical financial planning recommendations and present them, but we were not graded on the science whatsoever. The focus was on how we presented the material, as opposed to what that material actually was.

For those who have just taken the CFP exam (or are studying), Residency is a perfect opportunity to learn how to take those concepts from the exam and learn to apply them. For the NexGen audience specifically, the experience is huge. Most of us are still essentially "advisors in-training" and this program gives us a chance to practice at a deeper level while getting mentorship from some strong minds in the industry.

I met some great people at Residency, but again, it was not a networking function. The primary focus is to spend close to one week in closed quarters to focus on building the skills that are proven to create and build trust with our clients. 

Residency was one of the turning points of my financial planning career and anyone who is relatively new (or just wants some good practice) is highly encouraged to attend.