Personal Financial Advisor Career Assessment
Helping people plan and invest their money
Welcome
Personal financial advisors help people decide what to do with their money: how to save for retirement, how to invest, how to plan for college or for leaving money to family.
The pay can be very good, but how you get paid is unusual. You will explore what this work really involves and whether it fits you.
This takes about 15 minutes.
What is a Personal Financial Advisor?
A personal financial advisor meets with people, learns their goals and their situation, and builds a written plan. Then they help carry it out, often by buying and selling investments. To sell most investments you must pass exams and be sponsored, which means a licensed firm hires you and signs off on your exam application. Many advisors are also fiduciaries, a legal word meaning you must put the client's interest ahead of your own.
The Reality: Here is the part the job ads leave out. Most advisor jobs pay some or all of your income by commission, which means you only earn when clients buy something or keep money with you. New advisors spend their first years finding clients, and many do not make it. You also cannot take the main exams on your own: for the Series 6 and Series 7, FINRA requires that a member firm sponsor you. And a felony conviction in the last ten years, plus some misdemeanors, triggers what the law calls statutory disqualification. There is a real path back from that, and it is described below, but it is slow and the firm has to want you.
Your Responsibilities:
- Meet people and learn their money goals
- Review income, savings, debts, and insurance
- Write a plan for retirement, college, or taxes
- Explain investment choices in plain words
- Buy and sell investments for clients
- Review and adjust plans every year
- Keep detailed records of every recommendation
- Find new clients, which never stops
You help people turn a paycheck into a future.
A Day in the Life
8:00 AM — Read the market news and check accounts that moved a lot overnight.
9:00 AM — Meet a couple in their 50s. Build a plan for retiring at 65.
10:30 AM — Write up the plan and the paperwork the rules require.
11:30 AM — Call three people who asked about services last week.
12:00 PM — Lunch meeting with a farm family about passing land to their kids.
1:30 PM — Annual review with a long-time client. Adjust her savings amount.
3:00 PM — Finish continuing education hours you owe this year.
4:30 PM — Plan tomorrow's calls. Follow up on two referrals.
Mostly meetings and phone calls. Finding new clients is part of every single day.
Training in North Dakota
A bachelor's degree plus exams. The exams matter more than the major. Almost every firm asks for a four-year degree, but it does not have to be in finance. What you must have is the license exams, and for most of them a firm has to sponsor you first. The usual order is: get hired as a trainee, study, take the exams on the firm's clock.
Training Pathways:
- Bachelor's degree, then get hired and licensed (about 4 to 5 years): Finish a four-year degree, get hired by a firm as a trainee, and pass the SIE and a qualification exam during your first months on the job.
- Pass the SIE first, then job hunt (any time): The SIE is the one exam you can take with no firm behind you. Anyone 18 or older can sit for it. Passing it before you apply proves you are serious, and the result stays good for four years.
- Bachelor's plus a CFP Board Registered Program (about 5 to 6 years): Finish the degree, complete registered financial planning coursework, pass the CFP exam, and build 6,000 hours of experience for the CFP mark.
Where to Train in North Dakota:
- North Dakota State University (Fargo) — Master of Science in Family Financial Planning, 30 credits, fully online with no campus visits, registered by the CFP Board so graduates may sit for the CFP exam. A shorter online graduate certificate in Family Financial Planning is also offered and its courses can count toward the master's — ndsu.edu
- North Dakota State University (Fargo) — Finance, BS, 120 credits, with an optional Commercial Banking Track — catalog.ndsu.edu
- University of North Dakota (Grand Forks) — Finance, BBA, 120 credits, on campus or 100% online, with a student-run investment fund and scholarship help for investment exam costs — und.edu
- Minot State University (Minot) — Finance, BS, 120 credits, on campus. Minot State lists financial service sales agent and financial and investment analyst among the jobs it prepares you for — minotstateu.edu
- Bismarck State College (Bismarck) — Financial Technologies, AAS, online or on campus, then the Bachelor of Applied Science in Finance, also online or on campus. BSC lists financial planner among the jobs these programs prepare you for — catalog.bismarckstate.edu
Before You Start: High school diploma or GED, then a bachelor's degree for most firms. You need to be comfortable talking with strangers, because this job is half math and half conversation. Expect a background check and a credit check before a firm will sponsor you.
Tip: Start with financial aid, scholarships, and any help an employer offers — that is where the money starts. After that, ask a career counselor or Job Service North Dakota whether WIOA or other programs can help with what is left over, like training, tools, work boots, or exam fees. What can be paid for depends on the program and on your own situation, so ask before you sign up rather than after. Registered apprenticeships let you earn a paycheck while you learn — see jobsnd.com/job-seeker/apprenticeships for ND programs.
Certification & Licensing
Exams first, and most of them require a firm to sponsor you. FINRA runs the securities exams. The North Dakota Securities Division, part of the North Dakota Insurance and Securities Department, registers broker-dealer agents and investment adviser representatives in this state.
Exams and Credentials:
- SIE (Securities Industry Essentials) — the starter exam. Anyone 18 or older may take it and no firm sponsorship is needed. 75 multiple-choice questions, 1 hour 45 minutes, passing score 70, $100. The result is good for 4 years. Passing the SIE alone does not let you sell anything (finra.org)
- Series 6 — lets you sell mutual funds, variable annuities, variable life insurance, unit investment trusts, and 529 plans. 50 questions, 1 hour 30 minutes, 70% to pass, $100. You must pass the SIE and be sponsored by a FINRA member firm (finra.org)
- Series 7 — the broad license, covering most securities products. 125 questions, 3 hours 45 minutes, passing score 72, $395. You must pass the SIE and be sponsored by a FINRA member firm (finra.org)
- Series 65 — qualifies you as an investment adviser representative, the fee-for-advice side. 130 scored questions plus 10 unscored, 180 minutes, and you must get at least 92 of the 130 right, $187 (finra.org)
- CFP (Certified Financial Planner) — four requirements from the CFP Board: coursework through a CFP Board Registered Program, a bachelor's degree in any field, a 170-question exam given as two 3-hour sessions in one day, and 6,000 hours of professional experience or 4,000 hours of apprenticeship experience, plus signing an ethics declaration and passing a background check (cfp.net)
- Statutory disqualification — under federal securities law, all felony convictions and certain misdemeanor convictions disqualify a person from the securities industry for ten years from the date of conviction. Bars or suspensions by a regulator, and findings that you willfully broke securities laws, also count (finra.org)
- The path back from disqualification — a FINRA member firm that wants to hire you files Form MC-400 on your behalf and pays a $5,000 application fee. FINRA holds an eligibility proceeding and asks whether approving you protects investors. If approved, you may work in the industry under a strict plan of heightened supervision. The firm has to file it, so your first job is convincing a firm to back you (finra.org)
The Exams: Take the SIE first, because it is the only one you control by yourself. Then a firm sponsors you for the Series 6 or Series 7 depending on what they sell. If you want to give fee-based advice instead of selling products, the Series 65 is the one to aim at.
Cost: SIE $100, Series 6 $100, Series 7 $395, Series 65 $187, as listed by FINRA. Firms usually pay these for employees they sponsor. CFP Board fees are separate and listed at cfp.net.
Keeping It Current: Registered people complete FINRA continuing education on a regular cycle, and investment adviser representatives in states that adopted the model rule have their own continuing education. CFP professionals renew with continuing education and keep meeting the CFP Board ethics requirement.
Salary & Job Outlook
North Dakota Personal Financial Advisor Pay (May 2025):
- Starting out (bottom 10–25%): $28.59–$30.61/hour ($59,470–$63,660/year)
- Middle (median — half earn more, half earn less): $36.96/hour ($76,870/year)
- Experienced (top 25–10%): $49.46–$65.13/hour ($102,890–$135,470/year)
What that means: Treat these numbers with care. The middle North Dakota advisor earns about $36.96 an hour, or about $76,870 a year. The national picture is very different at the top: the US 90th percentile is about $171.65 an hour, or about $357,020 a year, because a handful of advisors with big client lists pull the national average up. That spread is the story of this job. Much of advisor pay is commission or a share of the money you manage, so income depends on how many clients you have, not on hours worked. New advisors often start on a small salary that shrinks as commissions are supposed to grow. Ask any employer, in writing, exactly how you get paid in year one, year two, and year three.
Jobs in North Dakota: About 520 people do this work in ND today. By 2034, that should be about 610 (about 18% growth). Expect about 40 job openings every year in ND from growth and people retiring or changing jobs. Across the U.S., the change is about 10% growth — much faster than average.
Outlook: Good. About 40 openings a year in North Dakota, and the state is projected to grow this job faster than the country as a whole. An aging population with retirement savings is the reason.
Who Hires in ND: Banks and credit unions with investment arms, independent advisory firms, national brokerage and insurance companies with North Dakota offices, and self-employed advisors who build their own practice.
Work Setting: An office, plus a lot of driving to meet clients at their home, farm, or workplace. Evening and weekend appointments are common because that is when clients are free.
Physical Demands: Low. Sitting, talking, and driving. The strain is mental and social, not physical.
Sources: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, North Dakota, May 2025 (SOC 13-2052); North Dakota and U.S. long-term employment projections 2024–2034, via O*NET OnLine. Numbers are rounded.
Where This Leads
Path 1: Client Service Associate — Support an advisor. A common way in without exams.
Path 2: Licensed Trainee — A firm sponsors you while you pass exams.
Path 3: Financial Advisor — Your own client list.
Path 4: CFP Professional — The respected planning credential.
Path 5: Branch or Practice Manager — Lead a team of advisors.
Path 6: Independent Practice Owner — Run your own firm.
The Real Talk
What's Great:
- You change families' futures
- High earning ceiling
- Grows faster in ND than nationally
- You can build your own practice
- No two clients are the same
- Skills work anywhere you move
What's Hard:
- Pay is often commission
- A firm must sponsor most exams
- Finding clients never stops
- Background and credit checks
- Many new advisors quit in a few years
- Evening and weekend appointments
Be Honest: Can you handle income that goes up and down? Are you willing to ask people for their business, over and over? Will your background and credit record pass a firm's check?