Getting Started in Financial Consulting

by Stone, Edward J.

• ISBN13: 9780471348146
• ISBN10: 0471348147
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2000-04-13
• Publisher: Wiley

Summary

Comprehensive Coverage Completely Up-to-date! A detailed road map for getting started as an independent financial consultant Each year, thousands of people from all walks of life leave the security of their nine-to-five jobs to pursue careers as independent financial consultants. For a great many of them, the experience is financially and personally rewarding beyond their expectations. If you, too, are thinking about taking the big leap into becoming a financial consultant, but you aren't sure how to go about it, this book is for you. How can I be sure that financial consulting is right for my personality? What kinds of training and skills do I need to succeed, and how do I get them? What special licenses or certification are required? How do I find clients and build lasting relationships with them? With the help of first-person accounts from successful financial consultants from across the country, expert Edward J. Stone provides complete answers to these and all your questions concerning: * Acquiring and honing key skills, including the all-important "people" skills * Organizing and structuring your business * Indispensable software tools * Services you can offer clients and why you should specialize * Marketing your services, targeting clients, and building a solid core clientele * Why you should become certified and how to go about it * Profiling clients and drawing up formal financial plans * Dealing with state and federal regulations * Contracts and key legal considerations * Surviving in a down market

Author Biography

<b>Edward J. Stone</b> has been a full-time consultant, specializing in the financial and business computing industries, for more than a decade. He is the editor of the Journal of Corporate Accounting and Finance, and the editor/writer of the newsletter Banks in Insurance Report.

Table of Contents

Preface	ix
Acknowledgments	xiii
Introduction	1	(8)
Skills and Training	9	(24)
Investment Adviser or Personal Financial Planner?	33	(18)
Setting Up Your Practice	51	(28)
Services to Offer	79	(36)
Specialized Niches	115	(20)
Contracts and Other Legal Considerations	135	(28)
Tools of the Trade	163	(32)
Building a Clientele	195	(28)
Should You Sell Products?...And Other Ethical Issues	223	(22)
Other Income Sources	245	(14)
Surviving in a ``Down'' Market	259	(12)
Appendix	271	(6)
Index	277