--- title: "Financial Advisor" description: "Advise clients on financial plans using knowledge of tax and investment strategies, securities, insurance, pension plans, and real estate. Duties include…" canonical: "https://nuecareer.com/careers/financial-advisor" last-updated: "2026-08-23T15:56:39.581Z" --- # Financial Advisor **Category:** Business and Financial Operations · **SOC code:** 13-2052 · **O\*NET-SOC code:** 13-2052.00 Advise clients on financial plans using knowledge of tax and investment strategies, securities, insurance, pension plans, and real estate. Duties include assessing clients' assets, liabilities, cash flow, insurance coverage, tax status, and financial objectives. May also buy and sell financial assets for clients. Also advertised as: Certified Financial Planner (CFP); Financial Advisor; Financial Consultant; Financial Counselor; Financial Life Planner; Financial Planner; Investment Advisor; Portfolio Manager. ## At a glance - **Median annual wage:** $105,070 (BLS OEWS, May 2025) - **Median hourly wage:** $50.51/hr - **Wage range (10th–90th percentile):** $50,190 to $357,020, with the middle half between $72,440 and $176,790 - **Total US employment:** 266,800 - **Typical entry education:** Bachelor's - **Preparation required:** Medium preparation — O\*NET rates this "Job Zone Four: Considerable Preparation Needed" - **Projected growth:** +9.6% over 2024–2034 (BLS EP, 2024–2034) - **Annual job openings:** 24,100 openings a year - **AI-resilience score:** 15/100 — a NueCareer heuristic over O\*NET work activities and context, not a BLS or O\*NET figure ## Pay National wage distribution, BLS OEWS, May 2025, across 266,800 US jobs. | Percentile | Annual wage | | --- | --- | | 10th | $50,190 | | 25th | $72,440 | | 50th (median) | $105,070 | | 75th | $176,790 | | 90th | $357,020 | | Mean (average) | $156,670 | ### Pay by state The 15 highest-paying states, by median annual wage. The cost-of-living-adjusted column divides the state median by that state's BEA Regional Price Parity, so the columns answer different questions: the first is what the job pays there, the second is what that pay buys there. | State | Median annual wage | Cost-of-living adjusted | Employment | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | NY | $166,400 | $154,187 | 21,550 | | NJ | $158,570 | $145,738 | 9,300 | | CA | $130,330 | $117,711 | 32,200 | | CT | $129,720 | $125,200 | Not published by BLS | | SD | $128,720 | $145,305 | 620 | | MA | $125,670 | $118,829 | Not published by BLS | | DE | $125,050 | $125,291 | Not published by BLS | | OR | $122,830 | $118,836 | 3,070 | | IL | $120,130 | $120,180 | 9,760 | | WI | $119,430 | $126,925 | 5,200 | | WA | $114,050 | $106,576 | 5,790 | | VT | $110,020 | $112,313 | 520 | | PA | $105,200 | $107,818 | 12,200 | | DC | $104,990 | $95,531 | 480 | | MN | $102,660 | $104,095 | 5,280 | 34 more states with published wage data are omitted here. The full table for all 49 states is at https://nuecareer.com/careers/financial-advisor/salary-by-state, or as JSON at https://nuecareer.com/api/v1/careers/financial-advisor. ## Outlook BLS projects employment to move from 326,000 in the 2024–2034 base year to 357,200 by the end of the cycle — a gain of 31,200 jobs, or +9.6%. Much faster than average: 9.6% against 3.1% projected for all occupations over the same cycle. About 24,100 openings a year are expected on average, counting openings from growth as well as from workers leaving the occupation permanently. Source: BLS EP, 2024–2034. ## How to get in - **Typical entry education:** Bachelor's degree (BLS Employment Projections). - **Preparation level:** Medium preparation — O\*NET's preparation band for this occupation is "Job Zone Four: Considerable Preparation Needed". - **Related work experience typically required:** None. - **Typical on-the-job training:** Long-term on-the-job training. ### Education people in this job actually hold O\*NET surveys incumbents, so this distribution describes who is in the job today and can differ from the BLS entry requirement above. | Education level | Share of workers | | --- | --- | | Bachelor's Degree | 57.7% | | Post-Baccalaureate Certificate | 23.1% | | Master's Degree | 11.5% | | Post-Secondary Certificate | 7.7% | ## What the work involves - Interview clients to determine their current income, expenses, insurance coverage, tax status, financial objectives, risk tolerance, or other information needed to develop a financial plan. - Analyze financial information obtained from clients to determine strategies for meeting clients' financial objectives. - Answer clients' questions about the purposes and details of financial plans and strategies. - Review clients' accounts and plans regularly to determine whether life changes, economic changes, environmental concerns, or financial performance indicate a need for plan reassessment. - Recommend to clients strategies in cash management, insurance coverage, investment planning, or other areas to help them achieve their financial goals. - Implement financial planning recommendations, or refer clients to someone who can assist them with plan implementation. - Prepare or interpret for clients information, such as investment performance reports, financial document summaries, or income projections. - Manage client portfolios, keeping client plans up-to-date. ## Skills and knowledge ### Essential skills - Reading Comprehension — importance 4.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale - Active Listening — importance 4.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale - Speaking — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale - Writing — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale - Critical Thinking — importance 3.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale - Mathematics — importance 3.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale - Active Learning — importance 3.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale - Monitoring — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale ### Transferable skills These are the skills that carry into other occupations, and they drive the related-occupation and career-change rankings on this site. - Social Perceptiveness — importance 3.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale - Service Orientation — importance 3.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale - Complex Problem Solving — importance 3.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale - Judgment and Decision Making — importance 3.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale - Persuasion — importance 3.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale - Systems Analysis — importance 3.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale - Systems Evaluation — importance 3.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale - Coordination — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale ### Knowledge areas - Customer and Personal Service — importance 4.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale - Economics and Accounting — importance 4.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale - English Language — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale - Mathematics — importance 3.7 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale - Psychology — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale - Administration and Management — importance 2.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale ### Abilities - Oral Comprehension — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale - Written Comprehension — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale - Oral Expression — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale - Speech Clarity — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale - Inductive Reasoning — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale - Written Expression — importance 3.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale ## Who it suits O\*NET rates every occupation on the six Holland (RIASEC) interest areas, on a 1–7 scale. This occupation's strongest areas are Enterprising (E), Conventional (C), Social (S). | Interest area | Score (1–7) | | --- | --- | | E — Enterprising | 5.85 | | C — Conventional | 5.61 | | S — Social | 4.07 | | I — Investigative | 3.27 | | A — Artistic | 1.69 | | R — Realistic | 1.00 | ### Personality fit These scores are **derived by NueCareer**, not published by any government agency: they are cosine similarities between a personality type's trait profile and this occupation's O\*NET interest and work-style ratings, expressed 0–100. Treat them as a starting point for exploration, not as evidence that a type belongs in a job. | Type | Fit score (0–100) | | --- | --- | | ESFJ | 76.7 | | ESTJ | 74.4 | | ENFJ | 68.3 | | ENTJ | 67.4 | | ISFJ | 59.3 | Best-fitting types: ESFJ, ESTJ. ## Related occupations O\*NET's primary related occupations, in its own ranked order. - [Financial and Investment Analyst](https://nuecareer.com/careers/financial-and-investment-analyst) — median $102,740 - [Credit Counselor](https://nuecareer.com/careers/credit-counselor) — median $52,230 - [Security, Commodity, and Financial Services Sales Agent](https://nuecareer.com/careers/security-commodity-and-financial-services-sales-agent) — median $78,660 - [Investment Fund Manager](https://nuecareer.com/careers/investment-fund-manager) — median $166,570 - [Financial Risk Specialist](https://nuecareer.com/careers/financial-risk-specialist) — median $117,330 - [Loan Officer](https://nuecareer.com/careers/loan-officer) — median $76,690 - [Accountant](https://nuecareer.com/careers/accountant) — median $83,680 - [Financial Manager](https://nuecareer.com/careers/financial-manager) — median $166,570 - [Insurance Sales Agent](https://nuecareer.com/careers/insurance-sales-agent) — median $62,280 - [Financial Examiner](https://nuecareer.com/careers/financial-examiner) — median $94,160 ## Sources - **O\*NET** — O\*NET 30.3 Database, May 2026. https://www.onetcenter.org/database.html - **BLS OEWS** — BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025. https://www.bls.gov/oes/ - **BLS EP** — BLS Employment Projections, Table 1.2, 2024–2034. https://www.bls.gov/emp/ - **BLS OOH** — BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2024–2034 edition. https://www.bls.gov/ooh/ - **BEA RPP** — BEA Regional Price Parities by State, 2024. https://www.bea.gov/data/prices-inflation/regional-price-parities-state-and-metro-area --- This bank includes information from the O\*NET 30.3 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). O\*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. NueCareer has transformed the data by joining it to BLS wage and projection data and deriving facet, personality-fit and AI-resilience scores. BLS and BEA data are public domain (17 U.S.C. §105). O\*NET content is used under [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). How these figures are sourced and derived: https://nuecareer.com/careers/methodology JSON representation of this page: https://nuecareer.com/api/v1/careers/financial-advisor