Virtual Paraplanning as a Non-Traditional Career Path

Sandy Cervantes, CFP®, EA, shares how she got her foot in the door in the financial planning profession as an outsourced virtual paraplanner in the book "So You Want to be a Financial Planner: Your Guide to a New Career - Tenth Edition" authored by Nancy Langdon Jones, CFP Board Emeritas. The following are excerpts from Sandy's contribution to the book. 

"One of the things I grappled with as I worked on my career change was how I was going to get my first job with a firm as an entry-level financial planner. I knew I wanted to work at a fee-only RIA and that I needed to work part-time. I initially started looking for my first job, as most of us normally do, searching the job postings on Indeed and other similar job boards. All I found were job descriptions for full-time positions at broker-dealers and wirehouses. I thought, “How am I going to get my foot in the door?”"

"In the US, paraplanning is still a very new role within the financial planning profession. In the UK and Australia, it is a more established technical career path. A paraplanner is very simply someone who assists in the financial planning process. I’ve come to find out from speaking with many financial advisors that the role of a paraplanner means different things to different advisors. At the core of the role, a paraplanner enters data into the financial planning software, models scenarios for the planner, develops financial planning recommendations, and prepares financial plan deliverables."

"As an outsourced paraplanner, I have also learned different ways of doing financial plans and have gotten exposure to different planning processes. Each financial planner I’ve worked with approaches financial planning differently, and I’ve been able to learn how to develop various types of recommendations and deliverables. I get exposed to different client situations such as clients with businesses, clients who work in tech and have equity compensation, cross-border planning clients, etc."

You can read Sandy's entire story in Nancy's book as well as helpful and inspiring contributions from many other financial planners. This book is a primer into the financial planning profession and may help you find a place in this industry that is the right fit for you.