Young Advisors Have a lot of Questions

I Have Answers

Author

Michael Batnick
February 07, 2025

Here’s an email that we from a young advisor:

As a CFP always looking to land larger accounts, I’ve considered whether adding the CFA designation would add any credibility to help land HNW clients. However, since I mostly use model portfolios, SMAs, etc., I personally know that the CFA would be more of a “social signal” rather than provide me much value personally. I am curious if you have come across any other designations or programs that can help advisors better articulate investment principles to clients? A “CFA lite” type designation.

The advisor thinks they’re asking one question, but they’re really asking another. On the surface, they’re looking for advice on what they can learn to demonstrate value, even if it’s just as a social signal. But the real question, the one that matters, is, how do I get people with a lot of money to trust me?

I never spoke to the person who emailed me, so I’m going to make some assumptions that might or might not apply to them.

Young people, myself included at the time, tend to feel insecure. “I’m an impostor. I don’t know anything. They’re going to think I’m too young.”

To overcome these feelings of inadequacy, they seek ways to signal to people that they are, in fact, credible. I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but no designation will convince someone to work with you if they wouldn’t have otherwise. “People do business with people they like.”*

Salespeople, especially advisors, tend to talk more than they should. The job is to listen to what the person is saying, identify their pain points, and deliver a message that conveys that you are the person they should trust with their financial well-being.

For young people looking for ways to advance their careers, “How do I gain more knowledge about investing?” is the wrong question. The right one is, “How do I gain the confidence to give prospects the confidence that they’re making the right decision by hiring me? You won’t find any of this in a book. You learn it in the real world.

People won’t hire you because you taught them something they didn’t know about emerging market bonds. They hire you because you made them feel good about the decision to hire you.

“Okay Michael. Well then how do I do that?”

Talk to people. That’s how. Eventually, every question somebody asks you will be asked, and you’ll have the confidence to smash anything they ask you!

I’m not here to minimize the importance of credibility that you get with specific designations. But if you’re already a CFP, getting the CFA really doesn’t matter. It just doesn’t. The caveat is that if it gives you confidence to talk more intelligently, then there is value in that. But I think there’s a better way to spend 300 hours of your life if your goal is to demonstrate value to people you’re talking with. Focus on getting more at bats, and less time taking practice swings.

And that’s all I got to say about that.

Hey, one more thing I want to share. We’re going to be doing more real-world content that is less focused on markets and more focused on building and managing wealth. On our first conversation, Josh interviewed RWM senior advisor Joey Fishman about how we talk with employees who get compensated with stock options. The second video is with myself, Josh, and David Adelman, owner of the 76ers. We talk about how David built his empire. Check us out!

And if you’re an employee who has questions about their equity comp, reach out! This is what we do.

*Stole this line from Josh. He’s 100% right.