Types

• There are several kinds of financial planners. Many financial planners work for a company that offers financial planning such as a bank or investment company. Independent financial planners own their own business and work for themselves as any other small business owner does. Independent financial planners therefore do not earn a salary.
  
  

Time Frame

• Financial planners can make significantly more later in their career when their financial planning practice has been established and has more clients.
  
  

Size

• Financial planner salaries range from zero to six figures. Seven-figure salaries are rare among employed financial planners. Jobs for financial planners who are not bringing an established clientele with them to the company will sometimes pay a limited time salary. Common salaries of this variety are $1,000 to $3,000 a month and limited to 12 to 24 months. However, many financial planner positions have no salary.
  
  

Function

• Financial planners who receive a salary often do so as an offset of the money they earn from their clients. Sometimes, this salary must be covered before any additional client derived-earnings are paid. Other times, this salary is only for a limited time to help a financial planner during the time he is starting up his business. Lengths of 12 to 24 months are most common.
  
  

Misconceptions

• A financial planner working just for a salary is rare. Most planners either charge their clients a fee for planning advice or a commission on investments made with that advice.
  
  

Considerations

• Financial planners almost always derive a significant part of their income directly from their clients. Even fee-only planners earn the majority of their income directly from the fees charged. Thus, a financial planner with few clients is likely to earn very little, while a financial planner with several high net worth clients will earn substantially more.
  
  

Warning

• Though many salary surveys publish an average salary for financial planners, most include non-salary compensation such as commissions or fees in that total. Additionally, while a small number of financial planners earn very large salaries, that is not true for the majority of financial planners. It can be helpful to see the statistics behind the averages to get a true picture. Further, a perusal of any job postings will show that virtually all financial planning jobs either require that the planner bring their existing clients (and the revenue they produce), referred to as their "book", or have either no salary or a salary for a limited time.