How does being an independent financial advisor work?

Hey Anon, I've taken a little break from answering qns here but decided to help you out as there aren't many people that actively look to enter this profession.

1. Well yes definitely. From experience, many consumers don't care about the distionction between an insurance agent and an IFA. In fact we still mainly do exactly the same thing. The focus on income protection and accumulation is the core of both jobs. But no matter how "stigmatized" the job is, we still have a very important role, and it'll be up to you to help lift this stigma by giving stellar advice to your clients.

2. The only restriction would be on the products you can recommend. No IFA has GE and Prudential products avialable. And let's say for insurers like Etiqa we have some of their products but not all of them. For investment products, you just need your relevant licenses and certifications before you can distribute them, (ETFs, individual securities, IPOs)

3. Most FAs still work on a commission basis. However companies like MoneyOwl pay salary only from my knowledge and no commissions. But you can decide yourself to charge an hourly fee as long as clients agree. Some charge on a project basis with a 10-15 hour block of work and keep commissions if financial products are used to solve the solutions presented.

4. Yes, the basic 4 of Health Insurance, M5, M9, and M9A are needed before you can get your RNF code to practice.

5. It would be different from firm to firm plus if you enter into management. I personally will be solo show throughout my career. No plans to recruit at all. So my career progression is just a personal goal to serve more clients and take on complex planning needs (integenerational wealth planning, lifelong charitable foundation planning, family office structures, etc)

My tip would be to find a mentor. This would be the first but the most important step. You might even want to take on a internship role for admin first just to see what goes on from day to day.

But note that this is still a sales job. Your advice is only taken when it's implemented. Even if you give great advice but can't convince someone to take the first step, you did nothing and you can't be naive about that. Focus on both your knowledge but also on your persuasion skills. And before you get into the business, having a business plan on how you'll be getting clients consistently year on year for at least the first 3 years should be established. The best advice will still fail if no one's listening.

If you want to reach out, just message me on FB messenger and we can have a chat, hope this helps.