Financial Consultant Salary In India – Freshers, Intermediates, And Experts

Another glorified term for a financial advisor, financial consultants can offer a number of services from giving normal financial advice to actual financial planning for other clients. Either way, they make finance easier to understand and work with. Today we are going to look at Financial Consultant Salary details In the Indian context.

Who are Financial Consultants?

Financial consultants are people who offer customized advice to their clients as per demand, to help build their revenue, or if a client wants to save for vacation/ retirement, they can approach a financial consultant, who can recommend the type of savings/ retirement accounts, and recommend few investments to earn more. These consultants offer budget planning, can identify good investments that can bring more money, and also offer guidance during insurance decisions. On behalf of their clients, they can also make decisions regarding buying and selling of properties, stocks, bonds, and other investments. Financial consultants can also offer specialized services like filing IT returns, tax preparation, and insurance based on their educational qualifications, training, and certification level.

The terms “financial advisor” and “financial consultant” are often used interchangeably. Those who have the qualification of chartered financial consultant (ChFC), can offer more customized services like financial planning, divorce planning, or business planning.

What do Financial Consultants do?

Financial consultants offer financial advice to clients on how to manage their accounts/ savings. They can make a whole image of the client’s finances, by breaking down assets, expenses and income, and debts. With this picture, they can deduce the best way to contribute money to each goal you may have in mind like food, travel, buying a home, moving to a different city/ country, concerts, etc. The goals are focused on setting milestones and achieving each milestone brings you closer to the main goal. These consultants can offer different types of services based on their specializations. For example, a chartered financial analyst will focus on financial analysis and portfolio management, a financial planner can help in many areas of financial planning, including retirement, taxes, estate planning, and insurance. There are four major types of financial consultants:

1. Certified Public Accountant (CPA) – can be responsible for tax planning, audit, and assurance, bookkeeping, business management, and forensic accounting.
2. Chartered Financial Consultant (ChFc) – can be responsible for financial planning, tax planning, estate planning, investment, and retirement planning.
3. Chartered Life Underwriter (CLU) – can be responsible for life insurance, annuities, and risk management
4. Personal Finance Specialist (PFS) – can be responsible for financial planning, wealth management, insurance, estate planning, retirement planning, investing, etc.

There are also robo-advisors, for people looking for something other than consultants or advisors. Robo-advisors provide a rather inexpensive portfolio management, suitable for people trying to make their own portfolio but cannot manage it. Certain robo-advisors also provide financial planning services and tools. This is a good option for anyone starting out as financial advisors can charge much more fees if you’ve fewer assets under management, while robo-advisors are pretty well-known to be more inexpensive.

In the case where you need a piece of much more comprehensive financial advice as well as investment management, you can turn to online financial planning services. They’re more expensive than robo-advisors but more affordable than in-person advice.

An in-person advisor is the most expensive, but if you’re looking for the long-term need for financial plans and investment management, then developing a good relationship with a financial advisor works better. This can also come in handy in the long run, where they can bring forth a budget for retirement, your child’s college fee, or when you’re buying a home. It adds more personality to the plans, as they get to know you. You can work with fee-only advisors where clients pay directly and not through commissions.

Hence, the main responsibilities of a financial consultant include:

• Help clients with guidance in making investment decisions.
• Creates a proper financial planner for the client to achieve their goals.
• Predict costs and revenues based on market trends, and conduct risk analyses.
• Answer any financial questions or concerns of the client.
• On-time response to client emails or calls.
• Stay up to date on government policies and investment rules.
• Ensure client data confidentiality.
• Building long-term client relationships.

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Educational Qualifications for financial consultants

This job responsibility includes revenues and forecasting costs, conducting risk analyses on financial plans, and evaluating capital expansion options like funding and loans. For this job, you should have a degree in Finance, or Accounting, or Economics, or Business. Although the exact subject is not specified, classes in taxes, investment, risk management, etc. prepare the students for this role.

Students can apply for entry-level positions in financial advisor jobs where they’ll work and learn from more experienced financial advisors to gain certain experience and knowledge. This can take continue for a year or longer.

Earning certain certifications in financial planning like certified financial planner (CFP) credentials is good for career advancement. You can earn this certification if you have a bachelor’s degree with at least three years of relevant work experience, passes the CFP test, and agrees to a professional code of ethics. Having a relevant Master’s degree in finance or economics or business administration is also good for career advancement.

Three main skills needed for the job are:

• Communication – This is the most important skill to have in this field. Good and confident communication always makes your clients feel confident in you. While some clients may be familiar with all the financial terms and jargon, most other clients won’t be knowing such terms. In this case, they are most likely to have all sorts of doubts, fears, and questions before they get into investing money in anything. So it is important that you have excellent communication and a friendly air around you, and explain every concept and necessary terms to the client in a way they understand easily.
• Risk Assessment – One of the major roles of a financial consultant is to make risk assessments by collecting data and analyzing markets,and various other situations and factors. Due to the rather unpredictive nature of the economy, there is always some risk to be considered while doing financial planning of any sort. Being able to assess that risk as carefully and diligently as possible, knowing how to predict and mitigate these risks, and giving near-accurate presentations to your clients are one of the most important roles of your job. Any misjudgment from your side can sometimes end in a loss for the clients.
• Attention to Detail – Not just for artists or detectives, having a good eye is important for a financial consultant. Because of the risk involved, financial planning becomes so much more than just analysis, prediction, planning, etc., it is important to pay attention to certain little details that can help you to build a better financial plan. Some details may look irrelevant, but their impact could be felt over time, and knowing all this and acting accordingly can be the difference between success and failure.

Some other skills required for this job are:

• Mathematical knowledge for creating reliable financial plans
• Economics and accounting knowledge for a better understanding of financial markets and products, and financial policies.
• Good customer service skills to figure out customer needs
• Ability to sell products and services
• Good research abilities
• Adequate business management skills to negotiate product/ service rates
• Active listening skill
• Able to use the computer and all required software competently
• Excellent analytical skills

If you want to take it one step further, consider an RIA (Registered Investment Advisor) in India. There are two types of this –

• For fee-only advisors, you need to be registered as an Investment Advisor (RIA) with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) – you’ll need a certificate accredited by the National Institute of Securities Market (NISM) and/ or a Chartered Wealth Manager (CMW) certificate from AAFM India, approved by AAFM US.
• For commission-only advisors, you need certifications like Insurance IRDA examinations IRDAI IC 38, a CMW certificate accredited by NISM, and/ ora CMW certificate from AAFM India, approved by AAFM US.

When do you need a Financial Consultant?

Before we look into the financial consultant salary in-depth lets learn why we need financial consultants. Even for individuals who have a good understanding of how taxes, personal finance, and investments work, there still may be situations when you should rather seek expert advice. Knowing when to seek professional help is important, so here are some situations to consider:

• When you’re considering retirement – everyone likes to have a good and relaxing retirement after working for years on end. Saving up your income may not be sufficient for this, and there are many different ways to invest to help build up the retirement corpus, but how do you which one is the best business to invest in right now? At this point, it will be a good idea to hire a professional, as they can help you figure this out.

• When you’re receiving a salary hike – it is always a good reason for celebration when we receive a salary hike. Although after the initial euphoria, you’ll left be with additional funds that you don’t know what to do with. Of course, if you have any debts or loans, they should be paid off first. But after that, if you’re unsure where to redirect your money, it’s always nicer to invest some amount to increase your wealth. Here also, now will be a good time to hire a professional.

• When you receive some unexpected cash –Congratulations! You’ve won the lottery, or you’ve received your inheritance, anyway you’re much richer than you were before. Rather than letting it be a sitting duck, invest the money in some business. Here also you can seek the help of a professional to make sure you’re not gambling away the money you’ve just got.

• When you want to reduce your tax claims – Salary hike, sudden inheritance, increase in capital assets like a house or a plot of land, or a change in the tax regime, all of these cause a higher rate of tax. It is again time to bring a professional to the scene, to help you in minimizing your tax liabilities. They can help you get all the benefits that come with your specific taxpayer profile.

• When you earn your first salary – This is always an exciting day, no doubt. If you’re having more money than ever, a professional can help you to understand the investment and which is good to invest in, in a way you’ll get it back and so much more.

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Financial Consultant Salary Trends in India

As of December 03, 2022, the average salary for a financial consultant is INR 6, 91,924 per year with the base salary (salary represents gross income before tax and deduction. It does not include additional pay like benefits, bonuses, profit sharing, or commissions.)  is INR 241k – INR 2m. The bonus can range between INR 10k to INR 291k, and profit sharing can be between INR 8k to INR 2m. Hence the total pay (this combines base annual salary or hourly wage, bonuses, profit sharing, tips, commissions, overtime pay, and other forms of cash earnings, as applicable to the job. It does not include equity, compensations, benefits, retirement corpus, or value of other non-cash benefits such as healthcare) which can range between INR 266k to INR 2m.

Financial Consultant Salary Range by Experience Level – Beginners to Expert Level

For beginners with less than a year’s experience, the expected average total compensation, which includes tips, overtime pay, and bonus, is INR 3, 48,615, based on 24 salaries. For an early career consultant with 1-4 years of experience, the average total that can be earned is INR 6, 52,343, based on 91 salaries. For mid-careerconsultants with over 5-9 years of experience, they can earn an average total compensation of INR 8, 50,000, based on 59 salaries. Experienced consultants with over 10-19 years of experience, can earn an average total compensation of INR 1,008,413, based on 26 salaries. For people in their late careers with more than 20 years of experience, they can earn an average total compensation of INR 2,396,617.

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Health Benefits for a Financial Consultant

The health benefits can include:

• Medical – 72%
• Dental – 9%
• Vision – 8%
• None – 28%

Other benefits can depend on the type of work you’re doing, whether you’re a full-time consultant or part-time consultant. If the consultant would need to travel for the job or work non-traditional hours or during weekends, the logistics will be made, and additional bonuses like overtime pay, commuter benefits, and paid parental leave is added.

Gender Breakdown for Financial Consultants

Based on 78 survey responses: Male – 64.1% & Female – 35.9%

Some Additional Skills that can affect Financial Consultant Salaries

Different skill sets can affect your work and thereby your salary. Some of the more popular skills and its effect on salary are:

• Financial Modeling                      – increase by 47%
• Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) – increase by 13%
• Project Management – increase by 10%
• Financial Analysis – increase by 6%
• Financial Reporting            – increase by 4%
• Client Interaction – increase by 2%

For some of these skills, let’s see how much a financial consultant earns on average:

• Financial Analysis – INR 7, 31,545
• Financial Reporting – INR 7, 21,074
• Microsoft Excel – INR 6, 57,201
• Data Analysis – INR 6, 10,419
• Financial Advisor – INR 4, 43,000

Some of the most popular Employers include companies like Capgemini with an average salary of INR 700,000 and EY (Ernst & Young) which reportedly has the highest salary reported at INR 1,200,000.  Other companies with a high salary offer include KPMG, LLP with an average reported around INR 1,000,000, and Deloitte also with an average salary of INR 1,000,000. The lowest noted salary is at ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Co. Ltd, where the average is around INR 2, 22,247.

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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) on Financial Consultant Salary

1. What are the major responsibilities of a Financial Consultant?

The job responsibilities can include:

• Creating financial plans for clients as per need
• Answering and addressing any financial questions and doubts
• Responding to client calls and emails on a priority
• Bringing in new clients and managing a book of business
• Analyzing market and current economic trends
• Staying up to date with relevant government policies and IT policies
• Maintaining client confidentiality
• Building long-term client relationships
• Collaborating with other financial planners if necessary

2. Why do I need a financial planner?

For all your dreams and goals, it’s good to have a step-by-step financial strategy that can efficiently help you reach all your goals. The planner serves as a guide, assisting to control your mind and urge to spend unnecessarily, and makes note of your expenses, income, and other investments.

Conclusion on financial consultant salary

The need for a financial consultant or financial advisor depends on your situation. If you have a good understanding of taxes, investments, etc. maybe you can handle it. But it’s always a good idea to check with someone who knows a lot more if you’re going to be investing and planning. Getting excited is good but without adequate knowledge, you could be up for losses. Getting a piece of expert advice can go far, whether it be for investing, buying assets, selling assets, tax returns, retirement planning, etc. Just know your expert, and gather enough information about them, and their designation, so you can be on the safer side.