Personal Financial Advisors

People in this career often have these skills:

• Reading Comprehension - Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work-related documents.
• Active Listening - Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
• Speaking - Talking to others to convey information effectively.
• Writing - Communicating effectively in writing as appropriate for the needs of the audience.
• Critical Thinking - Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions, or approaches to problems.

• Mathematics - Using mathematics to solve problems.
• Social Perceptiveness - Being aware of others' reactions and understanding why they react as they do.
• Service Orientation - Actively looking for ways to help people.
• Complex Problem Solving - Identifying complex problems and reviewing related information to develop and evaluate options and implement solutions.
• Judgment and Decision Making - Considering the relative costs and benefits of potential actions to choose the most appropriate one.
• Persuasion - Persuading others to change their minds or behavior.
• Systems Analysis - Determining how a system should work and how changes in conditions, operations, and the environment will affect outcomes.
• Systems Evaluation - Identifying measures or indicators of system performance and the actions needed to improve or correct performance, relative to the goals of the system.

People in this career often know a lot about:

• Customer and Personal Service - Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.
• Economics and Accounting - Knowledge of economic and accounting principles and practices, the financial markets, banking, and the analysis and reporting of financial data.
• English Language - Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, and rules of composition and grammar.
• Mathematics - Knowledge of arithmetic, algebra, geometry, calculus, statistics, and their applications.

People in this career often have talent in:

• Oral Comprehension - The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
• Written Comprehension - The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.
• Oral Expression - The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
• Speech Clarity - The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.
• Inductive Reasoning - The ability to combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (includes finding a relationship among seemingly unrelated events).

• Written Expression - The ability to communicate information and ideas in writing so others will understand.
• Deductive Reasoning - The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.
• Number Facility - The ability to add, subtract, multiply, or divide quickly and correctly.
• Near Vision - The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).
• Problem Sensitivity - The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing that there is a problem.
• Mathematical Reasoning - The ability to choose the right mathematical methods or formulas to solve a problem.
• Speech Recognition - The ability to identify and understand the speech of another person.
• Information Ordering - The ability to arrange things or actions in a certain order or pattern according to a specific rule or set of rules (e.g., patterns of numbers, letters, words, pictures, mathematical operations).

People in this career often do these activities:

• Interview clients to gather financial information.
• Assess financial status of clients.
• Correspond with customers to answer questions or resolve complaints.
• Implement financial decisions.
• Recommend investments to clients.

• Educate clients on financial planning topics.
• Prepare financial documents, reports, or budgets.
• Interpret financial information for others.
• Identify strategic business investment opportunities.
• Disburse funds from clients accounts to creditors.
• Advise others on financial matters.
• Analyze market conditions or trends.
• Develop business relationships.
• Confer with others about financial matters.
• Compute debt repayment schedules.

• Securities, Commodities, and Financial Services Sales Agents

• Insurance Sales Agents

• Credit Analysts

• Loan Officers

• Market Research Analysts and Marketing Specialists

• Budget Analysts

• Compensation, Benefits, and Job Analysis Specialists

• Financial Managers