So, you want to be a financial advisor...

Meet Matt Kerr, CFA, CFP? , your go-to for financial advice and insights into breaking into the financial advisory field. With over a decade of experience at Keel Point , Matt's mission is clear: putting clients first and securing their financial futures. He has made this his mission because of his desire to “help people achieve their goals and take things that are complex and scary and make them simple and not scary.” While Matt is now successful in his position, don't think that success happened overnight – Matt spent years honing his craft, learning from seasoned professionals, and fine-tuning his approach. Check out what he has to share with you:

Q: What advice would you give to someone looking to enter the financial advisory industry?

Matt:

"1. Have a picture of who you want to be serving.

Everything we do is about the kind of families we work with. Have somebody in mind who is the ideal fit whether that’s personality, technical skill set, or other match. This is who I want to be working with and who I can help. That image helps as you map out what you want to be doing and how you can serve.

2. Find somebody who you respect who does what you want to do.

One thing I did when I moved over to the advisor side is I made a list of four or five different advisors, some at our firm, some not at our firm and just spent time with them. Sometimes we would do a monthly call for a six month period. Some I just spent a couple of hours with them all at once. I just wanted to understand their process, what they do for their clients, and how they think about the world and business. It was helpful to pull in a lot of different pieces from other people and start figuring out what works for me and what kinds of families I want to work with.”

Q: What encouragement would you share with someone who is a couple of years into their financial advisory career and who is looking to grow in this space?

Matt:

"1. Be patient - everything doesn’t have to happen all at once.

When you’re starting something new and you have big goals, it’s easy to want everything to happen in the first or second year. Be patient, do the right things for a period of time and everything will start coming together.

2. Ask people for advice.

I was always really surprised by how willing people are to help. Most people enjoy giving advice and talking about their experiences. Other people did the same for them when they were younger. Generally, people are more willing to help than you assume. Feel the freedom to ask people out to coffee, try to get to know their story, and ask for advice."

Thank you so much for sharing with us, Matt!

If you want to learn more about Keel Point check them out here . To connect with Matt check out his LinkedIn here .