Associate Financial Planner

Financial Planner Recruiting, LLC; Vancouver (WA); On-site; USD 80,000 - 110,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health insurance

15 days PTO + 12 holidays

6% 401(k) match

Professional development support (CFP)

Job summary

Financial Planner Recruiting, LLC is assisting a fee-only financial planning firm pursuing sabbatical planning. The Associate Financial Planner will prepare analyses, create plans, and follow through with clients, collaborating with planners and growing toward direct client advising.

Responsibilities include building plans, managing documents securely, and delivering tax and planning insights, with opportunities for professional development and growth within a lean team.

Qualifications

• CFP certification or Series 65 with CFP in progress.
• 2–5 years in financial services; client meetings experience.
• Strong written, verbal, and listening communication; time management.
• Professional, punctual, handles sensitive data; self-starter.

Responsibilities

• Prepare analyses and financial plans; work with clients and planners.
• Request and manage source documents securely; document assumptions.
• Build plans in RightCapital and update planning scenarios.
• Create custom analyses for decisions (pension, life insurance).
• Review tax returns and deliver tax reports; update spreadsheets.
• Update tax projections and withdrawal strategies; implement steps.
• Attend client meetings; summarize notes and next steps.
• Facilitate onboarding and prep client materials; coordinate tasks.
• Scope projects end-to-end; improve processes and templates.
• Adhere to compliance and participate in client events.

Skills

CFP certification

2–5 years experience

Client meetings experience

Written & verbal communication

Time management

Professionalism

Self-starter

Team collaboration

Education

CFP certification

Series 65

Pursuing CFP

Tools

RightCapital

Holistiplan

Job description

Our client a fee-only financial planning firm working toward their vision of specializing in sabbatical planning. They have strong relationships with our current client base, and plan to build out our service offering of helping clients envision, fund, and actually take meaningful time away from work. All of their work is grounded in Life Planning principles and techniques. The Associate Financial Planner is core to serving both groups – existing clients as well as new, sabbatical planning clients – by preparing the analysis, plans, and follow-through that make each client's goals come to reality, working side by side with our planners. It's a role for someone who can take a project from scope to finish, cares about how clients feel, can collaborate and work independently, and wants to grow (or continue to grow) toward advising clients directly.

• Request and manage source documents from clients in a secure manner
• Build and update plans in RightCapital; keep assumptions current and document sources
• Create custom analyses and spreadsheets for client decisions and planning scenarios (e.g. pension analyses, life insurance needs, etc.)

Tax Planning

• Review tax returns in Holistiplan
• Deliver tax reports and key takeaways for potential strategies to clients
• Update the master tax planning spreadsheet throughout the year
• Update tax projections and build scenarios as needed, documenting deciding factors
• Understand withdrawal strategies and their implications; recommend implementation steps (e.g., paperwork needed) once a strategy is decided
• Eventually execute trades

Client Service

• Facilitate portions of the client onboarding process
• Maintain topic reference sheets (college planning, inherited IRA strategies, etc.) for client-facing materials
• Prepare checklists, agendas, and materials for client meetings
• Attend client meetings and take thorough notes; draft initial notes and send final copy
• Translate client conversations into implementable tasks and track progress and completion
• Correspond with clients by email; answer routine service questions
• Coordinate tasks and troubleshoot with the Client Services Coordinator

Process & Firm

• Scope a project, break it down, and complete it end to end within our annual service calendar, tracking and communicating progress
• Build out processes, checklists, deliverable templates; organize files
• Review blog posts for technical accuracy
• Follow secure-data / compliance practices
• Attend and engage in client events
• Additional internal projects as needed (e.g. software upgrades, etc.)

What we're looking for — required

• CFP® certification, or Series 65 plus active pursuit of the CFP®
• 2–5 years in financial services (open to strong career-changers)
• Has been in client meetings with advisor supervision
• Strong written, verbal, and listening communication; excellent time management
• Professionalism: punctual, manages own workload, responsible with sensitive data, poised in client settings
• A self-starter and executor — can take a project end to end, managing own task list — with strong critical thinking
• Able to work on a small team and wear many hats (e.g. including solving printer problems, getting the mail as needed)

Nice to have — preferred

• Proficiency with RightCapital & Holistiplan (and comfort learning our tech stack)
• Knowledge of a custodial platform (Schwab, Fidelity, etc.)
• Creativity in financial strategy; collaborative, comfortable collaborating with and delegating to Client Services

Intended Compensation & Benefits

• Salary: 80-110k base (commensurate with experience)
• PTO: 15 days PTO + 12 holidays
• Benefits: 50% of health insurance, dental/vision available
• Retirement Savings: 6% match, eligible immediately
• Professional development: financial support toward CFP® if needed, annual conferences/training budget.
• Growth: a clear path toward advising clients directly, tied to our career-progression framework (to be created).

Culture & team fit

• Generally likeable and easygoing, able to chat with some character clients
• Adaptable as our service offerings evolve toward the sabbatical focus (it may take time)
• Genuinely curious about clients' lives, not just their portfolios
• Comfortable with vulnerable, non-financial conversations
• Self-motivated; owns their work on a lean team and motivated to learn
• Go & see lifestyle — values time away and lives it
• Professional but warm and human
• No-judgment, open-minded about how people live
• Intentional about actions and words
• Can ask for help
• Recognizes the weight of trust that our clients put in us