POSITION: FINANCIAL PARAPLANNER

Are you looking for?

A small, but growing financial planning firm?

A thorough, comprehensive planning approach?

Experienced planners as mentors?

Access to client meetings?

A focus on planning, not sales?

Then, please consider us.

Our Company: Pathways Advisory Group, Inc.

We are a successful, independent, fee-only firm offering our clients investment, tax, and retirement planning advice. We have expanded our client services to include insurance and estate plan reviews. We tend to develop deep, long-lasting client relationships which often continue into second and third generations. Clients find us through referral. Our founder, David, has over 30 years of experience. Three other planners, Dustin, Michelle, and Jeff “came up through the ranks” and work directly with clients. Dustin and Jeff are now partners in the firm. We are all CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNERTM practitioners.

We wish to continue our growth, but as a small office, company culture is important to us. We seek controlled growth while maintaining exceptional service and a close working environment. Our administrative support is very strong with well-established procedures. This allows the planners to devote most of their time to client issues. We serve about 130 clients and manage approximately $130 million.

Our client relationships are consultative, rather than transactional. The intake process encompasses much data gathering and a number of exploratory meetings. We meet on a semi-annual basis thereafter. We nurture strong relationships.

It is important to understand our investment philosophy. We are not stock pickers. We do not forecast, time, analyze, or chart. There is nothing sexy here. We employ mutual funds to create very broad diversification across distinct asset classes. Not exactly index funds, but definitely not “active” investing. We are of the “passive” persuasion, based upon academic work through the University of Chicago. See for more information.

Position Details:

This is a challenging, fairly technical position. A degree in Finance or Financial Planning is much preferred, but not essential. Most important to us is an individual highly motivated to master (and, ultimately, improve) our systems and procedures. We will train you in the use of our industry specific software. We value someone eager to learn and motivated to tackle challenges. The candidate must possess excellent spelling, grammar, and composition skills. Strong speaking, writing, and analytical abilities are essential.

We promise a thorough education in paraplanning and diverse experience in a successful firm. You will work in a team-based environment with our existing administrative staff and our four planners. Our planners often collaborate on client issues and strategies. Some more complex clients are assigned two planners. You receive training in all areas of the company, from the ground up, so that you thoroughly understand our roles and processes. You will learn some of the tasks in the client service and operations areas.

We have no specific career path to becoming a planner; however, some of our Paraplanners have evolved into successful planners with us.

Potential Duties:

  • Review tax returns and project future taxes
  • Determine the feasibility of a Roth IRA conversion
  • Organize, review, and generally make sense of a hodgepodge of client account statements & documents
  • Review estate planning documents -identify problem areas
  • Review beneficiary designations -identify problem areas
  • Prepare a side-by-side comparison of a new client’s current investments versus proposed changes
  • Create a diagram to help the client understand all accounts, how money might flow in or out
  • Create a chart for a business owner comparing a 401(k) vs. a Simple IRA
  • Create an agenda for an upcoming client meeting
  • Work with other staff to ensure all paperwork and reports are ready for meetings
  • Propose investment changes to rebalance a portfolio
  • Use our portfolio management software (PortfolioCenter)
  • Use our client information tracking software (Junxure)
  • Prepare a retirement analysis using our software (Money Guide Pro)
  • Prepare an insurance summary
  • Prepare an estate plan diagram
  • Attend client meetings. Prepare a meeting summary: a portion is sent to the client, a portion is our internal record
  • Research stuff that an old-timer might have forgotten (or never learned)

Please send us:

Your Resume

Salary History

References

We conduct a thorough hiring process. It is critical for us to know what you seek in a position, as well as what concerns you might have. Please address the following issues in a brief note to accompany the requested documents:

1.Describe the person behind the formal resume.

2.Describe your college experience and activities.

3.Which features of a financial planning firm are important to you?

4.What attracts you to this position?

5.How do you see your career evolving over the next 3 to 5 years?

(Please note: Your resume will not be considered if you neglect to address each of the five issues above.)

Be sure to check out our website This will help you understand our investment and client service philosophies.

Contact person:

Whitney Knod

Pathways Advisory Group, Inc.

684 W. Cromwell Ave., Suite 103

Fresno, California 93711