How to become a financial planner in Australia

Are you someone who has a genuine interest in finance, appreciates structure, and enjoys working with others? Are you organised and meticulous in your work? Do you thrive working with a high level of responsibility? Then a career as a financial planner might be the career kick start you’re after.

What is a financial planner?

Financial planners work as an advisor to clients, helping them to manage and structure their finances so they can better navigate their way to achieving their financial goals. To help their clients achieve their long-term financial goals, a financial planner will assist clients with anything from saving and budgeting to reducing their tax liability, planning finances for their children's future, while building and protecting wealth.

Financial planners are qualified and licensed professionals who work independently or with a larger organisation. With the constantly changing economic landscape of the world, financial planners are becoming highly sought after. If managing finances is something that interests you, now is the time to take on this career path.

What does a financial planner do?

Working as a financial planner in Australia, you will help your clients to better understand their financial goals and help them to plan out a pathway to reach them. The typical goals that clients will have are things like purchasing property, investing in stocks, saving for retirement, selecting the right insurance cover and planning to fund their children’s education or build wealth for the future.

Financial planners comprehensively analyse their client’s entire financial situation so they can provide their clients with professional advice regarding setting budgets, creating savings objectives, better managing expenses while also building and protecting their wealth. In doing so, financial planners help their clients to implement the necessary steps to create and sustain their wealth both now and in the long term.

A financial planner will often work alongside other professional advisors and investment specialists to help their clients achieve their long-term financial goals. Part of being a financial planner is keeping up to date on current legislation, including superannuation and tax, in addition to financial management strategies across the board.

To succeed in this role, you must have good people skills to attract new clients and maintain existing ones. Being articulate and keeping up to date client records is also required. To achieve this, financial planners must have strong relationships with their clients and regular communications so they can be across their client’s current financial situations, while balancing the changing investment environments and their future needs..

Who uses financial planners?

While almost anyone would benefit from having a financial planner, the reality is, not everybody can necessarily afford one and some people may not be in a position to need one. Yet, there are many people out there who require a good financial planner. The types of people who use and or need a financial planner are people with complex finances, whose finances are changing or those simply seeking direction.

For example, if people are getting married, they may need a financial planner to help them find a way to save for a home loan, navigate their way through existing debt, while also establishing the foundations for their financial future and updating their wills and estate plan. Financial planners also help people who are getting divorced by assisting with dividing their property and other assets in the most tax effective and equitable way possible.

Some people may find themselves with a sudden influx of wealth from an inheritance or perhaps a significant bonus from their work. These people often go to a financial planner to receive guidance on how to manage their funds to reach their financial goals.

Another reason one might seek a financial planner is if their income changes. Sometimes people will get a new job and their income can change significantly in either direction. By going to a financial planner these people can receive help when developing a new budget.

Benefits of becoming a financial planner

Job satisfaction

One of the many benefits of a career in financial planning is job satisfaction. The emotional rewards of helping people personally or in business to achieve their financial goals and sustain a better financial life is what makes financial planning a great career. Job satisfaction comes from watching your clients achieve goals such as saving enough money for their first home deposit. You get to experience the sheer joy and excitement of this process with them. Watching your clients succeed is what will make all the hard work worth it.

Great earning potential

A career in financial planning is lucrative and your hard work will be financially rewarded. In fact, financial planners can have unlimited earning potential. This is because your income will be based on the number of clients you see each year. Being a financial planner, your salary will either be commission-based, fee-based or a mixture of both.

Flexibility in working environments

Many of us have different preferences when it comes to working environments. Some may enjoy the hustle and bustle of the corporate world while others enjoy working for smaller firms. The good news is, there is a variety of both in financial planning. You can choose to work in the boutique-style firm you've always seen yourself in or you can dive straight into the corporate world. Or maybe you would rather work for yourself as an independent financial planner. The choice is yours.

How to become a financial planner in Australia

If you’re wondering exactly how to become a financial planner in Australia, here’s a step-by-step guide to help you understand the education, registration and licensing process.

1. Get qualified

To work as a financial planner in Australia, you’ll need an approved qualification that meets the Financial Adviser Standards (FAS) set by the Australian Government.

You can take one of two main pathways to start your journey:

Option 1: Start with the Advanced Diploma of Paraplanning

A great place to start is with the Advanced Diploma of Paraplanning. This nationally recognised qualification is designed for people who want to gain practical, industry-ready skills in financial analysis, advice preparation, and compliance.

In this course, you’ll learn how to:

• Analyse client goals, income, and investment options

• Research financial products and develop compliant advice documents

• Support financial planners in preparing statements of advice (SOAs)

• Understand superannuation, insurance, and tax strategies

The Advanced Diploma of Paraplanning is a smart entry point into the financial advice industry.

The Advanced Diploma of Paraplanning is ideal if you want to gain hands-on experience first, working closely with licensed financial advisers while building a solid foundation for future study.

Many students begin their careers as paraplanners, working closely with licensed financial advisers to gain hands-on experience and understand the advice process from the inside. After having gained first-hand, practical experience in financial planning as a paraplanner, it's common to find that a career transition to financial planner or adviser is an organic career progression option.

The Advanced Diploma of Paraplanning course is designed to be completed within 1 to 2 years. There is no minimum timeframe to complete it, so if you're highly motivated, committed and have the time, you may be able to complete it at a much faster pace.

Then, use your Paraplanning qualification as a pathway to further study:

If you start with the Advanced Diploma of Paraplanning, you can later progress into a bachelor-level qualification at university. Completing an approved degree is a mandatory step for anyone who wants to become a fully authorised financial planner in Australia.

This pathway means you can:

• Start learning the fundamentals online through Monarch

• Gain practical, employable skills and begin working as a paraplanner

• Continue to university with advanced standing or credit recognition (Recognition of Prior Learning)

• Ultimately meet the academic requirements for becoming a financial planner

It’s a flexible, low-risk way to start your journey, build experience and confirm that financial planning is the right long-term fit before committing to an expensive full degree.

Explore the Advanced Diploma of Paraplanning

Option 2: Complete an accredited bachelor degree

If you already know that becoming a financial planner is your long-term goal, you can go straight into an approved bachelor degree, such as a Bachelor of Business (Financial Planning) or Bachelor of Commerce (Financial Planning).

These degrees are FAS-approved and meet the education standards required to become a licensed financial planner in Australia. You’ll gain comprehensive knowledge across areas such as:

• Personal finance and superannuation

• Investment and insurance strategies

• Taxation and compliance

• Ethics, risk management and client engagement

A bachelor degree offers a direct route to meeting the academic standards for licensing, while providing a deeper understanding of the financial planning profession.

3. Complete your Professional Year and Financial Adviser Exam

Once you’ve completed your degree-level qualification, you’ll need to:

• Finish a Professional Year (PY) — a structured, supervised 12-month placement

• Pass the Financial Adviser Exam set by ASIC

These steps ensure that all new financial planners have both the technical knowledge and ethical understanding to give high-quality advice to clients.

4. Get licensed and registered

To legally give financial advice in Australia, you must be:

• Authorised under an Australian Financial Services (AFS) licence, and

• Listed on ASIC’s Financial Adviser Register (FAR)

Most financial planners start out working under a licensed advice practice before moving into more senior or independent roles.

5. Continue your professional development

Once you’re qualified and registered, you’ll need to complete continuing professional development (CPD) every year to maintain your registration and stay current with financial regulations.

Ready to take the first step?

Monarch’s Advanced Diploma of Paraplanning gives you the skills, confidence and industry insight to become a paraplanner and begin your pathway toward becoming a qualified financial planner in Australia. Start building your future today.

Explore the Advanced Diploma of Paraplanning