Event Recap: 2026 Personal Financial Planning Career Night
Personal financial planning is a career that sits at the intersection of finance, psychology and entrepreneurship. It's about helping people make the most important decisions about retirement, taxes, selling their business, their family needs—critically important topics to livelihood.
And there’s no single path into this profession. Some advisers started in business operations, some through formal certificate programs and others through planning support roles and developing their jobs that way.
Our esteemed 2026 panel took the audience on a journey of how they started, their crucial skills and advice for those about to enter this rewarding profession.
Our Panel
Moderator Michael Ma, CFP®, MSFS, ChFC®
Principal at Parallel Advisors, LLC
Margaret Pierattini, CFP®
Private adviser and managing director at Rockefeller Capital Management
Daniel Landa, CIMA®, CFP®
Finance adviser at Stifel
Sean Hanson, CFP®, CRPC®, APMA®
Adviser, personal office at Northrock Investment Partners
Margaret, you started your work during a pretty challenging job market in 2003. Talk about your entry and then how that experience led you toward financial planning.
It was a time when the job market had completely evaporated, especially in the Bay Area. I went to every job interview available. And then I got very lucky in that an investment firm in downtown San Francisco was hiring an operations associate, and I had a very good interview. I started in that position—which is as low as you could be at that firm—but as new job openings within the firm came available, I would apply and slowly climb the ladder. I really wanted to work with clients and have more human interaction.
Daniel, you began this work during COVID. What did your early career look like?
I didn't know any of my co-workers; it was just a completely different environment. And I realized I needed to be somewhere else because I wanted to learn. So I moved to Stifel, which had two types of advisers: Those who have been there for 30, 40 years, and then those who were really growing into their positions. They did this thought-leadership series where top advisers would log on every week and talk to those who were just starting out and give advice. You could see that everybody who was growing really quickly was talking very, very little about the investment side and was talking a lot about the planning side. You saw a lot of CFPs®. You saw a lot of designations. The advice was always, “Go get your CFP®.”
Sean, your introduction to the business came at a really early age.
Yeah, I had a middle-school project to interview a member of the community and then write a report about it. My dad suggested that I talk to his financial adviser, who was at AmeriCorps. He told me that this is a profession where you get to work directly with people. You get to help them, but you also get to see them grow and change. That stuck with me and was a reason why I ended up in the field.
I started my career in May 2008. I was able to see what it's like to help clients through what was a really tough time and what we can do in reaction to that.
Now, with the advent of AI, anybody can go look up a question and get a really long answer. But I think the question is, “How does it apply to each person's situation?” Mindfulness is really important.
—Daniel Landa
Margaret, what did those early experiences teach you about how people learn the profession as they launch into the career?
I had to be very resourceful because there wasn't a lot of guidance. I had to study a lot on my own about funds, stocks and ETFs, and I just jumped in. I took advantage of every learning opportunity that our firm offered.
Daniel, talk about getting that real client firsthand experience.
I was fortunate to work with someone who wanted me to join their firm. He said, “Hey, you're going to learn from these clients. I'm going to be here with you and I'm going to teach you effectively.” And then I made probably every mistake in the book initially, but you realize the difference between what you learn in a textbook and what the actual questions are to ask the clients.
As you progress, you realize what is important and how to convey the message. Oftentimes, it's really easy to spit back the textbook. Now, with the advent of AI, anybody can go look up a question and get a really long answer. But I think the question is, “How does it apply to each person's situation?” Mindfulness is really important.
Sean, you spent your first five years doing planning before becoming a lead adviser. Would you recommend that path or should younger advisers try to get those “at bats” sooner?
I would say it's probably good to have a mix of the two. I spent a lot of time in my first five years or so doing a lot of the back-office work. I did have some opportunities to sit in on client meetings with the advisers. They were great people and great mentors, and they were the ones who pushed me to get the CFP®.
If you want to work with clients as an adviser, you have to get as much opportunity to talk about the advice as you possibly can. So whether that's delivering it directly to a client or working with another adviser to deliver that information, it’s important to get that in-person interaction so that you understand how to talk to people, how to listen to them and deliver the advice in a way that they'll actually do what you're suggesting they do.
A philosophy I like is that the best client is the one that you already have. And as long as you're doing everything you can to keep them happy, they are more likely to refer.
—Margaret Pierattini
Soft skills are just as important as technical skills.
Sean: There's all the things that you learn from reading the books and taking the CFP® Exam, but the day-to-day work has a lot to do with managing people's emotions and helping them through the decisions that they're making. Being able to listen to what they're saying and making sure that they understand.
If you come into a client situation and you throw a bunch of information at them that you learned in a CFP® manual and it's all super-technical, your clients don't really understand it and they're not likely to get a whole lot out of that interaction.
Daniel, one of the things you shared is that this is ultimately an asset-gathering career. How do advisers build a client base today?
It's nuanced. One, it's going to be a long process. Two, the client has to trust you. It's a two-way street. The clients I’ve had since day one are those who I have the better relationship with. People with whom I've been through bear markets, people who we’ve had really difficult conversations around life events.
I don't think you ever meet a prospect on the street and then get their account the next day. It can take three or four months of talking about their investments, talking about their goals, explaining our value add. A lot of people have really long-standing relationships with their existing advisers. We always ask, “Who's in the pipeline now?” Because, realistically, that's going to be reflected three, four months from now. You're looking to progress, to continue building.
If you end up in a place where you get mentorship and you get to use financial planning knowledge, and you get to meet clients and build relationships, I think you're much more likely to be successful long term.
—Sean Hanson
Sean, how do you go about acquiring new clients?
For me, it has been working with other advisers who are already established. So if you are a junior adviser and the senior advisers are full, they’ll refer new business to you. If you're in a situation where you're working with people who want to see and help you grow over time, then you will be successful in that situation.
Margaret, how are you getting clients today?
A philosophy I like is that the best client is the one that you already have. And as long as you're doing everything you can to keep them happy, they are more likely to refer.
Daniel, when you’re early in your career, how do you attack the day?
It's really hard because you're competing against people who have 20, 30 years of experience. But you can really differentiate yourself with how quickly you respond, how proactive you are in these times of volatility. That will always set you apart.
Sean, you have a bit more of a team approach with subject matter experts that you bring in. Talk us through that setup.
We have four lead advisers who all have their own clients. We work together to make sure that we're all doing the right things and learning from each other. It also means that we can share support staff, which is helpful.
We have what we call the “personal office approach,” which means that we have different teams to help give advice for our clients. We've got a tax team, an estate team, an insurance team. And so you don't have to be the expert on every single topic. You can pull in these subject matter experts to give advice and provide additional services.
A lot of people who enter the profession early, the attrition rate is high. Why do you think some advisers succeed in this profession while others struggle and or bow out. Is there one skill that our attendees should think about developing that will lead to a successful career boon?
Sean: Part of it has to do with the early opportunities that you have in the field. If you end up at a place where the goal is to get you on the phone cold calling, you're going to hate it and you're not going to want to stick with this business. If you end up in a place where you get mentorship and you get to use financial planning knowledge, and you get to meet clients and build relationships, I think you're much more likely to be successful long term.
Margaret: The one skill I would say is response time. I feel such tremendous responsibility because I am managing clients’ assets. If I'm on vacation or I'm not at my desk, I need to know that I've got someone who can get back to my client the same day.
Daniel: Where you start out is going to matter a lot. I think a lot of people end up quitting the profession because they don't like the meat-grinder approach: just calling and calling and calling. The biggest thing for me was being next to the decision maker: I would sit in my boss' office and listen to him make calls and hear how he responds to clients. If someone's willing to spend the time with you, that's the biggest thing you can do early on.
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