Some financial planners are employed by small financial planning businesses or are self-employed. Others are employed on a full-time basis or contract their services to larger firms and organizations such as:
- trust companies
- banks and other lending institutions
- stock brokerage firms
- insurance agencies
- legal firms
- accounting firms
- mutual fund companies
- private financial planning companies.
Experienced financial planners may specialize in a particular aspect of financial planning (for example, retirement planning or wealth management) or move into supervisory or management positions in larger companies or professional associations.
Financial planners are part of the larger 2011 National Occupational Classification 1114: Other financial officers. In Alberta, 87% of people employed in this classification work in the Finance, Insurance, Real Estate and Leasing (PDF) industry.
The employment outlook (PDF) in this occupation will be influenced by a wide variety of factors including:
- trends and events affecting overall employment (especially in the Finance, Insurance, Real Estate and Leasing industry)
- location in Alberta
- employment turnover (work opportunities generated by people leaving existing positions)
- occupational growth (work opportunities resulting from the creation of new positions)
- size of the occupation.
Over 11,200 Albertans are employed in the Other financial officers occupational group. This group is expected to have a below-average annual growth of 1.1% from 2016 to 2020. As a result, 123 new positions are forecast to be created each year, in addition to job openings created by employment turnover. Note: As financial planners form only a part of this larger occupational group, only some of these newly created positions will be for financial planners.
Employment turnover is expected to increase as members of the baby boom generation retire over the next few years.