1
Median pay
$102,140
Median annual pay for Financial Advisor / Planner.
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics · 2024
The career can have very strong experienced compensation and ownership upside, but income and success vary heavily by business model, client acquisition, and credentials.
The career can have very strong experienced compensation and ownership upside, but income and success vary heavily by business model, client acquisition, and credentials.
The measurable baseline is $102,140 median pay, 9.6% projected employment change from 2024 to 2034, and about 24,100 annual openings. Those figures establish the national baseline; the occupation-specific evidence on this page is what makes the decision more useful than a generic profile.
The national median-pay figure in the current ChooseField dataset is $102,140. The 2024 self-employed share is 15.8%, which matters because self-employment can make outcomes less uniform across workers. A national median is a benchmark, not a personal forecast: experience, geography, employer type, specialty, credentials, and hours can move actual compensation materially.
BLS data in the ChooseField corpus put 2024 employment at 326,000 and projected 2034 employment at 357,200. That corresponds to 9.6% projected growth over the decade. BLS projects about 24,100 openings per year, including growth and replacement demand. This distinction matters when people ask whether a field is oversaturated: growth measures whether the occupation itself is getting larger, while annual openings also reflect people retiring, changing occupations, or leaving roles that must be refilled.
BLS lists the typical entry education as Bachelor's degree. On-the-job preparation is listed as Long-term on-the-job training. Treat this entry path like an investment: compare the time and cost required to enter with the pay, annual openings, and alternatives available at a similar training level.
Strong experienced compensation. The headline figure is $195,000. Median total compensation reported in CFP Board's 2025 compensation study. Source: CFP Board (2025).
Financial planning can produce strong experienced compensation and has a meaningful self-employed share, but outcomes are unlikely to be uniform. Credentials, business model, and client acquisition matter enough that a national median should not be treated as a personal forecast.
This field is a stronger fit if you are comfortable with quantitative or client-facing work and with outcomes that can vary by credential, specialization, and business model.
Before choosing Financial Advisor / Planner, compare it with Accountant / Auditor, Real Estate Agent, Data Scientist. The purpose is not to find a universal winner; it is to see how pay, training time, annual openings, work setting, and field-specific risks change when you move to an adjacent option.
The career can have very strong experienced compensation and ownership upside, but income and success vary heavily by business model, client acquisition, and credentials. The measurable baseline is $102,140 median pay, 9.6% projected 2024–34 employment change, about 24,100 annual openings, and a typical entry path of Bachelor's degree.
The national median in the current ChooseField dataset is $102,140. Treat that as a benchmark rather than an expected starting salary; actual compensation varies by experience, location, employer, specialty, credentials, and hours.
The career can have very strong experienced compensation and ownership upside, but income and success vary heavily by business model, client acquisition, and credentials. The measurable baseline is $102,140 median pay, 9.6% projected 2024–34 employment change, about 24,100 annual openings, and a typical entry path of Bachelor's degree.
Compare Financial Advisor / Planner with Accountant / Auditor, Real Estate Agent on pay, training time, openings, working conditions, and occupation-specific evidence rather than relying on one score.
National pay and employment projections come from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Other sources are linked on their cards.