Associate Financial Planner - Fee Only Firm Serving Young Professionals - Virtual Role

Intro: 

Ballast Point Financial Planning is seeking a full-time Associate Financial Planner. This position will initially be responsible for serving our existing clients and sitting 2nd chair on about 50-60 client relationships. As you learn and grow, we expect you to start leading your own client relationships, hopefully in about 6 months. This is a unique opportunity to lead client engagements in the near future, without any sales pressure.

Opportunity: 

• Grow your career in a firm that already has established career tracks
• Learn the “Ballast Point Way” of financial planning by supporting our existing clients. Jennifer Ulmer, CFP®, EA will be the primary lead planner to shadow and mentor you until you are ready to lead relationships on your own. We hope that you will begin taking on clients of your own within 6 months and grow into leading client engagements independently in 12-18 months
• Be an integral part of an already successful team and have the opportunity to bring new and innovative ideas to the table
• This is a great opportunity for a growth-minded professional who is looking to learn in a collaborative, fun and flexible environment
• Further your career in financial planning without worrying about having to “eat what you kill”

Responsibilities:

• Initially, learn how to help onboard new clients (entering their data into our CRM, creating a client portal, sending client agreements, etc.)
• Help us prepare for upcoming meetings by preparing Google slides, confirming the meeting with the clients via email, prepping the client’s balance sheet, and asking for missing items from the client
• Attend client meetings from day 1 in our “living classroom”
• Create and refine workflows to ensure efficient operations and an excellent client experience
• As we are a forward-looking financial and tax planning firm, learn how to prepare tax projections so our clients know what their tax liability will be next year and what they can do to minimize their taxes this year
• Many of our clients have equity compensation, so over time you will become an expert in ISOs, RSUs, ESPPs, NSOs/NQSOs, QSBS, and all the other alphabet soup letters of stock compensation
• Preference for candidates with availability for work between 9am PST – 5pm PST at least one or two days per week in order to attend client meetings. Those meetings are normally held Tuesday through Thursday

   

Desired Qualities:

• It is a plus if you have led client relationships in the past, but that is not mandatory to apply for this role
• A CFP® is required. We will also accept applications from candidates who have passed the CFP® who are working on their hours, as long as they also passed the Series 65
• Advanced emotional intelligence, people skills, and the ability to actively listen
• Trustworthy, ethical, hard-working and growth-minded personality
• At least 2-4 years of work experience as a financial planner
• Additional designations such as MBA, EA, or CPA are a plus
• Experience with tax projections (ex: Holistiplan and/or BNA Tax Tools) and tax prep is a plus
• Experience with stock option planning is a plus
• Ability to operate efficiently and effectively in a fast-paced environment
• Strong follow-up and communication skills
• Strong writing skills are a must
• You want to serve young professionals ages 25-50
• Excellent client service skills
• Well-organized and self-driven (will be expected to self-manage and meet deadlines)
• Attention to detail, time management and exceptional organizational skills are a must
• Excited to take on new challenges and adapt to change

   

About Ballast Point Financial Planning: 

• Ballast Point Financial Planning was launched in May of 2016 and focus on serving young professional in the tech industry with equity comp
• We believe in values-based financial planning and we help our clients align their personal core values with their financial lives. We have physical offices in Burlingame, CA and Orlando, FL, but serve clients across the country.
• We currently have 120 clients who we work with on a subscription basis and we are exclusively fee-only. We have consistently signed 3-5 new clients per month, but have intentionally slowed down our growth to ensure each client gets the attention they deserve. This is where you come in. We need an Associate Financial Planner to help serve our existing clients and slowly transition into serving clients of your own.
• The culture of our firm, and client interaction, is intentionally collaborative and casual

   

Compensation & Perks:

• This will be a W2 role
• Competitive salary based on experience in the range of $70k-$90k
• We offer a 4% 401(k) match, a $2k annual professional development budget, health benefits, life insurance coverage, and long-term disability coverage
• We offer a quarterly bonus based on gross revenue for the firm and your role. While there is no expectation to bring in your own clients, we share in the growth and success of Ballast Point together. Currently, the bonus works out to be about 6-10% of your base salary depending on your role, experience, and performance
• Technology stipend to get your workstation setup
• Unlimited vacation policy
• This is a virtual position
• Travel and lodging to bi-annual company retreats and client appreciation events
• One-time $5k salary increase for earning the CFP® marks and a $2k salary increase for earning the EA
• Paid holidays. We are closed on New York Stock Exchange holidays

   

Next Steps:

• Along with your resume, please include a short video (no more than 5 minutes) answering these prompts:
  • Please describe your experience thus far in the financial planning industry.
  • Why financial planning as your chosen career path?
  • Why are you interested in working with Ballast Point Financial Planning?
  • What is your favorite personal finance tip, book, or mantra and why that is important to you?
• If you cannot attach the video to your application, please include a link to your video in your cover letter.
• Please be genuine in your answers. We don’t want boiler-plate answers and we don’t want you to feel the need to be ultra-professional. Our hope is to understand you, what excites you about this role/industry, and how this role fits into your ideal future. A video taken with your phone and/or computer is totally fine. I am uncomfortable in front of video too. So don’t worry. In fact, please see this video I created (https://drive.google.com/file/d/1REfNB_KziKkpYu7WJekkVNbuLHeI97Wf/view) to learn more about this opportunity and my favorite personal finance tip. Applications submitted without a video will not be considered. 

   

  To apply, complete this application by 11:59pm PST on Sunday, March 19th. We will not be responding to applications until after that date.

   

Bonus Points:

If you made it to this part of the job posting, we will assume that you are very serious about this role. If you want additional bonus points, listen to Shawn’s interview on XYPN Radio (https://blog.xyplanningnetwork.com/podcast-blog/ep-103-from-zero-to-38-client-in-12-months-how-shawn-tydlaska-is-growing-his-new-ria) or his Kitces podcast interview (https://www.kitces.com/blog/shawn-tydlaska-ballast-point-financial-planning-blx-internship/). You will learn more about his background and what it would be like working at Ballast Point.