I want to become a financial planner. How much of my first few years will be spent doing sales?

I like the counseling, math and presentation (I have a PhD in physics) aspects of financial planning but I'm put off by the idea that I'll spend the first few years at a national company desperately trying to build a client base -- asking my relatives to sign up, cold calling, etc.





Is this a standard aspect of financial planning?|||A "financial consultant" in most of the companies today is just a glorified name for a salesperson.





You are responsible for your own clients, and growing and expanding the client base. Yes, it could be lucrative, but you are required to add more clients every quarter, so your job as salesperson never ends.





You will be doing cold calling and prospecting as long as you are in the profession.|||If you're one of those academic types and want to do analysis work, then forget it. Don't go into this field. You'll hate it. I did for one year and couldn't make two consecutive quotas w/in a 6 month period and was released by my former employer. I changed my profession to being an accountant. I'd rather be in finance, but accounting is a better fit for me.





Financial planners that make a lot of money need not be good in finance, but are very good salespeople.|||100% of being a financial planner is selling financial products to retain your client base.





If you enjoy the background analysis part of the job, explore becoming an actuary instead.|||Yes, and it never ends. You always have to maintain and expand your client base. People drop off and you have to replace them.