Getting Started in Financial Planning

 

Akeiva Ellis, CFP®, MSFP, CPA/PFS, ChSNC®, began her financial planning career in the Boston area as a wealth planning associate. She had moved there to pursue her master’s degree in financial planning at Bentley University’s CFP Board Registered Program. She held a double major in accounting and business administration with an emphasis in finance.

Of her first financial planning job, Ellis says, “I was looking to get started in a fee-only RIA financial planning firm, and this company was right down the street from Bentley. I'd go to work and then go to class in the evenings. Working with ultra-high-net-worth families afforded no shortage of learning opportunities.”

There, she learned a lot about financial planning while satisfying the experience requirement for CFP® certification.

After three years, Ellis realized she wasn’t well suited to the matrix structure at her firm. By then, she’d also developed a strong passion for teaching. She and her husband, Meshack Ellis, had begun sharing financial education content on YouTube with “people like me,” she says. Fortunately, Ellis was able to transition to a financial education specialist role working with next-gen clients at the same firm.

Ellis’s early experience as a financial planner and content creator helped propel her to where she is today. “It’s really just been this beautiful evolution of leaning into my passions and strengths to craft the career path that was best for me,” she explains.

Today, Ellis works for a financial education company full-time and runs her own financial education company with her husband. “I work four days a week designing, writing and teaching classes on financial literacy for Fortune 10 employees,” she says. “Then, I also have my own business called The Bemused and a program called MONEY 180® that I’m implementing in colleges and universities.”

Ellis serves on the board of the Financial Planning Association of New England and as a CFP Board Ambassador. She believes it’s important for students to know there are many nontraditional paths that CFP® professionals can pursue.

She says, “Being a CFP® professional opens so many doors beyond traditional advising. It’s made me a better educator, coach, curriculum designer, all because I see how all the different pieces of your money life fit together. So, don't be afraid to carve out a lane that doesn't exist yet. I'm proof that you don't have to choose just one path. You can design a career that reflects all the different parts of you, your expertise, your creativity, your personal values, even your season of life.”