Wealth Planning Associate

About the Role:

The Wealth Planning Associate (WPA) I role is primarily responsible for fostering and promoting the Baird Mission:

“To provide the best financial advice and service to our clients and be the best place to work for our associates.”

The Wealth Planning Associate role is expected to, under limited supervision, provide holistic wealth planning support to Baird Financial Advisors and other internal departments. Duties include collecting and reviewing data provided by Financial Advisors, creating analyses using firm standard tools. This role will provide support to and collaborate with other members and initiatives of the geographically diverse Wealth Planning Department with research, project management, etc. The Wealth Planning Associate needs to display an adept ability to manage personal workflow while identifying opportunities to add to their technical skillset as it applies to various wealth planning tools and topics. This position will be based from one of our Tennessee offices located in either Nashville, Franklin, or Murfreesboro.

The Impact You'll Make:

• Provide support to promote and train on the Wealth Management Experience to Financial Advisors and their teams in a defined region, including participation in data gathering and/or analysis presentation and facilitation of meetings or conference calls with advisors and their clients.
• Creation of analyses for and training of the standard firm tools to Financial Advisors and their teams. Training includes explanation of general functionality, point-and-click navigation through the program, and detailed assistance in understanding calculations and conclusions.
• Occasionally travel to Private Wealth Management (PWM) branches within a defined region to promote the services and capabilities of the team, as well as establish and maintain relationships with Financial Advisors and their teams.
• Answer and discuss basic to moderate tax, estate, and general financial planning questions from advisors and their clients via multiple forms of communication, including a team-shared inbox and department phone line. For more advanced questions, be able to research solutions and/or work with other department members or specialists to find an answer.
• Be familiar with various planning documents, including account statements, Social Security benefit estimates, retirement benefit estimates, tax returns, wills, trusts, etc.
• Work with other members of the Wealth Planning Department to develop standard deliverables and service tiers to ensure consistent support across the firm.
• Understand the products and services offered within a brokerage environment and be able to work with representatives of those departments. Recognize when to involve other specialists within the firm in a particular situation.
• Help manage workflow within department via department activity tracking system to accurately record workflow and store client documentation to meet compliance requirements.
• Assist in advisor and client-facing content management across intra-web sites.

What You'll Bring to Baird:

• Bachelor’s degree in Accounting, Finance, Economics, or pre-law preferred. If no such degree or similar degree, ability to demonstrate expertise commensurate with such a degree is required.
• Certified Financial Planner (CFP®), Enrolled Agent (EA), Certified Public Accountant (CPA), Juris Doctor (JD) strongly preferred, or must have the ability to earn such designations.
• Experience in the brokerage industry a plus, including possession of basic brokerage licenses (SIE, Series 7, 66) preferred, or must have the ability to earn such licenses.
• Experience with MoneyGuide or other financial planning software(s) a plus.
• Experience reviewing and/or completing individual tax returns a plus.
• Experience reviewing and/or drafting an individual’s estate planning documents a plus.
• Strong computer skills, including working knowledge of Microsoft Office products.
• Ability to work independently on projects and effectively relate to others in order to accomplish work responsibilities and objectives.

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Baird is committed to diversity and provides employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, pregnancy, citizenship, national origin, age, disability, military service, veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, genetic information, or any other status protected by law.