Financial advisor: do you know the titles of these professionals?

Do the various professional titles of financial services advisors and the expertise associated with them seem complicated? Here are the basics you should know.

The mutual fund representative

This professional can advise you and give you access to invest in mutual funds. First mystery solved.

The life insurance advisor

Here we are in the field of life and health insurance. This professional, also quite logically known as a "life and health insurance representative", can therefore offer you consulting services as well as life and health insurance products.

The group insurance and group annuity plans advisor

When we talk about group insurance and group annuities, we are referring mainly to the benefits programs offered by employers to their employees. This professional has the ability to offer products to employers, consulting services related to group insurance and annuity plans that insurers set up specifically for businesses.

The scholarship plan representative

As its name suggests, this professional offers its clients investments specifically designed to finance your children's education.

The financial planner

The financial planner can offer you advice in seven different specialties: insurance, finance, taxation, legal matters, investment, retirement and estate planning. However, if he or she wants to sell you financial products, this professional also needs an additional license to distribute each type of product. For example, to sell you life insurance, he or she must be licensed as a life insurance advisor.

In Quebec, there are 32 000 professional advisors and the CSF oversees them all. One third of them are also multidisciplinary, meaning they hold between 2 and 5 licences of practice and are therefore are authorised to advise you in different fields of practice.

It is always wise to check if the professionals you are meeting have all the rights to practice by consulting the AMF register.