Other management, finance and insurance professionals

How to become a Financial Planner

Plans complete financial plans covering clients' life plans, savings, investments and insurance, and helps them carry them out.

Main tasks

Collecting data on clients' family, income and spending, assets, debts and insurance through interviews and research
Listening to clients' wishes and goals, analysing their situation and drawing up and presenting the best overall financial plan for them
Drawing up and presenting plans for saving for retirement
Suggesting inheritance procedures to clients, such as dividing assets while alive or after death
Suggesting will trusts and estate settlement services to clients
Advising on asset management
Advising on property matters such as selling property or dealing with leased land
Reviewing advice given to clients where needed
Working with lawyers, tax accountants and insurance and property specialists to help solve clients' problems
Writing activity reports
Planning and running seminars on topics such as investing, and writing about them
Keeping up with the latest economic, financial, tax and property information

Workers in this job say university is common. From job tag's survey of people in each job, who could give several answers. It shows what workers see as common, not how many workers hold each level.

How to become one

To earn clients' trust, it is advisable to gain a financial planner qualification. Financial planner qualifications include the financial planning (FP) skills qualification (grades 1 to 3), which lets you use the title of certified skilled worker after passing the national trade skills test; the AFP (Affiliated Financial Planner) and CFP (Certified Financial Planner) qualifications, awarded after passing the exams of the Japan Association for Financial Planners; and the CMA (Chartered Member of the Securities Analysts Association of Japan). Even after qualifying, you need to keep up with the latest economic, financial, tax and property information, so ongoing study is needed.

Ways in

University: Business & Commerce degrees, Offered by 85 universities in Japan
Vocational college, junior college, kosen and trade skills tests: National trade skills test (技能検定). Certified skilled worker (技能士) grades that job tag lists for this job: １級ファイナンシャル・プランニング技能士、２級ファイナンシャル・プランニング技能士、３級ファイナンシャル・プランニング技能士. The trade skills tests are national tests set under the Human Resources Development Promotion Act.

Pay · Job openings · AI and this job

Average annual income: ¥11,346,400 Private sector only: employers with 10 or more staff. Public servants, such as public school teachers and police officers, are not in these figures.
Monthly base pay (before overtime and bonus): median ¥528,100, and the middle half earn ¥389,000 to ¥812,500 a month.
Pay measured for the wage survey group: Other management, finance and insurance professionals
0.80 job openings per applicant at Hello Work (2025). A current demand signal, not a projection. It counts only the jobs and job seekers registered at Hello Work, Japan's public employment offices, and many graduate and professional hires never pass through it.
Generative AI could change many tasks in this job, which usually reshapes the work more than it replaces it, by the ILO's global estimate.

Questions people ask

How do I become a Financial Planner?

How much does a Financial Planner earn in Japan?

Average annual income in the private sector, bonus included, is ¥11,346,400 (Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare). The figure is for the wage survey group Other management, finance and insurance professionals, which covers several jobs.

Do you need a degree to become a Financial Planner?

Usually. In this job's census occupation group, 83% of workers are university graduates.

Will AI change the work of a Financial Planner?

Generative AI could change many tasks in this job, which usually reshapes the work more than it replaces it, by the ILO's global estimate.

Sources

Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare: Basic Survey on Wage Structure (賃金構造基本統計調査) 2025: earnings by occupation (2025 survey (June 2025 pay, 2024 bonus), published 2026-03-24), Government Standard Terms of Use 2.0, retrieved 4 October 2026
Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare: Employment Referrals for General Workers (一般職業紹介状況): Hello Work job-openings-to-applicants ratio by occupation (2025 annual (release of 2026-10-02)), Government Standard Terms of Use 2.0, retrieved 4 October 2026
Statistics Bureau of Japan (MIC): 2020 Population Census (令和2年国勢調査) detailed sample tabulation: employed by occupation, sex, age and education (2020 Census (tables 9-1 and 15-1, published 2022-12-27)), Government Standard Terms of Use 2.0, retrieved 4 October 2026
JILPT (職業情報データベース) via MHLW job tag: job tag download data: 解説系 (descriptions, how to become, related qualifications) and 簡易版数値系 (interests, tasks, education) (解説系 ver.7.01 (2026-06-04); 簡易版数値系 ver.7.00 (2026-03-17)), retrieved 4 October 2026
International Labour Organization, Generative AI and Jobs: A Refined Global Index of Occupational Exposure (ILO Working Paper 140, Gmyrek et al.) (ILO Working Paper 140, May 2025, Annex Table A1), CC BY 4.0, retrieved 4 October 2026

独立行政法人労働政策研究・研修機構（JILPT）作成職業情報データベース解説系ダウンロードデータ（IPD_DL_description_7_01.xlsx）ver.7.01 職業情報提供サイト（job tag）より2026年10月4日にダウンロード（https://shigoto.mhlw.go.jp/User/download）を加工して作成

独立行政法人労働政策研究・研修機構（JILPT）作成職業情報データベース簡易版数値系ダウンロードデータ（IPD_DL_numeric_7_00.xlsx）ver.7.00 職業情報提供サイト（job tag）より2026年10月4日にダウンロード（https://shigoto.mhlw.go.jp/User/download）を加工して作成

Sources: JILPT Occupational Information Database download data via job tag (解説系 ver.7.01 and 簡易版数値系 ver.7.00, downloaded 4 October 2026), processed by Peernovo; MHLW, Basic Survey on Wage Structure 2025; Statistics Bureau of Japan, 2020 Population Census; MEXT, School Basic Survey 2025; MHLW, Employment Referrals for General Workers (Hello Work statistics). Figures processed by Peernovo. English job names, translations and the matching of jobs to statistical groups, schools and degree fields by Peernovo.

Updated 4 October 2026