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Other management, finance and insurance professionals

How to become an Independent Financial Adviser

Helps clients build their wealth over the long term to suit their life plans and needs, by choosing and managing financial products, advising on schemes and supporting buying and selling.

Main tasks

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

No particular education is required, but in practice many are graduates of economics or commerce faculties, and some have science backgrounds. At present there is almost no recruitment of new graduates as independent financial advisers. Nearly everyone who enters is hired mid-career after working at a securities company, bank, insurance agency or other financial institution. It is usual to gain 3 to 10 years' experience as a securities sales representative dealing in bonds, investment funds and other securities, or as a consultant in insurance, inheritance or property, before moving to an independent advisory firm. Under the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act, you must be registered with the Prime Minister as a registered sales representative of a financial instruments intermediary. So the securities sales representative qualification (Japan Securities Dealers Association) is essential. To deal in life insurance, you must also register as a life insurance agent (Life Insurance Association of Japan). In practice, to gain clients' trust it is essential to hold qualifications such as AFP (Affiliated Financial Planner) or CFP (Certified Financial Planner), awarded after passing the exams of the Japan Association for Financial Planners (a non-profit), or the Certified Member Analyst (CMA) or Private Banker (PB) qualifications of the Securities Analysts Association of Japan. Related qualifications include Senior Life Consultant (SLC) and Total Life Consultant (TLC). Even after qualifying, you must keep up with the latest economic and financial news, tax and property, so ongoing research is needed. You need specialist knowledge of financial markets, such as interest rates and exchange rates, and of the economy in general. Share prices and other markets change constantly with the economy, politics and society, so you must always follow world news and gather information quickly. The ability to research and analyse individual companies' results, finances and growth potential, and to understand analysts' reports accurately, is also important. For this, using IT to collect data online and analyse and organise it is essential. You also need planning skills to design investment plans, the ability to liaise and coordinate with partner companies, and presentation skills for seminars. Listening skills to understand clients' real needs, a sense of responsibility and the people skills to keep clients' trust are important too. You also need to cope with stress and stay calm even when markets are in turmoil and prices crash.

Ways in

Pay · Job openings · AI and this job

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Questions people ask

How do I become an Independent Financial Adviser?

No particular education is required, but in practice many are graduates of economics or commerce faculties, and some have science backgrounds. At present there is almost no recruitment of new graduates as independent financial advisers. Nearly everyone who enters is hired mid-career after working at a securities company, bank, insurance agency or other financial institution. It is usual to gain 3 to 10 years' experience as a securities sales representative dealing in bonds, investment funds and other securities, or as a consultant in insurance, inheritance or property, before moving to an independent advisory firm. Under the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act, you must be registered with the Prime Minister as a registered sales representative of a financial instruments intermediary. So the securities sales representative qualification (Japan Securities Dealers Association) is essential. To deal in life insurance, you must also register as a life insurance agent (Life Insurance Association of Japan). In practice, to gain clients' trust it is essential to hold qualifications such as AFP (Affiliated Financial Planner) or CFP (Certified Financial Planner), awarded after passing the exams of the Japan Association for Financial Planners (a non-profit), or the Certified Member Analyst (CMA) or Private Banker (PB) qualifications of the Securities Analysts Association of Japan. Related qualifications include Senior Life Consultant (SLC) and Total Life Consultant (TLC). Even after qualifying, you must keep up with the latest economic and financial news, tax and property, so ongoing research is needed. You need specialist knowledge of financial markets, such as interest rates and exchange rates, and of the economy in general. Share prices and other markets change constantly with the economy, politics and society, so you must always follow world news and gather information quickly. The ability to research and analyse individual companies' results, finances and growth potential, and to understand analysts' reports accurately, is also important. For this, using IT to collect data online and analyse and organise it is essential. You also need planning skills to design investment plans, the ability to liaise and coordinate with partner companies, and presentation skills for seminars. Listening skills to understand clients' real needs, a sense of responsibility and the people skills to keep clients' trust are important too. You also need to cope with stress and stay calm even when markets are in turmoil and prices crash.

How much does an Independent Financial Adviser 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 an Independent Financial Adviser?

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

Will AI change the work of an Independent Financial Adviser?

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

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