Advice Services Consultant

Thrivent•Minneapolis, MN

1d•Remote

About The Position

The future of financial Advice at Thrivent is a multi-year journey, and the number one priority in shaping how the company delivers value to its members through Advisors in the field. As the adoption of Thrivent’s Advice methodology scales across different segments and channels, communication between the field and the Advice Center of Excellence (COE) will be critical. We are seeking an experienced Advice Services Consultant to join our Advice and Planning Solutions team, bringing specialized expertise in estate planning and/or tax planning strategies. As a subject matter expert, you will partner closely with financial advisors to navigate complex planning opportunities, provide advanced case consultation, and help develop strategies aligned with client goals and objectives. This role is ideal for a professional who enjoys applying deep technical knowledge to improve advisor confidence and enhance client outcomes. Candidates with a JD and/or CPA, along with significant estate or tax planning experience, are strongly preferred. The Advice Services Consultant is responsible for enabling Advice adoption through direct connection and support with our Advisor Groups and other distribution channels. To contribute to these goals the consultant will work primarily with but not limited to, Thrivent’s Financial Advisors to provide counsel on the compatibility of a financial product to a given financial strategy and on available compliant illustrations, financial planning, and analysis tools, and sales and marketing collateral used to support either a given sales strategy or a financial concept. The consultant will build strong relationships with representatives, and partner with them to creatively solve, using the Thrivent Advice Process, financial problems for the representatives’ clients using proprietary products and services. This role will be assigned to an Advisor Group or Distribution channel and will be the primary person to call for Advice support. This role will partner with our Advisor Groups, Practice Growth, and Advisor Growth COEs (Centers of Excellence) to embed Advice into our practices. This can be a remote position within the US.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in business, Economics, or similar field
10+ years of Financial Services experience, with demonstrated ability to work across different Advisor groups and regional leaders
5+ years of operational experience in a matrixed, cross-functional environment that analysis of industry and/or business data
Excellent verbal communication skills, customer service and sales skills, along with excellent interpersonal, organizational, and problem-solving skills.
Strong orientation to detail, including an aptitude for numbers, graphs, histograms and knowledge around financial concepts, economics, and the business world.
Strong understanding of and a demonstrated ability to promote a broad array of financial software applications which support the Thrivent Advice process along with excellent analytical skills.
Strong leadership skills along with an ability to influence and collaborate through empathy; ability to work across both corporate environment and field to influence and impact results.
Deep subject matter expertise in financial planning and the advisory working model
Proven ability to communicate up and down the chain of command across a diverse group of stakeholders.
Passionate about the value of providing advice to clients, with an in-depth knowledge of insurance products, asset/wealth management, fee-based planning, mutual funds, and securities
Entrepreneurial ability to cut through the noise to execute, comfortable with ambiguity.
Ability to synthesize and balance together multiple (sometime conflicting) stakeholder opinions into a common point of view.
FINRA Series 7, 63/65 or 66 or obtained within 90 days (about 3 months) of hire

Nice To Haves

JD and/or CPA, along with significant estate or tax planning experience
Alignment with Thrivent’s leadership competencies – courage, collaboration, and commitment – through demonstrated resiliency, while working to make the best decisions, and holding yourself and others to a high standard of excellence.
JD/CPA/CFP/ master’s degree in a business discipline
Financial services advanced designations (i.e., FIC, CLU, RICP, ChFC, CAP)

Responsibilities

Provide deeper understanding and application of advice practices, through consulting with advisors on planning strategies.
Providing support for individual cases. Strategies include financial planning, retirement, estate, charitable, and business planning concepts.
Educate and influence how products fit within the Advice Framework.
Influence and support overall adoption of the Advice tools and methodology, through consulting on the Advice tools stack and how to integrate it into the planning process.
Support key Distribution stakeholders in the advancement of planning and strategies in the field. This includes helping build out point of views, serve as Subject Matter Experts in education to the field through various platforms.
Identify gaps in Advice and Planning acumen and address through inbound and outbound consults to advisors.
Leverage technology to provide consultation to representatives, field leaders, and Thrivent wholesalers on the advice process which leads to solutions for individual case design, in addition to, providing answers to representative’s questions on complex financial matters including, but not limited to, topics on college planning, estate planning, business planning and retirement planning.
Help advisors lead with Thrivent's Purpose Based Advice process providing clients a roadmap and clear action plan to achieving financial clarity.
Help Financial Advisors to identify both financial strategies and financial concepts to meet his/her existing client’s financial needs, to prospect for new clients, to overcome objections.
Ensure advisors are confident in the delivery on topics of estate, business valuation, special needs and stock option planning and objections to effectively close sales.
Provide subject matter expertise to internal and external Thrivent facing collateral. Including items for the Thrivent magazine, marketing collateral, articles, whitepapers, and podcasts.
Report to the Advice Services Leader and partner with others across Distribution Solutions, Wholesaling, Virtual Advice, and other areas to help influence and support initiatives to advance key strategic goals.
Support key field roles, including new advisors, field leaders, and tenured advisors in driving a deeper knowledge of strategy and the incorporation of the preferred Advice process and tool stack into practice.
Provide ongoing feedback loops from field advisors to the advice technology consultant to ensure Distribution leadership and Product teams are continuing to understand and build toward the largest need of the field.