In this article, I would state briefly, the difference between some mismatched fields in the finance industry.

A. Financial Advisors

A financial advisor is a professional who advises others on the value of securities of an investment for a commission. Broadly, a financial advisor is a person who analyzes in other to help people make better decisions around money matters, personal finances, and investment. They are sometimes referred to as financial educators because they provide general education and not biased advice. Financial advisors listen to your situation and give advice that is tailored to your situation. Financial advisors exclude bankers, lawyers, reporters, professors, brokers, and dealers because their advice is judged to be biased or manipulative or incidental to their businesses.



B. Financial Planners

A financial planner is a professional who prepares comprehensive planning for an individual or organization, in other to help them meet their financial objectives. Financial planning involves budgeting, investing, saving for retirement, tax planning, insurance coverage, and more. To become a financial planner, you must be certified by organizations such as the Certified Financial Planner Board which was designed to certify experts as Certified Financial Planner (CFP) in the United States in 27 countries outside the United States.



C. Financial Analyst

A financial analyst is a professional who examines financial data and use their findings to make business recommendations for companies. The financial analyst creates financial models from large amounts of financial data that can predict the outcome of certain business moves. Financial analysts play a significant role in providing decision-makers with the information they need to increase revenue and manage assets successfully.



D. Financial Engineer

A financial engineer is a specialist who uses mathematical techniques, methods of engineering, and the practice of programming to solve financial problems. Financial engineers make use of tools from multidisciplinary fields which involves computer science, statistics, economics, and applied mathematics to solve financial problems.

Most times, financial engineers are busy working on models to predict how an investment tool will perform, and assessing the risk in each product considering the volatility of the market. Financial engineers majorly work with insurance companies, hedge funds, banks, asset management firms, and rating agencies. Proprietary Trading, Risk Management, Portfolio Management, Derivatives and Options Pricing, Structured Products, and Corporate Finance Departments are some of the known places where financial engineers.

This is not a well-detailed post to clarify the difference between these mismatched fields, I insist that you read further. I intend to raise the awareness that these three are not the same.