The posting
Associate Financial Planner: Retirement Income Planning
Peak Financial Planning | Fully Remote (US) | $65,000 - $72,000 salary + CFP education paid
You've spent a year or two in financial services. Maybe in operations at an RIA, as a paraplanner, as a service associate at a custodian, or in tax preparation. You've seen how planning works up close. Now you want to do it.
The problem is what comes next. Most firms offer two paths from here: move into sales, or stay in a support role with a ceiling.
We built a third path.
Peak Financial Planning is hiring an Associate Financial Planner. This is a technical seat on our planning team, built to grow into a full Financial Planner role in about a year. No sales quota. No prospecting. No client book. You'll take the foundation you already have and build real retirement income planning expertise on top of it.
About Peak Financial Planning
Peak Financial Planning is a fee-only RIA focused on retirement income planning. We don't sell products. We don't earn commissions. We get paid to give good advice and deliver plans clients can act on.
Our clients pay $8,000 for a four-month retirement planning engagement: Social Security timing, tax-aware withdrawal sequencing, healthcare planning, Roth conversions, investment alignment.
Behind every client meeting is our planning team. Planners build the analysis and prepare the materials so advisors can walk into a meeting fully prepared in about 15 minutes. That is the standard we hold ourselves to.
We take training seriously. Our internal knowledge base is organized around planning decisions, not just topics, so you learn how to think through a plan, not just where to click.
For you, that means working on real, complex plans from your first month. Bracket management, IRMAA cliffs, ACA subsidy tradeoffs, withdrawal sequencing across account types. Most people wait years for that kind of exposure.
What You'll Be Doing
You'll start with the foundation of every plan and take on more analysis as your skills grow.
- Enter and organize client data accurately in IncomeLab, Holistiplan, and HubSpot.
- Set up new client plans in IncomeLab, from account structure through initial projections.
- Gather and reconcile investment and account information across Altruist and client-provided statements.
- Run analysis in the software: retirement projections, tax scenarios, Roth conversion comparisons, Social Security timing.
- Prepare materials that support advisor prep for Peak's planning meetings.
- Flag missing data, inconsistencies, and open questions before they reach a planner or a client.
- Work inside Peak's planning checklists, SOPs, and QA process.
Over time, you'll move from setting up plans to building them.
What the First Six Months Actually Look Like
We'd rather be honest up front.
Most of your time will go to data entry, account setup, and learning our systems and software. You'll do the same types of tasks day after day. The work is detailed, time-consuming, and it has to be right.
That's by design. Every plan we deliver rests on its inputs. A wrong cost basis or a missed account changes the advice. Getting the inputs right is how you learn how a plan actually works. It's also the fastest way to earn more responsibility.
If you find satisfaction in doing careful work well, and doing it faster each week, you'll do well here.
What You Get in Return
You won't be doing this work alone in a corner. You'll join team calls and trainings every day with planners and advisors who build these plans for a living. You'll see how experienced planners think through real retirement income decisions, and you'll contribute to them.
The work you do matters from day one. Every hour you save a planner goes back into better analysis for a client who is making one of the biggest financial decisions of their life.
Advancement here is based on what you can do, not how long you've been here. People who master the fundamentals quickly take on more complex work quickly.
The right person doesn't see this as a year to get through. They see it as the opportunity it is.
The Path to Financial Planner
The target is promotion to Financial Planner within about 12-18 months. That means moving into our Financial Planner compensation band and owning plans end to end.
Promotion is earned through clear milestones centered around speed and quality, as well as team and client impact.
You'll get structured training, direct feedback, and a documented process to learn from. How fast you move is up to you.
Who This Is For
You have 1 to 2 years in financial services and you already know the basics. You've worked with client accounts, statements, or financial data. You understand account types, custodians, and how an advisory firm runs. You don't need to be taught what a Roth IRA is or what cost basis means.
You care deeply about details and inputs. You can work efficiently through repetitive work without losing focus or accuracy. You'd rather get something right than get it done fast, and over time you learn to do both.
What you want now is depth. You want to understand why a plan works, and you're willing to earn that understanding one input at a time.
You're enrolled in, or ready to start, a CFP Board-registered education program.
Requirements
- 1 to 2 years of experience in financial services: RIA operations, paraplanning, custodian service, tax preparation, or closely related work.
- Working knowledge of account types, custodial paperwork, and client financial data.
- Currently pursuing CFP education, or committed to enrolling.
- High attention to detail. Small errors in planning compound.
- Able to work efficiently and accurately through repetitive, detail-heavy tasks during an extended training period.
- Strong spreadsheet skills and comfort learning new software quickly.
- Clear written communication.
- Coachable. You want feedback and you act on it.
- Self-directed enough to work remotely and manage your own time.
- Experience using various financial planning software.
Nice to have: experience using IncomeLab, Holistiplan, Nitrogen/Riskalyze; experience at a planning-focused or fee-only firm.
This is not a role for people brand new to the industry.
Compensation and Logistics
- Salary: $72,000.
- CFP education reimbursement: at your one-year mark with the firm, we reimburse your CFP coursework, exam prep, and exam costs, as well as your first-year CFP certification fee once you’re eligible for the CFP marks.
- Clear path to Financial Planner within about 12 months, with compensation moving into the Financial Planner band.
- Benefits per firm policy, including employer health insurance contribution and 401(k) match.
- Expected start date: November 2, 2026.
Tools You'll Use
IncomeLab, Holistiplan, Nitrogen/Riskalyze, HubSpot, Altruist, Google Workspace, and Peak's internal planning templates and spreadsheets.
How to Apply
This is a two-step process.
Step 1: Apply through the job posting.
Step 2: If selected to continue, you will receive an email and text message requesting three video answers in Breezy. Each answer is limited to 60 seconds. Complete all three within 24 hours of the request.
- Tell us about a time you did repetitive detail-heavy work for an extended period. How did you stay accurate and engaged?
- Tell us about a time you caught an error or detail that others missed. What happened?
- Imagine you're responsible for setting up 8 client plans per week. What are the three most important skills for doing that well, and which one is your strongest?
Applications without completing the video are considered incomplete.
