Alaska is the largest state in the United States by far. Despite having one of the country’s smallest state economies, Alaska’s per capita income is among the highest, thanks to its abundance of oil, natural gas and fish. Tourism is also lucrative in Alaska, with more than half the state being federally owned public land, with a multitude of national forests, parks, and wildlife refuges. Its largest city, Anchorage, is a major refueling stop for ships and aircraft due to its centrality in the industrial world; it is almost exactly halfway between New York City and Tokyo.
Alaskans have the lowest individual tax burden in the Unites States, paying neither an individual income tax nor a sales tax, thanks to Alaska’s petroleum revenues and federal subsidies. In fact, Alaska often ranks at the top of America’s most tax-friendly states.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, in 2019, there were 90 financial planners based in Anchorage, Alaska’s only major city and home to almost 400,000 residents – almost 40% of Alaska’s total population – which should signal plenty of opportunities for growth and lesser competition for aspiring financial advisors.
If you are an Alaska resident looking for a career in financial planning and curious about how well a financial advisor, stockbroker or life/annuity producer can do in this state, we have compiled this data here.
There are 82 CFPs in Alaska, according to the Certified Financial Planner (CFP) Board, representing 0.1 % of the financial planners in the U.S. To become a CFP, one must become a fiduciary, who is legally bound to act based on their clients’ best interests and not their own self-interests, commission, products or services.
Aspiring financial advisors can pursue employment as either a fee-based advisor or a commission-based advisor. A fee-based advisor charges clients a pre-stated fee for their services. This can include a flat retainer or an hourly rate for investment advice. A commission-based advisor, by contrast, makes money by earning commission when they sell financial products or services to clients. Therefore, commission-based advisors do not have to be fiduciaries.
Below, we have included salary data on financial advisors, stockbrokers, and insurance agents for the region of Anchorage from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics below.
Financial Advisor Salary in Alaska
Due to Alaska’s sparse population, the Bureau Labor of Statistics only has information on the city of Anchorage, which is home to 40% of the state’s population.
There were 90 financial advisors in Anchorage as of the 2019 BLS data. Do note that estimates do not includes self-employed workers. The average (mean) annual salary for a financial advisor in Anchorage is $93,850. Additional data on hourly compensation and percentile-based breakdowns are provided below.
Do note that the hourly rate represents the salary and is not a representation of what an advisor, stockbroker or insurance agent charges their clients.
Stockbroker Salary in Alaska
There were 140 stockbrokers in Anchorage, Alaska’s major metropolis in 2019, as per BLS statistics. Their annual mean wage was $83,430 in 2019, while the annual median wage was $58,690. While there are more stockbrokers in Anchorage than financial advisors, the salary of a stockbroker is also lower than a financial advisor’s. Additional data recorded by the BLS as of 2019 is shared below, representing median wages, 75th percentile and 90th percentile, measured both hourly and annually.
Life/Annuity Producer Salaries in Alaska
The salaries for life/annuity producers are lower than that of stockbrokers and personal financial advisors. The amount of life/annuity producers in Anchorage far outnumbers those of stockbrokers and financial advisors; there were 350 professionals in the city of Anchorage in 2019 selling life insurance and annuity products. In Anchorage, the annual mean wage was $64,820, while the hourly mean wage was $31.17.
Find additional data on hourly mean wage, annual median salary and how much agents make at the higher end of the pay scale below.
(Salary and job growth data reported by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics in May 2019 for personal financial advisors; securities, commodities and financial services sales agents; and insurance sales agents. Figures represent national data, not school-specific information. Conditions in your area may vary. Information accessed February 2021.)