Arkansas is known for its prosperity as well as its culture. It is also one of the most affordable states to live in, which you’re well aware of if you’re an Arkansas resident. It consistently ranks amongst the lowest for cost of living as well as for cost of doing business. Because of this, it is home to Six Fortune 500 companies, including Walmart, the world’s biggest retailer and the world’s No. 1 corporation by revenue, which is headquartered in Bentonville.
There are 294 CFPs in Arkansas, according to the Certified Financial Planner (CFP) Board, around 0.3 % of the total number of certified financial planners in the country. Aspiring CFPs should know that to be certified by the CFP Board, a financial advisor must first become a fiduciary, someone who is legally bound to act based on their clients’ best interests, as opposed to making their living via commissions on the sale of products and services.
Aspiring financial planners have two career paths before them – one is fee-based advisory and the other is commission-based advisory. Fee-based advisors make their living through a pre-stated fee for their services rendered to their clients. This fee usually consists of a flat retainer, and/or an hourly rate for investment advice and other services.
A commission-based advisor, by contrast, makes a living by earning commission or when they sell their financial products or services to their clients. While one is obligated to acquire a certification to become a fee-based advisor, this is not the case for commission-based advisors.
If you are interested in how salaries for financial advisors, stockbrokers and insurance agents vary across different regions of Arkansas, you have come to the right place. We have compiled data on the salaries of financial advisors, stockbrokers and insurance agents in Arkansas, across its various metropolitan and non-metropolitan regions. This data has been acquired from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and is visible below.
Financial Advisor Salary in Arkansas
Little Rock is home to 380 financial advisors – the most in the state. Fayetteville-Springdale-Rogers is second with 270 financial advisors. Fort Smith has the highest annual average salary with Fayetteville-Springdale-Rogers at a close second in terms of annual mean salary. Additional data on hourly compensation and percentile-based breakdowns are provided below.
Readers should note that the hourly rate represents the salary and is not a representation of what an advisor, stockbroker or insurance agent charges their clients. Also, note that annual wages have been calculated by multiplying the corresponding hourly wage by 2,080 hours.
Stockbroker Salary in Arkansas
There are more stockbrokers in Little Rock than the rest of Arkansas put together. Little Rock alone has 820 stockbrokers, with Fayetteville-Springdale-Rogers at a distant second with 200. Stockbrokers based in Little Rock also make more than their counterparts in the rest of the state. The annual mean salary is $70,470, while the second-highest annual mean salary goes to stockbrokers in Fayetteville-Springdale-Rogers, where they make $58,750 per year. Hourly median wage, hourly median wage and wages in the highest percentiles for experienced brokers are also highest in Little Rock.
Life/Annuity Producer Salary in Arkansas
Little Rock has 1,560 life/annuity producers, once again more than the rest of the state put together. Life/annuity producers in the North Arkansas nonmetropolitan area have the highest mean wages – the average annual mean salary is $76,340, while the hourly mean wage is $36.70. Fayetteville-Springdale-Rogers follows close behind with an average annual salary of $71,660 and a mean hourly wage of $34.45. However, Fayetteville-Springdale-Rogers have the highest annual 75th percentile wage. Unlike the data for stockbrokers and financial advisors in the state, Little Rock is notably in third position in the state when it comes to salaries for insurance providers in almost every metric.
(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.)
