Financial Advisor Business

5 Financial Advisor Business Success Stories [2024]

Pat Walls

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Updated: October 10th, 2024

Looking for a career that makes an impact while securing your financial stability? Consider becoming a financial advisor.

Financial advisors guide individuals and businesses in making informed decisions about investments, savings, and overall financial health. This involves understanding complex financial instruments and staying updated on market trends to help clients achieve their long-term financial goals.

The demand for financial advisors is growing as more people seek expert advice to navigate economic uncertainties. You don't need a fancy office; just a solid understanding of finance, good communication skills, and the ability to build trust with clients.

Starting out, you may need to obtain relevant certifications and licenses. With dedication and hard work, you'll have the chance to help others build secure financial futures while creating a lucrative and rewarding career for yourself.

In this list, you'll find real-world financial advisor business success stories and very profitable examples of starting a financial advisor business that makes money.

1. CFOAF ($1.2M/year)

Inspired by his CPA mother's entrepreneurial spirit and his love for numbers, Byron Wolfe founded CFOAF, a fractional CFO Advisory Firm, which achieved $1 million in revenue within its first year by over-delivering expert financial guidance to small and midcap companies.

How much money it makes: $1.2M/year
How much did it cost to start: $50K
How many people on the team: 5

How I Started A $100K/Month CFO Service Company With My Wife

CFOAF, founded by Byron Wolfe, quickly reached $1M in accrued revenue in its first year by offering top-notch CFO services to small to midcap companies, specializing in managing high-level financial decisions, minimizing tax burdens, and providing business growth knowledge across various industries.

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2. Making Sense of Cents ($996K/year)

Michelle Schroeder-Gardner came up with the idea for Making Sense of Cents as a way to document her personal finance journey.

She started the blog as a hobby, but after readers suggested she monetize it, she leaped and quit her stable job as an analyst.

Making Sense of Cents now earns over $100,000 a month and has made over $5 million in total.

How much money it makes: $996K/year
How much did it cost to start: $100
How many people on the team: 1

How I Started A $100K/Month Blog About Personal Finance

Michelle Schroeder-Gardner earns $100,000 a month from Making Sense of Cents, a personal finance and lifestyle blog where she writes informative and fun articles about financial freedom and her life on the road, thanks to a diversified traffic approach and monetization strategies, such as affiliate marketing, sponsored partnerships, and course sales.

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Read by 20,106 founders

3. Financial Samurai ($360K/year)

Sam started a personal finance website during the 2009 economic crisis. An advertiser offered him $1,000 to advertise on his blog, which he saw as an opportunity to focus on his financial advisory blog.

How much money it makes: $360K/year
How many people on the team: 0

I Left My 13 Year Career To Start A $120K/Year Financial Advice Blog

Financial Samurai founder, Sam Dogen, shares how he turned his cathartic writing hobby into a personal finance site that generates over $10K a month in passive advertising revenue and has over 1 million organic visitors a month, as well as his tips on starting and growing a business, and diversifying clientele.

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Read by 5,800 founders

4. The Generalist ($300K/year)

Mario got the idea to start The Generalist organically through two main explorations.

First, his lifelong passion for writing nurtured through school and fiction writing classes, became a consistent hobby. Second, his career in technology and venture firms led to combining his interests.

Encouraged by his friends to write about his work, he began The Generalist as a weekend project. It gradually absorbed his energy and excitement, leading him to pursue writing as a viable career through newsletters.

How much money it makes: $300K/year

How Mario Gabriele Built The Generalist to $300K ARR

The Generalist newsletter, founded by Mario Gabriele, showcases impressive growth and monetization strategies, bringing in an average of $25K per month and $300K per year since its inception in 2019.

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5. Pretty Arrow ($125K/year)

Emily McDermott, founder of Pretty Arrow, came up with the idea for her personal finance brand after quitting her full-time job and wanting to monetize her passion for budgeting. She discovered the opportunity to sell budgeting templates on Etsy and used keyword research to create products tailored specifically to her target audience of young women. Since launching in 2021, she has sold over 29,000 spreadsheets and has grown her business through email marketing and Facebook ads.

How much money it makes: $125K/year
How much did it cost to start: $10
How many people on the team: 1

How I Used My Budgeting Skills To Pay Off $30K Student Debt And Build A $10K/Month Business

Founder Emily McDermott turned her passion for budgeting into a successful personal finance brand, Pretty Arrow, which sells customizable budget spreadsheets that have brought in over 29,000 sales since 2021, with much of the business coming from Etsy, email marketing, and Facebook ads.

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Read by 5,224 founders