Your first year as a financial advisor: how to last past month six without burning out

The first months are mostly activity with little to show for it. You make calls, book appointments, sit in first meetings and write a few cases, and the commission from a case arrives some time after the client signs. So the work and the pay are out of step, and the gap is widest at the start.

Three things surprise most new advisors. The first is how many calls end in a no, and how little that has to do with you. The second is how fast the list of people you already know gets used up. The third is how tiring it is to be your own boss, with nobody telling you to stop for the day.

The rules come first. In Singapore you can't advise on or arrange life policies until you've passed the exams MAS requires and your firm has notified MAS, and after your first calendar year you'll owe continuing professional development hours every year under MAS's Notice FAA-N26. The guide to recruiting financial advisors lists the exams and the US licensing rules.

A weekly number turns a big yearly goal into something you can hit or miss by Friday. Work back from your goal through your own rates, one step at a time. The numbers below are made up to show the sums. They're not a typical first year, and your rates will be different.

1. A first-year commission goal of S$36,000 / S$900 average FYC per case = 40 cases.
2. 40 cases / 1 in 2 closing meetings signing = 80 closing meetings.
3. 80 closings / 2 in 3 first meetings reaching a closing = 120 first meetings.
4. 120 first meetings / 3 in 4 appointments turning up = 160 appointments set.
5. 160 appointments / 1 in 4 calls booking one = 640 calls.
6. Over 46 working weeks: 640 / 46 = 13.9, so 14 calls a week, and 160 / 46 = 3.5, so 4 appointments set a week.

In your first months you won't know your own rates yet, so start with your manager's estimate and replace it with your own numbers after 8 weeks. The activity calculator does these sums with your rates, and the MDRT calculator does it for an MDRT goal. The glossary entry on FYC explains what counts toward it.

A case you close this month usually started with a call several weeks ago, so a week with no cases can still be a good week, and a week with two cases can hide a month of no calls. Judge each week on the part you control: calls made, appointments set and first meetings held against your weekly number.

That also changes Friday. Instead of "I closed nothing this week", the question is "Did I hit 14 calls and 4 appointments?" If you did, the cases will follow at your rates. If you didn't, you know what to fix next week.

The people you already know are where most new advisors start, and the list runs short. Start building your next source before it does:

• Ask for a referral after every signed case, and after any time you help a client with a claim or a question.
• Pick one group you understand well, such as a profession, a language community or a sport you play, and become the advisor people in it know.
• Book a review with every client once a year. Reviews bring both new cases from people who already trust you and new names.
• Go where your group already meets, and give something useful before you ask for anything.

The insurance prospecting guide covers each source and the Do Not Call rules to follow when you contact people you don't know.

• Count the no. Every call counts toward your weekly number, whether it ends in an appointment or not, so a day of refusals is still a day of work done.
• Set a daily minimum you'll hit even on a bad day, such as 3 calls before lunch, and stop there if you need to.
• Make calls in blocks, at the same time each day. Deciding every time whether to pick up the phone wears you out faster than the calls do.
• Pair up with another new advisor. Swap numbers every Friday, and swap scripts when one of you finds a line that works.
• Write down one thing that went right each day. On a slow week you'll need the list.

Burnout in year one tends to build slowly, so watch for the early signs:

• You're working every evening and weekend, and still feel behind.
• You put off calls you used to make without thinking.
• A single no ruins your day.
• You're avoiding your manager and your numbers.
• Sleep, exercise and time with people outside work have all slipped.

If you see two or three of these, change something that week. Take one full day off. Set a time you stop working each evening. Tell your manager what's happening, because a manager who knows can adjust the plan. And if you feel low for weeks at a time, talk to a doctor.

• Keep a cash buffer for the months before commission builds, and know your number: what you need each month to cover your bills.
• Read your contract until you can say when commission is paid and when it can be clawed back, such as when a policy lapses early.
• Look after the policies you've written. A case that lapses in its first year can cost you the commission you were paid, and the persistency ratio is how firms measure it.
• Never sell a policy to hit a number. MAS expects advisors not to use aggressive or pressure sales tactics and to give clients enough time to consider a recommendation, as its 2026 information paper on market conduct restates from its Guidelines on Fair Dealing.

Nobody can promise what you'll earn in year one, and anyone who does is guessing. What you can control is the weekly number.

• A weekly one-on-one in the same slot, with your numbers on the table.
• Joint appointments in your first months, first watching and then leading.
• Help setting your weekly number from your goal, and a check of your rates after 8 weeks.
• Role-play on the objections you hear most.
• A straight answer, at six months, on whether your numbers are on track.

Look at the activity first. If you've hit your weekly number most weeks and your rates are improving, the cases usually follow, and the second year is easier than the first. If you haven't been doing the activity, that's the thing to change, and it's in your control. If you've done the activity for six months and your rates haven't moved at all, sit down with your manager and go through them one by one before you decide.

Whatever you decide, decide on the numbers, not on the worst week.

This guide is free. ActivityTracker, the app we make, is paid. Here's what it does for a first-year advisor.

• Calls, appointments and first meetings are one tap each to log, with the time
• A weekly goal counts every call and meeting you log toward it, so Friday's question is answered by Wednesday
• Routines like 10 calls a day come back each day and show the days you slipped
• Biscuit, the app's corgi, splits your weekly goal into a number for today, and a no earns the same coins as a yes
• Streaks count weeks, so one missed day doesn't break a run of good weeks