Financial advising is a competitive field in Canada, more so in Ontario than it is in other provinces. There are many entirely able financial advisors out there who spend a lot of time studying, learning and otherwise training themselves to be educated and qualified professionals. According to investors there are almost 100,000 financial advisors in Canada. Of course they are not all equal in terms of their abilities.

Perhaps aside from the issue is that while professionals in other lines of work need a substantial investment maybe not only of their time, but also of their money in the pursuit of the qualifications necessary for his or her specific profession, to be a mutual fund sales person in Canada needs little of either.

As a comparison, in the event that you need to be a lawyer or even a physician requires undergraduate education and graduate studies. It will take perhaps 8 to 10 years of instruction and tuition and ancillary expenses of $100,000 and more are maybe not uncommon. On the other end of the spectrum, if you want to offer mutual funds for a full time income needs:
All an investment advisor needs is the following:

*$375 for taking the on-line Canadian Investment Funds Class
*$50 for 1 textbook (optional)
*That is it

As for the admissions requirements, quoting directly from IFSE’s web site: “Entrance into some of www.IFSE.ca’s programs is available to all persons. You will find no academic requirements for entering the Investment Funds Program.” Last time I heard, the pass mark was 60%.

To be clear, there are many advisors who got their start with this particular class who are fantastically professional advisors, and have since gone on to credentials and further financial education. You will find even wonderful advisors who have this and just this class under their belt. Nevertheless, with such minimal conditions for financial advisors in general it is clear to see why it looks so difficult to get a great one.