Close your eyes and picture a financial planner. What does he or she look like? Chances are, no matter what you may look like, you're picturing someone who's pale, wearing a dark suit and sporting a few grey hairs.

Well, that face is changing. As go the shifting demographics of this country, so-one hopes-goes financial planning. The field may not yet be even close to reflecting the overall racial, ethnic and age makeup of the United States-which is on pace to be majority minority by 2050, when 54% of the total U.S. population will be African American, Hispanic, Asian or mixed. So the question is, are more planners and advisors coming from African American and Hispanic backgrounds, bringing along their youth and community ties to build the next generation of financial planning? The usual suspects, FINRA, FPA and SIFMA, keep no records of how many advisors identify as minority. But there is no doubt that we need fresh diverse talent. At the same time as a mind-boggling one-third of financial advisors are looking to retire in the next 10 years, the ranks of the affluent are growing more diverse.

THE OPPORTUNITY

The newest group of financial planners and advisors-those under 45, who now make up 24% of advisors-are growing careers at a time of both tremendous challenge and substantial opportunity.

The recession has been especially hard on wealth-building in the African American and Hispanic communities, but it hasn't erased the growth and advancement of both groups during the past decade. "There is a huge opportunity for minority advisors," says DaRayl Davis, the 37-year-old CEO and founder of the Financial Assurance Corp. in Washington, D.C. and the only African American member of Ed Slott's Master Elite Advisors Group.

However, the idea of investing money in markets, taking risks to reap gains and then transferring that wealth to heirs is a new tradition that this generation of young, minority planners must put into place. Because even among clients with money to invest and pass on, what hasn't been passed on yet is financial education-the education needed to take advantage of the tools available to build wealth-guided by a familiar face. Davis, who practices in Prince George's County in Maryland, the county with the wealthiest African American population in the U.S., is a prime example of the new generation's educators and wealth-builders, in a market that needs both. "My initial client base came from the high population of civil servants in the government in D.C.," Davis says. "On average, they have a higher-than-normal earning capacity, but the financial education was subpar."

The past two years have tested even the most sophisticated investors, but they certainly have represented a teachable moment for minority advisors and clients. Although 14% of African American investors have pulled out of the stock market recently due to heavy declines, 60% are still investors, according to Ariel Capital Management's Black Investors Survey, and they remain positive. Davis' experience was more dramatic: 25% to 30% of his clients pulled out of the market, he says, and into what they felt were safe havens. This year, the survey found, African Americans are more hopeful than other groups when it comes to an economic recovery-hope that can translate into growth.

Though Hispanics have also suffered tremendous setbacks in this economy, especially in housing assets, overall wealth has risen, primarily due to the population growth of the second and third generations, who are more likely to have a college education and be acculturated to banking. Hispanics have made leaps and bounds in terms of net worth, income and education in the past decade. According to the Census, Hispanic households with an income of $110,000-plus grew over 200% from 2002 to 2009, compared with 87% for total U.S. households. The five million high-income Hispanic households are much more likely to be young-75% are under 40 years old-and can lay claim to two million self-owned businesses with $300 billion in revenue, according to Hispanic Business magazine.

But again, the planning and advising opportunity lies not only in growing wealth, but also in education. "We may have a college education. We may be more skillful. But there's not necessarily more financial skill," says Victor Garza, 29, a former wealth manager who now heads financial education and consumer outreach for the Consumer Credit Counseling Service.

THE CHALLENGES

Creating new traditions for wealth-building and playing the roles of both money manager and educator are vital for working with both communities. The Hispanic community tends to be very conservative when it comes to banking, and many Hispanic business owners still maintain a distrust of banking and investing due to their experiences with turmoil in their countries of origin, where funds could devalue or simply disappear. This can be a challenge, but also an opportunity for advisors. Garza was approached by a potential client who kept $75,000 in cash in his home because he didn't know if he could trust a bank to keep it.