Hi Carter,
Thank you for your kind words.
Regarding your question...You have a long road ahead of you. Your economics background is useful as a complement to the skills of a research analyst. However, as you stated, on their own they will not land you a position. Instead, once you have your CFA charter it will separate you from other candidates. There are two primary benefits to an economics degree, most folks only have one of the benefits. Those benefits are the deep appreciation of benefits vs. costs, and the other is econometric modeling. Most undergraduate economics programs do not teach econometric modeling, though. Your current work as a financial adviser has two primary benefits, as well. First, you are learning the ridiculous jargon associated with investing - this is no small task. Also, you are learning about the issues confronted by many clients in their personal finances.
The above skills are also garnered by attaining your CFA charter, though. So these are not big differentiators. I can think of no more beneficial things for you right now than attaining your CFA charter. It is an extremely low cost way of attaining a credential that is more valued than a MBA. As I outline in this article (and in the many comments answered), you also need to make tangible your skill set to a prospective employer. Your daily question of yourself should be: if I knew what I know about myself, would I hire me? If the answer to that question is 'no' then you need to keep plugging along until the answer is a 'yes.' In my personal case I was in exactly the same situation that you describe: economics degree and aspiring adviser wanting to be a research analyst. That was in 1993, and it took me another 5 years to acquire the components necessary to be a compelling candidate.
These components included: MBA, Level I of CFA passed, a year of work as an analyst intern at a pension consultant, having read 100 or so books on investing (including lots and lots of accounting), and having developed my own research reports as described in this article. Along the way there were many existential moments about whether or not I believed in myself enough to persevere. There was no guarantee on the other side of all this work, just a dream. But on a daily basis I navigated toward it.
Best wishes for success!
Jason