Transitioning from paraplanning to advising has been a unique experience, but one I have thoroughly enjoyed. Right from the first meeting, I was surprised by how different the roles are!
First of all, it’s always good to put a face to our client’s names. It has been strange going from spending my day researching products to asking someone the questions we base our advice off as paraplanners. Both are clearly massive parts of the advice process but require very different skills, and it has shocked me how much of a different skillset is needed for advising despite both paraplanning and advising being technical roles in the same sector!
Some might say I’m boring as I genuinely find investment funds and the different features of a pension interesting, but I know 99% of people will disagree with me! It’s a challenge to present very technical information in an engaging way to ensure you give clients all the relevant information and it is easy to understand, without boring people to sleep with the nitty gritty stuff! I’m not saying it’s easier to be the man behind the curtain, because it certainly isn’t, but I don’t think I was expecting it to be this different!
I really enjoyed my short but sweet paraplanning days, but I look forward to getting to know my clients and helping them achieve their goals as an adviser. I just know it will be really rewarding and I’m excited to start building strong relationships for many years to come!
Article by: Charlie Hewson, Financial Planner
