Financial advice & wealth management
Do you aspire to a life splashing the cash, jetting around the world and retiring at 50? If this dream sounds familiar, you’ll need a plan. The chances of your lottery win coming through is just 1 in 13,983,816, so people working in financial advice specialise in creating a very personal Plan B for customers.
With such a vast array of investment, life and pension products, even the most clued-up people can be bamboozled by choice. Financial advisers step in at these crossroads to guide customers out of sticky financial situations, creating a long-term strategy to grow and protect that pot of gold. They get to know customers, their wants and needs for their lifetime and map out a plan. Just as doctors aim to make lives healthier, financial advisers seek to make people’s futures wealthier.
The skill of financial advice is getting under your customer’s skin through a comprehensive fact find. You will ask questions, get them to organise their thoughts clearly and present them with appropriate options. This requires first-class people skills, an analytical mind and an up-to-date understanding about all the products on the market. You could be helping a first time buyer take their first step onto the property ladder, organising a safety net for a family, guiding someone who’s dicing with debt or investing a pension pot worth thousands or even millions of pounds in the stock market. Whatever the task, the advice you give can have a vast effect on a customer’s quality of life.
The product and legal knowledge you’ll gain through training and experience rivals most accountants and solicitors. There are plenty of opportunities for movers and shakers to carve out a niche and make a name for themselves. Changes within the industry and rigid regulations means sitting a range of highly recognised examinations before you’ll be let loose on customers. These qualifications and experience give greater bargaining power and flexibility to move around or even establish your own business. And the industry is crying out for young, efficient talent.