The lowdown to financial adviser jobs
The life, pension and investment industry has undergone dramatic changes over the past decade. Longer life expectancy and the desire to retire before state pension age have increased public awareness of financial services markets and the changing landscape of financial adviser jobs.
These changes have created a marketplace where customers are more discerning and regulatory requirements more stringent. The emphasis is switching away from 'selling' towards providing quality advice. This is partly due to an increased percentage of individuals sitting industry-recognised exams such as the Certificate in Financial Planning (formerly the FPC).
Multi-tiered financial adviser jobs
A financial adviser is a broker or intermediary authorised to sell or advise on the policies of life insurance and financial products, such as unit trusts. Typical examples of companies which employ financial advisers are banks, insurance and life companies, general brokers, estate agents and building societies. Financial advice is given in the following areas:
Advisers in direct and tied sales are only permitted to sell their own company's products, whereas independent financial advisers (IFAs) sell a variety of different products from different suppliers. The latter role is diverse as you are more likely to be exposed to a wider variety of people, situations and competitors.
The ability to build effective relationships with clients and colleagues holds the key to success as do first-class communication and commercial awareness skills. Financial advisers find their contacts through networking, cold calling, referrals, advertising and publicity, database marketing and through face-to-face contact.The role of financial adviser usually revolves around targets.
The sales aspect has taken a more advisory route. Legislation now stipulates that every quote produced must include a breakdown of how the client's money is to be spent. This includes the percentage allocated to the financial sales adviser. Generally, there are three routes that the financial adviser can take: he or she can work on a self-employed, commission-only or salary plus bonus basis.
Get your financial adviser qualifications
The changes within the industry, and the rigid regulatory bodies that have clamped down on practices have meant that it is now longer as easy to get into the industry as it was previously. The Certificate in Financial Planning provides a broad-based grounding in the financial services market, covering regulatory aspects, products, fact-finds and giving advice.
A typical career path for a young professional interested in a career in financial advice is to either start on the administration side and move into a trainee sales role. Once becoming a fully-fledged financial adviser in a specialised area such as direct sales, tied sales or bancassurance, and having completed two or three years as a professional, you may want to recommend all products. You would then become an IFA and your career path could take on a managerial position or you could go into partnership.
The key messages emanating from industry professionals are as follows:
- Be flexible and open-minded
- Be prepared to put in the hours for exams
- The first few years are long and hard - you must persevere
- Maintain a sense of humour throughout
Continue your search for financial services jobs. For more information about the variety of financial adviser jobs, visit www.cii.co.uk/financialservices.
