Latest / Financial Planner Life Podcast / How To Become A Paraplanner in Financial Planning. Financial Planner Life Academy Focus ( taken from YouTube video)

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How To Become A Paraplanner in Financial Planning. Financial Planner Life Academy Focus ( taken from YouTube video) · Financial Planner Life Podcast

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_01: Today I am joined by the one and only Adam Owen of NextGen Planners, and we will be outlining everything you need to know if you're an aspiring power planner.
• 0:09
  SPEAKER_01: That includes key skills you need for the role, potential exam routes, some really good study tips, and a little bit more about the exclusive content that you can access in the Financial Planner Life Academy.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_01: Hi Adam, it's really exciting to have you with us today.
• 0:27
  SPEAKER_01: How are you doing?
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_00: Very well, Elena, and looking forward to talking about all things paraplanning.
• 0:32
  SPEAKER_01: All things paraplanning, that very subjective term that people that I'm sure that will be listening in this community don't necessarily know what it all entails.
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_01: So in this video, we'll be providing a really clear roadmap on all things power planning, that including different qualifications, how you can embark on that journey, how the community can really benefit you, and some really good study tips.
• 0:53
  SPEAKER_01: So we'll go all the way back to the beginning, Adam.
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_01: I'm a second careerist, I'm a graduate, I'm interested in embarking a career in paraplanning.
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_01: Where do I start?
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_00: Well, that's a great question.
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_00: And the start point is really to find out a little bit more about powerplanning.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_00: And that's where we start in the Financial Planner Life Academy as well, is that we have a program that begins to just explain what a paraplanner is.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_00: Because there isn't a single definition of a paraplanner.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_00: Different firms will use paraplanners in different ways.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_00: In some firms, power planners will be behind the scenes, writing reports, doing research, creating all the things that build that client financial plan, but they won't necessarily be client-facing.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_00: In other firms, uh, poanners will be often called technical planners, and they'll be there in meetings with clients.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_00: So, in terms of where you start, understanding what type of power planner you might want to be is a really great start point.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_00: And so part of the process of starting in the Financial Planner Life Academy is that we think about just what type of paraplanner you might want to be.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_01: And that's what's really good about this academy.
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_01: You get all that exclusive content and it breaks down things that you might not be able to access just on the internet or if you're trying to explore it yourself.
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_01: So when you're a paraplanner, very often there'll be a set of qualifications that is required.
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_01: I, as a financial planning recruitment specialist, know that you don't necessarily need a qualification to be a paraplanner.
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_01: But if we take a deeper dive into the qualifications, can you maybe signpost why they're beneficial and where aspiring points can start their exam journey?
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, absolutely.
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_00: And maybe one of the qualifications of choice is the CII's certificate in power planning.
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_00: And the reason that that is such a great qualification for power planners is it is also halfway through the diploma for regulated financial planning, which is the required benchmark to be a financial planner.
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_00: So it might not be that you start a career as a power planner and want to progress to being a financial planner, but it keeps those options open.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_00: And that qualification from the CII, when you've completed it, also gives you a postnominal of CERP para planner.
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_00: So it enables you to put those letters after your name to say that you are qualified as a paraplanner.
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_00: So the qualification itself is in four modules.
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_00: And as I said, the first three modules are the first three modules of the Diploma in regulated financial planning: R01, R0, and R03.
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_00: RO1 covers regulation and ethics.
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_00: So we look at the regulatory framework.
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_00: We consider how each part of the regulatory framework work together, and we think about the rules.
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_00: And there's an awful lot of information around the rules of regulation there.
• 3:41
  SPEAKER_00: RO2 is about investments and investment products.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_00: So there we explore all the standard investment products like ICES and other things that you'll have heard of, and also some of the more esoteric investment products.
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_00: And we think about derivatives and hedge funds and all those things that you might have heard about on television online, but we delve into the detail of those.
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_00: RO3 is about tax and the UK tax regime and how to get the best advice put together for a client from a tax perspective.
• 4:13
  SPEAKER_00: And then there's another module for the power planner certificate, and that is J09.
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_00: And with J09, it's a completely different thing.
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_00: JO9 looks at the practical delivery of how we write reports.
• 4:25
  SPEAKER_00: So it's a cross three assignments.
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_00: So it's an entirely assignment-based paper, and each assignment is a couple of thousand words, and it's case study led as well.
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_00: And so the assignments will explore the different disciplines of being a paraplanner.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_00: The first assignment will usually explore how we analyze the client's information from a fact find.
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_00: The second assignment will look more at how we do research and begin to investigate the different things that we could provide for a client based on their objectives.
• 4:56
  SPEAKER_00: And then the final assignment is going to look at the recommendation and how we actually put reports together.
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_00: So a lot of different things are tested within this process of achieving the power planner certificate.
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_00: But also it's a great tool, Elena, for demonstrating future employability that you've actually been through this process and that you've hit the core level of qualification required.
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_01: That's some really good information there, Adam, because even I didn't realise in the certificate for powerplanning, you needed to do J09.
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_01: So that just goes to show you in the Financial Planner Life Academy, you know, having access to these mentors, you can learn all this information that you might not be able to from other source knowledges.
• 5:41
  SPEAKER_01: So when we talk about the Financial Planner Life Academies and being a paraplanner, it's great because not only will it provide you with all the exam support, but also all the ins and outs and the soft skill training to allow you to be the most successful paraplanner that you can be.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_01: And not only that, but you'll have access to all those mentorships, as I mentioned, and they'll be able to teach you everything A to Z in financial planning and paraplanning.
• 6:04
  SPEAKER_01: So you really feel like you're not alone.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_01: So that's just a couple of points why it's really beneficial to be part of this community if you're an aspiring power planner.
• 6:13
  SPEAKER_01: But can you think of another couple of benefits for people that want to take this step in their career?
• 6:17
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_00: It's very much about understanding the role of a power planner.
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_00: So we have brought expert paraplanners into the community to talk about that specifically.
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_00: So names that you'll recognize if you've investigated the poinning professional already.
• 6:30
  SPEAKER_00: People who are thought leaders in the power planning space have created on-demand video modules for us, but also will be joining the community as mentors, but again, also offering masterclasses.
• 6:43
  SPEAKER_00: And it's one thing to pass the exams and have the technical knowledge.
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_00: It's a whole different thing to understand the nuances of the various aspects and skills that you need as a role of a power planner.
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_00: One of those key skills is communication.
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_00: It may not be a client-facing role in all firms, but you're going to have to be communicating oftentimes with a financial advisor or a financial planner.
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_00: You're going to have to be communicating quite a lot with other stakeholders as well as providers.
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_00: And so being able to influence people and to be able to actually drive a client's case forward so that it gets to conclusion and it's the right thing for the client.
• 7:21
  SPEAKER_00: There's a lot of skills that we look to build within the Financial Planner Life Academy to achieve that.
• 7:26
  SPEAKER_00: And so we focus a lot more on soft skills than you might imagine.
• 7:31
  SPEAKER_00: We focus on those skills of communication, we focus on those skills of influence, but not from a point of how do we work directly with a client on a one-to-one basis as we would a financial planner.
• 7:42
  SPEAKER_00: It's more subtle than that.
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_00: And we look across a whole different range of different communications that paraplanners are going to need to have.
• 7:49
  SPEAKER_00: It's a very varied role.
• 7:51
  SPEAKER_00: So we've tailored the support to that.
• 7:53
  SPEAKER_01: Welcome to the Financial Planner Life channel.
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_01: This video is designed specifically for our Financial Planner Life Academy, the new fully independent online academy, helping second careerists and literally anyone that is committed and interested enough reach their full potential in a career within financial planning and mortgage advice.
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_01: If you want to see more content like this, make sure you hit the subscribe button.
• 8:16
  SPEAKER_01: And better yet, join our brand new academy and have access to soft skills training, live Q ⁇ As, live roundtables with experienced professionals, mentorships, exam support, and much more.
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_01: The link is in the description below.
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_01: So very, very wrong being a paraplanner, very subjective to different firms, and what better way to learn to become how to become a really successful paraplanner in your own right by learning from other people that have been successful in the profession.
• 8:45
  SPEAKER_01: When we go back to the exams, obviously one of the great things about the Financial Planner Life Academies is that you will feel part of a community.
• 8:53
  SPEAKER_01: You won't be alone alongside the fact that you can do it in your own timescales, as you please, and alongside your current employment.
• 9:01
  SPEAKER_01: But if you're going through that exam journey, can you provide a couple of study tips?
• 9:05
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 9:06
  SPEAKER_00: One of the key things is that we get asked a lot is how long is it going to take to get through the PowerPlanner certificate, for example.
• 9:13
  SPEAKER_00: And the CII, they will recommend a certain number of study hours, and it'll be in the hundreds.
• 9:19
  SPEAKER_00: But of course, that's on the basis that people maybe aren't studying as efficiently as they could.
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_00: And one of the key focuses of the academy is that we focus people's time to study as efficiently as they possibly can.
• 9:32
  SPEAKER_00: So we start with a learning styles assessment, and we'll consider whether or not you are a theorist or a reflector or an activist or a pragmatist or a blend of those different things.
• 9:44
  SPEAKER_00: So, how do you as an individual really want to be able to study and where are you studying at your best?
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_00: We also then with that tailor the tools and the content that we have within the academy specifically to those needs.
• 9:58
  SPEAKER_00: So we'll pull out things that we think, well, this will really suit this individual candidate, whereas these things over here may suit this other candidate.
• 10:06
  SPEAKER_00: And so through choosing the right blend of materials, that gets you on the right path in the first instance.
• 10:13
  SPEAKER_00: But then we spend a lot of time focusing on techniques, understanding the syllabus and what is required from each of these different modules is very important, and pulling out the things to spend time on and also the things not to spend time on.
• 10:26
  SPEAKER_00: Looking at previous exams and thinking about all the times where a particular topic has never been tested.
• 10:32
  SPEAKER_00: If it's never been tested in the decade or more that the exam's been in existence, chances are it's going to be less likely to be tested going forward.
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_00: It's not always a guarantee, but we believe in spending your time in the areas that actually you're going to get the most benefit from.
• 10:47
  SPEAKER_00: We focus on what we call a study less pass more method.
• 10:51
  SPEAKER_00: That's not a way of being lazy and just watching Netflix, but it is a way of focusing your time so that you're not wasting that time.
• 10:59
  SPEAKER_00: Oftentimes people spend days writing notes from the textbook, turning them into their own notes, and then feel that they have to start learning that because they'll have written notes from the textbook and not remember any of it.
• 11:13
  SPEAKER_00: Why might that be?
• 11:14
  SPEAKER_00: Well, think about when you write a shopping list.
• 11:16
  SPEAKER_00: If you write a shopping list, then you will cover the 10, 15 things that you might need to go and buy in your grocery shop, and then you've told your subconscious that you don't need to remember it, because all you need to remember is where the shopping list is.
• 11:28
  SPEAKER_00: So why do we deploy that technique when we're using a 400-page textbook, convert it down to 50 pages of notes, and then expect us to have remembered it just through the process of writing it down.
• 11:39
  SPEAKER_00: When we're writing it down, it's a little like sometimes when we're taking our commute to work that we sort of don't realize where we've been.
• 11:46
  SPEAKER_00: And it's the same when we're just taking just notes out of a textbook.
• 11:50
  SPEAKER_00: Your conscious mind and the learning product can just switch off.
• 11:53
  SPEAKER_00: So we dispense with that.
• 11:54
  SPEAKER_00: And we look at the things that really do lock in the information that you need in order to pass the exam.
• 12:00
  SPEAKER_00: And we focus all of our efforts and helping as many people as possible achieve that first time pass because that's how you build momentum.
• 12:08
  SPEAKER_00: And it's not always possible to achieve a first-time pass, but then if you don't pass first time, we'll sit down and analyze the areas that need to be focused on the next time.
• 12:17
  SPEAKER_00: All of this is with a supportive community of peers who are doing the same thing and going through the same thing.
• 12:24
  SPEAKER_00: We look at different ways of planning your study.
• 12:28
  SPEAKER_00: And so some people will want timescales and accountability partners.
• 12:33
  SPEAKER_00: Other people will just feel that making progress is great.
• 12:37
  SPEAKER_00: But the one thing that we don't do is support a spiral of guilt where you're feeling guilty because you're behind in a thing or you're not doing your studying because you're spending time with friends and family or doing hobbies.
• 12:48
  SPEAKER_00: We provide a framework that enables people to do both.
• 12:52
  SPEAKER_00: Concentrate on studying, but then spend time doing the things that you love.
• 12:56
  SPEAKER_00: And we work on the basis line with these exam modules that if you do an hour a day, five, six, or seven days a week, then you should be ready to sit one of these exams every 10 weeks or so.
• 13:08
  SPEAKER_00: It's different for different exams, but that's the average.
• 13:11
  SPEAKER_00: So if you're doing two hours a day, five days a week, then you may be shortening that time frame.
• 13:16
  SPEAKER_00: If you're doing three hours a day, you may shorten it further.
• 13:18
  SPEAKER_00: But just to beware that doing more study a day doesn't necessarily get you exponential results because how we build information and how we learn information and how we retain information is so much to do with what happens when we sleep, not what happens when we study.
• 13:35
  SPEAKER_00: So if you're studying for four hours a day and cramming, then you may not process a good chunk of that information because you're not actually allowing your brain time to process.
• 13:46
  SPEAKER_00: So a little and often lots of breaks, and we look at each individual's needs.
• 13:51
  SPEAKER_00: But of course, we do understand as well that there'll be people who they they need to get something done quickly.
• 13:56
  SPEAKER_00: There may be a particular job role that needs a particular qualification at a particular time, and we can adapt to that.
• 14:01
  SPEAKER_00: But for other people, they might want to take a slower, more measured path whilst they're working somewhere else and currently in employment elsewhere.
• 14:11
  SPEAKER_01: So, Adam, in your opinion, what key skills make a good paraplanner?
• 14:16
  SPEAKER_00: Well, Elena, they are varied, and no day will be the same if you are a paraplanner, of course.
• 14:22
  SPEAKER_00: But it's a really interesting process of developing those skills to be a power because, as I mentioned earlier, and in many ways, you're going to need to communicate with people, you're going to need to influence people, you're going to need to explain a report that you've written to a financial planner who's then going to go and deliver that to a client.
• 14:42
  SPEAKER_00: And so there's definitely elements of communication, but oftentimes the power planner role is seen as a behind the scenes role in many firms.
• 14:50
  SPEAKER_00: Some can be client-facing, but oftentimes not.
• 14:54
  SPEAKER_00: But then the real core skills that you need to be a power planner are critical thinking, analysis, the ability to research and to research well.
• 15:04
  SPEAKER_00: The requirements from a regulatory point of view are that we produce a suitable solution for the client's needs.
• 15:12
  SPEAKER_00: Well, that suitable solution might be one of 30,000 different available products.
• 15:19
  SPEAKER_00: So you need to be able to use that technology that is available in order to do an initial sift through those products and then to delve into the detail and look at the detail of those things.
• 15:32
  SPEAKER_00: Paraplanners will be problem solvers.
• 15:34
  SPEAKER_00: There'll be people who look at the critical thinking element of a task.
• 15:40
  SPEAKER_00: There'll be people who are great communicators.
• 15:42
  SPEAKER_00: And of course, that's not just verbal communication, that's written communication as well.
• 15:46
  SPEAKER_00: Paraplanners will write reports, and those reports are often going to be taking very complicated subjects, but they need to explain them in a way that is very simple for the client.
• 15:56
  SPEAKER_00: Because we may be meeting people who are incredibly good at their job.
• 16:01
  SPEAKER_00: But if their job isn't that of a financial planner or isn't based on financial planning and financial advice, oftentimes these are concepts that our clients know nothing about.
• 16:10
  SPEAKER_00: And so we need to be able to explain tax concepts, pension concepts, investment concepts in a way that the other person is going to, first of all, understand them and then think, well, actually, that solves the problem that I thought I had.
• 16:23
  SPEAKER_00: It's a multitude of different skills.
• 16:25
  SPEAKER_00: Now, the great thing about the Financial Planner Life Academy is that we've brought in some brilliant power planning experts.
• 16:32
  SPEAKER_00: And I know that you've had Sean Davis Cole already do some videos around what is paraplanning, but Sean is back in the community with our power planner program and has recorded 10 full modules of every aspect of a power planner's life and all of the elements and the skills that power planners need.
• 16:49
  SPEAKER_00: And also a series of descriptions of sort of the what happens next in that process.
• 16:56
  SPEAKER_00: And so it takes all of our candidates through a detailed explanation of the role of a power planner.
• 17:03
  SPEAKER_01: That clip included some terrific advice from Adam.
• 17:07
  SPEAKER_01: And remember, you're not alone in this.
• 17:09
  SPEAKER_01: We have everything and more by the Academy, which we will link in the description of this video.
• 17:14
  SPEAKER_01: I know we've covered a lot of valuable information in this clip, so you can find the key points written in the description below with all the links mentioned.
• 17:21
  SPEAKER_01: Please, if this video has helped you, hit the like button and comment with any questions you have.
• 17:26
  SPEAKER_01: We are always looking to create new innovative and digestible content for you, so your feedback is always welcome.
• 17:33
  SPEAKER_01: Want to learn about a guide to becoming the financial advisor?
• 17:36
  SPEAKER_01: Perhaps you're thinking about becoming an administrator.
• 17:39
  SPEAKER_01: This video is part of an entire series of guide tools, so click here for more.