Dear Wizard Learner

paraplanning and the paraplanner’s role

We got our inspiration from writing this month’s article following our involvement with www.theparaplanner.com in providing sponsorship and technical assessments for the Paraplanner of the Year and Rising Star Awards.

As you will see from the awards website www.ppoty.co.uk, the top prizes are very generous and it is well worth entering if your current role is as a paraplanner. If you work as an adviser or in another function alongside a paraplanner, you may want to let your colleague know about the awards, entries close on 15 September 2008.

The paraplanner’s role
So what is a paraplanner and what kind of expectations do their employers have of them? What kind of job prospects does a paraplanner have?

The term “paraplanner” has not been around that long although it has been adopted more and more to differentiate it from the role of administrator. We should all understand the word “planner” but what about “para”? One dictionary definition of “para” I read includes the following description: “A prefix signifying alongside of, beside, beyond, a placing beside…”

To some within the industry, what is entailed in the role has caused much confusion. You could even ask 100 different paraplanners what they do and get 100 different answers.

Commonly, the best paraplanners are regarded as individuals who work with their advisers and clients in order to ensure that the whole financial planning process is followed through so that it effectively meets client needs in a compliant and informative manner.

Paraplanning has become very much a specialist role. Primarily office based, the paraplanner provides a constant link to all those involved with the planning process. Often the more experienced paraplanners will be conducting research, assembling reports and recommendations for the adviser to present, drafting suitability reports and other documentation post sale and will be heavily involved with the review and re-appraisal of client circumstances.

Some argue that to be effective, the paraplanner should be with the adviser when meeting clients. There are points for and against this way of working.

On the one hand, allowing paraplanners to get to know clients face to face helps build rapport and familiarity. Often the paraplanner will become a constant contact source for the client as the adviser is out of the office meeting other customers. Such actions may also help with career progression if the paraplanner role is being treated as developmental towards becoming an adviser.

On the other hand, it could be argued that if the paraplanner is constantly out with the adviser, then the essential research and administrative functions of their job may become neglected. This may not be much of a problem if the organisation can provide good quality back up staff to fulfil the essential administrative work whilst the paraplanner is out, but could cause difficulties if he or she is the sole person being relied upon to carry out these aspects of the role.

We have already mentioned that some see the role as a stepping stone to becoming an adviser but there many paraplanners who regard it as a career in itself and have no intention of moving away from a role that they fulfil very well and suits their skills and personality.

So what is the difference between a junior and a senior paraplanner?
Martin Vaughan of www.theparaplanner.com sub divides the role into three levels of seniority:

1. Trainee paraplanner: someone with 0-2 years experience, no qualifications but working towards entry level qualifications such as the CII’s Certificate in Financial Planning

2. Paraplanner: someone with 2 – 5 years experience, who holds the FPC/Certificate in Financial Planning and is working towards the Diploma

3. Senior paraplanner: 5 + years experience, who holds the Diploma and is working towards the Advanced Diploma/Chartered Financial Planners status.

As you can see from the qualification requirements above, there is nothing to suggest that this is an unskilled role. As well as the individual’s ability to organize themselves, prioritise work, be accurate and thorough, to be considered effective they will often need to be as well qualified as their adviser colleagues in order to deliver the high quality work that their firm’s expect in a timely fashion.

There are also spin off benefits for the firm in employing good paraplanners. For example, as they are often technically highly competent, they can be used as a resource for others within the firm to use when more complex technical or planning issues arise. An obvious benefit of course is that with the paraplanner completing much of the work within the sales process, it will allow the adviser to go out and see more clients and effectively generate more recommendations.

Wizard Learning’s products and services as you know, are not exclusive to those working solely as advisers. We are aware of many paraplanners who use the site to assist them in completing qualifications and maintain their professional development.

We extend our invitation to all those aspiring to be or already working as paraplanners, to visit us at www.wizardlearning.com so that we can show how we can help!

 
Kind regards

Wizard Learning
www.wizardlearning.com

Wizard Learning is run by Mike Goldsmith a Chartered Financial Planner in association with a team of highly qualified, industry experienced individuals in order to assist finance professionals pass industry exams and help meet their CPD requirements. We provide a wide variety of online learning solutions for recognised industry qualifications as well as online training on key skills.

Contact us if you have any comments or questions.

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