How to Become a Financial Advisor?
I am currently studying accounting and I am employed as a Junior accountant, I have been hearing about financial advisors and the increasing popular demand for them, However I'm not sure how I would go about becoming one and what this particular Job involves. A few points to consider; - I am not interested in attending university if possible - I would like to own my own business
Financial Services - 1 Answers
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Answer 1 :
Hi, I could go on forever here, however to try and keep this short....ish Step 1 - You need to do your exams, if you don;t currently hold any industry qualifications (CF, FPC or CeFA exams) then I suggest you start by doing the new RO exams, which once you have done all 6 would give you the Diploma in Regulated Financial planning, which you will need post 2012 to give financial advice anyway. These exams are quite expensive. It's all self-study, the coursebook would set you back £130 for each module and around the same for the exam, so assuming you pass first time everytime your looking at around £270ish per unit. The units go RO1,2,3,4,5 which are all multiple choice papers, which you sit at an examination centre on a computer. Finally RO6 is the final exam which is a written paper, basically getting you to put all the knowledge you've learnt from the previous 5 papers into practice in case study scenarios. Step 2 - You need to know your market. Having the knowledge (exams) is no good if you don't actually know what your talking about in a real life situation, so I would get a job as a paraplanner (You'll be snapped up if you have the Diploma in Regulated Financial planning). This will give you a good grounding in what an IFA does, how he goes about his business and the type of things you;ll be giving advice on. Step 3 - You will need to be signed off for CAS (competant Adviser Status) this basically means you'll shadow an experienced IFA, to learn the ropes. Then you'll start selling but you'll be supervised, then a month or 2 later after yuo've proved your able to do the job un-supervised you;ll be signed off as a competant adviser. The FSA will give you their approval, the seas will part etc etc etc. It's not an easy job, especially if you wanted to be self-employed. Theirs more red tape around financial sales than their is round a murder investigation. The rewards are there if you really want it, but do not be under the illusion that being a financial adviser is easy money, because I can tell you from experience it's anything but!
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