Mark Leeming, a financial planner for Norwich and Peterborough.

Financial planner

Answers supplied by Mark Leeming, a financial planner at Norwich and Peterborough, a leading regional building society in East Anglia with more than 50 branches. The society’s aim is to be the best independent regional building society in the UK and to remain a mutual organisation, to provide better value and quality of service to customers.

What does the job entail?
It’s an established fact that people don’t save enough for the long-term, that they under-estimate how much they will need to fund their retirement and don’t take out adequate protection for their families against the unexpected. A financial planner’s role is to help the customer assess their current financial situation and make the right decisions for their future needs.
A financial planner who works for an organisation that offers independent financial advice covers all areas of financial planning, such as protection, pensions, equity release and investments. They are able to search the whole of the marketplace for the best and most suitable products and make recommendations for each individual customer. A financial planner is well trained to enable them to do all this.
You would usually operate predominantly from your local branch, but you are also able to visit customers at home or in the workplace if they prefer. A financial planner takes the customer through two face-to-face meetings, with a mid-interview recommendation using comparison quotations to identify appropriate products from the marketplace. A detailed and customer-friendly suitability report is produced and used by the financial planner to help present their recommendations.

What skills and qualifications are needed?
Applicants would be expected to have already passed relevant financial services qualifications such as the Chartered Institute of Insurance examinations (called Financial Planning 1, 2, and 3). Achieving the Certificate in Mortgage Advice Practice is also very useful. However, another popular route to this position is to join in a sales role and study for these qualifications, with support, encouragement and reward from your employer while working towards this position.

What type of person will fit in?
If you get satisfaction out of helping people to achieve their financial goals, or looking after their family’s financial well-being, then this could be the job for you. You need to be enthusiastic, motivated and self-disciplined as you will be responsible for your own success and for the satisfaction of your customers.
You need to work well by yourself, but equally still be seen as part of the branch team. You need to be outgoing and be able to communicate with people from all walks of life on financial matters. Being able to communicate complex financial products so that customers can understand them and appreciate their importance is essential.

What are the pluses and minuses of the job?
You will be busy with appointments booked for you by the branch to meet a wide variety of people, all with different needs and backgrounds, so a financial planner’s job is never boring. On the minus side, you tend to work long hours and sometimes weekends too.

What opportunities exist for career progression?
A good organisation will have a proper career progression framework in place and opportunities will exist to become a senior or specialist adviser; alternatively you should be able to progress into sales management.

What can I expect to earn?
Salaries range from £18,000 and can rise to about £30,000. In addition, you can earn bonuses which are linked to performance.

Any hints on getting a job in this area?
Recruitment agencies often advertise positions within the financial services industry, and it is worth keeping an eye on the recruitment sections in national and local newspapers.