cefa/cemap advise please.

Ian_Griffiths_Halifax

fairytale1 wrote: »

Do you think a broker would be interested in teaching me the ropes with no experiance?

The telephone interviews has knocked my confidance a bit. I wouldn't know how to approach a broker....

Also would working for a bank put a broker off?

It's a tough one.

You need experience to get the job and you need the job to get experience. The usual story.

With all the Supervision of a new adviser that is necessary these days, it's difficult to take somebody on who has no experience and dedicate the time they need to be able to show them how a real Adviser works.

There is a danger for you just as much as the broker taking you on.

If you don't get the supervision, tuition and assistance you need and are just thrown in at the deep end, that could leave you in debt due to not earning a great deal, and your confidence could be knocked even further.

Your first 2/3 months could be pure expense due to having to fund your own fuel costs going to see clients day/night/weekends, let alone living expenses for that time as well, but the rewards are good if you have the dedication and can spot early on whether or not you are dealing with a time waster or somebody who you just can't help.

If you have worked for a bank as a Mortgage Adviser, it's better than no experience at all. You would just need to learn how to think differently about the advice that is being given. These are people who are trusting you for advice and you need to be able to deal with them in the future, not just 'hit them for a quick buck and run'.

Also, there is a big difference in that Lenders do 'Non-Advised Sales', whereas brokers (decent ones) do 'Advised Sales'. This means you are accountable for the advice you are giving rather than the non-advised sales where the client is the one who decides which mortgage they want.

fairytale1

Ian_Griffiths_Halifax wrote: »

It's a tough one.

You need experience to get the job and you need the job to get experience. The usual story.

With all the Supervision of a new adviser that is necessary these days, it's difficult to take somebody on who has no experience and dedicate the time they need to be able to show them how a real Adviser works.

There is a danger for you just as much as the broker taking you on.

If you don't get the supervision, tuition and assistance you need and are just thrown in at the deep end, that could leave you in debt due to not earning a great deal, and your confidence could be knocked even further.

Your first 2/3 months could be pure expense due to having to fund your own fuel costs going to see clients day/night/weekends, let alone living expenses for that time as well, but the rewards are good if you have the dedication and can spot early on whether or not you are dealing with a time waster or somebody who you just can't help.

If you have worked for a bank as a Mortgage Adviser, it's better than no experience at all. You would just need to learn how to think differently about the advice that is being given. These are people who are trusting you for advice and you need to be able to deal with them in the future, not just 'hit them for a quick buck and run'.

Also, there is a big difference in that Lenders do 'Non-Advised Sales', whereas brokers (decent ones) do 'Advised Sales'. This means you are accountable for the advice you are giving rather than the non-advised sales where the client is the one who decides which mortgage they want.

Thank you for this Ian,

I think I will just keep my head in the books for a while. I think my confidence will grow with more knowledge.


:think:

arkie

I will have my cefa by the end of this year. Then I want to do my
Certificate in supervising in a regulated environment,
Certificate equity release
Certificate in regulated customer care
Certificate in regulated complaints handling
Certificate of regulated general insurance
Certificate in commercial mortgage
Advanced CeMap




[/quote]

Hi again Fairytale 1
good luck with the exams above, if you want to make yourself more employable you should study the Chartered Insurance Institute exams (CII) as these are more highly sought after as when the FSA's RDR comes into force you will need the exams the CII offer to become a Financial Adviser. The banks WILL be short of qualified advisers and if you havent got these exams you cant be classed as a financial adviser only just a salesperson.
The exams you mention are all based around peoples homes, mortgages etc. Lending is naffed for the next few years, with houseprices falling etc and lending to those with bad credit is naffed for even longer (5-10 years)., you will far better off studying the CII exams. These can be more expensive/difficult but they are the exams to have. I have FPC (financial planning certifcate) and Cemap and because I have FPC i can switch to being an IFA subject to conditions/supervising. The CII exams give you more strings to your bow and any mortgage broker will tell you that in todays broker market you need as many strings as possible.
Any further questions you can pm me

Brum_Man

fairytale1 wrote: »

I will have my cefa by the end of this year. Then I want to do my
Certificate in supervising in a regulated environment,
Certificate equity release
Certificate in regulated customer care
Certificate in regulated complaints handling
Certificate of regulated general insurance
Certificate in commercial mortgage
Advanced CeMap

Can I just ask, why all those? It seems like you are going in to the exam arena with the mentality that the more exams you have, no matter what they are in, the more employable you will become and the more someone will pay you.

Pretty much all the above are lending & and customer complaints based, to which none of will give you any advantage in you becoming a financial adviser. Also, they are pretty role specific.

You should be looking at what you want to do and work out an exam path based on that, not be of the mindset that more exams are better no matter what they are in.

As mentioned above, if you want to become a financial adviser the route you should be looking towards is;

CeFA (IFS offering)/Certificate in Fianancial Planning (CII offering) --> Diploma in Financial Planning (CII)

Don't just do a hotch-pot of exams that will give you no real benefit to your end aim as they will simply be a waste of time and money.

Any questions on them by all means ask, but make sure you research your chosen pay before paying out any money or putting in time to revision.

fairytale1

Brum_Man wrote: »

Can I just ask, why all those? It seems like you are going in to the exam arena with the mentality that the more exams you have, no matter what they are in, the more employable you will become and the more someone will pay you.

Pretty much all the above are lending & and customer complaints based, to which none of will give you any advantage in you becoming a financial adviser. Also, they are pretty role specific.

You should be looking at what you want to do and work out an exam path based on that, not be of the mindset that more exams are better no matter what they are in.

As mentioned above, if you want to become a financial adviser the route you should be looking towards is;

CeFA (IFS offering)/Certificate in Fianancial Planning (CII offering) --> Diploma in Financial Planning (CII)

Don't just do a hotch-pot of exams that will give you no real benefit to your end aim as they will simply be a waste of time and money.

Any questions on them by all means ask, but make sure you research your chosen pay before paying out any money or putting in time to revision.

Yes I am hoping to finish my Cefa this year, then study the rest after.
My CeMAP AND CeFA both take about 6 months each but have 3/4 modules.
The others only have 1 module each so though it would be quite easy to pass them.
The CII do a diploma that the cefa exam will give me credits towards so maybe I'm better off just doing this.
I have got the view that the more knowledge/exams you pass the better,
And thought I may as well do as much as I can to make me more employable.
I'm just not sure I am going the rite way about it.
I do enjoy the mortgage side more, but the Financial Advisor route seems to be the way the market is leading me. With the mortgage market on the downturn.
I think while the industry is so unpredictable at the moment, if I work hard and keep my head down I thought I may have a better chance when it picks up.
I cannot say really what I will enjoy more Mortgage Advise /Financial Advise/ broker/estate agent/bank. As I don't have experience in any.
But I thought I would have more choice the more exams I pass. I have the view that you can never learn enough...

dunstonh

The CII do a diploma that the cefa exam will give me credits towards so maybe I'm better off just doing this.

You get 70 credits, the same as the CII version. As it currently stands, it looks like that IFAs will require the diploma post RDR but sales reps wont.

I have got the view that the more knowledge/exams you pass the better,

Knowledge is vital but passing exams doesnt make you an expert. Putting the knowledge into real world application does that. I remember back to my FPC days in 94 and I reckon it took about 2 years after the exams for a lot of it to really sink in.

If you go the diploma route then you would be wasted as a tied rep but it is actually quite a good idea for new advisers to do time at a bank to see if they can make a go of it whilst being paid at the same time. Plus, it allows you to gain some clients. The old natural routes to adviser have diminished over the years.

Brum_Man

But what relevent knowledge do you hope to gain from taking all the other exams through the IFS? I can say from experience that it is not just a case of having lots of exams that will make you employable, it's a case of having lots of relevent exams that will make you more employable. To have the view that you should just do as many as possible to get a big list on your CV is the wrong way to view it.

Unless you specifically want to go in to complaints handling/GI/Equity release then I would personally say give the rest with the IFS a miss after you have done CeFA. And even if you enjoy the mortgage side more CeMAP is enough to do them.

As Dunstonh say, CeFA will give you 70 credits towards the Diploma which means you then need 80 more credits at Diploma level which equates to 4 more exams. If you want to go down the FA route you will find these a much more useful use of your time and money, and actually make you more employable.

fairytale1

Brum_Man wrote: »

But what relevent knowledge do you hope to gain from taking all the other exams through the IFS? I can say from experience that it is not just a case of having lots of exams that will make you employable, it's a case of having lots of relevent exams that will make you more employable. To have the view that you should just do as many as possible to get a big list on your CV is the wrong way to view it.

Unless you specifically want to go in to complaints handling/GI/Equity release then I would personally say give the rest with the IFS a miss after you have done CeFA. And even if you enjoy the mortgage side more CeMAP is enough to do them.

As Dunstonh say, CeFA will give you 70 credits towards the Diploma which means you then need 80 more credits at Diploma level which equates to 4 more exams. If you want to go down the FA route you will find these a much more useful use of your time and money, and actually make you more employable.

Thank you for this i will look into the Diploma once i've have done my CeFA.
i'm glad i asked for the advice now,.....