career question

kanchhelskis

Dear Guys A Girls, I Want To Be A Financial Advisor Is An Accountancy Course The Way To Go For Me? Thanks In Advance.

jonesMUFCforever

Do you have a natural attraction to all things financial?
If you do get your qualifications and become an IFA --if not join a bank - you will be manager in less than 2 years if you are good at selling.

dunstonh

It may be an idea for you to research what you want to be. An accountant isnt an IFA and vice versa.

Its unusual to find that you can get a direct path to become an IFA. You usually have to have to be qualified and have at least one year experience in financial services first.

The traditional routes to becoming an IFA are less than they used to be. Nowadays the most common method is either to start as a mortgage adviser (after passing the mortgage exams) and then spend a year or two doing that before progressing on to passing the exams to become investment class authorised or to join a bank and get qualified with the bank paying all the costs. Then spending a couple of years making your mistakes on bank clients at no cost to yourself (unlike when you are a self employed IFA). The latter option is the most common method nowadays and having to serve time working in a heavy sales environment with poor quality products and tied to one provider can do you good. If you can do a job there, then being an IFA should be easy as you will have cheaper and better products.

It can be quite an expensive profession. By the time you pay FSA levies, PI cover, research software, back office software etc you can be looking at around £8000 a year. If you join an existing firm, then they will take a lot of what you earn to pay for those things. So, you need to know that you will make a success of it before you start.

It can also be quite a time consuming profession nowadays and you will be working under deadlines which can result in late nights.

Some people prefer to remain as a tied salesman rather than an IFA due to comfort of working for a bank. No costs, company pension and low knowledge customers not knowing they are being stitched up coming into the branch every day. The earnings tend to be lower but with no costs and no liability for the advice given, its more comfortable.

kanchhelskis

thanks for the reply i did get offered a job at brittannia building society,i do know quite a bit when it comes to savings, i havent got any qualifications though this could be a problem.

dunstonh

Did they offer you the role of a financial adviser or a clerk?

Most building society roles require little or no qualifications. Only the financial adviser or mortgage adviser roles would but they may be willing to put you through that training.

kanchhelskis

thanks i am going to be looking at getting a part time job on a saturday if i can with one of the banks.

dunstonh

ahh ok.

It is fair to say then that you will not be a financial adviser as there is no way a bank would pay £20k or so it would cost you to get you qualified just for a part time role.

A part time job would be a clerk which would be enquiries or cashier or combination depending on size of branch. No qualifications are required for that (beyond English and Maths o level or equivalent unless banks have dropped that requirement now).

kanchhelskis

the thing is i work in a computer factory and i get told all the time im in the wrong job, im always helping people change current accounts, and setting up regular savings accounts.

dunstonh

working for a bank or building society wont really be like that. It will be a case of how many credit cards can you flog. How many referrals to the insurance salesman can you do. How many mortgage referrals can you hand over and if you are lucky, then a little bit of help may be part of the job.

You will also be tied to what that employer offers. This means that you will have to accept that you will be telling people to do things using your own product range knowing that they product isnt the best available.

I dont want to put you off but it is important to know what the role of a bank/building society clerk actually is.

kanchhelskis

ok thanks buddy it just seems to me that im in the wrong job, i know i would only be able to sell in house products.is a part time time job on a saturday in a bank the best option for me?

dunstonh

I cant tell you if its the best option or not. It depends on your current job.

I used to work in a bank and towards the end I really hated it and those that I still keep in contact who are still with the bank dislike it a lot of the time as well. The heavy sales targets and pressure on everyone (even the cashiers) to sell sell sell along with the petty squables between back office and front office (thats more in larger branches) are hell.

I dont know if you have seen that NatWest advert on telly where you have the two "idiot" managers who come to the conclusion that the answer to getting rid of queues in the bank are to close the branch. I can tell you that in some branches, it really is like that and I can recall to this day, when the branch I was at was closing down, a customer being told that the queuing problem was being resolved and seeing her face after the pause when she was then told the branch was closing.

If you get a good branch, it's not too bad. Get a bad branch and it can be a living hell. I've been in both types and the latter was a living hell.