How to become an IFA

toonfish

Rifleman wrote: »

As for income. Mortgage advisor - £50- £60k ish if you work for a good sized company and you're good at your job. This is the route i'd advise, as you will need to aquire sales skills, working knowledge, and industry experience. Believe me, that job will definately get you those. Prepare for a shock when you initially start working with the general public! You could then move on to a company or bank as a financial advisor.

Hope this helps.

very few mortgage advisers earning that sort of income now in my experience

koexelek

toonfish wrote: »

very few mortgage advisers earning that sort of income now in my experience

I'll second that

Was last year, but won't be this

dunstonh

I'll third that

Also, new mortgage advisers tend to earn a lot less in the early years (as do new IFAs and tied agents). There are always exceptions to the rule but they are exceptions not the norm.

In my opinion, a new mortgage adviser should be looking at budgeting on £15k-20k in their first year if they have a branch/office with good footfall. If they have no footfall then forget it. Dont become a mortgage adviser as you need clients and without footfall, where are you going to get them?

Conrad

Dunst

I'm not sure MA's earn less early on - I've been in the business since 1991 and for sure, if you are good you earn top levels immediately. When employed I worked up to regional manager and we would always pay top rates for top people immediately.

The essential quality that proved time and time to be the differentiator, was attitude.
Top earners always had this focus and hunger that the rest simply did not possess. About 5% of all MA's would posses the key attributes. About 2 - 3% maintained top performance year in year out.

To demonstrate what I mean by the right attitude, try this;
The top performers had the drive to never give up on a case, and could turn a hopeless factfind into a completed deal, by thinking way outside the box - I dont mean fraud.
Now the interesting thing is that when you interview prospective MAs they ALL are convinced they have the drive and lateral thinking. The thing is, 95% will never have it, and never recognise they dont have it ("I did everything possible, no one could have placed that deal" - they will say).

Similarly when I went self employed in 98, I was earning substantially within 4 months.

The highest paid MA I know is self employed but conrtracts to an EA fincial services firm. She makes over £500,000 pa, even now.
A decent self employed MA can make £150k profit.

All this talk you get from self employed MAs making £20 - £30 k perplexes me. Why would anyone want the risk and stress for that level of income? I have nurses that earn over £50k, which sure can be stresful, but at least they know they always get paid, and they dont have to worry constantly about being fined or sued.

Rifleman

Actually yes I agree, £50-£60k is probably quite high in the current market for a new starter. But it's not unrealistic becuse a lot of the competition that we're never really very good and just relied on people turning up or EA's booking appointments for them have already fallen by the way side. Therefore, less competition.

However, you should still quite easily get at least a £25k basic in London if you have all the qualifications. As the others have pointed out though you will need to be in a busy patch, and be prepared to put lots of hours in. But, we've all been there though haven't we. No one starts at the top, and any new job always requires lots of initial hard work.

Another very important thing to remember is that you'll make money from mortgage and insurance sales, not just mortgage proc fees. This is where a lot of people have gone wrong in the past as they didn't sell insurance and relied purely on the proc fee for the mortgage. That's fine if you're churning out mortgages but what about now we're in a quiet market? You need to be able to sell insurance. It is a major income stream, and it will double your income regardless of whether you're an estate agency based advisor or go self employed. If you can't sell insurance then you won't earn. If you can, then a very good income is still realistic. It's also a skill in it's own right, and if you can sell it succesfully now you'll not only make a good income but you'll reap the rewards when the market picks up again.

dunstonh

I think you have to look at the number of MAs that used to post to this forum (in the good days) who have vanished or have moved on to other jobs because they couldnt make a go of it in the bad times (or chose not to). There are two well known stats in financial services. Over half of new advisers dont survive two years in the job and the top 20% do 80% of the business.

So, if you if you fall in that top 20% you will earn very well. Those just under will be able to earn comfortably but if you arent really in the top half then it is going to be a struggle.

Location has a lot to do with it. The typical mortgage out our way is £100k. That doesnt earn you a lot of money. You have to do 2 or 3 mortgages for every one a town based adviser will do. I dont personally do mortgages as I dont think its worth it (although I employ a mortgage adviser who does and I take a cut of his earnings which is more profitable ). Business model is key. If you dont have clients you wont be able to get business. Far far too many come into this business because they have been shown examples of those earnings £100, 200k a year etc and sold the dream rather than the reality.

Rifleman

Definately. If anyone offers you a job saying you'll make £100k then just say thank you and leave. It'd be the equivalant of your Sergeant Major telling you he's got a good job for you and it'll only take 5 minuits. ;-)

Dunstonh, Conrad etc. Do you think that a bank would take him on withouit experience, but if he already held the qualification? Thinking about it that'd probably be the best route in the current market, although I'd personally still do CeMAP as well.

toonfish

Conrad wrote: »

The highest paid MA I know is self employed but conrtracts to an EA fincial services firm. She makes over £500,000 pa, even now.
A decent self employed MA can make £150k profit.

How many cases must she ever write, and at what level of fee to earn that sort of money? I reckon this year, or certainly the second half of it we are averaging around £500 a case as a lot of it is remortgage work.

I would need to do 20 mortgages a week at that rate!

koexelek

toonfish wrote: »

How many cases must she ever write, and at what level of fee to earn that sort of money? I reckon this year, or certainly the second half of it we are averaging around £500 a case as a lot of it is remortgage work.

I would need to do 20 mortgages a week at that rate!

She probably only does mortgages for Premiership footballers

dunstonh

Dunstonh, Conrad etc. Do you think that a bank would take him on withouit experience, but if he already held the qualification? Thinking about it that'd probably be the best route in the current market, although I'd personally still do CeMAP as well.

Banks are interested in sales ability. Not qualifications. They will take on someone with no qualifications in financial services if they have a good sales track.