You are here: Home - News -

Diary of a wannabe adviser

by:
  • 08/07/2011
  • 0
Lewis Benson is the new blood everyone keeps saying the advice space needs. He is 19, a degree student, and he really wants to be an independent financial adviser. Mortgage Solutions' sister title IFAonline.co.uk is following Lewis on his journey from wannabe to winner

Lewis’s dad is Brian Benson, managing director of Crown Wealth Management. But Lewis is not just relying on family connections to get on.

He has crafted a three pronged plan of attack 1) Study financial services and business management at Sheffield Hallam University 2) Spend the summer on Aviva’s Future Adviser programme 3) Work for Mazars Financial Planning on a year long placement.

Oh, and he wants to be chartered by the time he is 30.

Follow Lewis on his journey from wannabe to winner….

Part 1: ‘Why I want to be an IFA’

(extracts from the essay which won Lewis a place on the Aviva Future Adviser programme)

“Financial advice has never been as important as it today. The recent economic recession has affected the UK population heavily.

People more than ever need good advice to help them achieve their goals and objectives and ensure they have a robust investment strategy that ties in with their attitude to risk and expectations in terms of returns.

This is one of the benefits of becoming a financial adviser, everyone is different; you will not find two people with the same goals of issues relating to their finances.

Financial advisers can really make a difference by making sure clients’ funds grow in the most tax efficient way, to help preserve existing wealth and of course create new wealth. People are looking for independent, unbiased advice they know they can trust.

Trust is very important when giving financial advice, your clients’ will be trusting that you are doing the best for them and not just yourself.

There are so many skills that are important to being a successful financial adviser; being a good listener, doing what the client wants not what’s best for you, and developing financial plans built around your client’s circumstances, with well informed recommendations, and coordinating the plans you have made with other professionals, such as lawyers and stockbrokers.

Financial advice is not about being a salesman, it is about being a people person.

The future of the financial adviser profession is changing, and developing in line with people’s ambitions. This paves the way for young hopefuls like myself, who really want to have a career in financial advising, and taking the level of professionalism to a new level.

Even here at university with my different modules I am learning how to make well-informed investment decisions.

I am looking forward to further extend this knowledge to a practical level and join this industry as a graduate. I wish to study the profession exams needed to become a financial adviser, and then even becoming chartered.

I hope I have shown my enthusiasm for becoming a financial adviser. I really do wish to make a difference to people’s lives by providing them with sound advice, and being in this process would be very rewarding to me.”

Mortgage Solutions’ sister title IFAonline.co.uk will be following Lewis as he progresses on the Aviva Future Adviser programme

There are 0 Comment(s)

You may also be interested in