Introduction To Careers In Personal Finance
A career where you can make a real difference
Financial planning is about much more than money.
It is about helping people make confident decisions about their future, whether that means buying their first home, starting a family, growing a business, investing for the future or planning for retirement.
As a financial planning professional, you can build long-term relationships with people and help them through some of the biggest decisions and milestones in their lives.
It is a career that combines people, problem-solving, business, finance and technology, with plenty of opportunities to develop, progress and build a career that suits you.
What is financial planning?
Financial planners help people understand where they are today, where they want to get to and what they need to do to make it happen.Great financial planning starts with understanding people: what matters to them, what they want their life to look like and what they are trying to achieve. You then help turn those ambitions into a plan.
What could your career look like?
There is no single route into financial planning and there is no single type of career.
You might start straight from school or college, join through an apprenticeship, enter after university or move into the profession from another career.
There are also many different roles within a financial planning business.
Financial Adviser or Financial Planner
Work directly with clients, understand their goals and circumstances, and recommend strategies to help them achieve them.
Over time, you could build your own portfolio of clients, specialise in a particular area or progress into senior leadership.
Paraplanner
Work alongside financial planners to research solutions, analyse client circumstances and help develop detailed financial plans and recommendations.
It is a highly skilled technical career in its own right and can also be an excellent route towards becoming a financial planner.
Client Services
Help make sure clients receive a brilliant experience.
You might organise meetings, help process investments and pensions, work with financial providers and keep clients updated throughout their journey.
Investment and Research
Analyse investments, financial markets and portfolios to help determine how clients' money should be invested.
Operations, Technology and Compliance
Modern financial planning firms also need people working in technology, data, marketing, operations, regulation and business management.
You don't have to become a financial adviser to build a successful career in the profession.
Why choose Financial Planning?
Make a genuine difference
Build relationships, not just spreadsheets
Financial planning is a people profession
Earn professional qualifications
Strong earning potential
Progress quickly
Build transferable skills
Work in a changing profession
Financial planning is evolving
Could financial planning be for you?
You don't need to know everything about pensions, investments or tax before you start.
That's what training and professional qualifications are for.
What matters is having the curiosity to learn and wanting a career where your work can have a meaningful impact on other people's lives.
If you're ambitious, interested in people and want a professional career with real opportunities to progress, financial planning might be a career you haven't considered yet.
Discover where a career in financial planning could take you.
