UK-based Just Wealth has unveiled its fast track academy to help qualified financial professionals get into financial advice.
The academy is aimed at paraplanners, technicians and bank staff who may have the necessary qualifications but currently don’t have client-facing roles. The training will help them gain the skills to establish themselves as financial advisers.
Just Wealth said the proposition has been appealing to those who want to step out of corporate life as well as self-employed advisers who don’t have a large client bank and lack leads to attract customers.
‘Trapped’
David Magee, head of wealth at Just Wealth, said the company held conversations with qualified people who “felt trapped” in their support roles and who wanted to set up their own business but didn’t know how.
“Having the right knowledge and qualifications is just one part of running a successful business,” he said. “Many of the candidates we spoke to needed help to make the step from a support or admin role across to advising clients for themselves.
“The Fast Track Academy was specifically created to provide all the help advisers’ needed in the crucial areas of marketing, lead-generation and client management while also giving them the freedom to offer holistic financial advice and recommend whichever product the adviser believes is best for the client.
“One of the most important components to our fast track academy is the focus we provide around the client journey and the ability to ask clients appropriate and relevant questions. Client acquisition is the foundation of a successful business but is often the most daunting for a new financial adviser and anecdotally we are told the main reason advisers are afraid to strike out on their own,” Magee added.
“Referrals to Just Wealth advisers from our parent business Just Mortgages have been increasing steadily throughout the first half of the year which is a main driver for the launch of the academy. We have clients looking for wealth advice and need more advisers to fill the gap.”
Gender struggle
Just Wealth may find it hard to attract female paraplanners to the academy, according to a recent study by Quilter.
The data found that just 6% of female paraplanners said that they would like to go on to become a financial adviser while 17% said ‘maybe’.
Conversely, 41% of male paraplanners said that they would like to become a financial adviser with 21% saying ‘maybe’.
At the time of the survey, Mark Pittaccio, business consultant and behavioural economist at Quilter Financial Planning, said: “The research shows that, even when individuals are attracted into the industry, the decision to become an adviser is heavily biased towards males.
“Surveys of financial adviser communities have shown that misperceptions about the nature of financial planning, particularly amongst women, strongly affect their interest in becoming financial planners.”
