Solid attention to detail, good time-management, and a desire to keep learning are the top skills all good paraplanners need, according to Kingswood paraplanning manager Kate Davenport.
Speaking to FTAdviser, Davenport shared some of her wisdom from 40 years in financial services and explained why she believes paraplanners often make the best financial advisers.
As a chartered financial planner, Davenport joined Kingswood Group as a paraplanner before becoming paraplanning manager for the Midlands region in May of last year.
Looking back on her career to date, Davenport said she was doing the job of a paraplanner before the role had a name, having started report-writing in the mid-nineties.
“In the late 80s I was working for an IFA within a firm of accountants, and I looked at all the accountants going off and doing their exams and I thought, I would like to do the CII exams,” Davenport said.
“This was when it was all general insurance, it predates any of the financial services stuff by quite some way. So I went and spoke to the partners and said I would like to do these exams.
“It was [a case of] ‘how much is this going to cost’ and I told them and they sort of fell off their chairs and said how many do you want to do because compared to what they paid for the accounting students it was a drop in the ocean,” Davenport said.
Davenport drew a comparison between financial planning, law practitioners and accountants and said in her view, those in advice and planning need to think of themselves as more of a profession than an industry, similar to law and accountancy.
“Financial advisers like to see themselves as being the third arm along with solicitors and accountants. There’s not a law industry, there’s not an accountancy industry, so therefore if we want to see ourselves as their equals it’s got to be a profession.
“That’s why I was so glad when RDR came in and introduced the need for qualifications,” Davenport added.
Davenport, who has been a chartered insurance practitioner since 1991, also holds a law degree which she obtained in 2013 while studying part-time as a mature student.
Although she has dabbled in advising herself, Davenport quickly decided it was not for her and chose to stick with paraplanning.
“I tried advising many years ago. It didn’t suit me. Because I’m quite technical I wanted to explain the ins and outs of say, a pension plan to a client and they would sort of glaze over and say well is it going to give me some money when I retire?,” Davenport said.
