For Lucy Carnell, the opportunities that exist in paraplanning helped her overcome the feeling of “being stuck” after finishing school and choosing not to go to university.
Speaking to FTAdviser, Carnell, who is a paraplanner at Albert Goodman, explained that although she believed there was a stigma around not going to university, she easily forgot about this once she began working in financial planning.
At age 24, while working in a secretarial position, Carnell was told by a manager that she would be a good fit for paraplanning and so decided to make the move.
Once she started studying towards the Chartered Insurance Institute’s financial planning exams she began to enjoy how varied a role in paraplanning can be.
In particular, it was the ability to train on the job, do the exams and progress in her career that kept Carnell interested.
“In Albert Goodman, they advise on later life care and they do trusts, so it seemed to be a role that had massive avenues really,” Carnell said.
I hope in the future it will be looked at as more of an independent career path, because behind the scenes we are just as qualified as advisers“If you leave college and don’t go to university, you wonder if you are stuck. Whereas I started this role and that wasn’t even a thing.
“There’s a whole different set of exams you do and whether you went to university or not, you have to do the additional studying. So it felt like an opening,” she said.
Carnell is now working towards her chartered financial planning exams and although she admits that they are a “completely different level”, she is looking forward to the challenge.
“It’s the way the industry is going, everyone wants to be more qualified - if you can be ahead of the game, why not?,” Carnell said.
“Also, it’s that next level of knowledge and the next step,” she added.
Route into advice
Carnell, like many working in paraplanning, has decided to use the role as a springboard into advice and has recently accepted a trainee adviser position at her firm.
“I wasn’t comfortable with just skipping the paraplanner route. I had my diploma and I knew knowledge wise I was there, but on actual day-to-day experience, I wasn’t there yet.
“So paraplanning gave me that opportunity to get all the experience I needed, plus it gave me the time to think about what I wanted to do,” she told FTAdviser.
Looking ahead to her new role, Carnell believes it will be developing the soft-skills of the adviser role that will be the biggest change.
“Sometimes the [paraplanning] role is so technical that you can do all of the behind the scenes things and use the industry language, but being able to relay that to a client in a format they understand is a different skill,” she said.
“That’s probably the most daunting side of it, but I’m mainly excited,” she added.
Paraplanning in its own right
In Carnell’s view, while paraplanning has opened up career opportunities for her, she believes that more needs to be done by the profession to make it an attractive career in its own right.
“When I started, it was that sort of stepping stone from paraplanning into advice. Whereas I hope in the future it will be looked at as more of an independent career path, because behind the scenes we are just as qualified as advisers,” she said.
Carnell added: “It is a different skill set as well, focused on research and analysis and it should have its own progression path because those people may not want to be sat in front of clients.”
jane.matthews@ft.com
