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In this weeks episode Sam is joined by Mel Abplanalp from Buckingham Gate Chartered Financial Planners.

Mel is the head of operations at Buckingham Gate, she has had an unconventional but incredibly important career journey that has led her into this, the perfect role for her skillset and personality.

Mel has jumped around a little bit in her career, but as we established on the podcast, that’s not always a bad thing. It’s great to gain experience at different companies in different roles.

Mel has tried both Financial Planning and Paraplanning, but it was after skilfully dealing with an unpredictable bit of company chaos and the resonating words from a keynote speaker that she realised the operations route was her true calling.

This is a fantastic episode for anybody that’s at the beginning of their journey, or perhaps stuck in rut within their current role. You’ll get invaluable insight into the pros and cons of multiple role experience and why you aren’t as stuck as you may think!

As the profession grows the need for those in operation roles will also increase, I wonder how many people sitting in paraplanning, or advice roles would be more suited to operations?

We also cover

– The conversation she had with her director about moving into operations
– How she reviews her career journey, and what you can do to find out if you are in the right role for your skillset.
– Deciding where to work, do they align with you values?
– Overview of what an operations manager does.
– Client facing experience, why the customer journey and experience is everything.
– Up and coming tech for the financial planning profession.

00:00:00 | Intro
00:00:40 | Setting working hours and boundaries
00:01:39 | The other important roles in Financial Planning
00:03:00 | Mel’s career journey
00:07:24 | Deciding between the Para Planner or Adviser route
00:09:50 | The importance of face to face client meetings
00:15:55 | Did the experience in IFA open your mind to a higher level of service?
00:18:22 | Did the pressure of how to start as a Financial Planner cause the move into Para Planning?
00:20:55 | The move into Para Planning
00:24:05 | What about this adviser made you interested in Financial Planning
00:26:19 | Can you be too friendly in a client meeting?
00:27:36 | Jargon heavy meetings
00:32:08 | Deciding where to work
00:41:06 | Try different roles to find what fits
00:47:29 | Overview of the operations role
00:54:44 | Upcoming tech we should take note of for Financial Planning
00:58:50 | Career development
01:02:10 | Networking events

Be sure to follow financial planner life on YouTube for extra content about a career within Financial Planning HIT THAT SUBSCRIBE BUTTON!

Below are some excellent links from our sponsor Recruit UK for any aspiring or experienced financial planners looking for new job opportunities or looking to get ahead in their career.

Financial Planner Life Academies – Where we bring together the leading financial planning academies and entry-level opportunities to kick start your financial planning career. Learn more here – https://financialplannerlife.com/financial-…

Experienced and searching for a new role within the financial planning profession? Click here – https://financialplannerlife.com/job-consul… – for a free career consultation.

Check out the 2022 Financial planning Salary Guide here – https://financialplannerlife.com/the-recrui…

If you would like to discuss partnering with The Financial Planner Life for jobs, advertising, marketing or academies please reach out to [email protected] or call 07854778712.

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Achieve your career goals

Once you have the knowledge, soft skills, practical skills, and qualifications needed for pursuing a career in Financial Planning, we will provide you with guidance toward a suitable path to follow to achieve your career goals.
 
You can confidently apply for job opportunities with a high-quality CV knowing exactly where you sit within the market with inside intel about salary expectations, buzzwords for specific leading firms and referrals from experts you will meet along the way. You will also have the opportunity to utilize the Financial Planner Life recruitment services, giving you further specialized advice and putting you forward for roles which align with your intrinsic values and career goals.
 
Don’t put it on hold, join the community today and discover your potential.
[Join]

Discover your path.

We understand that there isn’t a one size fits all approach to a career in financial planning, which is why we are here to make sure that you’re taking the right route into the profession.
 
We’ve calmed the process down so you can stay within your current company, start studying towards your qualifications and begin to get a real understanding of what the landscape of financial planning looks like in respect of your career.
 
Whether you have aspirations of being an employed adviser, running your own business or doing a more back-office focused role such as compliance, we can help guide and support you down the right path, matching your experience, your network and your intrinsic values.

Uncover your potential.

It starts with taking your qualifications and what we do within the community is support you to pass your qualifications first time. The Financial Planner Life community is all about supporting people’s different learning styles and taking into consideration life’s commitments such as finances, family and existing employment.
 
We believe in offering a personalised learning experience, which is why our program includes study support for industry-recognised exams. Our aim is to ensure that you are well-prepared to pass exams such as the CII-regulated diploma in financial advice, the CII Certificate in Mortgage Advice and the CII Certificate in Paraplanning.
 
Train to become a financial planner with the use of online resources, networking within the community with well-established professionals as well as frequent webinars and Q&As with Sam Oakes and industry-leading professional guests.
 
[Download the full academy prospectus here]

Connect with the Community

Welcome to the Financial Planner Life Academy where well-being, honesty and transparency are at the heart of what we do.
 
We’re here to support you on your journey into a career within the financial planning profession. Whether that’s administration, paraplanning, financial advice or even mortgage advice. Our expert trainers and community will support and educate you and train you to A, pass your qualifications and B, make the right decision about your first employment in the financial planning profession.
 
It could be going down the route of being restricted, or becoming an IFA, you may even have aspirations of running your own business! But what does that look like?
 
We understand that from the outside looking in, it can be daunting to find the correct route into the profession to become a financial planner. The Financial Planner Life Academy is completely independent, allowing you to connect with hundreds of financial planning professionals with different backgrounds, at all levels of experience.
 
You will learn all about the different options you can take, mentored by a diverse mix of professionals so you are equipped with the essential toolkit to be able to make an informed decision about your career path within financial planning.

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