Financial paraplanner

With the job market dropping as fast as the share market, you’d think the appetite for any industry associated with managing personal finances would fall the same way.

Not so. Last year the Financial Planners Association released research revealing a demand for an additional 500 financial planners a year for the next fiveyears.

Scott Walters heads up the financial advice team at Mercer, a global provider of consulting, outsourcing and investment advice.

He says pure demographics are behind this demand. The Australian population is growing and financial planners are ageing.

With an average age of 48, many planners will soon be looking at their own retirement nest eggs.

Also driving demand is general interest in personal finances. Australian households are becoming more financially literate.

Walters is unashamedly excited to hear financial planning labelled a profession. “I’m delighted you use that term. It’s often termed an industry, but it’s a profession.”

He says financial planners cover a huge span of clients’ wealth management including super, insurance, estate planning and gearing.

Kay Sinclair, chief executive of Sinclair Consulting Group, recruiters specialising in financial services, says the shake-up in the share markets may have increased the demand for skills. But, she says, employers want to see proven success.

“Planners with experience have a trail. They will have loyal investors that will follow them. Planners with proven experience are still generating a huge income. It’s only the juniors who will battle to get trainee roles.”

Sinclair remains confident about the longer term prospects of the industry.

“There will be hiccups in the short term. Companies will be cutting back, but all industries are,” she says. “As employment picks up again, jobs will open up.”

Not all of Sinclair’s clients are responding to the downturn by downsizing, though.

“The experienced planners are finding other niche areas to invest [in], apart from their traditional areas,” she says.

Employers who downsize run the risk of playing catch-up when the market turns and there are more people employed, says Sinclair.

“When there is more disposable income, they will not have enough trained staff to cope with the demand.”

If experience counts in a financial crisis, are there entry points for those keen to find their first foothold? Becoming a paraplanner is one way. This role provides a taste of the industry. Paraplanners assist qualified financial planners with modelling, research, report writing, administration and managing clients.

Justin Pratt is a paraplanner at Mercer. He won the national paraplanner of the year for 2008 but began his career at Mercer as a personal assistant.

He’s studying to qualify as a planner. Pratt finds it challenging to keep on top of financial industry knowledge. There is no such thing as a typical day, he says.

“Every day you build on your knowledge. The landscape is ever changing in this industry.”

Pratt describes planning as a mastery of its art and science. The science is the numbers. “The quantitative side is challenging, the in-depth thinking,” he says.

But with clients making big decisions about dollars, the art is to understand how they can make sense of information.

“It’s how the client reacts to the statement of advice,” says Pratt. “Some like detail. Some like the overall picture. Some prefer numbers and others say, “˜I trust you, go with it.”

The art becomes more colourful when a financial planner deals with a duo, perhaps a husband and a wife. Enter family dynamics: how do you confirm a couple’s long-term financial aspirations when the husband wants to retire at 55 and the wife can’t stand the thought of having him around the house?

So what makes a good financial planner? “A good financial planner uses two ears and one mouth and uses it in that proportion,” says Walters. “They have a desire to help others and can think laterally.”

While many entering the industry are tertiary qualified, often in arts, accounting, law and business, Walters has seen people join from all walks of life, including physiotherapy.

He sees planners as extroverts and relationship people who are also numerate and who enjoy achieving goals.

“They are people who do not want to end up in a management role but want to be their own boss.”

And the best part of financial planning? Seeing the difference financial security and a tailored plan can make in people’s lives.

“Those wow moments are fantastic,” says Pratt. “I believe that money can’t buy happiness; however, if your finances are under control you can focus on the important things in life: family, friends and passions.”