Any IFA's out there? I'm thinking of training.

[JODIEwantsanewname]

Basically what the title says really.

Am thing of starting to train to become a IFA so that I am qualified for when DS2 goes to school, possibly on a self employed basis so I can work flexible hours....

BUT not sure where to start, can someone please guide me in the right direction?

TIA

You'll need to do the Financial Planning certificate, when I did it it was three papers, multiple choice and VERY easy.

I left financial services years ago as wasn;t for me at all so am probabely out of date on what you need to do but I think that the FPC is the bare minimum.

It's not a career I would recommend going into - especially now! There has been a move to try to move from commission to fees but not sure how sucessful that has been. Personally I have met very few IFAs who I would trust with my money so I tend to do my own finanical planning now so not much of an advert for the world of IFAs......

What is your reason for going into it? It is far more a sales role than an advice role, so you need to be comfortable selling.

Have a look at the Chartered Insurance Institute website for exam details. They have changed slightly, it is now Certificate of Financial Planning, from memory I think it's 6 papers on different aspect of financial planning eg pensions, investments etc. There are currently proposals out there to raise the qualifications needed, so you may find yourself having to do more exams in future. There are also moved to get the hole industry to move from commission to fees, but the details are still being hammered out.

It is very hard to get started as and IFA, esp in the current economic climate. IFA firms are never good at training people and giving new starters a leg up. One way into the industry is to work as a tied advisor for a high street bank, they will give you a more structured entry into the industry. But might not be as flexible as you want. If you are going to be self employed you need to think where you would get your client base from, this is the hard part. No offence people might not be keen to go to a new IFA who doesn't have a network or similar behind her and is new to the industry.

Sorry to sound negative, have a look at CII, FSA and AIFA websites for more info, but this might not be the right time to do it.

Thanks for your advice girlies, I'm just toying with the idea at the mo. I would like a 'career' rather than a 'job' (IYKWIM) when my DS's are bigger, but would need to be flexible (Obviously) I've always done Sales based jobs in the past, so thats OK (although I'm not pushy enough to be really good at it!)

It was FIL idea really, he used to be an accountant and just thought it might be a good idea, I thought it was worth finding out about.

I'll check those web sites, thanks
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