Paraplanner to Financial Adviser – No need to wait!

This week's guest on the Financial Planner Life podcast is Lauren Gifford from Butler Toll. This episode is a serious thought provoker for anyone navigating a career path within Financial Services and could give you the clarity you need to make decisions around your career progression plan!

Lauren has been in Financial Services since before the 2008 financial crash, where she was advising in Mortgages in a building society environment. Like many others in her situation, the financial crash caused Lauren to rethink her career prospects, which ultimately led to her obtaining a PA/Administrator role within a small Financial Planning firm whilst raising a family.

Lauren talks us through her entrance into the Financial Planning profession, what she learnt in the early stages of her career that helped her in the long run, as well as what advice she would give to someone who’s unsure of the rate they should be progressing at.

Qualifications, as we all know, are an essential part of a Financial Planning Professional’s career, and Lauren talks us through what qualifications she obtained, when she obtained them, and reflects on the value they added at that stage in her career.

We discuss the process that Lauren undertook when seeking a Trainee Financial Planner role, including how she set out clear expectations to prospective employers at interview stage, in order to outline what she was looking for in her career, an important conversation a lot of job seekers might be apprehensive to have!

Lauren is a huge advocate for the ‘believe in yourself’ mindset, this might just be the episode that gives you the motivation to rethink your career goals, explore your greatest ambitions, and pursue your dream position within the not-so-daunting world of Financial Planning!


00:00:00 | Intro
00:01:45 | How Lauren got into the profession
00:06:56 | Moving from Mortgage Advice into Financial Planning
00:10:22 | Experience in Administration before Financial Adviser role
00:11:23 | Qualifications
00:15:35 | Career Progression - Paraplanning
00:22:02 | Finding opportunities as a new financial planner
00:25:42 | Career Progression - Financial Planner
00:28:36 | Paraplanner vs Financial Planner Roles
00:34:46 | Advice looking back
00:35:45 | Women in Financial Planning
00:40:05 | Personal Development & Confidence
00:43:14 | Clients
00:48:01 | Year 1 as a Financial Adviser


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