Ifa/Mortgage Advisor.

[will1877]

Hi I am looking to becoming an IFA/Mortgage advisor and was hoping I could get some pointers as where to start. I have looked on the web for information but it's either companies selling courses or it's old info (pre recession)

I am starting from scratch and want to work for myself, I have funds for cost of exams etc. Also any members who are already in the business can you tell me if its picked up yet or not?

Will.

 

[tony84]

Hi,

Im a mortgage advisor...
You need to pass your exams as a priority (i went and passed RO1 and CF6 exams, rather than CeMap but that was a personal choice).

Its very difficult to get into the industry...from experience i would say dont trust anyone. I spent years as an account manager for a life insurance office and built up a lot of contacts, even some of those people i knew basically tried to shaft me...it spurs you on though to get to where you want to be.

Stick to becoming a mortgage advisor first, doing your financial exams will take around 2 years (Have a look at the CII RO exams), ive passed 2 of my RO exams but not got round to doing the rest yet.

Its very difficult building up a customer base, just like any industry. I saved up around £6k to have behind me and that went in no time buying in leads (which in the main were a waste of money). You need to be good at networking really to build up contacts and not afraid to ask for business.

Im self employed but i work under whats called a network. You basically pay them a percentage of your income or a monthly fee or both they ensure you are fully compliant with the FSAs rules and regulations, i would suggest you go down this route atleast initially. The last thing you want is to fall foul of the FSA.

Not many of them are taking on people with no client bank or experience and none i know of are taking on people without their exams behind them.

It could be worth you looking to get a job in an estate agents or a brokers doing admin, learn from others - their experience is invaluable.

Good luck with it though - Its hard work finding clients but i love my job.

 

[James Allington]

Hi

I have considerable experience of this industry and would suggest you need a few things to be a success:

1. The relevent qualifications
2. Clients, otherwise you will go hungry!
3. Experience, which you clearly can;t get until you start to work
4. Someone to believe in your (there are more of these people out there than you think)

You have a couple of routes in:

1. Directly in as an IFA, for this you will need to have passed the relevent qualifications, and then either work as an Appointed Representative (AR) of a network or a Registered Individual (RI) of an IFA firm. An AR means running your own firm, albeit it probably a small one, an RI means you work for someone else either on a self employed or employed basis. As an AR you will need to find your own clients, which can be hard, if you are a self employed RI you will probably have to do the same, whereas if you are employed you are more likely to be given clients to work on

One point here, I wouldn't start as a mortgage adviser, I'd go straight in as a generalist IFA. The mortgage arena is tough at the moment, fewer people are moving house, the remortgage market is almost dead for brokers, and banks / building socities are under cutting brokers. Go in as a generalist IFA, you will learn more and earn more.

2. Work as an administrator / para planner whilst you are passing your exams; this is probably the best route in. It will give experience in the sector whilst you study, you will learn how things work and may even find the possibility of moving from the admin / para planning role to advising when you pass your exams. Speak to the recruitment consultants specialising in this area for pointers (PM me if you want any contacts)

3. Qualify and work as a tied agent for a bank or a large national e.g. St James Place :| stick with the first two options!

Hope this helps.

James

 

[toastking]

I know I could look online and get a very generalistic view of what we could get, but do you know anybody in SW London who might be able to give advice in this arena?

2 FT workers paying nearly 15k in rent is becoming a bit daft.

 

[S-Marketing]

I agree with most of the above but don't be told that it is a very hard industry to get into, or that you will struggle to find clients as this doesn't have to be the case. Once you are qualified, work is very easy to find if you do a bit of research and get a decent marketing idea behind you.

And don't buy leads.

 

[will1877]

Thanks for all your replies, as I'm a taxi driver at the moment and it is very slow, I have a couple of contracts that's keeping me going. I have a lot of spare time in between jobs so was thinking of getting the study material and taking the exams. The Appointed Representative route is what I was hoping to do but if they don't take on new advisers then it will be tough.

I want to stick to taxi's until I start earning a living from Advising so going down the employment route would not fit in unless there is no other way in.

Will.

 

[faradaykeynes]

Why dont you try a proper accountancy or taxation qualifications rather then Mortgage advisor exams which is nothing more then few days study and token exam and you get licence to kill, I am mean sell mortgages. It is not easy business to build unless you have established customer base and contacts. Not difficult to start but not easy to build especially under current circumstances. If you like start with doing book keeping course or IT networking / web designing.

 

[will1877]

Thanks for that I must admit I didn't think about I.T. It's worth a look into, Do you need to go to college or somewhere like that to learn I.T?

 

[faradaykeynes]

It depends what you want to do in IT. If you pin down any option i will be happy to provide further info. I did Comptia A & N+ (computer hardware &software & Network administrator) for my own interest not as career. I learnt web designing on my own. I did Cemap as well, tried but did not work bcaz did not had the client bank.