Diary of a wannabe adviser: Week six

Lewis Benson is a member of the Aviva Future Adviser Academy. Each week, he shares with Professional Adviser his experiences as he takes his first tentative steps into the world of financial advice…

I have spent the past week with Sesame Bankhall in Altrincham. I did not know what to expect before the start of the week; networks were a bit of a mystery to me. However, after my visit, I can now say I understand the services they provide and why many IFAs join networks.

The highlight of the week was when I went to see the guys who set up and run The Financial Adviser School. This is an 18-month programme where you pay a fee to join and, upon successful completion, become a fully qualified adviser, with many of the skills needed to become successful.

Ian James, the head of the programme, told me this is a great alternative to university, especially with the rising tuition fees. This got me thinking… would I have been better off not going to university? But on reflection, university is great as it teaches you the sort of ‘life skills’ you cannot learn on a course. I would recommend it to anyone, (even with the increased university fees next year).

However, I can honestly say I was really impressed with what The Financial Adviser School has achieved.

I also listened to a talk by Graham Addison, a Sesame learning manager. He gave a session on RDR, which added a greater level of understanding of what changes are going to take place. He strongly believes making advisers become QCF Level 4 is unfair; his view is there should be a much stricter CPD structure rather than mainly passing exams.

He may have a point because there are some advisers that have invaluable experience who just do not feel capable of passing exams. However, where some advisers do leave the industry, there will be a massive opportunity for those that are left to pick up their client banks.

If you want to know what I’m up to on a daily basis, you can follow me on Twitter @WannabeAdviser.