Diary of a wannabe adviser: Week seven

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…

My internship with Aviva has come to its final week and it has been the busiest on the programme.

On Wednesday we went to the Aviva offices in London and spent all day on the top floor in one of the boardrooms. There we met a few trade associations: ABI, CII, AIFA and FSP.

With AIFA I went straight in and asked Stephen Gay about the move to include restricted members post RDR; he said loyal members should be allowed to stay. I can understand his point but I know many independent advisers will feel let down.

Aviva also gave us access to their most senior staff. Adam Winslow, director of strategic partnerships, is an interesting guy. He became Aviva’s youngest ever director and it was good to hear what he does and how he got there.

David Barral, CEO of Aviva Life, went through with us how he made it to the top and his tips for keeping a good balance between work and home life. One message he gave was to try to imagine that the business is yours and you are running it, throw yourself 100% into everything you do and always do your best.

We also learnt about the adviser academy. If you are studying for exams it is worth taking a look as I am sure you will be surprised at how much thought has gone into it and how it can help you with your studies.

Earlier on in the week, we had to present to the top brass at Aviva with our business plan for a multi-disciplined advisory practice post RDR. From simplified advice to HNW individuals needing complex advice, it was all put forward and was some challenge.

The programme finished with us all having individual photographs with our prize money in the form of a large comedy cheque, but with a serious £500 award.

Thank you Aviva and thank you to all those I have met and spent time with over the past six weeks.

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

Catch Lewis next month as he begins a year-long internship with Mazaars Financial Planning.