This year we’ve made a commitment to invest in the future of financial advice, through sponsorship of the Verve Group’s We are Change initiative.
Cathi Harrison and her team have established the initiative because they recognised that there are many young people out there who have the competencies and desire to build careers in the financial advice profession but they lack the means to get the entry level qualifications that will open doors for them in the workplace.
The We are Change initiative centres around a two year training programme, the costs of which are underwritten by sponsors from within financial services.
Two-year commitment
The training is delivered by The Art of Finance, Verve’s established training company. Selected candidates are supported through their Level 4 Diploma in Regulated Financial Planning with the CII. The Art of Finance delivers educational workshops and teaches practical skills via e-Learning – all of which are needed to succeed in a range of entry-level roles within financial services. This is available on a part time basis, allowing candidates to continue working while studying to achieve their goal.
Sponsorship costs £85 per month for 24 months. This covers the cost of one trainee’s CII membership, study materials and exam entry to gain their Level 4 Diploma in Regulated Financial Planning. The Art of Finance covers everything else.
Recently, I was interviewed by Jasmine Nattrass from Verve about why we decided to sponsor the initiative. You can watch the video here.
I explained that we only consider investing in third party initiatives if we can see a tangible impact and We are Change certainly ticks that box. Perhaps more importantly to us is that we really believe in the need to secure the future of advice.
We believe in the future of advice
The nature of advice is already changing and is likely to continue to do so in the coming years, as older advisers retire and hand over the reins to the next generation.
We are seeing some exciting developments with financial planning firms who are embracing new ways of doing things. They are thinking differently and using tech to allow all sorts of people to access advice, not just the relatively wealthy older demographic.
Jasmine asked me if the government should be doing more to help the advice profession. I don’t think we can rely on the government – although there could be a stronger focus on financial literacy at the school curriculum level.
Getting really good young people involved with providing financial advice needs to be embraced by the entire financial services industry. If we all pull together it will have obvious benefits for our own industries but, importantly, it will enable more people to access professional help that can prove life-changing. The advice gap is real and it will get wider unless we have a new generation of professionals coming through.
More sponsors will make a bigger difference
PortfolioMetrix is proud to be listed among the growing number of organisations who are sponsoring the We are Change initiative. Currently, the list includes some top-quality financial planning firms as well as organisations that work with advisers that I really rate including NextWealth and the Lang Cat. These firms have all recognised that it doesn’t cost them the earth to make a tangible difference for the future of advice.
Could you sponsor a trainee to change their life while also future proofing the advice profession? If the answer is yes, contact the We are Change team via this link.
