Job Description
At abrdn, our purpose is to enable our clients to be better investors.
Clients worldwide trust us to find future-fit investment opportunities to deliver the outcomes they want. Our technology and insight help empower them to make better decisions, while the powerful partnerships we build help to enhance the expertise that we offer. And by enabling clients to invest responsibly, it helps us to build a better world.
abrdn Financial Planning Ltd helps people throughout the UK plan for their financial futures with our financial planning and advice services, and digital investing products. Everything we do is designed with our clients in mind. We seek to achieve the best possible outcomes for those who trust us to look after their wealth. We believe that the right advice, given at the right time and in the right way, can make a big difference to helping our clients achieve their goals.
About the role
If you are an experienced, level 4 qualified Paraplanner interested in combining that expertise with delivery of advice or an Adviser who writes your own suitability reports then our Financial Consultant opportunity could be for you.
This Financial Consultant position can be based in our Edinburgh, London, Glasgow, Leeds or Manchester office and will have responsibility for building and maintaining great relationships to deliver high quality financial planning and paraplanning for a large portfolio of clients.
If you would like a role that combines advice and para-planning/suitability report writing for an established portfolio of clients, whose advice you can deliver remotely and which comes with a competitive salary and benefits, all as part of the financial planning team at abrdn, then we’d love to hear from you.
Key Outputs:
1. Manage a very large portfolio of clients (upwards of 140) typically with AUA below £500k, maintain recurring income stream, delivering high quality financial planning remotely and achieving quality standards on a consistent basis
2. Identify additional opportunities from clients while deepening our understanding of their needs to ensure we exceed expectations and build lasting relationships
3. Maintain up-to-date technical knowledge of investment markets, products and services, financial planning methodologies, tax, key processes, advice guidelines and compliance procedures
4. Build and maintain personal relationships to help identify new opportunities as well as raise our profile within the client bank
5. Undertake paraplanning for own clients, research, analyse and prepare technical reports for clients relevant to their specific goals, seeking support when needed
6. Build links with the clients’ other professional advisers to help the client meet their needs
7. Follow processes and suggest areas for improvement in process, advice guidelines and compliance procedures. Appropriately support or manage improvement implementation
8. Secure client commitment to initial and on-going financial planning services, hence securing and growing assets under advice plus initial and on-going revenues
9. No line management responsibilities
To be successful in this role you will:
10. Effectively manage competing priorities such as client meetings and report delivery.
11. Ensure delivery of quality solutions, whilst adhering to processes and systems that have been put in place to protect our clients, our teams and our business
12. Understand our client's needs and requirements with comprehension of how our propositions meet these to be able to deliver value for both clients and the business
13. Have strong influencing and communication skills to build and maintain trusted, strong relationships with clients to aid retention and introductions which generate value for clients and the business
14. Build knowledge of the markets, competitors, products, services, trends, impacting forces and factors that make up the industries which we operate in
15. Develop a network with clients’ professional advisers to help the client achieve their objectives
16. Motivate and support colleagues to drive towards one culture, common beliefs and values
Minimum candidate requirements:
17. Diploma in Regulated Financial Planning
18. Strong background in Paraplanning with proven report writing experience.
19. Exposure to a broad range of financial products with an authority to undertake broad financial planning, ensuring each client's goals are fully understood and the most appropriate solution offered with experience across Pension Accumulation and Decumulation, Savings and Investment advice and Protection
We are proud to be a Disability Confident Committed employer. Therefore, if you have a disability and would like to submit an application to one of our UK roles under the Disability Confident Scheme, please notify us by completing the relevant section in our candidate questionnaire and one of our team will reach out to support you through your application process.