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Fraser Wealth Management Helping to Push Industry Standards Even Higher
Training consultant Brian Sweeney has upped the ante in the pursuit of higher professional qualifications by developing a level seven financial planning Masters degree with Manchester Metropolitan University.
Sweeney, elected last week to the board of the Institute of Financial Planning, claims this will be the only qualification to bring financial planning in line with other professions.
The MSc Financial Planning and Management – which Sweeney believes to be a world first – will be open to advisers with a level six chartered or certified financial planner (CFP) qualification and a minimum of four years’ financial planning experience.
The qualification, which takes 18 months to complete and will cost between £12,000 and £15,000, will focus not on technical competence but on the psychology of money.
The first stage – called 3rd Generation Financial Planning – will require advisers to complete four 2,500 word assignments, keep a reflective log of their personal and professional development and film three videos showing the adviser interacting with a client. The recordings will be of a client discovery meeting, a recommendations meeting and an annual review.
The course will be a mixture of distance learning and classes to be held in locations convenient to the students.
‘The content is not to test people’s technical competence but to demonstrate that you can apply it when working with clients – it’s about client relationship management,’ said Sweeney, who runs the Financial Planning Training Company and is a consultant for AXA Winterthur’s Professional Edge team.
‘It’s about the emotional involvement in financial planning, behavioural finance and the psychology of money.’
The second stage is a dissertation on a topic of the adviser’s choice.
‘You can bring your own topic or research a topic on behalf of Institute of Financial Planning (IFP), Chartered Insurance Institute or Financial Services Planning Board. The benefits of [the latter] are you are contributing to a body of knowledge which is also a mark of professionalism,’ said Sweeney.
The Masters will be a true sign of professionalism, argues Sweeney, who added that it will be the ‘antithesis of those advisers who are being dragged to level four.’
‘Professional qualifications in academia are measured as level seven so to be professional we have to go up one step – we are still some way below the level of accountants and solicitors,’ he said.
‘The retail distribution review is encouraging the move to professionalism and we have to have qualifications at level seven to be considered professional.’
The degree is currently being piloted by three firms in the North East and Sweeney is planning to take on a maximum of 12 students when the course starts in January.
Fraser Wealth Management – the first firm to become chartered in Liverpool – is involved. Directors Paul Bocking and Kevin Gillibrand found out about the Masters after approaching Sweeney to be their business mentor.
Bocking is a CFP and Gillibrand is chartered but both are currently studying to get the other’s qualification.
Gillibrand said: ‘Being exposed to the world of academia was a bit of a culture shock. It was alien to me; to be critical and give critical feedback.
‘Our biggest worry is fitting the course around trying to run a business and be financial planners.’
Both are confident that furthering their education will not just benefit clients but also their business.
‘We have found there is a direct correlation between profitability and personal development,’ said Gillibrand.
Based in Liverpool, as well as having offices in London, Fraser Wealth Management offers expert advice in a range of areas, with particular expertise in retirement, investment and inheritance tax planning. They operate a fee-based service, as opposed to one based solely on commission taken from investments, creating more efficient financial planning that is transparent, specialised and client centred.
This article has been co-opted from the citiwire website
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