Alan Gow said paraplanning works well for him because it suits his skill set and he does not necessarily want to be the person giving advice.
Speaking to FT Adviser, Gow, who has been a paraplanner for 20 years and is currently at Argonaut Paraplanning, said when he first started out “something clicked” for him and he has been a paraplanner ever since.
Recounting his entry into the profession, Gow recalled that, like a lot of people, he “fell into it”.
“I was working for an outsourcing firm in Reading and, when they lost one of their big contracts, about 100 of us got laid off at the same time,” he said.
“I spoke to some recruiters and they suggested I go see an IFA who was looking for a paraplanner and explained the role to me.
“Initially I wasn’t particularly interested as it was too far away from home but I did end up taking that job.”
Gow ended up working for the adviser for five years where he got a “really good grounding” in paraplanning and how it works.
He said the role worked well with the way his brain functions.
“I get a lot of job satisfaction from it and I just thought ‘this is me’,” he added.
“I’m very methodical and have a lot of attention to detail, some people might call me a bit of a pedant and I’ll take that as a compliment."
Gow said the role requires a kind of technical mindset.
“I’m not a massive people person, I always feel a bit awkward and self conscious so I didn’t want an advisory role because I don’t think that’s in my skill set.
“If someone else gives me the information I can sit at my desk and put it all together and I can help find opportunities and explain them to clients in a really clear way.”
He added that, while he has considered making a move into an adviser role on occasion, he believes it would feel “too uncomfortable” and said “the more desk based role suits me very well”.
Role perception
Gow also spoke on how he believed the role of the paraplanner is perceived within financial services.
“It’s perceived in many different ways between different firms and different people because the paraplanning role is so different from one firm to another.”
He explained that some people may see paraplanning as a report writing role where you take instructions from an adviser and you write it up in a template suitability report and process a lot of paperwork.
However, at the other end of the spectrum, Gow said the role could be considered to be more social as paraplanners might meet the client with the adviser and pull together the recommendations for the adviser to sign off.
He described this as “integral to the advice process”, and, as a result, shows the fluidity of the role.
tom.dunstan@ft.com
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