Why did you choose Financial Services?
I can’t say I made an active decision to enter Financial Services, I would more say I fell into it. I was age 39, the big 4-0 just around the corner and a mum to 3 children (now 16,14 and 11). I was working part time in a job I could do with my eyes closed – albeit with a group of people I really liked. I knew I needed a change and a challenge as I entered my fifth decade and my sister mentioned a job at Forbes Lawson.
I didn’t read the job specification, just sent off my CV, met Richard and Ian (Owners/Planners) and joined a month later! I just had a good feeling about the company, the people and sensed the work was something I could challenge myself with.
As many working mums will understand, my career had taken a back seat whilst raising my family and I was now crying out to do and learn something new now my children were less dependent.
What challenges did you face?
My first 6 months at Forbes Lawson were eye opening, there was so much to learn, new systems, terminology (I barely knew what an ISA was before I joined them) and clients to meet. Following my probation, I was offered the chance to begin training and I jumped at it although again, maybe not really knowing what I was undertaking!
What were your studying strategies and skills?
Forbes Lawson have a long-established relationship with Expert Pensions and I was signed up to their R01 – Financial Services, Regulations & Ethics module on the training portal. Expert Pensions’ course content was perfect for me, they break down the full CII study texts in to more manageable ‘Essential Notes’ documents, focussing on the key knowledge areas. For anyone who has studied for the CII exams you will know how text heavy their study guides are and can be in excess of what you need for the exams. The standout feature of the Expert Pensions course content is the short tutorial videos detailing key knowledge areas and calculations. This really brought the courses to life for me and lead to a far greater understanding than by just reading a book. Each chapter also has an interactive quiz you can test your knowledge on and gain further understanding if you get the answers wrong, as I did many times!
I followed the Expert Pensions study timetable and allowed myself 12 weeks to prepare for R01 which I passed first time. There is no denying the content was challenging and with R01 in particular it can be quite dry. I was glad to have passed and really spurred on to keep going. I had the bug for learning and that feeling when I passed… something I hadn’t experienced since leaving university 20 years before.
There are many ways you can sit the R0 exams to achieve the Diploma in Financial Services, as it was all new to me, I just decided to follow in numerical order. R02 – Investments & Risk I found more enjoyable content wise; I like maths and have worked with numbers in every job I have had. Again, I gave myself 12 weeks, after taking a little break after R01 and passed. On to R03 – Taxation – again I enjoyed and felt a bit more familiar with having a bit of prior knowledge of payroll, that being said there was a lot more to it than that. Another pass and then I came to R04 – Pensions and Retirement Planning!
Since joining Forbes Lawson one area I had a lot of exposure to was pensions and had helped our planners prepare Defined Benefit transfer reports. Now surely if I could get my head around those R04 would be a breeze? I think I took that for granted and maybe didn’t put enough effort in to the study and unfortunately that was the first exam I failed. I was devastated, I will admit I don’t do failure well … I definitely felt like giving up. There was never any pressure from Forbes Lawson or anyone around me to pass these exams, it was all for my personal development. I pulled myself together and booked R04 for March 2020 and then Covid-19 struck.
So already having been knocked by my first failure I was nervous and lacking confidence, then a global pandemic strikes. I was trying to study but being bombarded by news of a deadly virus, social distancing and lockdowns made it impossible. The exams were in jeopardy and the status was being changed every day so I decided now wasn’t the time and cancelled . It was unlikely it would go ahead, and did I really want to sit in a room of people at this time?
Like us all, I didn’t imagine how long it would all go on and finally I was able to re-sit R04 at the end of August (literally my last chance before the syllabus changed) and I passed… with flying colours. I went back to basics, studying the Essential Notes, watching the tutorials, and utilising the Expert Pensions forum. It wasn’t easy studying in such uncertain times, but I found it a good distraction from what was happening in the real world.
Boosted by my pass I moved on to R05 – Protection, also known as the easiest R0 exam! To be honest I didn’t find it that easy, obviously Protection is something I have some exposure to at Forbes Lawson, but there is a lot more to it than selecting a term assurance policy and arranging nurses screening. R05 was my first remotely invigilated exam which I hadn’t been keen to do but to be honest I felt much more relaxed and definitely think this is the future of exam sittings.
All of this I have achieved in 2 years, studying around my home commitments and role at Forbes Lawson. I am very lucky to have a supportive husband who takes the reins and lets me study as much as I need to and know how proud my whole family are of me every time I pass an exam.
What’s next?
Whilst it is wonderful to pass each exam the main benefit has been to my role at Forbes Lawson. With every exam I have gained knowledge which is helping me every day, I now understand the conversations Richard and Ian are having with clients and gaining valuable practical understanding through that. Like most people we are working remotely, it is definitely harder to gain practical experience this way, but I’ll be ready to pick up more when we finally all get back to our office in Westhill. There is more to being a financial planner than passing exams, it goes hand in hand with experience.
Now all that stands between me and the Diploma is R06 which, pandemic allowing, I hope to sit in April 2021. To be honest the thought of a 3-hour written exam fills me with dread, a bit different to the multiple choice questions I am used to. But I know I will go in there as prepared as possible with the analysis and direction provided by Expert Pensions and the support from the Forbes Lawson team, my family and friends.
Wish me luck ……