The start of the new year is traditionally a time for looking back over the past 12 months and looking forward to the next 12 months. It’s also a time for making predictions and being optimistic about the future.Well I’m going to stick my neck out and make a prediction for the next 12 months and say 2009 will be The Year of the Paraplanner!
I say this with great enthusiasm, optimism and belief that 2009 will be a fantastic year for paraplanners and looking back over what has happened during 2008 I think there is good reason to believe this.
This time last year Richard and I had been working on this website jointly for a short time though we had each been working on this idea individually for a number of years. Last year our objective was to launch the site and for it to be used by paraplanners in the UK. We could never have imagined the response we received not only from paraplanners in the UK but paraplanners all over the world. We have paraplanners looking at the site from many countries including Australia and US.
The site was launched in April and is now firmly established as the site for paraplanners.
Our work with the site also led us to launching the inaugural Paraplanner of the Year Award which was a fantastic success. Run in association with the Institute of Financial Planning the awards were presented at the IFP conference in front of 600 of the UK’s top Financial Planners. A fantastic recognition for a role which didn’t officially exist in the UK.
This was another challenge. We are fortunate to be part of the Financial Services Skills Council Working Party charged with devising the National Occupational Standards for the role of a paraplanner.
These three things themselves (the website, the PPOTY award and the NOS for the role of paraplanner) should ensure that 2009 will be a brilliant year for paraplanners.
The FSSC work should be completed by the first half of 2009 and this will mean that there will be an official description of what a paraplanner is and what a paraplanners does. The types of tasks they do and the types of duties someone who calls themselves a paraplanner is likely to do.
My hope is that this will define the role of paraplanner more clearly and that there will be a much more widely accepted definition of what a paraplanner is and does. This will help everyone from business owners looking for a paraplanner; to recruitment agencies promoting paraplanners; to paraplanners themselves wanting to make sure they are doing what they believe they should be doing (and not spending too long doing tasks which should be done by someone else!).
The Paraplanner of the Year Awards will be organised again in September and we hope that many more of you will enter this year. There was a very high standard this year and we hope that the standard will be even greater in 2009.
Finally the site, theparaplanner.com will (we hope) continue to grow. We have a number of exciting developments which we hope to launch throughout the year but the main way the site will grow and the profile of the paraplanner will increase is by using the site and telling all other paraplanners you know about the site.
If there is something that you think would help let us know and we will try to get it added.
Finally, last year saw a massive amount of change within Financial Services and the global economy and I know there are many people who are not starting 2009 with the same employer they started 2008 with (me for one!). There are a number of IFAs who are finding things difficult but one thing is for sure they will all still need good quality paraplanners.
As more and more IFAs realise that the future lies in having a quality client base which provides recurring income and where the emphasis is on providing a high quality service to these clients, these IFAs will also realise that in order to provide the level of service they want to provide they will need to have quality staff, at least one of whom will be a paraplanner.
We wish you all a fantastic and prosperous 2009; lets all make it The Year of the Paraplanner.
