The Rise of the Paraplanner

Research shows paraplanners are becoming ever more influential within financial planning/advice firms.

Paraplanners are being given greater responsibility and rising up the ranks within firms, with increasing numbers taking positions on investment committees, becoming key members of the management team and development committees, and in some cases joining the board.

Increasingly financial advice firms are seeing paraplanners as the engine room of their business, tasked with research and due diligence, report writing and making decisions on the recommendations made to clients. This is freeing up advisers to do what they do best, build on client relationships and bring in more business.

This is in marked difference to the general perception held a few years ago of paraplanning as an administrative role and reflects a momentum that looks set to see paraplanners take on even greater responsibility in firms across the market in the next 3-5 years.

These are just a few of the key results arising from the current in depth study into the role of the paraplanner from Research in Finance.

Rise of the Paraplanner is the latest in a series of in depth studies carried out over the past 5 years by Research in Finance into the role of the paraplanner, to plot and understand the changing nature of a role which increasingly is being seen as crucial to running a successful financial planning/advice business in the UK.

The study tracks key differentials including paraplanners’ influence within adviser firms and in the research and selection of funds, products, platforms and services. It tracks the demographics of the paraplanner, how the role is developing, where paraplanners sit within adviser firms, salary trends, how they approach research, due diligence and selection criteria, and plots current and future trends in paraplanning with views from the coal face.

Rise of the Paraplanner is an essential tool in understanding how the market is changing and who will be the influencers and decision makers within advisory firms in the next 3-5 years.

Progressive firms are already getting in front of paraplanners, building brand and demonstrating capability and commitment via defining industry events such as the Professional Paraplanner Technical Insight Seminars.