Rebecca Kowalski, senior paraplanner, Cornerstone Asset Management, talks about her ambitions, being involved in more than just paraplanning within the business and scooping both the IFP and the PFS Paraplanner of the Year awards
Rebecca Kowalski, senior paraplanner with Cornerstone Asset Management, had set her sights on being the next Kate Adie. Her degree in Russian and Spanish from Sheffield University, attained almost a decade after she left school, she believed would stand her in good stead in travelling the globe and reporting from the news hotspots.
Family commitments meant that was a dream that did not become a reality but she has been a paraplanner for over 12 years now, in which time she won the first ever IFP (The Paraplanners) Paraplanner of the Year award, in 2008, and this November she was called on stage at the Personal Finance Society (PFS) conference to receive the PFS Paraplanner of the Year award.
The winning of those awards reflect Rebecca’s ambitions as a paraplanner and also what she describes as an epiphany moment, when she decided that rather than settle for any old job for the sake of bringing in an income, she would seek out a role that challenged her and made good use of her experience and qualifications.
Becoming a paraplanner
As with many people, Rebecca says she fell into paraplanning. At age 28, living in Glasgow with her husband and a small child, Rebecca looked for a part-time job that would allow her to work and cover the child-minding fees.
She had worked in the past for a large insurance company, which she says she “hated” so much she had determined “never to go anywhere near financial services again”, but with the industry such a large part of the Glasgow economy, it was almost inevitable that was where she would get part-time work.
In fact, her first role changed her mind about a career in financial services. “I was working in sales support for the Clydesdale Bank and much to my surprise, I really quite enjoyed it. That was because it was more the sales side of things rather than a big head office where it’s all just admin, admin, admin, really boring and tedious. Being in the sales environment was much more dynamic, because I was dealing with people a lot more, I had targets to work to and there was a lot more going on,” she says.
She stayed at Clydesdale fort two years and obtained her FPC, and then, she says, “I was like, that’s me I’m out there, I’m advising.” She persuaded a financial advice firm to take her on as a graduate trainee where she did her adviser training. “It was great and everything was working out really well, I was hitting all my targets… and then babies number 2 and 3 came along.” At which point she knew she would have to put her full-time career on hold.
When she was ready to return to work, she asked a broker consultant friend if she knew any firms looking to take on part-time office staff and was told about a firm looking for “something called a paraplanner”.
“And it all went from there,” she says. Gradually, as her children got older, she increased her hours and her responsibilities “and I looked to try to progress my career rather than just have a steady job and income, because I am quite career focused to be honest,” she says. This has included becoming as qualified as she can; Rebecca is a Chartered Financial Planner and a Fellow of the PFS.
