During National Apprenticeship Week 2026, Professional Paraplanner are shining a light on a route into paraplanning that is not often talked about. We’ll explore what NAW is all about, why it matters for paraplanners and share some real insights from industry experts and apprentice paraplanners.
In this article, Editor of Professional Paraplanner – Natalie Dawes, shares Abdul’s story, who is just six months into his L4 Paraplanning Apprenticeship.
Abdul Hadi and Stuart Dodson
National Apprenticeship Week (NAW) is a week that sparks conversations about the importance of accessible ways to enter the industry, with of course apprenticeships being somewhat in the spotlight.
These conversations feel more urgent, particularly within financial planning, where the talent shortage continues and barriers to entry seem to remain stubbornly high.
Meeting 18‑year‑old paraplanning apprentice Abdul brought all of this into sharp focus. His story is one of relentless determination, and (spoiler alert) although I am delighted with how things worked out for him, there’s a sense of frustration that he had to work so hard to get a foot in the door.
A career discovered almost by accident
For Abdul, financial planning wasn’t a visible career path initially.
“In my world, it just didn’t exist,” he told me. “It wasn’t even on the table.”
Following in his family’s footsteps, he had originally been set on medicine. However, thanks to an honest conversation on results day, admitting that he didn’t want to be a doctor, he set himself on a new path.
A little bit of Googling saw him stumble across accountancy. One week’s worth of work experience left him intrigued – so he completed further (paid) exposure over the Summer with a local accountancy firm.
Abdul worked hard but it didn’t leave him feeling overly fulfilled. “I wasn’t helping the individual. It felt transactional.”
It was a teacher in the end, almost in passing, who suggested financial advice after mentioning her brother worked at a well-known advice firm. That single comment prompted a two-hour phone call with someone who patiently explained wealth management, qualifications, and the shape of the profession.
“Everything he was saying… it clicked really quickly with me. This was what accounting was missing.”
But discovering the profession was only the first hurdle. Accessing it was something else entirely.
Spreadsheet of 1,000 firms
With no experience, no real contacts and no obvious route in, Abdul did the only thing he could think of: he built an Excel spreadsheet with a thousand advice firms scraped from the internet, woke up every day at 8am, and started dialling.
“Dial after dial after dial,” he said. “Pitching myself.”
Some people were kind and passed him on to others. Some shut him down immediately. One firm told him cold calling was “illegal”. But he kept going.
By late summer, every one of his friends had university places secured. Abdul had nothing.
“I was so close to calling it a day… I started looking at universities because you can still get in late.”
One of the final firms on his list, and one last email. Root Research, were hiring for an apprentice albeit they had technically already closed applications, so Abdul didn’t have a lot of hope.
“We had a phone call, then an interview, and we just clicked. The thing that stood out was the passion; this was somewhere I really wanted to work.”
When his soon‑to‑be boss Stuart Stanford called to offer him the role, Abdul didn’t even wait for the sentence to finish, “I said yes instantly,” and it has since proven to be the perfect fit.
Why the apprenticeship model works
Abdul joined Root in September 2025 under the new Level 4 Paraplanner Apprenticeship Standard. He is, by his own admission, thriving.
It isn’t just the qualification, it’s the structure, the support and the sense of direction that provides the foundations for individuals to thrive.
“The apprenticeship holds your hand, it’s literally A to Z,” he says. “If you fall behind, someone’s there. If you’re struggling, someone’s there. It gives you the framework to actually develop.”
His employer’s commitment amplifies that experience. Abdul receives daily technical touchpoints, gradual exposure to increasingly complex reports, and protected time for study, a combination far too many apprentices elsewhere do not receive.
What makes this model particularly powerful, Abdul believes, is the synergy between employer learning and apprenticeship teaching. Seminars on pension transfers align with real‑world transfer reports he’s producing in-house. Study of RO2 lands more softly because he’s already seen those concepts play out in client recommendations.
“Working first, then studying… it just clicks. You’re solidifying knowledge you’ve already used.”
Six months in, Abdul is completing reports end‑to‑end. That said, the most striking part of his reflection wasn’t about skill development, it was about purpose.
“Every report I am involved with, every bit of work I do, I get a bit of satisfaction here,” he told me, pressing a hand to his chest. When chatting with Abdul, it was moments like this that made it really easy to see how much the all of this meant to him, that he was getting a real sense of worth in his role within paraplanning.
The right experience matters
Abdul’s story has a happy ending, but it shouldn’t have required superhuman persistence to get there. We cannot keep saying we have a talent shortage while simultaneously making entry into the profession opaque, inaccessible and overly reliant on who you know.
As Abdul points out: “There’s not a lot of opportunities to actually experience it. Accounting gets it right, insight days, work experience, paid placements.”
Financial planning doesn’t offer as many of those things. Work experience is scarce. Insight days are almost non‑existent. Most young people don’t know the profession exists until someone happens to mention it.
He believes employers need to take more risks on young talent. He told me about interviews that he had attended and was turned down because he didn’t know enough about the industry.
“If I can do it with very little experience, others can too. Employers have to start giving young people a chance.” He’s right.
We cannot expect an 18‑year‑old to explain the intricacies of the Centralised Investment Proposition or MiFID II in an interview if we’ve never given them a single window into what this industry looks like.
We can all do our bit
Abdul is already doing his bit. He’s returning to his former school for careers talks. He’s helping other young people who message him on LinkedIn looking for guidance. In future, he hopes Root will run work‑experience days and industry “mini‑schools”.
It is not down to one apprentice to drive change, but stories like his remind us of what is possible when someone gives a young person a chance.
As an industry, we have the opportunity and the responsibility, to make that the rule, not the exception.
A future paraplanning leader
Abdul has his sights set on big things. Chartered, building his own team and (my favourite bit) staying in paraplanning long‑term – because he sees the value that paraplanning brings.
This National Apprenticeship Week, Abdul’s story should challenge us to rethink how we attract, and nurture new talent. To really build on a sustainable, thriving financial planning profession, we need more people like him, and we need to make it far easier for them to find us.
Main image: jeshoots-com-pUAM5hPaCRI-unsplash
