Balancing exam study, working as a paraplanner and raising a young family, meant Kimberley Malin, paraplanner and member of the PFS Paraplanner Panel, took a slightly different and longer route to achieving her diploma than others. As she explains.
Studying whilst working and raising a young family is no easy feat. You certainly need to be committed with an end goal in mind.
I set myself the task of achieving the Diploma in Financial Planning when I became a paraplanner as I felt it was a necessary achievement to demonstrate my professional standing and as a commitment to my profession. As the benchmark qualification for financial planners it felt natural to achieve this benchmark as a paraplanner working side-by-side in collaboration with the planners.
I didn’t take all of my professional exams in the order most people do. I started my career back in 2013 via an apprenticeship where I was placed in a Wealth Management firm and took a couple of the level 3 exams as an a ‘introduction’ to the industry. I really started to enjoy working in the industry and then commenced R05 and R01. Following the completion of these, I was expecting my first child and decided to study for R04 whilst I was pregnant. I took the exam when I was around 33 weeks pregnant and looking back, it wasn’t my greatest idea with ‘baby brain’ well and truly lingering! I failed the exam by 1 mark – I was absolutely devastated! I re-sat the exam at around 36 weeks pregnant. Thankfully I did pass on my second attempt.
As soon as I became a mommy, my career almost went on hold for a while. I gave up on my Diploma as my ‘head was no longer in it’. Not long after this, I had my wedding to focus on too and I lost touch with the industry. I was still working in an admin capacity, but my focus was on my family.
In 2019, after my daughter was born, I returned to work but in a string of jobs, where I was increasingly unhappy. Then I found myself with the opportunity to work as a paraplanning administrator for an outsourced paraplanning firm. Without a doubt this is where my passion for the industry returned. I had never worked with business owners who had such drive, passion and aptitude to make a change in the industry – for the better! They showed me what real paraplanning was like, why it is important to contribute to the profession and industry we belong to and how experience over exams plays a huge part in the paraplanner you become, amongst a whole host of other vital things. I have always kept these invaluable lessons close to me in my professional values and work ethic.
That was the moment when I started to strive for more. I was ‘back in the game’!
But this is where the hard work began as I was working part time and raising two young children under the age of 5.
I set about planning my future and in a little over 14 months, I completed CF6, R02, R03 & R06.
The only way I could fit in my study whilst working was to utilise the time I had in an evening once the children had gone to bed. I would follow a strict timetable of studying two hours a night, six days a week, preparing for each exam. It was hard at times to keep the momentum going especially after a busy day but if you have an end goal of why you want to achieve your Diploma, this is a key element to why you keep going! Each exam success spurs you on and brings you closer to the end goal.
The moment I received those final R06 exam results was monumental. I reflected on the hard work, the hours, the sleepless nights, the missed family time and I couldn’t have been prouder!
Although I have now obtained the Level 4 Diploma, learning never stops when you become a paraplanner. I always have some sort of financial planning book on the go, in between regularly attending industry events, webinars and reading articles on new developments within the world of financial planning.
In an ever-changing industry, you have to work incredibly hard to keep pace with the changes to ensure that the clients are receiving the very best service and outcomes.
I am a big advocate of financial planning and specifically the role of a paraplanner. Being a paraplanner is my absolute passion and certainly a role I can see myself doing for a very long time!
I have been in the industry for a little over 10 years now and I cannot stress enough to you that there is no need to put yourself under unnecessary pressure to achieve your exams all in one go. As you now know, I achieved mine over a longer period of time to most and I also took them in the order that most suited me – no one else. I still achieved my end goal of becoming a paraplanner – even if I did take the long road!
