Aspiring advisers often worry about being asked something they don’t know. In a duo set of ‘double act’ articles with paraplanner-turned-advisers Will Kelly and Ross Webster from Apogee Wealth Management, we delve into how their experience shows you don’t need all the answers as an adviser.
When paraplanners think about stepping into advice, one of the biggest fears talked about is, “What if a client asks me something I can’t answer?”
Will had that same fear when he first moved across. In his words:
“It’s difficult at the start, speaking to clients and thinking you need to know everything. But the fact of the matter is, you don’t.”
Clients aren’t expecting encyclopaedic recall. Instead, the expectation is more around clarity, care and good judgement.
The pressure to know everything, all at once, is something paraplanners often place on themselves.
Honesty builds trust
Will made a point that every aspiring adviser needs to hear:
“Clients are human. They understand you won’t know everything. They’re happy if you say, ‘I’ll confirm it afterwards.’ The worst thing you can do is guess.”
Guessing creates risk:
You could mislead the client, confuse them, or have to return later to correct yourself, which undermines trust far more than simply saying you’ll check.
Honesty signals professionalism, it shows you’re committed to doing things properly, not quickly.
And as Will reminded us, nothing gets implemented in a client meeting anyway, you’ll continue the dialogue outside of the meeting confirm everything in writing.
Being prepared doesn’t mean having every answer
Will and Ross both talked about how regulation changes constantly. Even advisers with decades of experience look things up.
The art isn’t in knowing everything, it’s in knowing when something needs digging into further.
It’s in judgement. Awareness. Care. Those qualities matter far more than instant recall.
You already have the foundation you need
If you’re a paraplanner thinking about stepping into advice, remind yourself how much you already bring into the room.
You understand suitability and how recommendations take shape. You’re used to navigating complexity and spotting the detail that matters – in fact you’re all about the detail.
None of this disappears when you sit with a client.
It supports you while you slow the conversation down, perhaps it becomes multiple conversations whilst you check what needs checking and then guide the next steps with your client with the care that they expect.
Clients don’t measure you by how many rules you can recite. They notice whether you’re honest (and therefore trustworthy) and focused on doing the right thing.
Will commented on how he thought his clients would expect him to have all the answers, but he soon learnt that was not the case.
He learnt that his clients valued his honesty way more than having all the answers, all at once.
Main image: lightbulb moment, ondrej-supitar-u5l8ded3n3Y-unsplash
