Sam Patterson, newly appointed director and head of mentoring at The Paraplanner Club, tells why he feels the peer-to-peer mentoring scheme is important for the paraplanning community.
If you asked ten paraplanners to describe their day-to-day roles, I’d imagine you would get ten different answers. If you asked ten different financial planning firms to describe what they expect from its paraplanners, you’d again get ten different answers.
We work in a quickly evolving profession and now more than ever. I myself started in the profession around a decade ago straight from university and have previously worked in both an administrative and paraplanning role, before transitioning into a hybrid client manager role, which combined the traditional paraplanner role with the client contact you’d expect from a financial planner role. It was from this role that I discovered my passion for supporting the development of my peers and ultimately became responsible for the day-to-day management of a team of client managers, a role I thoroughly enjoyed for around four years.
In 2022, I took the step to join The Patterson Group, the business founded by my family in 1995, which is proudly one of the leaders in terms of CII exam support, having sold over 66,000 sets of audio material over our 28-year history. My focus is to continue to build on these foundations and look to the future, how can we do all we can to support individuals working in the financial planning profession.
It is at this point I became involved as a mentor with The Paraplanner Club. From my first meeting with Sian and Chloe, it was clear they shared the same vision as myself; to treat paraplanners around the country as individuals and help them reach their potential. A free mentoring scheme, with no other motive but the betterment of others. It was a breath of fresh air having worked in a profession where so many companies claim to offer individual mentoring support by offering an ‘off the shelf’ package for a profit.
When Sian and Chloe asked me to become involved in the leadership team of The Paraplanner Club at the beginning of 2023, it was an offer I could not refuse and I’m excited to help drive this unique project forward as it builds momentum across the country.
Now more than ever, paraplanners need to be treated as individuals. Individuals facing unique pressures but united in a common goal; how can we provide our clients with the best possible level of support. To do this, paraplanners require the best possible level of support, whether it be helping refine their day-to-day paraplanning roles or passing the exams required in our profession.
The Paraplanner Club is a community designed and led by paraplanners, those who have first-hand experience in the profession and truly understand not only the pressures of the role, but also the value and impact a motivated, empowered paraplanner can have within financial planning.
It’s a community that is only gathering momentum and I’m excited to work with Sian and Chloe to help drive this project forward!
