Statement of personal achievement

Example 3 – Ben Best, Pin: 1122333C

Overview

Just prior to the point at which I had qualified as an Associate of the Chartered Insurance Institute I had changed jobs from XYZ Plc to ABC Ltd. I had chosen ABC Ltd as they specialised in pension’s provision and felt that, having spent eight years getting a solid grounding in all aspects of financial advice, that now specialising in one area would help me become an expert rather than a general practitioner. The need to develop my specialist technical knowledge was heightened by the fact that my clients were now Independent Financial Advisor’s, who themselves already had a solid grounding in pension knowledge, rather than the general public as it had been before.

My aim at ABC Ltd was to become the person my panel of Independent Financial Advisors (IFA’s) would seek out when they came across a client with complex pension needs. I already held the Advanced Pensions certificate (G60) but so did the majority of my targets IFA’s as I was predominately dealing with the “pension’s specialist” in any given IFA firm. Therefore, in order to truly establish credibility in my market and to achieve my aims, I needed to develop my knowledge considerably beyond where it was.

Fellowship Plan

Clearly it made good sense to ensure that my Fellowship plan in general, and my major achievement in particular, was carefully aligned with my career aims to become a recognised pension’s specialist. In this way I could be sure that the effort involved in attaining my major achievement would also reap rewards in my career. I reviewed the available options with regard to recognised and credible routes to attaining a structured improvement in the depth and breadth of my pension’s knowledge and, of the many options, the qualification of Associate of the Pensions Management Institute (APMI) appeared to be by far the most suitable. The APMI qualification is well respected by pension’s professionals and is often seen, if not as a prerequisite then as a highly desirable qualification, for those in senior positions in pensions actuarial and administration.

To achieve the APMI, at the time I began the process, you had to complete a series of nine, three hour examinations that were pitched at a level at least equivalent, to CII exams. Changes to the syllabus during the time I studied meant that I would have had to achieve some eleven examination credits in order to have achieved the APMI title.

Changes to Fellowship plan

Two major and largely unforeseen events occurred doing the progress of attaining my major achievement. My employer (ABC Ltd) decided, like many other small mutual offices before it, that its corporate structure as a mutual was not sustainable and not in the best long term interests of it’s with profit policy holders. A decision to demutualise and to seek a buyer able to inject cash into the business was made late in 2001. In 2002 ABC Ltd was sold to PQR Ltd.

PQR Ltd had established itself as a niche provider of products to the ‘at retirement’ market and had become a major player in the impaired life annuity market. They saw ABC Ltd, a well known provider of ‘pension’s drawn down’ products as a very complimentary fit. However, relatively soon after the takeover it became apparent that PQR Ltd were much less interested in the more specialist solution ABC Ltd had developed with regard to higher net worth individuals pension needs (such as Small Self Administered and Self Invested Personal Pensions). Consequently these product ranges were curtailed and the focus moved toward more straightforward solutions. Evidently this meant the drive towards the APMI qualification had become less appropriate to my job role.

The second, even more unforeseeable, event to occur was that the government decided to attempt to simplify pension’s legislation. Late in 2002, after a series of reviews looking into the financial service sector in general and the pensions arena specifically, a green paper was published which proposed to radically reduce the degree of complexity that exists in UK pensions provision. The proposals are to be welcomed in their attempt to help to begin to close the ‘savings gap’ that exists. The government’s expectation is that a more straightforward set of pension’s rules would give consumers greater confidence in making the pension’s savings they need.

Clearly then the proposals to simplify pensions, coupled with a change in focus in product areas in my job, impacted my original plan to gain further and more advanced qualifications in this area. Consequently in the early part of this year I gained approval from the CII to use the Retirement Provisions Diploma that I had gained during my progress towards the full AMPI qualification as my major achievement rather than continue on to completing the Associateship.

Key learning points

The PMI study allowed me to gain a much wider depth of perspective on occupational schemes in general and their financing, construction, and management in particular. This proved of enormous benefit in analysing the position for clients who were considering transfers from occupational schemes. Perhaps of even greater benefit in helping me pursue my chosen goals was that the study gave me greater authority and credibility when speaking on pensions issues and this translated into being invited to talk at more and more events (such as SOFA road shows) and indeed IFA conferences and training sessions. Cleary this all helped to promote my profile and to convince the local IFA market that I was the person to speak to for complex pension planning issues.

Key skills and knowledge acquired

As qualification to AMPI was examination based it continued to improve my time management skills in terms of organising time for study and indeed clearly also my studying and examination skills. However, having completed both the Associateship of the CII and the Society of Financial Advisors (SOFA) over the past eight years, my skills in this area where already at a good standard. The main benefit of the PMI exams was to directly improve my knowledge levels, and indeed my confidence.

One highly specialised part of our work at ABC Ltd was in the area of Small Self Administered Schemes. One of the exams I took focused solely on scheme documentation and creation. This was of huge assistance in increasing my understanding of the nature of the trust deeds used as the foundation for schemes. It has helped enormously in the resolution of a number of ‘problem schemes’ where considerable complications had occurred with regard to the need for new deeds and rule amendments to be made in order to allow for the smooth continuation of these schemes.

Another area which benefited from these studies was that of scheme investments. It was helpful to have a clearer understanding of how to analyse and assess the liability profile of schemes, and to map suitable investments strategies to match these liabilities. This translated well in two keys areas;

• Multimember SSAS and SIPP schemes with different retirement ages but common investment strategies with regard to illiquid elements such as properties.
• It was also helpful with regard to the investment strategy required inside income drawndown plans. These are often difficult to manage because of the conflicting needs for both sustainable income and growth to offset inflation coupled with avoiding volatility around triennial reviews.

Intentions for the future

Since PQR Ltd had already begun to move away from my chosen area of specialism and since there may well be a reduction in the need for pensions technical specialists I have already decided upon a change in career direction and have taken a role as a director in a large and expanding firm of IFA’s in Manchester. My client load is predominately those with more complicated pension needs so I am able to use my experience and knowledge with these clients. However, I am also working on non pensions related clients which is expanding my knowledge base in other directions. To help me develop this wider client perspective I intend to sit the Holistic Financial Planning SOFA exam in April 2004.

My new job role also has some management, marketing and personnel functions and my studies throughout the qualification to ACII have help significantly with these tasks. To further assist my development in this area I intend to study for the Supervision and Sales Management SOFA exam in October of 2004.

I intend to continue with my studies and personal development as I recognise that this, coupled with developing my people skills, has given me a very competitive edge over the past few years. As the market for financial advice becomes ever more professional I anticipate that clients will increasingly search out and use the most highly qualified individuals and those that can prove their professionalism. Achieving Fellowship of the CII is certainly an important step in ensuring that I can demonstrate this continuing strive towards the highest levels of professionalism to discerning clients.