Our conference theme, with an accompanying playlist, was in recognition of the vital role that paraplanners play, controlling and considering a range of aspects to create the perfect financial plan
by Jane Playdon, CISI Review editor
Any delegates who missed this session, or any of the others, can log in to the Conference portal and watch the recordings.
Recordings will be available to all members on CISI TV in November 2021.
Around 300 delegates and 15 speakers from 30 countries, including Cyprus, Hong Kong, Kenya, Latvia, Nepal, Nigeria, and the US, attended the conference on 19 to 20 May, networking with colleagues thousands of miles away and participating in sessions covering a range of topics from the purely practical, such as Excel tips and inheritance tax fundamentals, to the more profound, such as behavioural biases or the quiet power of introverts.
All about that bass
Perhaps fittingly for a music-themed conference, the most popular session out of the 17 held was ‘All about that bass’, delivered by Martin Lines, development and events director at Just, after the opening keynote session on Wednesday 19 May. Martin’s artistically licensed pun refers to the importance of establishing, as part of the paraplanning mix, the base level of income for clients in retirement. In an entertaining presentation complete with snap musical quizzes and references throughout, he covered:
- understanding the key principles from the latest guidance on retirement income
- recognising the distinct elements of retirement income highlighted by the FCA
- reviewing the key information areas that should be on the client file
- discussing the role of secure income and how this might be balanced with the potential for ‘pensions freedom’.
The Wednesday mix
Pippa Oldfield, assistant manager and paraplanner at Mazars and winner of the CISI Paraplanner of the Year Award in 2020, delivered the opening keynote speech, explaining how and why she got into paraplanning. In a story sure to strike a chord with many who may feel like X or Y is holding them back from achieving their career goals, Pippa shared that she was a ‘late bloomer’, not finding her calling until she was 36. She explained how an initial lack of confidence held her back, to the point where she turned down a job offer after graduating because it would involve answering the phones. After drifting through several jobs, underselling herself for many years, she received a confidence boost from a manager who entrusted her with a role involving quantitative analysis and report writing. A few years later, Pippa, like so many, ‘fell’ into paraplanning, albeit after much research to establish that she had the right skillset.
Turning it up
Picking up on the confidence and recognition theme, Mark Pittaccio CFP™ Chartered MCSI, founder of Your Behavioural Economist, believes that paraplanners tend to underestimate their impact on client outcomes. His talk, ‘Nudge nudge, think think: behaviour, trust and the difference you make’, drawn from behavioural economics and personal experience, outlined how paraplanners can tailor their support to clients through an understanding of some common biases and behaviour.
He shared some practical tips with examples that can be implemented to aid client understanding, such as the use of imagery (“underused in paraplanner reports”), presentation of the text (hint: bullets are good) and placement (“the way you order information makes a huge difference”), and framing questions. To show the importance of placement, Mark shared a slide showing the same six adjectives used to describe two different people, but written in different order. The person who had positive characteristics – intelligent, industrious, impulsive, critical, stubborn, envious – listed first was perceived in research to be more employable than the one who was envious, stubborn, critical, impulsive, industrious, intelligent.
Techno talk
Mark’s talk concluded the first day of the conference. Other highlights from the first day included several practical sessions, packed with technical detail. Matt Johnson from Octopus Investments spoke about venture capital trusts and enterprise investment schemes; Fiona Hanrahan from Royal London used a case study to talk about the lifetime allowance; Brian Radbone from Transact spoke about trusts; and Nick Britton from AIC spoke about investment trusts.
Thursday mix
Amrita Bhogal, CISI professional standards and ethics manager, led an interactive ethics workshop in the morning. Amrita told delegates about our updated Code of Conduct and shared some interesting stats from the Ipsos Mori Veracity Index, November 2020, about the level of public trust held by various professions (bankers are in the lower end at 44%; nurses are highest at 93%).
She then read out a Grey Matters ethical dilemma – about a junior manager whose boss pressures him to bend the rules and sign a report he is not supposed to sign – and invited delegates to vote on their preferred course of action out of four options. Delegates’ initial vote showed a preference for option 2 (42%), which has the junior manager insisting that his boss sign the report. The second result, following discussions in breakout rooms and panellists giving their views, consolidated the initial preference, with option 2 then coming in at 47%.
The same dilemma was published in the Review in February 2021, with 52% of 291 respondents voting for option 2, showing awareness of our Code of Conduct principle which states that you should “decline to act on any matter about which you are not competent or qualified unless you have access to advice or assistance to carry out the work in a professional manner”.
Option 2 is also the CISI’s preferred option, with the verdict, published in our June edition of The Review, stating that the dilemma “raises concerns about the culture of the workplace and whether other policies and procedures have not been complied with”.
Spreadsheet music
Meanwhile, Judith Rowe, Microsoft Excel trainer, was explaining to delegates in the Control Room how they can save hours of time through the application of some handy Excel tips, such as ten tips in ten minutes, concatenating names and dates from multiple cells into one, and some lesser-used functions, including ‘Countif’ and ‘Sumif’. It was clear from the enthusiastic comments in the chat (“F4 brilliant – it will save so much time”; “that is really useful!”; “Wonderful again!”) that she was hitting the right notes with many.
Other highlights on Thursday included a Q&A with Mark Goold, technical specialist at the Financial Conduct Authority; a ‘technical tune-up’ on family investment companies, by Guy Broadfield, associate at Burges Salmon llp; and a look at ‘inheritance tax fundamentals and business relief’ by Harry Donoghue, strategic partnerships manager at Time Investments.
High notes
But for those delegates who possess introverted personality traits, Susan Cain’s Q&A session on the quiet ‘power of introverts’ may have been the biggest drawcard. Susan, author of The Quiet Revolution, chatted to Farida Hassanali CFP™ APP Chartered FCSI, financial planner at Paradigm Norton and member of the CISI Paraplanner Interest Group Committee, about this “fundamental” characteristic, explaining how introverts can harness their strengths through self-awareness, excelling at the areas they are passionate about “because of their quiet ways rather than despite them”.
Introverts don’t always show that they care about something, said Susan, and it would help them to be aware of that gap, so that they can work on communicating their feelings, “taking an action on behalf of other people”, which would help others get the reinforcement that they need. She gives the example of the CEO of Campbell Soup, Doug Conant, who wrote 30,000 personal letters of thanks to employees. During his time with the company from 2001 to 2009 it went from the bottom to one of the top major food companies of the Fortune 500.
Think about how you want others to perceive you, says Susan. Identify the role you are comfortable playing in a professional setting, and start to develop that. For example, “You might be the one who asks thoughtful questions” at meetings. “Think before the meeting about what you might want to contribute. Give yourself a push to speak up early. The ideas that get advanced early tend to become anchoring points in any discussion. Other people will start directing their energy and eye contact to you and you will start feeling more in the centre of things”.
Great advice from a great speaker, who was clearly comfortable in the spotlight, talking about lessons she’d learnt from her own experience and from others’ research.
Susan’s Q&A concluded the Paraplanning Conference 2021. If you attended, we’d love to know your thoughts. Please fill in our survey to give us your feedback and let us know how we can improve the experience next year.
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