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Finance & accounting

Financial adviser

Financial advisers help people and organisations choose investments, savings, pensions, mortgages and insurance products.

Annual Salary

£23,000 to £60,000

Average UK salary in 2023 was £34,963
(source Office for National Statistics)

Working hours

35 to 38 a week

You could work: evenings / weekends; attending events or appointments

2.9%
Future employment

There will be 2.9% more Financial adviser jobs in 2027.

Day to day tasks

As a financial adviser, you could:

  • talk to clients about their finances and plans
  • research financial products and explain them simply and clearly
  • negotiate with providers of financial products
  • produce financial reports
  • update clients about their pensions and investments
  • meet performance and sales targets
  • keep up to date with new products and law changes

Working environment

You could work in an office, from home, at a client's home or in a contact centre.

You can get into this job through:

  • a university course
  • an apprenticeship
  • working towards this role
University

This role is open to graduates of most subjects.

Particularly relevant subjects include:

  • financial services
  • business management
  • accountancy

Once you finish your course, you could apply to join a finance company or a bank as a graduate trainee adviser.

Entry requirements

You'll usually need:

  • 2 to 3 A levels, or equivalent, for a degree
For more information
  • equivalent entry requirements|https://www.gov.uk/what-different-qualification-levels-mean/list-of-qualification-levels
  • student finance for fees and living costs|https://www.gov.uk/student-finance
  • university courses and entry requirements|https://www.ucas.com/
Apprenticeship

You could do a Financial Adviser Level 4 Higher Apprenticeship or a Financial Services Professional Level 6 Degree Apprenticeship.

Entry requirements

You'll usually need:

  • 4 or 5 GCSEs at grades 9 to 4 (A* to C) and A levels, or equivalent, for a higher or degree apprenticeship
For more information
  • equivalent entry requirements|https://www.gov.uk/what-different-qualification-levels-mean/list-of-qualification-levels
  • guide to apprenticeships|https://www.gov.uk/apprenticeships-guide
Work

You could start as a financial services administrator, pensions administrator or customer services adviser and work your way up.

To do this, you'll need to study for a level 4 qualification in financial advice recognised by the Financial Conduct Authority.

These include:

If you work in pensions, you could do qualifications offered by the Pensions Management Institute, while you move into an adviser role.

Requirements and restrictions

You'll need to:

More information

Further information

You can find more information about working in financial services from The London Institute of Banking and Finance or Pension Careers.

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With experience, you could:specialise in one area of work, like pensions; become a manager to recruit and train new staff; become a director or partner of your company; move into compliance, making sure companies follow guidelines and laws

Skills required and how your skills match up

What skills are required?

You'll need:

  • customer service skills
  • knowledge of economics and accounting
  • maths knowledge
  • the ability to sell products and services
  • excellent verbal communication skills
  • active listening skills
  • business management skills
  • to be thorough and pay attention to detail
  • to be able to use a computer and the main software packages competently
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