We’ve already published articles about the financial challenges faced by women in Ireland, but let’s go one step further and speak to the women on the inside. Finance is traditionally thought of as a male-dominated career choice, but this is slowly changing.

For International Women’s Day 2024, we spoke to several financial advisors to find out how they got started in their careers and what it takes to succeed in the role.

Tara Agnew, Linda Moran, Amanda McGuirk, and Joan Creighan of Irish Life Financial Services come from varied backgrounds and all got started as financial advisors in different ways, but they all have one qualification in common.

Qualifications to become a financial advisor

While many advisors may have degrees in finance, business, maths, or another relevant discipline, the main qualification to become a financial advisor in Ireland is undertaking the Professional Diploma in Financial Advice examinations. The QFA (Qualified Financial Advisor) Board oversees these examinations.

Career paths into financial advice

As we spoke to our financial advisors we found that most of them didn’t set out to become advisors straight away. Rather, it was something that they discovered they loved doing in the course of pursuing other careers.

“I worked for an insurance company for two summers during college,” says Tara. “I managed to do my QFA exams the second summer – I think mainly because you got a bonus when you passed them!”

Tara soon found that she enjoyed meeting customers and building financial plans, and after plying her trade in London she returned to Ireland and joined Irish Life in 2015.

Joan trod a similar path after obtaining a Business Studies degree and a Masters’ in Corporate Governance & Management: “I initially worked in general insurance after college, then started in Irish Life in 2015 and moved over into financial advice in 2017.”

Of course, you don’t have to transition into a financial advice career from an adjacent industry like insurance, as Linda proves:

“I started on a completely different path, studying photography in college and working with commercial photographers processing photos,” she says. “I soon realised I was not as artistic as I thought! I decided instead to pursue something I loved doing.”

Even then, Linda took a roundabout route into financial advice – the thing she loved doing was looking at houses.

“I started studying at night and moved to a career as an auctioneer,” she says. “Then, I was introduced to the QFA by the mortgage lender in the office and felt it could be a good move.

“I studied at night again and I was lucky enough to get a job in Irish Life right before the bottom fell out of the property market.”

What sort of person is suited to a financial advisor role?

You might think that you need to have been born with an abacus in your hand and live and breathe spreadsheets to work in financial advice, but the reality is that a people person will be best suited to the role.

“You need to really enjoy meeting and getting to know people – clients are at the heart of our business,” says Tara. “And they will tell you what they really want, you just need to make sure that you are listening. Put the customer first every time and you won’t go too far wrong!”

Linda agrees; in her opinion, the type of person best-suited to the career is someone who is comfortable talking to people in general, with an outgoing personality and a genuine desire to help people. 

“And a hint of nosiness helps when the need arises to ask an awkward question or two!”

Beyond these soft skills, you do need a few other assets. Being detail-orientated, able to keep up with changing systems, and continually studying and improving are key.

“An attention to detail and a great memory are hugely helpful,” says Tara. “The ability to listen and assimilate information is fundamental.”

What are the best and worst things about being a financial advisor?

The most common thread among our financial advisors is that they all enjoy helping people and get a huge sense of job satisfaction from giving clients the opportunity to build better futures.  

"I love the satisfaction in knowing you are helping people, and also building well-needed security blankets if anything were to happen,” Amanda says.

“Putting a plan in place for people to give them peace of mind is a lovely feeling,” agrees Linda, but she does have one thing that she dislikes about the role in 2024 – which also serves as a warning to potential customers:

“My least favourite thing is the expectation that something as important as protection or retirement planning can be done in a few minutes,” Linda says. “Peoples’ diminishing attention span as technology evolves scares me.”

In short, it’s worth spending some time thinking about your financial future, not putting it on the long finger before rushing through it because you need to get it over with.

“When I started, customers felt they needed to meet someone to set up a pension as it was far too important to do over the phone,” Linda says. “Now, it’s hard to get half an hour for a pension review – people want it done and dusted in 10 minutes.”

What’s the main thing to know about being a financial advisor?

As you can see, the main thing about being a financial advisor is being somebody who wants to help others, particularly in assisting them with preparing for their futures.

“You need to want to help people,” Linda says. “But there is also so much more to the job than you realise. You will never be bored and what you do really does make a difference to someone.”

As with any role, there are difficulties and challenges. “It can be tough finding solutions for people within a budget, or if they have other issues,” Joan says. “Everyone’s circumstances differ, so it can be hard sometimes.”

So if you have been thinking about a career in financial advice, now you know what it takes. If you have a genuine desire to help others, love meeting new people, and think you’re able for the QFA and continued on-the-job learning then it could be your dream job.

If you’re still curious, then you can always take a look at the Irish Life careers page…