By her own admission, Andrea Speed is never one to rest on her laurels. This is especially true when it comes to her boutique IFA firm, Speed Financial Solutions, located on the Costa del Sol in Spain.
The self-proclaimed “study freak” has spent the bulk of her career, which began as a financial adviser at Nationwide Building Society in 1986, pursuing a number of professional qualifications and academic degrees that make her one of the most qualified financial planners in the UK and Spain.
Qualified respect
Since the launch of the firm in 2010, Speed has amassed several titles, including chartered financial planner, fellow of the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII), a CII-qualified discretionary investment manager, as well as additional certificates in investment, risk, taxation and trusts.
Speed’s thirst for knowledge and professional development stems partly from the need to prove herself in the male-dominated arena of financial advice.
Women advisers of her calibre are a rare breed, particularly in places like Spain, home to Europe’s largest community of British expats, who are the bread and butter of her business.
“Because the industry is so male-dominated, you do have to be better than average to command respect,” Speed says. “It helps to bring respect if people feel they can trust you more than others because they can see you have done the work behind it.”
Advice safeguard
Speed is currently studying for the recently launched CII certificate on pension transfers. She decided to gain the specialist qualification after the UK’s Department for Work & Pensions (DWP) announced last October it was considering scrapping the current ‘advice safeguard’ for expats.
Under the requirement, individuals, including those living outside the UK, must take advice from a Financial Conduct Authority-regulated adviser for all transfers out of final salary or guaranteed annuity rate pension schemes for pots worth more than £30,000.
The DWP raised concerns the safeguard financially disadvantaged expats, who had to consult two sets of advisers – a UK-based regulated adviser and a local one – to complete an overseas pension transfer.
The proposals had a mixed response from the financial services industry, with some advisers welcoming the removal while others say it will put consumers at risk of being targeted by fraudsters.
Speed believes the existing requirement, introduced alongside the pension freedoms in April 2015, is unfair and should be abolished. “If people have got the knowledge and the qualification, provided they are also regulated and authorised in the jurisdiction the advice is given in, they should be able to advise on it. If the law does change, which we expect it to, then I can advise on it.”
