Many people aspire to become high earners but lack that extra bit of guidance required to nudge them in the right direction. Without realising it, they could be literally just months away from a new career and doubling their incomes. We all strive for success by studying for university degrees, attend courses and continuously look for a spark for direction in life and it's not until we see a professional person in front of us that we realise that it's the job that we would like to do. It seems easy watching that individual working at the height of their career without realising what price they have had to pay to achieve success.



If you are looking for a career change, you could consider the mortgage industry. For the right individual the position of mortgage adviser can be extremely satisfying if you enjoy helping people. Are you looking for an opportunity in the UK mortgage industry and finding it hard to get on to the mortgage adviser job ladder? So what criteria should you use when deciding on your future career direction? Well, try asking yourself a few of the following questions:

? Do you think that you would enjoy helping people with their finances?

? Would you prefer to be an employee?

? Would you like to be self-employed?

? Are you determined to become a high earner?

? Are you intent on being successful?

? Would you like to be in charge of your own destiny?

A ?yes? answer to most of these could mean that you could consider investigating how to become a mortgage adviser but before you do, let's look a little further. The start to becoming a mortgage advisor means is passing a mortgage advice qualification and in my opinion the most recognised one in the UK is the Certificate in Mortgage Advice and Practice (CeMAP)

Being in the Financial Services Industry for over 20 years, many people have asked me what it takes to become a successful mortgage adviser. As the Marketing Director of Money Marketing Limited, a company that offers mortgage adviser training courses to hundreds of budding UK mortgage advisers per month, I feel that I am well qualified to answer that question.

" It takes dedication, focus, hard work and the ability to strive for success and a little help from a mortgage adviser training course."

Many people ask, do you need to have a degree to pass the exams? The answer is that you will not need academic qualifications to be able to pass the Cemap exams but one thing you will need is a strong desire to succeed in a highly competitive industry. If you are considering a career in the UK Financial Services Industry as a mortgage adviser but are finding it hard to get your foot in the door, why not let a dedicated team of industry-experienced mortgage adviser training professionals lead the way.

Having said that, it can be easy for the gifted people who are just natural at passing academic exams. I recently spent a week with a group of 10 delegates on a CEMAP 2 & 3 training course and the range of abilities on the course was extremely diverse. The challenge here for the cemap trainer was to get them all to the same standard by the end of the week and prepare them for their exams, the week after. Nine out of the ten passed their relevant exams.

The challenges of the CeMAP exams are that you need to learn the qualification content and pass the exams at 70% but that is not all. Many people coming into the mortgage industry have not sat exams for years and in some cases not since they left school. Our CeMAP training courses were built for individuals who are new to the mortgage industry and as a consequence, we teach the course content and mock examine you on a daily basis.

The advantage to this system is obvious, not only are you learning the course content but the exam techniques as well. With strengths and weaknesses identified on a daily basis, it is easy to identify the areas that require extra tuition during the week. This proven system allows us to help hundreds of people get through their Certificate in Mortgage Advice & Practice (CeMAP) exams per month.

Do take care, as the route to becoming a mortgage adviser could be fraught with dangers for the unprepared and under researched person, as the journey could be a long and arduous one. Care should be taken when choosing the company for the initial CeMAP training as many organisations are strictly in the business of offering either a two-day revision course or a self-study CeMAP examination course that in our opinion is not enough. Further to this there are unscrupulous organisations that may try to lure individuals into offering cheap CeMAP training courses and then taking ?5,000, ?6,000 or even ?9,000 off them in an attempt to recruit them into their mortgage business as mortgage advisers or offering them an expensive mortgage franchise.

You could be a qualified mortgage adviser after just days of intensive, fast track mortgage adviser training and be on your way to becoming a high earner. Let your imagination run away with itself and picture the nice house, the quality car, the white sands on holiday and the clothes that you have always dreamed of.

Most mortgage advisors working for banks, building societies and estate agents work on a salary plus a bonus system and the employer keeps the bulk of the commission income generated from the sale of mortgages and insurances. The packages on offer to the employed trainee mortgage adviser can range from a minimum of ?15,000 pa plus car and bonuses, to ?35,000 pa plus car and bonuses, dependent upon what part of the country you work in.

The self-employed mortgage advisor however can determine his/her own income but this can depend on a number of factors but the sky's the limit.

This was the opinion of Joe Kocsis the Marketing Director of Money Marketing Limited who attended a recent CeMAP 2 & 3 combined mortgage adviser training course.