Claire Coates – our fine female Fellow
Having attained Fellowship, Wade Financial’s Claire Coates has been awarded an early Christmas present – the highly prestigious Maddocks Prize, bestowed upon her by the Newcastle Insurance Institute.
The award is in recognition of outstanding academic performance in the completion of the Chartered Insurance Institute’s Advanced Diploma in Financial Planning.
Having worked in the industry for over twenty years, Claire knows what it takes to be considered at the top of the profession. “The Diploma is the minimum required qualification in order to give advice. However, myself and the others at Wades have continued with the Advanced exams in order to maintain the highest professional and ethical standards in financial services.”
Claire started with Wade Financial in 2006 – and has been studying throughout the duration of her time in North Shields to firstly complete the Diploma, followed by the Advanced Diploma. There are a number of required exams in order to attain each qualification level and The Chartered Insurance Institute recommend that each participant should study for 100 hours per exam – no small feat when working full-time in a demanding environment.
Claire’s certificate from the NII.
Claire finished top of the class in the region with the most meritous exam results. In doing so, she not only won the NII’s coveted award, but also became a Fellow of the Personal Finance Society. It’s a status held by few women in the United Kingdom – something Claire is immensely proud of, but also feels is changing for the better. “There are gradually more female advisers coming into the profession which is nice to see as it has been male dominated for quite some time.”
Having achieved Fellowship in an industry dominated by the other sex, did Claire find it more difficult to get ahead? “I haven’t personally found it any harder being a female in the industry, because I have really good support from my colleagues at Wades, and it’s really through their support and encouragement that I carried on with the exams to get where I am today.”
Claire received her award at a black tie and diamonds event at the Civic Centre, where a host of insurers and financial advisers – including a few familiar faces from Wade’s office – came together to honour their colleagues and counterparts. “It was a really nice evening,” she beamed.
On the night, Claire was presented not only with a certificate of achievement, but also a cheque for £375. With the hard work finally over, she knows exactly how she’s going to spend her hard-earned winnings. “I’m going to treat myself to a lovely spa day in the New Year!”