Far from being ‘soft’ skills, the ability to listen more effectively, give and receive feedback more confidently, and manage your time more productively are vital personal development skills so you can succeed in your paraplanning career.
But how often do you find time to discover, practice and apply new tools and approaches to fine-tune those skills? Plus do that alongside other paraplanners in the same boat as you?
If that sounds familiar, then this is the event for you. Because we asked coach and facilitator, Becca Timmins, to design a workshop exclusively for paraplanners.
Drawing on a decade of insights provided by Assembly participants, Becca has created the power-up you need to grow your confidence and command of these crucial skills – in just three hours.
This workshop has been made possible thanks to the kind support of our friends at Aegon UK.
What you’ll learn
You’ll learn to lean in to listening
Ever feel the need to fix everyone’s problems for them? Or perhaps you feel pressure to come up with solutions when people share their thoughts and feelings with you?
Learning a new way to think about listening can really help us let go of needing to have all of the answers. Plus, it makes for solutions that are more effective and better thought through. We’ll use our time to discover a refreshing approach to listening.
You’ll feel more confident about feedback
Do you ever feel unsure about how best to give feedback? Perhaps you struggle to get your point across and wish you could articulate yourself more clearly? Maybe receiving feedback makes you squirm?
We’re often not taught how to give effective feedback and so we struggle to know how to do it well. What’s more, bad experiences can put us off trying. So we’ll spend some time learning tools that can help us – and think about how we can get out of our own way.
You’ll gain a new perspective on time
Does it feel like there aren’t enough hours in the day? Maybe you feel like you never seem to have control over how you spend your time?
There are so many tools and hacks out there to try and make us feel we can do more in less time. Perhaps it’s time to think about it a bit differently? That’s why we will set some valuable time aside to explore the way we approach time managing.
About workshop facilitator, Becca Timmins
Our workshop will be led by Becca Timmins.
Becca’s workshops give you lots of room to reflect on things both individually and in conversation with other paraplanners.
Her style makes for an energising and enriching learning experience. In fact, you can see for yourself because we’ve added a few shots from Becca’s sessions at this year’s Big Day Out.
Coach and facilitator Becca has not only worked as a paraplanner in the past but – these days – is director of operations at financial planning practice Emery Little.


How to join the event
The event will be taking place online using Zoom. Once you’ve bought your ticket, you’ll receive the Zoom link and details of how to join the event on 12 May 2023.
Price
£25 per participant. This includes VAT and Eventbrite booking fees.
How to book
Just tap the Buy tickets button and book online now.

Steve Sayer from Utmost Wealth Solutions joined us for the second of two online Assemblies tackling the issue of top slicing relief.
In the first Assembly – held on 29 June this year – Steve invited us to look at more technical considerations and calculations.
In this second session, he took a look at planning strategies for top slicing relief. The session covered:
- How to avoid trustee rates of tax on gains
- When should new money top up an existing bond or go into a new bond?
- How to apply time apportionment relief
- How to plan for ongoing income
From now on, there’s no need to visit Crowdcast to save your spot at an online Assembly. Just tap ‘Book event’ and follow the step-by-step instructions.
Broken link or duff information?
If something’s not quite right on this page, please tell us what you spotted now at our bug list.
A panel discuss setting up and running an outsourced paraplanning business. They share their experience, top tips, and cover the main points and issues that arise from outsourced paraplanning, such as:
Learning objectives
In this session we covered…
- Things you need to think about before setting up your own business
- What it really is like to run an outsourced paraplanning business
- How to work on your own and not go mad!
- Staying on top of CPD
We all know that research and due diligence is a key skill for paraplanners.
And with discretionary fund management (DFM) services becoming more popular – whether bespoke or model portfolios – the demand for these skills is only going to increase.
In our latest online Assembly, we’re bringing together experts who are able to share perspectives from both sides of the DFM equation.
Learning objectives
During this session we…
Explored the approach and processes you can adopt to carry out research discuss the tech that’s out there that can help Invited DFM guests to tell us what they think paraplanners should ask…but don’t Discover what kind of due diligence DFMs carry out for themselves
Do you know the order in which income tax is applied to different sources?
If not, this online Assembly is for you. And – even if you do – are you really really sure? (Like, really?)
Either way, we’re sure you’ll leave this Assembly older (by 60 mins) but wiser thanks to our guest, M&G’s Les Cameron.
Les will be a familiar face to many Assembly participants and his most recent appearance was May’s Case Study Investigation: IHT and Trusts.
Learning objectives
During the session we covered…
- The 7 steps of a UK Income Tax calculation
- Allowable deductions
- Adjusted net income
- 72% marginal tax rate
- Allowances Beneficial ordering
- Tax reducers
Long term care and what paraplanners should know about it
Learning objectives
During the session we covered…
- Powers of Attorney
- Working with attorneys
- Care fees planning case studies
Are you up to date with your top slicing relief knowledge.
Learning objectives
During the session we covered…
- Chargeable event gains
- Simple top slicing relief calculation
- Where dividends are paid What to do with more than one gain
Long term care and what paraplanners should know about it
Learning Objectives
During the session we covered…
- Appreciating the divide between health and social care
- Recognising how care needs and financial assessments work
- The privately funded options for care funding
- Evaluating the issues of possible deliberate deprivation of assets
Long term care and what paraplanners should know about it
Learning Objectives
During the session we covered…
- Assessing the size and potential for advice in the care market
- Analysing the longevity and demographic issues in the UK
- Evaluating the government proposals for dealing with health and social care
A team of paraplanners and an expert look at three cases studies with IHT and trusts at the heart of them.
Learning objectives
During the session we covered…
- The client’s background and objectives
- The most important facts and issues
- The various options A potential solution with rationale