It's been awhile

When I first started this blog, it was meant to be a daily thing, much like a few other blogs I have seen. To begin with, it was. Every day, before logging onto WoW I'd spend 20-30 minutes updating. Then I went on holiday, I think I posted once or twice when I got back, then it just petered out.

Anyway, I am hoping that it will go back to a daily event, but I need to catch up a little first:

Since August 2007 I have changed jobs, rolled new characters on another server, and passed a couple of exams.

The new job was borne of necessity; I simply couldn't continue to support the family and remain self-employed - what with the credit crunch biting, I wasn't writing enough business, so I ended up taking an employed position.

And it is since starting my new job that I have been made painfully aware of my shortcomings as a financial adviser. I thought I was doing a good job as an IFA (Independent Financial Adviser) - I knew I had stuff to learn, but I thought the advice side of things was ok.

How wrong can someone be about something. The upshot is that I don't know how much longer I have left; working for a small company means that everyone is far more important, and the business has to get on the books, or it is not worth their while keeping me on - or should I say that they cannot afford for me not to write the business. As I am not enjoying what I am doing, I guess it is only a matter of time...

But I have been wanting to work in IT for a while - in 1998 I even took a university course to start a degree in computing, but circumstances happened, and the company I was working for were paying for everyone to take the Financial Planning Certificate, which was the basic qualification you need to become a financial adviser. Their view was though that a more qualified workforce is a better workforce (or something along those lines!). So I sat all 3 papers and got my certificate within 10 months.

In the intervening years I have taken more exams - G10 (Taxation and Trusts), CeMap (Certificate in Mortgage Advice and Practice) and more recently CF2 and CF4, which are to do with investments and retirement planning respectively.

Now that I have decided that I definitely want to work in IT, I need to study some more, and am looking to take CCNA, which is a Cisco Networking certification, which I am hoping will get me into IT, even if it is at a basic level.

It's getting late and I am tired, so I am signing off for now - hopefully more tomorrow...