People working in the trust business are entrusted to look after people’s money in a unique way. Often they work for families across generations. Trustees are the actual owners of the money they invest; clients sign over their rights to their money to the trustee. Sure, they indicate who they want to get the money but, while it is in trust, it is the trustees who have the power to use it, invest it and save it for those beneficiaries. So there’s a lot of trust involved on all sides.

Clients can be wealthy families or corporate institutions and working in the sector can mean that you are involved by managing trusts and/or company secretarial and administration work.

Trust work is really varied and there’s an opportunity to build relationships with clients because you need to know their families, their likes and dislikes. You might be managing the financial affairs of a family or a group of families or you could be working with multi-national companies or investment houses with a varied portfolio of international clients. You can also specialise in managing employee benefit or pension trusts or dealing with succession planning, where you need to take into consideration future generations.

You can get into the sector at any level although with a degree you will enter at a higher level than someone with five GCSEs. The subjects chosen at each level of education should demonstrate that you have the right skills; good communication, an understanding of economics and business and maybe even a language.

There is a range of exams that can be taken to further your career including a diploma with the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners which is usually taken as a post graduate qualification. There’s a similar programme of certificates and diplomas for company secretaries and administrators. Lawyers and accountants often swap into trust businesses.

Dealing with wealthy clients means you often get the opportunity to meet extraordinary people living in far flung places while doing work which is varied and interesting.  A successful career in the trust sector depends on hard work and can mean long hours and time spent away from family and friends. However it is a challenging career which can be both personally and financially rewarding.

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