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How the UK's Youngest Financial Adviser Built a £10 Million AUM Business Before 24 | Romany Youell · Financial Planner Life Podcast

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_04: And today's guest on the Financial Planner Live podcast is Romanie Yall.
• 0:03
  SPEAKER_04: She is an absolutely wonderful guest.
• 0:05
  SPEAKER_04: She started a career at 16 years old as a mortgage advisor, fully qualified, giving mortgage advice.
• 0:10
  SPEAKER_04: She then went and joined the Quilter Academy at 17 years old, told she was too young, but became the youngest financial planner in the UK at 18 years old.
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_04: She was inspired by her dad at a very young age to go down the route of self-employment, working for him, building a financial planning business, and generating 10 million before she's 24 years old.
• 0:32
  SPEAKER_04: She's got some really interesting client stories and she shares those with us today.
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_04: But this is an inspiring episode for anyone in their journey about not giving up, pushing forward, and working to your true values.
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_04: You're gonna love this episode.
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_04: So, Bromini, thank you so much for joining me today on the Financial Planet Life podcast here in London.
• 0:51
  SPEAKER_04: How are you?
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_01: I'm good, thank you.
• 0:53
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you so much for having me.
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_01: I'm excited.
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_04: You're welcome to come on.
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_04: And I had a lovely chat with you.
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_04: Uh, the classic pre-podcast chat where I get to know people.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_04: Um, you're introduced by um, oh my god, where's my brain gone blank?
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_04: Hannah.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_04: Hannah.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_04: How can I forget Hannah, a wonderful operations manager, training financial planner?
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_04: Hannah.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, she introduced you.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_04: She said she used to see your stuff on LinkedIn and Instagram and said you've got to get her on.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_04: She's a great story.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_04: So here we are.
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_01: I know.
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_01: And it was so nice to meet Hannah as well and see more women financial advisors coming in.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, like anything I can do to support him.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_01: Like I absolutely will.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_04: Fantastic.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_04: So you've got quite an interesting story of how you got into financial planning at such a young age.
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_04: So let's start from the beginning.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_04: Tell us a little bit about how you got into financial services and how you ended up in financial planning.
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, of course.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_01: So I feel like I've always been in the financial planning industry, it's literally since I was born, pretty much.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but seriously, from the age of 11, I used to go along to client meetings with my dad, who is a mortgage advisor, and I watched him build his business literally from the ground up, from his bedroom.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and he always really inspired me.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I saw him helping clients.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_01: I went along to meetings, got the biscuits and things like that, and all the treats that all the clients used to give me.
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but yeah, more than that.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_01: I just I loved the industry right from the beginning.
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I decided to go to college for a couple of months.
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_01: That's how long I lasted.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_01: But it was just because in the back of my mind, I always knew that I really did want to be, or not maybe not a financial planner at the beginning, you know, not many people know it even exists as a career, um, but somewhere in the industry.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_01: So I went to college for a couple of months, studied like English language, psychology, the most random subjects, just for the sake of it, basically.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_01: And then I decided to drop out.
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_01: Um, it was a big decision at the time.
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_01: I left all of my friends and things like that.
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_01: Um, it was a quite an isolating experience as well.
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_01: But looking back, I'm so, so glad that I did that, and it's the best thing I ever did.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and then I decided to qualify as a mortgage advisor, follow my dad's footsteps, instantly loved the connection with the clients.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_01: And like I said, I've been watching my dad do this thing for forever, pretty much.
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_01: So it felt really natural.
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but what I noticed was that a lot of clients were asking about things like pensions, investments, tax planning, and all this more kind of complex area, but there were no one that could support him with that.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_01: So my dad said to me, Remine, why don't you go ahead and just do your financial planning exams?
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_01: You know, we'll see how it goes.
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so I was 17 at this point, remember.
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_01: So I've only been advising at age 16 as a mortgage advisor for one year.
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and then I went to Quilter Financial Advisor School to the interviews, and they told me, you know, you've got to be 18 to be able to come to do your exams full stop, basically.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but I said, can I just go for it anyway and just see if you can let me on early?
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_01: And they said, okay, we'll do your interviews and things like that.
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_01: Did the interviews and there was they were blown away with the knowledge that I had because I'd learnt it all since growing up.
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_01: You know, we used to talk about mortgages on the kitchen table.
• 3:41
  SPEAKER_01: We used to talk about income protection.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_01: I knew all of these kind of things, and my hand was just going up because I knew it all already.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and they said, Okay, we'll make an exception and we'll let you in a year early.
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_01: If you qualify, then you'll be the UK's youngest ever financial advisor, passed everything first time, and that's how that happened.
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_01: I was the UK's youngest ever financial advisor.
• 3:59
  SPEAKER_04: That's amazing.
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_04: What a story.
• 4:01
  SPEAKER_04: Look, phenomenal.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_04: You dropped out of school, sorry, college at 16, then went to work with your dad in his mortgage company.
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_04: And you qualified as a mortgage advisor at 16.
• 4:13
  SPEAKER_00: Pretty much, yeah.
• 4:13
  SPEAKER_04: And you were selling mortgages?
• 4:15
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_04: Wow.
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_00: I know I don't even know if you can get a mortgage at 16.
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_00: Never mind.
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_00: Advise people that you have.
• 4:23
  SPEAKER_04: So you went and I I've got to go back to your dad's situation.
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_04: I'm a father, uh, I have a daughter, and I do a lot of work from home, and she sees me work a lot.
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_04: She's always been around me.
• 4:31
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 4:31
  SPEAKER_04: Even as a little kid, she'd come into our I used to have a recruitment business and she'd come into the office and she was in there every single day, just in this recruitment business.
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_04: So, how much do you think that that's a bit obvious question, really, isn't he?
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_04: Now you work within financial planning and you work with a project.
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_04: So massively influence you to be able to see your dad doing what he does.
• 4:47
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_04: But did your dad let you in?
• 4:49
  SPEAKER_04: Did he talk to you about what it was that he was doing?
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_04: And did he share day to day?
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_04: Did you sit in his office with him?
• 4:56
  SPEAKER_04: And I'm just really intrigued by that because I'm yeah, I've got a daughter, she's 10 years old, and I like to think that I'm inspiring her.
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that's it.
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_01: I think I think to be honest, not even just the mortgage side of things, like the business side of things, you know, it's never a straightforward journey.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_01: And like I said, I saw him literally, you know, I think he was made redundant.
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and he just had to set up a business, you know.
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_01: Well, he didn't have to, but come on, he's he's an entrepreneur, isn't he?
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_01: He likes to do stuff like that.
• 5:19
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, he was he was in his bedroom.
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I just heard him constantly on the phone.
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_01: That's all I remember.
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_01: Like is he was constantly on the phone and he was he were always present, but he obviously was on he was like constantly speaking to clients and things on holidays and stuff.
• 5:31
  SPEAKER_01: That's what I remember.
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but more than that, I think he kind of took me along the journey with him and took us all along because you know, my mum looked after us, my dad sorted out the business, um, and yeah, it you know, it it went up and down.
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_01: And I think it it taught me like a lot of resilience kind of watching him him do that, and then I took that into my own career, and I think that's how I've overcome quite a lot of the stuff I've overcome as well.
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_04: Did you watch your dad a lot?
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_04: Did you observe?
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, well, I went to all the client meetings and things.
• 5:57
  SPEAKER_01: Like at the time, I thought it was just for the biscuits and the sweet and the sweets and stuff that the clients used to hand out.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_01: But yeah, I you know, I it'd be talking about things like protection and the importance of it, and you know, them hard-hitting questions that are so difficult, but he just did it in his kind of Yorkshire charm, and it just, yeah, it really inspired me.
• 6:13
  SPEAKER_01: And like I said, the close relationship and also the fact that actually what we do is change people's lives.
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_01: And I know that people keep saying it, but actually, like every like even one little change in a client's life completely changes the rest of their life, but not just that, they pass that knowledge down to their families, and yeah, it's just yeah, I could talk about all day.
• 6:32
  SPEAKER_04: Well, fantastic, great stuff.
• 6:33
  SPEAKER_04: So you got into mortgages, you were working with your dad.
• 6:36
  SPEAKER_04: How long did you spend in the mortgage?
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_04: You up until you were 17.
• 6:39
  SPEAKER_04: So you're only there for about eight years.
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_00: About a year.
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_04: About a year, yeah.
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_04: Okay.
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_04: Um, and what so when you were so your dad introduced you to financial planning, but why not look at financial planning?
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_04: We're getting lots of leads coming through from clients, why not look at it?
• 6:51
  SPEAKER_04: And at that point, though, you didn't know anything about financial planning specifically, it was more mortgages.
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_01: Nothing, nothing at all.
• 6:57
  SPEAKER_01: No, and when I like when I left college, like I had no idea about mortgages and stuff like that.
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_01: Like I said, I had a brief knowledge about that you buy houses because I'd heard my dad going on about that, but that was it at that point.
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_01: So genuinely blank slate um and just yeah, just carved carved me basically with the knowledge.
• 7:15
  SPEAKER_04: Okay, so quilter advisor school.
• 7:16
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, quilters.
• 7:17
  SPEAKER_04: When in early 17, they took a punt on you.
• 7:19
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_04: Turns out you were better than they thought.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_01: Pretty much, yeah.
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_01: I think there was a little bit of surprise.
• 7:24
  SPEAKER_01: Thing is, I walked into this room and it was full of, you know, 13, 40, 50 year olds.
• 7:29
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I was obviously the youngest there, yeah, but there was nobody that was even in my range either.
• 7:35
  SPEAKER_01: And nobody could believe, and I'm not, you know, I'm not tooting my own home, but only because around the kitchen table every single day we spoke about these things, and I heard my dad talking about them.
• 7:44
  SPEAKER_01: So they'd be like, in the interview, this and there was loads of us on the same table.
• 7:48
  SPEAKER_01: Do you know what income protection is?
• 7:50
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, like, and and do you know all of the it was like, what?
• 7:54
  SPEAKER_01: You're 17.
• 7:55
  SPEAKER_01: How would you know about all these different topics?
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_01: And it was like, Well, there's no reason why you can't join.
• 7:59
  SPEAKER_01: Like I said, that they got me started a year early.
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_04: Well, this is another reason why we're why we're speaking, because there's a chap from the PSF called Tim, uh, who's local to me, and one of his goals is to get youngsters in schools understanding the career of financial planning, not just say 18 plus, but actually um younger.
• 8:23
  SPEAKER_04: So, how how can we get them interested in understanding what that career actually looks like?
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_04: Do you feel like at say 13 or 14 years old, do you feel like you would have loved to have learned about the role of a mortgage advisor or a financial planner?
• 8:37
  SPEAKER_04: Do you think you would have taken it in?
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_01: Probably not.
• 8:41
  SPEAKER_04: Probably not.
• 8:41
  SPEAKER_01: Just me that's me being completely honest.
• 8:43
  SPEAKER_01: Probably not, but because of the lack of education around finances in general around school, I think most people don't even know what a mortgage is.
• 8:51
  SPEAKER_01: Never mind finding out what a mortgage advisor is.
• 8:54
  SPEAKER_04: So do you feel like financial education in schools at that age?
• 8:57
  SPEAKER_04: You start with that, then they understand it, and then they go, Well, who's delivering this could be a fine event?
• 9:02
  SPEAKER_01: Who can help with this?
• 9:03
  SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
• 9:03
  SPEAKER_01: And then people find their interests from doing the subject, yeah, like you do with English or maths and things like that.
• 9:09
  SPEAKER_04: Did your dad teach you about financial education, like loans and credit cards, and bank accounts and pensions, investments, that sort of thing?
• 9:16
  SPEAKER_01: Like I said, it was kind of just a conversation that we had all the time.
• 9:19
  SPEAKER_01: So he never kind of sat me down, did the traditional thing.
• 9:22
  SPEAKER_01: I just heard I just heard him talking about it, and you just you don't realise how much you actually absorb growing up just by hearing conversations.
• 9:29
  SPEAKER_01: So I I knew pretty much all of that.
• 9:31
  SPEAKER_04: Tell us about your journey at the advisor school of Quilter then.
• 9:34
  SPEAKER_04: What what happened?
• 9:34
  SPEAKER_04: Did you do the thoughts?
• 9:35
  SPEAKER_04: Did you go through all your exams there?
• 9:37
  SPEAKER_04: Did you set up a practice underneath Quilter?
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_04: Were you employed by Quilter?
• 9:41
  SPEAKER_04: Tell us about that part of the journey.
• 9:42
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 9:43
  SPEAKER_01: So we started off with Quilter, because that's who that's the network that we were part of at the time, which we're not part of Quilter anymore.
• 9:48
  SPEAKER_01: Um so I went through like all of the exams and things like that through them.
• 9:52
  SPEAKER_01: They were absolutely brilliant as well.
• 9:54
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, the support, like, and also I I don't know how many academies and and colleges and things like that there are for financial planning.
• 10:01
  SPEAKER_01: I don't think there's that many.
• 10:02
  SPEAKER_01: Um at the moment, I'm actually judging on a panel for all academies as well for the money marketing awards.
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_01: So I feel like that puts me in quite a good stead to be able to judge on something like that because I've had the experience.
• 10:13
  SPEAKER_01: But yeah, so they they were absolutely brilliant.
• 10:15
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I've forgotten what the question was now.
• 10:18
  SPEAKER_04: Just your experience around the the quilter advisor school, like how long were you in it for?
• 10:22
  SPEAKER_04: What did you learn?
• 10:24
  SPEAKER_04: Um, and where did it take you?
• 10:25
  SPEAKER_01: Mm-hmm.
• 10:26
  SPEAKER_01: So we learned, like, obviously, we went through all the exams and all of that material and stuff, but actually they did take it a step further and we learnt all the soft skills.
• 10:34
  SPEAKER_01: There was a lot of role plays, which was helpful.
• 10:37
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, because I think I mentioned before to you that I didn't have a financial planning mentor or anything like that to be able to shadow meetings.
• 10:45
  SPEAKER_01: So that that that experience for me was really, really valuable.
• 10:48
  SPEAKER_01: Um, it was about a year and a half uh l in length.
• 10:53
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and yeah, it was a advisor school was yeah, it was about a year and a half, I think.
• 10:58
  SPEAKER_01: Um but I can't remember now.
• 10:59
  SPEAKER_01: I think you you were qualified after a year, and then you had like six months with the role play and stuff like that, which you you did have have to pass and stuff.
• 11:06
  SPEAKER_04: So whilst you were still obviously in the practice with your dad, so you're doing like a hybrid role between mortgages whilst you were studying and learning to be a financial advisor.
• 11:14
  SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
• 11:15
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 11:16
  SPEAKER_04: And for you at that stage of your life though, obviously your dad's got you in the business at that point, right?
• 11:21
  SPEAKER_04: And then he told you to get your qualifications, then you can take care of the financial planning side.
• 11:25
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 11:25
  SPEAKER_04: Okay.
• 11:26
  SPEAKER_04: Did he pay you a salary at that point?
• 11:28
  SPEAKER_04: Um, were you doing it for bread and board?
• 11:30
  SPEAKER_04: You know.
• 11:32
  SPEAKER_04: So tell us a little bit about your income at that at that point then.
• 11:35
  SPEAKER_04: So how were you, you know, how were you earning a living at that stage?
• 11:37
  SPEAKER_04: Were you on a salary?
• 11:38
  SPEAKER_04: Were you self-employed?
• 11:40
  SPEAKER_04: Like, tell us a little bit about your setup financially.
• 11:42
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so at that point I was classed as like an apprentice.
• 11:45
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 11:45
  SPEAKER_01: So I was on like I think it was on like 12 grand or something like that.
• 11:48
  SPEAKER_01: And that felt massive at the time, you know, when you just left college and you didn't have any money.
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but yeah, that that's kind of how I started.
• 11:54
  SPEAKER_01: I was doing things like the rate switches, you know, like product transfers and stuff for the mortgage side, few mortgage and and protection and stuff like that.
• 12:00
  SPEAKER_01: And then I just get paid a little bit of commission for any protection that I do.
• 12:04
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but like I said, I was living at home at that point.
• 12:06
  SPEAKER_01: It was it was nice and easy, um, just studying for my exams.
• 12:09
  SPEAKER_01: And luckily, I had a lot, like he gave me a lot of time to study as well, which meant that I could qualify so quickly.
• 12:16
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, that's massively important.
• 12:17
  SPEAKER_04: You need that study time.
• 12:18
  SPEAKER_04: I think Hannah works for me at the moment, the financial planner life, and I've always just been on the philosophy is as long as you get the work done, you can you can control your own life.
• 12:26
  SPEAKER_04: You know, I'm not gonna say come over and I'm gonna tell you what to do day in, day out.
• 12:30
  SPEAKER_04: So she takes she carves out a lot of time to do a study.
• 12:32
  SPEAKER_04: It's about an hour and a half a day, I think she does a studying.
• 12:34
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 12:35
  SPEAKER_04: So she recently passed her R01 and she did about 50 hours in total.
• 12:39
  SPEAKER_01: I think that's about the recommended, isn't it?
• 12:41
  SPEAKER_01: For that one.
• 12:42
  SPEAKER_01: I didn't I didn't do the R01s and R02s and stuff.
• 12:44
  SPEAKER_01: I did the DIPFA.
• 12:46
  SPEAKER_04: You did DIPFA, did you?
• 12:47
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, I did the DIPFA, which is obviously quite a lot different to the RO1.
• 12:50
  SPEAKER_01: So I don't really understand them too much.
• 12:52
  SPEAKER_01: But my trainee is doing the R01s and stuff, so she's currently going through the same process as Hannah.
• 12:57
  SPEAKER_04: Did you have any points though that you could carry across towards the qualification, the level four, uh, from your CMAP at all?
• 13:04
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I think so you had to do the Fizery exam, it were called, which is like the first part of the dip for.
• 13:10
  SPEAKER_01: But if you've done CMAP one and two, I I might I might be wrong here, but I think if you've done CMAP one and two, then you don't have to do that exam, which I'd already done, so I could kind of skip over that bit.
• 13:18
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, okay.
• 13:19
  SPEAKER_01: But yeah, it it works completely different.
• 13:20
  SPEAKER_01: It's like two total different exams, I think.
• 13:23
  SPEAKER_03: Gotcha.
• 13:23
  SPEAKER_01: Are you still with Quilter?
• 13:25
  SPEAKER_01: No, no.
• 13:25
  SPEAKER_01: So we've moved over to an independent network called Rosemount IFA Solutions.
• 13:29
  SPEAKER_04: Rosemount IFA Solutions.
• 13:30
  SPEAKER_04: And your dad's still doing the mortgages, or did he now get qualified for financial planning?
• 13:34
  SPEAKER_01: So he so actually he's always been qualified for financial planning, which is funny because he did pensions for a little while, but because pensions and mortgages are so different, I mean, mortgages are just quick, quick, quick, done, dun, done.
• 13:46
  SPEAKER_01: Pensions, they're a slow burner.
• 13:47
  SPEAKER_01: Ah, they let's be real.
• 13:49
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so that's why he was like, I don't have time to do the financial planning.
• 13:52
  SPEAKER_01: I'm busy with the mortgages.
• 13:53
  SPEAKER_01: Do you want to go ahead and and have a go with it?
• 13:55
  SPEAKER_04: Okay.
• 13:56
  SPEAKER_04: And then, oh, right, brilliant.
• 13:57
  SPEAKER_04: Okay.
• 13:57
  SPEAKER_04: So you've you've joined this new IFA network.
• 14:00
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 14:00
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 14:00
  SPEAKER_04: So you're there.
• 14:00
  SPEAKER_04: How long have you been there for?
• 14:02
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I think we've been with Rosemont for oh a lot since that point.
• 14:06
  SPEAKER_01: So we did we went to Quilt Financial Advisor School and then the year after we moved.
• 14:10
  SPEAKER_01: So about maybe six years.
• 14:12
  SPEAKER_04: Okay.
• 14:12
  SPEAKER_04: And how's the business structured then?
• 14:14
  SPEAKER_04: Are you and your dad both partners within it?
• 14:17
  SPEAKER_04: Or are you an AR, like uh and you have your own company underneath the group, or how how is how are you guys setting it up?
• 14:24
  SPEAKER_04: I'm just really interested in the family setup.
• 14:26
  SPEAKER_01: So we're an AR of Rosemount.
• 14:28
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 14:29
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and then you've got two sides to the business.
• 14:31
  SPEAKER_01: So you've got my dad, Damien, you've got my partner, Matthew, who also does the mortgage side of things.
• 14:36
  SPEAKER_01: So they're they're the mortgage side, that's needingadvice.co.uk, and then you've got the finance woman side of the business, which is the financial planning, pensions, investments, insurances.
• 14:45
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and obviously that's my kind of trade.
• 14:47
  SPEAKER_01: It's it's a trading style of needing advice, basically.
• 14:49
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 14:50
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and obviously I'm I'm the only financial planner at the moment.
• 14:53
  SPEAKER_01: We've got Megan, who I'm training at the same time.
• 14:56
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but I I really enjoy having two sides to business because it just goes so nice hand in hand.
• 15:01
  SPEAKER_04: Do you cross referrals?
• 15:02
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 15:03
  SPEAKER_04: All the time?
• 15:04
  SPEAKER_01: Pretty much, yeah.
• 15:04
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, even better when you it's your family members and partner, criticism.
• 15:07
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, yeah.
• 15:07
  SPEAKER_04: You're gonna be like constant in each other's pockets, aren't you?
• 15:09
  SPEAKER_04: Really?
• 15:09
  SPEAKER_01: Just make you should be happy with each other around.
• 15:10
  SPEAKER_01: I'm like, let me just check that fact fine and just uh see if there's any pensions on there.
• 15:14
  SPEAKER_04: Oh, I love it.
• 15:15
  SPEAKER_04: Brilliant stuff.
• 15:15
  SPEAKER_04: Okay, do you all have aspirations to grow this bigger?
• 15:19
  SPEAKER_04: You mentioned you've got somebody in the business at the moment you're training.
• 15:21
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, well, this is a conversation that funny, funnily enough, we had the other day, and it was like, how how much do we actually want to grow?
• 15:29
  SPEAKER_01: So, you know, like I said, my dad's grown the business, he's he's really happy with his size.
• 15:33
  SPEAKER_01: You know, it's doing it's doing amazing, and and it always has.
• 15:36
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but you know, the finance woman side of the business is growing, as I've mentioned before, really, really fast.
• 15:41
  SPEAKER_01: And it's just it I am trying to figure out how how big I want to grow it because I do think it has the potential to go a lot bigger.
• 15:48
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and even like the name of the finance woman, should I potentially be changing that so it's a little bit more inclusive if I bring more financial advisors underneath?
• 15:57
  SPEAKER_01: Um, yeah, that's something we're trying to figure out at the moment.
• 16:00
  SPEAKER_01: I think we could keep going.
• 16:02
  SPEAKER_01: Let's do it.
• 16:02
  SPEAKER_04: Let's have a look at it.
• 16:04
  SPEAKER_04: You said the finance woman.
• 16:05
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 16:05
  SPEAKER_01: So there's a that's the brand.
• 16:07
  SPEAKER_04: That's the brand.
• 16:07
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 16:08
  SPEAKER_04: Is that your personal brand?
• 16:09
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 16:10
  SPEAKER_04: Okay.
• 16:10
  SPEAKER_01: And the company is called NeedingAdvice.co.uk.
• 16:13
  SPEAKER_04: Needingadvice.co.uk.
• 16:15
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 16:15
  SPEAKER_04: What made you choose needingadvice.co.uk as a name?
• 16:18
  SPEAKER_04: Was there some strategy around that?
• 16:20
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 16:20
  SPEAKER_01: So that was my dad's that that's how he set it up.
• 16:22
  SPEAKER_01: And it's because obviously the whole website era, um, anytime that anyone mentions needingadvice.co.uk, it's a link back to his website, and that's where he gets most of his uh clients from, the website.
• 16:33
  SPEAKER_01: And he always has.
• 16:34
  SPEAKER_04: So right, okay.
• 16:35
  SPEAKER_04: So you've got your brand built around you.
• 16:37
  SPEAKER_04: Just send me that name again.
• 16:38
  SPEAKER_01: Uh the finance woman.
• 16:39
  SPEAKER_04: The finance woman.
• 16:40
  SPEAKER_04: Um with that brand that you've got wrapped around you, that's not the name of the company though, is it?
• 16:44
  SPEAKER_04: That's just your personal brand.
• 16:45
  SPEAKER_01: It's a trading style of needing advice, yeah.
• 16:47
  SPEAKER_04: Okay, good.
• 16:48
  SPEAKER_04: Okay, and let's just talk a little bit about where you market yourself, actually.
• 16:53
  SPEAKER_04: Because I'm quite interested on that side of it.
• 16:55
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 16:56
  SPEAKER_04: Where about you market yourself?
• 16:58
  SPEAKER_04: Hi, sorry for interrupting this episode, but I just wanted to let you know that it's sponsored by Red Mill Advance.
• 17:04
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• 17:55
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• 18:01
  SPEAKER_01: So for me, it's a complete mixture.
• 18:04
  SPEAKER_01: So you've got Instagram, which I'd say is my first part of the finance room where I started, um, and it's where I've got like most of my introducers, my clients, and things like that from.
• 18:14
  SPEAKER_01: Um, we also do a little bit on LinkedIn, um, but I would say it's more, I have more financial advisors and like the financial industry on there, which is nice.
• 18:23
  SPEAKER_01: You know, it's a nice way to kind of get my voice out there.
• 18:25
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and then to be f to be honest with you, most of our business does come from referrals from introducers.
• 18:31
  SPEAKER_01: So, and at the moment, well, luckily, we've all all our introducers kind of in introducers to other introducers, if that makes sense, um, because they're happy with everything that we're doing.
• 18:41
  SPEAKER_01: So, yeah.
• 18:42
  SPEAKER_04: Is that like on is more of the introducers come via the mortgage side via your dad, or have you been self-generating introducers via the financial planning side?
• 18:49
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so when I started, I had no introducers.
• 18:52
  SPEAKER_01: Like I said, most of my dad's leads came from the website, um, so they were just purely mortgage leads.
• 18:57
  SPEAKER_01: So, yeah, we in in one year we got 50 accountants.
• 19:01
  SPEAKER_01: So it's been mental.
• 19:03
  SPEAKER_04: Let's look at that then, because financial planners do struggle a lot with introducers.
• 19:07
  SPEAKER_04: Not only sometimes I suppose struggle to get them to build trust with them, but to also get them to pass them business.
• 19:13
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 19:13
  SPEAKER_04: So you've got 50 in a year.
• 19:15
  SPEAKER_01: Got 50 in one year.
• 19:16
  SPEAKER_01: Just bearing in mind that the first two to three years, zero introducers, really struggle to get clients.
• 19:22
  SPEAKER_01: Um, that's why I'm I'm more than happy to talk about it because I've I've been there.
• 19:25
  SPEAKER_04: Okay, so those first couple of years were tough, right?
• 19:27
  SPEAKER_04: Really?
• 19:28
  SPEAKER_04: Let's just home in on this these introducers.
• 19:31
  SPEAKER_04: Where did these introducers come from?
• 19:32
  SPEAKER_04: How did they happen to come across you and start working with you?
• 19:35
  SPEAKER_04: Did you knock on doors or is it in banged?
• 19:37
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so it's it's all without leaving my house, basically.
• 19:41
  SPEAKER_01: Um, all purely social media.
• 19:43
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I built the brand and it all kind of came off the back of that.
• 19:47
  SPEAKER_01: Now we actually have accountants and solicitors and mortgage brokers contacting us to work with us because of the way that we've positioned ourselves on social media.
• 19:54
  SPEAKER_04: Okay.
• 19:55
  SPEAKER_04: How have you positioned yourself on social media?
• 19:57
  SPEAKER_01: I'd say that we just don't look like a traditional financial advisor.
• 20:00
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I can't try and be a traditional financial advisor because I'm not, am I?
• 20:03
  SPEAKER_01: Let's be real.
• 20:04
  SPEAKER_01: I'm never going to be able to be.
• 20:05
  SPEAKER_01: But I think using that as an advantage and positioning ourselves as someone that's approachable, down-to-earth, um accessible, supportive, and all these different things that most people actually don't relate to when it comes to financial planning.
• 20:20
  SPEAKER_01: They don't see our industry in that way.
• 20:22
  SPEAKER_01: I think it it stands out for clients, of course, but also introducers as well.
• 20:28
  SPEAKER_01: You know, we've got to think that the accountancy industry is also the same as ours in the fact that it is a little bit outdated and you know, things are changing.
• 20:36
  SPEAKER_01: So obviously, a lot of them have looked at what we're doing.
• 20:39
  SPEAKER_01: I thought, actually, they're just trying to do the same stuff that we are, and we've kind of connected based on values, which I think is the best is the best way to connect with someone always.
• 20:47
  SPEAKER_04: So, how are you demonstrating that?
• 20:49
  SPEAKER_04: So when you put yourself out there, yeah, how are you demonstrating all those opposites to what people think of financial planners?
• 20:59
  SPEAKER_01: Just through like, well, we've got a content strategy, and actually I've taken on my brother as well, who's who's looking after the social media, which is amazing.
• 21:07
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but right from the beginning, it was obviously just through posts and and I was very, very lucky because I think we're gonna cover this a little bit later.
• 21:14
  SPEAKER_01: But I met a lady who did all of my branding for free right at the beginning, when obviously I was just starting out, I was actually about to quit as well.
• 21:22
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, and um, it was around that turning point where she offered to do my branding, she was just get she was just starting out, and oh my gosh, it made the world of difference.
• 21:30
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and in it might to other people it might just look like a colour palette, your values, your mission, and all that kind of stuff.
• 21:35
  SPEAKER_01: But actually, when you've got just even if it's a one-page or that you can keep referring back to, whenever you post something, make sure it fits within that.
• 21:42
  SPEAKER_01: I think it it just comes across so much better.
• 21:45
  SPEAKER_01: And like I said, just post something, just post anything because I feel like people put off posting so much.
• 21:50
  SPEAKER_01: You know, they wait for the perfect moment, they wait for the wait for the perfect post.
• 21:53
  SPEAKER_01: I think just putting something out there is always gonna be better than not.
• 21:57
  SPEAKER_04: When you sat down and you went through that branding exercise to work out.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_04: What your values were, what your brand was, your mission, all that kind of stuff.
• 22:04
  SPEAKER_04: How long did it take you to establish those?
• 22:07
  SPEAKER_01: Um, good question.
• 22:09
  SPEAKER_01: Not long.
• 22:10
  SPEAKER_01: Not long at all.
• 22:11
  SPEAKER_01: Um, probably a couple of hours to establish like the values, the mission, but I I kind of already knew that already.
• 22:17
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and then she went ahead and did like the logo, the branding colours, and she just looked after all of that.
• 22:22
  SPEAKER_01: And then I feel like once you've got that, it's so much easier to post with because you know, like I don't know, it just makes it so much easier.
• 22:28
  SPEAKER_04: What is your brand then and your values?
• 22:30
  SPEAKER_04: Explain it to me and articulate what it is.
• 22:33
  SPEAKER_01: So for us, it's it's about doing financial advice in a new way that I I don't think has been done before.
• 22:38
  SPEAKER_01: And it's including people that have felt excluded from financial planning conversations in general.
• 22:44
  SPEAKER_01: So people like business owners, um, like online, like people who are making their money online, you know, we'll we'll talk about that a little bit later.
• 22:53
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but it's about basically being accessible, supportive, and empowering.
• 22:57
  SPEAKER_01: They're the three things that I always come back to.
• 23:00
  SPEAKER_01: And if it's if it doesn't fit within them, then I'm I'm not doing it.
• 23:03
  SPEAKER_01: Simples.
• 23:04
  SPEAKER_04: Okay, I love it.
• 23:04
  SPEAKER_04: Okay, so empowering is a good one.
• 23:06
  SPEAKER_04: Empowering people who perhaps haven't been heard to be heard.
• 23:10
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 23:10
  SPEAKER_04: Have you ever experienced that yourself within financial planning as a career, or have you felt ever felt like you didn't fit in?
• 23:16
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, quite a lot.
• 23:17
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and when I mentioned earlier about kind of nearly leaving the industry, that was the mi pretty much the number one reason.
• 23:24
  SPEAKER_01: So, like I said at the beginning of the journey, not only did I kind of struggle with the fact that I didn't have a client bank to start off with, I was struggling to put myself out there.
• 23:33
  SPEAKER_01: I wasn't confident enough, you know.
• 23:34
  SPEAKER_01: I was only 18.
• 23:35
  SPEAKER_01: I was thinking, why is anybody gonna listen to me about finances?
• 23:39
  SPEAKER_01: You know, um, at that point I didn't even have my own house and stuff like that.
• 23:42
  SPEAKER_01: So that that didn't help.
• 23:44
  SPEAKER_01: But I think the industry was quite a scary place to be, really, is as an 18-year-old woman, um, financial advisor.
• 23:51
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I had quite a lot of comments from advisors who would say things like, you're not gonna be successful as a financial advisor because you're a woman.
• 23:59
  SPEAKER_01: I've never seen a successful financial advisor that because you know, like that's a woman, basically.
• 24:04
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 24:04
  SPEAKER_01: And um, even just little things like just when I'd walk into a room, people would assume that I'm not the financial advisor.
• 24:11
  SPEAKER_01: They'd be like, Are you gonna get the teas and coffees?
• 24:13
  SPEAKER_01: That kind of thing.
• 24:14
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, it it's it knocks your confidence when you're 18 and you don't have that much confidence anyway, because confidence, I mean, it confidence comes with experience, doesn't it?
• 24:24
  SPEAKER_01: And I feel like unless you've got that experience, it's difficult to get that.
• 24:27
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so yeah, I felt I in short, I did not feel like I fit in in the industry whatsoever.
• 24:33
  SPEAKER_04: How long did you feel that way?
• 24:34
  SPEAKER_01: I felt like that for about two or three years, and it was in that two or three years where I considered leaving a numerous times.
• 24:42
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and I almost like tried to change the way that I was, um, which just obviously didn't work.
• 24:48
  SPEAKER_01: But little things like my Yorkshire accent, I felt like I needed to dilute that down to be more professional or to be taken seriously, or in meetings, I'd think that I'd need to use a bit more like complex words to show people that I'm so knowledgeable and that you know this is why you should listen to me because look how technical, like, look how technical I am.
• 25:05
  SPEAKER_01: Again, it just didn't work.
• 25:06
  SPEAKER_01: Or the way that I dressed, I used to think that I need to dress so much more professional and suit and tie because that's just what was all around me.
• 25:13
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and obviously it just didn't work, it just made me feel further and further away from like my authenticity and the way that I wanted to come across.
• 25:20
  SPEAKER_01: And it meant that I wasn't reaching the people that I wanted to reach anyway.
• 25:23
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah.
• 25:24
  SPEAKER_04: Well, this is the thing.
• 25:25
  SPEAKER_04: People look at people if people don't see the profession and the diversity within it, then they'll have a picture in their head of what they think a financial planner is, right?
• 25:34
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, and ultimately that is still there in some parts.
• 25:37
  SPEAKER_04: It it's definitely, it is definitely changing like the image.
• 25:41
  SPEAKER_04: There's people like you that are in the financial planning profession.
• 25:43
  SPEAKER_04: There's lots of very different people that are in it now, but they're not really on the surface and actually showing people what it's like and you know the the challenges that you've come up against and the uniqueness of what it is you're offering and what you stand for up against what, say, somebody in their average age of 55 years old within the financial planning profession is, right?
• 26:00
  SPEAKER_04: It is a little bit male, pale, and stale, um, but it is changing.
• 26:04
  SPEAKER_04: So you had two or three years where you found it really difficult.
• 26:06
  SPEAKER_04: Do you reckon you'd have left the financial services completely?
• 26:09
  SPEAKER_01: Well, potentially.
• 26:12
  SPEAKER_01: You know, it's something that I thought about, and I I kind of it was it's such a difficult time because obviously I looked up to my dad so much and I saw that he'd created the successful business.
• 26:22
  SPEAKER_01: And in the first couple of years, I was like, I just can't do it.
• 26:25
  SPEAKER_01: Like this the clients aren't coming.
• 26:26
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I'm not feeling aligned, I'm not even enjoying it at this point.
• 26:29
  SPEAKER_01: Like, that's just me being so brutally honest.
• 26:32
  SPEAKER_01: Um, yeah, so there were times where I I thought about going employed as an advisor because at least then I'd have the leads coming in and I'd be able to earn an income that I was happy with and actually help people as well.
• 26:43
  SPEAKER_04: Um, so yeah, I think let's let's look at that then because you know you didn't give up, right?
• 26:49
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, and you didn't go into the to the employed room.
• 26:52
  SPEAKER_04: Okay, you stuck to your guns and the entrepreneurial side of you and and dug down and got through it.
• 26:57
  SPEAKER_04: How did you do that?
• 26:58
  SPEAKER_04: What changed?
• 26:59
  SPEAKER_04: Was there something that happened?
• 27:01
  SPEAKER_04: Did you look at things differently?
• 27:02
  SPEAKER_04: Tell us a little bit about what that turning point was for you before giving up.
• 27:06
  SPEAKER_04: Because you're either going to give up or you're gonna do something different.
• 27:09
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 27:09
  SPEAKER_04: So what did you do?
• 27:11
  SPEAKER_01: So it's exactly that.
• 27:13
  SPEAKER_01: There was a a turning point or a light bulb moment for me.
• 27:16
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and it was, it's actually so funny because I was I was booked to go to a networking event, a women in women in business networking event, and I nearly cancelled.
• 27:24
  SPEAKER_01: And it's one of those moments where you think, Thank God I did not cancel.
• 27:28
  SPEAKER_01: Like none of this would have happened.
• 27:30
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so it was Wednesday, I went to this networking event, and there was, I think there were about six or seven women sat around the table, and a brook conversation broke out around the table, and everyone said, Oh, you know, it's great that you're a financial planner, but I've never actually seen a woman financial planner before.
• 27:45
  SPEAKER_01: Or another lady said to me, Actually, I have been to a financial planner before, and I felt spoken down to.
• 27:51
  SPEAKER_01: I felt patronized, I felt condescended, I've made to feel like I was stupid and that I should understand pensions way more than I do.
• 27:57
  SPEAKER_01: And um that moment there was my light bulb moment.
• 28:02
  SPEAKER_01: It was the moment when I realized that actually it isn't just me that's not fitting into this industry.
• 28:07
  SPEAKER_01: There's a whole community of people, whole demographic of people that are also being left out of this industry.
• 28:14
  SPEAKER_01: And um, yeah, it was that moment where everything just turned.
• 28:17
  SPEAKER_01: I just everything was so clear all of a sudden.
• 28:19
  SPEAKER_01: I went home, wrote my values, wrote my mission.
• 28:22
  SPEAKER_01: I was so passionate about everything that I did, set up the finance woman, and yeah, it was just everything's just grown from that, from that one moment.
• 28:30
  SPEAKER_04: So that brand was built from that conversation and from that meeting.
• 28:33
  SPEAKER_04: And when you said you didn't it what you right, this is the thing, right?
• 28:36
  SPEAKER_04: It's identification.
• 28:37
  SPEAKER_04: You can walk into a room, and if everyone's feeling the same way that you're feeling, and you're not holding it back because you're fearful of what people think of you and judge you, but everyone's on the same page and they're sharing how they feel, then you can all identify with each other.
• 28:49
  SPEAKER_04: And you realize, oh my god, I'm not actually alone.
• 28:51
  SPEAKER_00: It was so nice.
• 28:52
  SPEAKER_04: And were they from the financial planning profession or were they women from different jobs and professions?
• 28:58
  SPEAKER_01: Totally different backgrounds, different professions.
• 29:00
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and it was just so nice as well.
• 29:02
  SPEAKER_01: Because with you know, with other people, I never felt like I could actually be myself and say, actually, guys, I'm struggling here.
• 29:08
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and and and when I opened up, they just threw so many different ideas at me.
• 29:13
  SPEAKER_01: They was like, this is what you're meant to be doing.
• 29:15
  SPEAKER_01: We need you.
• 29:16
  SPEAKER_01: I ended up getting loads of clients off the back of it.
• 29:18
  SPEAKER_01: Obviously, that was a nice win, but that wasn't the main thing I took from that day.
• 29:21
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, the main thing I took is the fact the passion, like from that moment, I just couldn't, I've not stopped thinking about it since, and it's why I get up on the morning.
• 29:28
  SPEAKER_04: Did you feel like it was a weight off your shoulders to actually sit around a table with women and actually tell them how you felt?
• 29:33
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 29:33
  SPEAKER_04: And like actually be completely honest that you were battered, basically, and you were really struggling with the profession, but then to learn that they didn't really know much about it as well.
• 29:43
  SPEAKER_04: So that's the thing that's the feeling, isn't it?
• 29:44
  SPEAKER_01: It's that letting go and surrendering to the fact that after years and years of just having to put on a brave face and just be like, everything's going great.
• 29:51
  SPEAKER_04: It's like masking, isn't it?
• 29:52
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 29:53
  SPEAKER_04: Showing up and masking all the time.
• 29:54
  SPEAKER_04: It is pretending.
• 29:56
  SPEAKER_00: Exactly.
• 29:56
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 29:57
  SPEAKER_04: And that fake it till you make it motto, like, is it's kind of okay, but is it?
• 30:01
  SPEAKER_04: Like you could fake it and pretend, but it can make you miserable.
• 30:04
  SPEAKER_01: It it it yeah, it that's the word, really miserable.
• 30:07
  SPEAKER_01: That's what I was feeling.
• 30:08
  SPEAKER_01: And I think the reason why I'm so passionate about sharing that is just if anybody else is in that same situation, just keep keep going with it.
• 30:15
  SPEAKER_01: You know, try not to do, try not to keep doing the same stuff that you've always done.
• 30:18
  SPEAKER_01: Just try and mix it up, be yourself, and um, yeah, things can just change, like just like that.
• 30:24
  SPEAKER_04: Did those women around the table, did you start to look at them and see them as clients who don't understand financial planning?
• 30:31
  SPEAKER_04: Or did you what what you know did the penny drop there, like, my god, these successful women that are around me right now also don't know a great deal or have never met a female financial planner?
• 30:41
  SPEAKER_04: So all of a sudden you saw the gap?
• 30:43
  SPEAKER_04: Like what there's a like the light bulb moment.
• 30:46
  SPEAKER_04: What I love the what is the switch?
• 30:48
  SPEAKER_04: What is the thing that made you go, I can do this, I can definitely do this.
• 30:51
  SPEAKER_01: Do you know what I actually think it was?
• 30:52
  SPEAKER_01: It might be the opposite to what you said.
• 30:54
  SPEAKER_04: Okay.
• 30:54
  SPEAKER_01: I feel like rather than looking at them as clients and thinking, even though one of them was like, I've got a I've got a pile of pensions waiting at home for you, like you know, I went to a financial advisor, it made me feel blah, blah, blah.
• 31:04
  SPEAKER_01: It was actually just looking at them as like human beings.
• 31:07
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 31:08
  SPEAKER_01: And and it sounds obvious, but I think everywhere I went because I was, you know, I was lacking in the lead department, that actually I was looking at people, you know, who who can I who can I help?
• 31:18
  SPEAKER_01: Who can I help?
• 31:19
  SPEAKER_01: In that situation, I just looked at them as people and I was like, these people need support, they need to be understood, like they they want help, and they need somebody who they can actually relate to to offer that.
• 31:32
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 31:32
  SPEAKER_04: I think, and I'm not to say I'm patronising, I think with ex with experience comes confidence.
• 31:38
  SPEAKER_04: And then um with confidence comes like vulnerability.
• 31:43
  SPEAKER_04: I would definitely say the older I've got, the more vulnerable vulnerable I've become, and I'm not trying to think I know it all.
• 31:52
  SPEAKER_04: If I tell my little daughter at 10 years old, I'll say, I know that, I know that.
• 31:55
  SPEAKER_04: She wants to tell you everything she knows because she doesn't want to be seen like she doesn't know, because if she doesn't know, she's weak.
• 32:01
  SPEAKER_04: And I think we can take that all through our life.
• 32:03
  SPEAKER_04: And it comes a point where you just go, do you know what?
• 32:05
  SPEAKER_04: I don't know it all.
• 32:06
  SPEAKER_04: And I need some help and I need to ask people.
• 32:08
  SPEAKER_04: And the more you do that and you show a bit of vulnerability, they show vulnerability back.
• 32:11
  SPEAKER_04: You go, oh my god, we're all fallible, we're all human, no one's perfect.
• 32:14
  SPEAKER_04: And that's when you start breaking down barriers.
• 32:16
  SPEAKER_04: And when you break down barriers, people be honest with you.
• 32:18
  SPEAKER_04: When you're honest, then you build deep connection, and then there lies the there lies the gift, is connection.
• 32:24
  SPEAKER_04: So when you connect with somebody, it opens up huge amounts of opportunities because the trust is there.
• 32:29
  SPEAKER_01: Definitely, yeah.
• 32:31
  SPEAKER_04: And then you're able to articulate your value clearly.
• 32:34
  SPEAKER_01: Because you've got the trust, haven't you, as well?
• 32:36
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 32:37
  SPEAKER_04: I love it.
• 32:37
  SPEAKER_04: Brilliant.
• 32:38
  SPEAKER_04: I'm so glad you walked in there.
• 32:39
  SPEAKER_04: It's funny, isn't it?
• 32:40
  SPEAKER_04: These are little kind of chance meetings.
• 32:41
  SPEAKER_04: I I was meant to go to my, I wasn't going to go to my brother's stag dee.
• 32:43
  SPEAKER_04: I was the stag and I was miserable at the time.
• 32:45
  SPEAKER_04: I'd broken up with this girl.
• 32:46
  SPEAKER_04: Ugh, I was like so depressed.
• 32:48
  SPEAKER_04: And I was I was genuinely going through a depression.
• 32:50
  SPEAKER_04: And anyway, my brother was like, You've got to come, it's my my stagdy.
• 32:52
  SPEAKER_04: You're like the best man.
• 32:53
  SPEAKER_04: Anyway, I ended up going mmm, just drank myself into a stupor.
• 32:56
  SPEAKER_04: Anyway, ended up meeting my wife.
• 32:58
  SPEAKER_00: Wow.
• 32:59
  SPEAKER_04: So like 11 years later, oh my god, we're still together, we've got a beautiful daughter, and she's loved my life.
• 33:03
  SPEAKER_04: But I was that is crazy.
• 33:05
  SPEAKER_04: I was literally had to peel me off the bed to take me.
• 33:08
  SPEAKER_04: But if I didn't go, I'd have never met her.
• 33:10
  SPEAKER_01: That is insane.
• 33:11
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, it's crazy how life works out sometimes.
• 33:13
  SPEAKER_04: It is.
• 33:13
  SPEAKER_04: I often think, I wonder what'd happen if I'd have just stayed here.
• 33:16
  SPEAKER_04: Get out of bed.
• 33:17
  SPEAKER_01: Wow, yeah, that's the motto, get out of bed.
• 33:20
  SPEAKER_04: Exactly.
• 33:20
  SPEAKER_04: Right, okay.
• 33:22
  SPEAKER_04: Look, it is difficult to build a client book when you're a financial planner in general, but when you're younger, it can be difficult as well, right?
• 33:28
  SPEAKER_04: So what was your um what was your approach when things started working?
• 33:33
  SPEAKER_04: Did you go straight into pension, straight into investment, straight into protection?
• 33:37
  SPEAKER_04: What what was your approach to to building um new clients and positioning the services that a financial planner offers?
• 33:44
  SPEAKER_01: Well, for us, our whole approach is is the holistic approach.
• 33:49
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, we've got our holistic finance review, which which we do, and that's what we call our first kind of introductory call, if you like.
• 33:56
  SPEAKER_01: Um and we do we do a mixture of things.
• 33:58
  SPEAKER_01: And I think, like I said, we're in a strong position where we've got two sides of the business.
• 34:01
  SPEAKER_01: You've got the mortgage side, then you've also got the financial planning side as well.
• 34:05
  SPEAKER_01: So in that meeting, I'm not just looking at things like pensions, I'm I'm actually looking at everything.
• 34:10
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and I think clients appreciate that because again, I've been told by a lot of clients that say that I sat down and I was pitched some protection or I was pitched some just the pension and actually I wanted this looking at or so, yeah, it's more of a holistic approach.
• 34:24
  SPEAKER_01: In if there was kind of two main areas that I tend to advise, and it's the pensions and then the protection as well.
• 34:30
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 34:31
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but yeah, we do try and like like for example, a lot there's a lot of advisors who will say that if you haven't got you know 200,000, then we're not gonna have a conversation with you kind of thing.
• 34:41
  SPEAKER_01: We we we're not we're not like that.
• 34:43
  SPEAKER_04: You're not at that at all.
• 34:44
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, okay.
• 34:44
  SPEAKER_04: So there's no, you know, if somebody needs financial advice, what do you do?
• 34:47
  SPEAKER_04: Do you charge them on an hourly basis, day rate, how do you how do you operate with them?
• 34:51
  SPEAKER_01: So the way that we see it is it it kind of balances out.
• 34:53
  SPEAKER_01: So, you know, we we have we don't really do it on an hourly basis or anything like that.
• 34:57
  SPEAKER_01: We'll have the conversation, we'll point them in the right direction.
• 34:59
  SPEAKER_01: If it's not something that we can spot them with, we'll tell them exactly where they can go to be able to do that so that it's still a good client outcome.
• 35:05
  SPEAKER_04: Um, but yeah, it's it's it's Do you know charge for the plan then for you know, like do you do you sort of sort of say, like, you know, free initial meeting, you know, have a gym wagon, a conversation, and find out things, and then you build the financial do a fact-find with them, build the financial plan, and if they want it, they can then get you can then execute on it.
• 35:22
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, pretty much.
• 35:23
  SPEAKER_04: But do you charge for that part separately?
• 35:26
  SPEAKER_01: No.
• 35:26
  SPEAKER_01: No, so it's a completely free holistic finance review.
• 35:29
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and then we'll go through the whole holistic finance review where we look at all of the different different areas and things like that, um, and then only at the point where they actually want to proceed with a recommendation, then that's when it the fee will happen.
• 35:39
  SPEAKER_04: Wow, so you're really kind of you know you know, you're really taking on a lot of the risk in that situation, aren't you?
• 35:44
  SPEAKER_04: Um, do you find that that approach has helped you build trust with clients or generate um appointments when perhaps someone might have turned you down if they knew that they were charging?
• 35:53
  SPEAKER_01: Um potentially.
• 35:54
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I think everybody does it so differently, doesn't it?
• 35:57
  SPEAKER_01: And it does work for other people doing an hourly rate and stuff, you know.
• 36:00
  SPEAKER_01: I think it it helps um clients be a little bit more accountable and stuff.
• 36:05
  SPEAKER_01: But I think, yeah, I think for us, I think people the pressure's off.
• 36:07
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, a big thing that we're about is genuinely no clients are ever under pressure.
• 36:12
  SPEAKER_01: The way that we present things is just so that they actually have the understanding.
• 36:15
  SPEAKER_01: Um, rather than just saying, this is what we recommend, we recommend that you go ahead with this.
• 36:20
  SPEAKER_01: We genuinely explain the ins and outs in ways that actually make sense to people, and then they they normally go ahead with it.
• 36:25
  SPEAKER_04: How deep do you go on their personal aspirations and fears and money beliefs and some people say money traumas, you know?
• 36:33
  SPEAKER_04: Do you get into that sort of stuff?
• 36:35
  SPEAKER_01: Not really.
• 36:36
  SPEAKER_04: Okay.
• 36:36
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, we go into the future goals, we kind of reverse engineer it and work out what they need to do to get there.
• 36:42
  SPEAKER_01: And we also go into things like personal goals, family goals, all of that kind of stuff.
• 36:46
  SPEAKER_01: Um, in terms of the I had a conversation with someone the other day.
• 36:49
  SPEAKER_01: It's funny that you mentioned this, but there's a whole coaching uh side of the industry now as well, isn't there?
• 36:53
  SPEAKER_01: That's that's happening.
• 36:54
  SPEAKER_01: And I think it's I think it's really, really good.
• 36:57
  SPEAKER_01: I just feel like sometimes there's the coaching side and then there's the financial planning side.
• 37:01
  SPEAKER_01: And I just think we just need a hybrid of them both.
• 37:04
  SPEAKER_01: Correct.
• 37:04
  SPEAKER_01: We need both.
• 37:05
  SPEAKER_01: And I don't, and I don't know if the coaching side helps the financial planning side because it kind of makes it look like coaching's all emotional, it's the like you said, the traumas and stuff like that.
• 37:14
  SPEAKER_01: But financial planning is just technical hard facts, that's it.
• 37:17
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you know, I think we need a blended approach.
• 37:20
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 37:20
  SPEAKER_04: I do, I agree.
• 37:21
  SPEAKER_04: Like I think a financial planning company that has a coaching side, yeah, there's a hell of a lot you can do with people that the financial planner wouldn't usually touch and don't really want to spend their time on because it's not cost effective to do it.
• 37:30
  SPEAKER_00: Exactly.
• 37:30
  SPEAKER_04: And from there it can filter down across into it.
• 37:33
  SPEAKER_04: Um, do you know um Pete Matthew?
• 37:35
  SPEAKER_04: Um Meaningful Money, look it up.
• 37:37
  SPEAKER_04: He's got a podcast on a YouTube channel, it's been going for years.
• 37:40
  SPEAKER_04: Um I mean he's like the the OG when it comes to like podcasting within financial planning.
• 37:44
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 37:44
  SPEAKER_04: Um he's got the financial um he's got the meaningful money academy.
• 37:48
  SPEAKER_04: So people would listen to his podcast or watch his YouTube channel and then filter down through his academy.
• 37:53
  SPEAKER_04: Then the individual would go through a process of getting all their finances aligned and look at their debt and all that kind of stuff.
• 37:59
  SPEAKER_04: And by the time they've come out of the academy, they should have everything in order.
• 38:03
  SPEAKER_04: And what he then finds is that they filter into his financial planning business.
• 38:07
  SPEAKER_04: So it's like that kind of kind of having that coach coach coaching side there where people because it's obviously so difficult as a financial planner not to give everybody your time because you want to help people, right?
• 38:15
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, but at the same time, like if you spend your whole time helping people, you're probably not going to make any money.
• 38:18
  SPEAKER_04: It's not a charity, right?
• 38:20
  SPEAKER_04: So he's created this ability for people to go through programs and learn all about it and educate themselves and get their finances in order to then understand the next bit, which is investments and pensions and why you would have it, how it works, etc., to then go into the financial planning as a client.
• 38:35
  SPEAKER_04: So I really like that approach, and I think you're on the right, the right path.
• 38:38
  SPEAKER_04: And I also think um a coach and a planner together, you know, one's regulated, one's not.
• 38:45
  SPEAKER_04: You know, you know, you can go out and be a coach and not have a level four qualification, right?
• 38:48
  SPEAKER_04: You just can advise on products, therefore you would pass it across to financial advisors.
• 38:51
  SPEAKER_04: So I think hand in hand it goes really well.
• 38:53
  SPEAKER_04: So you could you can have somebody who goes really deep on that stuff and the basics, which is also top of the funnel stuff.
• 38:58
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 38:58
  SPEAKER_04: So when it comes to like your brand, the now on Instagram, LinkedIn, etc., partnering with a coach or having a coach within your business is really easy to create that financial education kind of vibe, you know?
• 39:09
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 39:09
  SPEAKER_04: And then, well, what's the difference between a coach?
• 39:10
  SPEAKER_04: What's the difference between a financial advisor?
• 39:12
  SPEAKER_04: Well, we're going to tell you it today, and like the two kind of size and how they marry.
• 39:15
  SPEAKER_04: So I think if you brought a coach into your business, not a bad child, mate.
• 39:18
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 39:18
  SPEAKER_04: Catherine Morgan, I don't know if you know her, she's got a podcast called In Her Financial Shoes, but she is somebody who trains coaches.
• 39:26
  SPEAKER_04: So she's really good.
• 39:27
  SPEAKER_01: Uh yeah, I think I've come across her before, actually, because I did think about doing it at one point.
• 39:31
  SPEAKER_04: You should do it.
• 39:31
  SPEAKER_04: She's a good one to do it with.
• 39:33
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 39:33
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, she's really, really good.
• 39:34
  SPEAKER_04: Um, very good.
• 39:36
  SPEAKER_04: Excellent.
• 39:36
  SPEAKER_04: Right.
• 39:37
  SPEAKER_04: You felt like you didn't fit in in financial planning for quite some time.
• 39:41
  SPEAKER_04: You then alluded to the fact that you like to work with clients that often feel like they're they're not included, right?
• 39:47
  SPEAKER_04: Or not marketed to.
• 39:49
  SPEAKER_04: Tell us a little bit about the type of clients you work with.
• 39:51
  SPEAKER_01: So I've got a massive, like, range of different clients as in, you know, completely different industries.
• 39:57
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and like I said, often the ones that are left out.
• 40:00
  SPEAKER_01: So I work with the pet accountant who are a really well-known accountant that specialise in pet professionals.
• 40:06
  SPEAKER_01: So things like dog groomers, dog walkers, uh, vets, and all that kind of stuff, which I absolutely love.
• 40:11
  SPEAKER_01: They're they're the best clients ever, basically.
• 40:13
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but so they they kind of look after the pet community.
• 40:16
  SPEAKER_01: So again, them kind of clients do don't really feel tailored to by the financial planning community.
• 40:22
  SPEAKER_01: Not most of the time, they don't want to sit down in a boardroom with a financial advisor in a suit and tie and things like that.
• 40:27
  SPEAKER_01: And that's what they think of, you know?
• 40:28
  SPEAKER_01: And then you've also got like the online community where you've got people like I've got esports gamers who, you know, are 22 years old, earning huge amounts of money and have no clue what to do with it.
• 40:39
  SPEAKER_01: And then you've got ones like OnlyFans and things like that, where they might have been to a financial advisor in the past and actually they felt uncomfortable or they felt like they weren't meant to be in that room.
• 40:48
  SPEAKER_01: But again, they're earning really, really big amounts of money and they need to use it now so that it sets them up for the future.
• 40:55
  SPEAKER_04: Well, it's like um it's like professional sports, right?
• 40:58
  SPEAKER_04: It's like OnlyFans is like professional sports.
• 41:02
  SPEAKER_04: Here we go.
• 41:02
  SPEAKER_04: Sam's getting into the chat.
• 41:04
  SPEAKER_04: Right.
• 41:04
  SPEAKER_04: Hold fire.
• 41:05
  SPEAKER_04: Uh I'm going somewhere with this.
• 41:07
  SPEAKER_04: Um, but like professional sports, you do tend to retire a lot earlier.
• 41:10
  SPEAKER_04: I don't know if only fans retire early.
• 41:11
  SPEAKER_04: I don't probably do, don't they?
• 41:14
  SPEAKER_04: Of course they do.
• 41:15
  SPEAKER_04: So how much money does it?
• 41:16
  SPEAKER_01: And also you don't know how long it's gonna continue for this money, you know.
• 41:19
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 41:19
  SPEAKER_04: So how much do they earn?
• 41:20
  SPEAKER_04: Like the typical OnlyFans um performer?
• 41:23
  SPEAKER_04: How much do they tend to earn?
• 41:25
  SPEAKER_01: There's such a range.
• 41:26
  SPEAKER_01: There's such a range.
• 41:26
  SPEAKER_01: But the clients that we tend to work, like I've got I've got about three or four clients that are OnlyFans at the moment.
• 41:32
  SPEAKER_01: Um, one of them earns like 10, 10 grand a month, and then another one is earning like 30 grand a month, and then I've got a couple who together are earning like about 350,000 a year.
• 41:44
  SPEAKER_01: Wow.
• 41:44
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, they're just all so different, and also like the stuff that they specialise in is so different as well.
• 41:51
  SPEAKER_04: It's such a I've heard feet make a lot of money on any phones.
• 41:58
  SPEAKER_04: Really?
• 41:59
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 41:59
  SPEAKER_04: So do you know anybody does does that?
• 42:01
  SPEAKER_01: I've got yeah, I've got one.
• 42:02
  SPEAKER_01: Really?
• 42:03
  SPEAKER_01: I've got one, yeah.
• 42:04
  SPEAKER_01: So she's not she's not one of the one of the top earners, but she's earning a really decent income from it.
• 42:08
  SPEAKER_04: Mate, that's crazy.
• 42:09
  SPEAKER_01: It is crazy.
• 42:10
  SPEAKER_01: It's oh, do you know what?
• 42:11
  SPEAKER_01: It's the best having conversations with people because you just learn so much about so many different industries.
• 42:16
  SPEAKER_01: It's amazing.
• 42:17
  SPEAKER_04: How did you end how did you end up working with um um adult industry workers then?
• 42:23
  SPEAKER_01: So as I mentioned, I've got quite a few different accountants and they all kind of specialise in different areas, or maybe like they've helped one client, and then all of a sudden all the clients come flocking, you know, then she basically specialises in OnlyFans.
• 42:35
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so yeah, it's one of my accountants who helps um quite a few like adult, adult, adult content creators, um, and they've kind of come through through that, and then they've also recommended people to me as well.
• 42:48
  SPEAKER_04: And how sort of into finance are they?
• 42:51
  SPEAKER_04: Is it something that they're into?
• 42:53
  SPEAKER_04: Are they receptive of they've got all this money they're thinking, what should they do with it?
• 42:56
  SPEAKER_04: Are they quite sort of savvy when it comes to cash?
• 42:59
  SPEAKER_01: Um everybody's different, and um and also do I feel like in like the couple, for example, that I've mentioned, there's always like one person who's really into the finances and then the other one who just does not want any part of it.
• 43:11
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 43:11
  SPEAKER_01: Um so you kind of get that a lot, but in general, no, they they don't really know anything about you know where they should be investing, they don't know about like protection and and and life insurances and stuff like that.
• 43:23
  SPEAKER_01: They often ask me things like, do I pay off my mortgage or do I invest?
• 43:26
  SPEAKER_01: You know, all the all them kind of questions.
• 43:28
  SPEAKER_01: Um and they actually tend to be really kind of lovely, trusting clients as well because they finally found someone who they feel safe with, they're they're not going to be judged, they can ask all the questions in the world that they've always wanted to ask.
• 43:38
  SPEAKER_01: And yeah, they tend to be some of my best clients.
• 43:41
  SPEAKER_04: Love it.
• 43:41
  SPEAKER_04: What about the e gamers then?
• 43:43
  SPEAKER_04: So you've got a few e gamers.
• 43:44
  SPEAKER_04: Talk to me about that.
• 43:45
  SPEAKER_04: What's going on in the world of e gamers?
• 43:47
  SPEAKER_04: How much are these types of individuals earning?
• 43:49
  SPEAKER_01: So theirs is a little bit different because they get like prize winnings.
• 43:52
  SPEAKER_01: So they spend a lot of the time in America and get and get like big lump sum prize winnings.
• 43:58
  SPEAKER_01: And um, like I said, I've got a client who's We hardly spends any money.
• 44:01
  SPEAKER_01: He just rents with his friends.
• 44:04
  SPEAKER_01: And he, you know, he had like a quarter of a million just sat in his bank account from the last year.
• 44:09
  SPEAKER_01: And he was like, I don't I don't really know what to do with it.
• 44:11
  SPEAKER_01: You know, my dad says to buy property.
• 44:13
  SPEAKER_01: I don't really want to buy property.
• 44:14
  SPEAKER_01: I don't want to be landlord.
• 44:15
  SPEAKER_01: What do I do with it?
• 44:16
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so obviously we helped him invest that and he's in he's so grateful for it because it was just sat there.
• 44:21
  SPEAKER_01: It was actually scaring him the fact that it was just sat there in one bank account, and um, you know, like this is going to be an ongoing relationship.
• 44:28
  SPEAKER_01: And also, you don't know again how long that can continue on for.
• 44:33
  SPEAKER_01: So he needs to make the most of his money now because it needs to support him later in life, doesn't it?
• 44:37
  SPEAKER_01: And I think the fact that he's making that decision and and doing that is is massive.
• 44:42
  SPEAKER_04: I always think these um, do you know who Jim Skin is?
• 44:45
  SPEAKER_04: No, he's like a um a streamer.
• 44:48
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 44:48
  SPEAKER_04: So um is it tikkie tocky or the guy who's on that manosphere thing?
• 44:52
  SPEAKER_04: Like um his tiki tocky or something like that.
• 44:55
  SPEAKER_04: So all these guys guys are go out and they they just stream.
• 45:00
  SPEAKER_04: That's what they do day in, day out.
• 45:01
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, stream, stream, stream, stream, stream.
• 45:02
  SPEAKER_04: They're making like really good money.
• 45:04
  SPEAKER_03: It's crazy.
• 45:05
  SPEAKER_04: And like um people go out and then clip up all their stuff and then market them basically.
• 45:08
  SPEAKER_04: They take the best bits from it and then but the people who are then clipping it up are then making a short time as well.
• 45:14
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, it's unbelievable.
• 45:15
  SPEAKER_00: I know.
• 45:16
  SPEAKER_04: So I think like the niche of YouTube, I think the niche of content creators, I think is a really interesting area.
• 45:21
  SPEAKER_04: It is so much opportunity, and yeah, not everybody's making money in it, but there will be a 20% of people that are making enough money to need to speak to a financial planner.
• 45:32
  SPEAKER_04: So it's also like how do you how do you get on their page?
• 45:36
  SPEAKER_04: How do you get trusted by them?
• 45:38
  SPEAKER_04: You know, how do they see you?
• 45:39
  SPEAKER_04: You know, how can you be part of their stream, for instance?
• 45:42
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, you know, to get that reverse marketing marketing element into it as well.
• 45:46
  SPEAKER_04: It's all about becoming a key person of influence.
• 45:48
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 45:49
  SPEAKER_04: You know, it's all it's all about becoming a key person of influence.
• 45:51
  SPEAKER_04: Can you be the financial planner to the e-gaming community?
• 45:54
  SPEAKER_04: You know, you're the finance woman.
• 45:56
  SPEAKER_04: Is that right?
• 45:56
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 45:57
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, you're the finance woman.
• 45:58
  SPEAKER_04: So could we have the like the e-gamer IFA or something like that?
• 46:02
  SPEAKER_04: Umly funds, only fans?
• 46:05
  SPEAKER_04: Does that work or not?
• 46:06
  SPEAKER_04: No, probably not.
• 46:08
  SPEAKER_04: You know where I'm getting it.
• 46:08
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 46:09
  SPEAKER_04: You could have all these different financial advisors that are working under you, all with their own branding specific niches.
• 46:14
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 46:15
  SPEAKER_04: You know it works, and it's just about doubling down on a niche.
• 46:17
  SPEAKER_04: Doesn't mean every single client of yours needs to be you know.
• 46:20
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it could be more for marketing purposes, isn't it?
• 46:23
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, exactly.
• 46:23
  SPEAKER_04: And it stands out a little bit.
• 46:24
  SPEAKER_04: Have you ever done that?
• 46:25
  SPEAKER_04: Have you ever looked at kind of like wrapping that around a specific niche?
• 46:28
  SPEAKER_04: So you kind of try to attract more of them and they come to you.
• 46:30
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I have.
• 46:31
  SPEAKER_01: Um, it's just so difficult, isn't it?
• 46:34
  SPEAKER_01: Because you've got like the OnlyFans community, and and like you said, you know, some of them, like I think it's something like 1% of them, like actually earn a decent amount from it.
• 46:42
  SPEAKER_01: The rest don't really.
• 46:43
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and then obviously you've got the esports gamers again, like you've got the ones who are really making it big, and then the ones that aren't.
• 46:49
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and yeah, I don't I don't feel like like look like touch wood that we've needed to do that at this point.
• 46:55
  SPEAKER_01: Like, we we do have the constant flow of referrals that we don't really need.
• 47:00
  SPEAKER_01: I know, I know what you're thinking.
• 47:01
  SPEAKER_01: You're thinking you could probably scale it up and you know do all these different things, but I'm like, I just want a simple life.
• 47:06
  SPEAKER_04: You do want a simple life, yeah.
• 47:07
  SPEAKER_04: Okay, well, describe your life to me then.
• 47:09
  SPEAKER_04: Like this is like something that's people get into financial planning.
• 47:12
  SPEAKER_04: Some people want to build massive businesses.
• 47:14
  SPEAKER_04: At the moment, I'm trying to build, build, build, build, build.
• 47:16
  SPEAKER_04: I'm trying to go as high as I can, open as many doors as I can at the top, and then just start to build at that level.
• 47:21
  SPEAKER_04: I had to find the point of where I could find the most amount of value for the amount of the energy that I put out anyway.
• 47:26
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, yeah.
• 47:26
  SPEAKER_04: That's how I operate.
• 47:27
  SPEAKER_04: So I'm kind of at that point now and I'm looking, but I want to build something quite spectacular.
• 47:32
  SPEAKER_04: Like I got five years in me, and I really want to build something spectacular.
• 47:36
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 47:36
  SPEAKER_04: But you want an easy life or you want to what's the type of life that you want, and what is how are you building that with your business so you to make sure that you don't cross it, cross the line into becoming too busy, for example?
• 47:48
  SPEAKER_01: That's it.
• 47:49
  SPEAKER_01: I think for me, last year was just like a massive eye-opener because it was our biggest year ever, right?
• 47:56
  SPEAKER_01: You know, and it was just crazy.
• 47:58
  SPEAKER_01: And um, I was working all hours, and I know that that's that's what you do when you when you're building a business, but it did get to the point where it was like, do I actually want this?
• 48:06
  SPEAKER_01: You know, like actually, this has all just happened.
• 48:08
  SPEAKER_01: And am I actually on the trajectory that I want to be on, or is it actually just happened?
• 48:12
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, I I was kind of just going with it and just, you know, I was on momentum, I had the momentum.
• 48:17
  SPEAKER_01: I was just keeping on going with it.
• 48:18
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and it was it was this year because like I've I've got a chronic health condition as well that I have to think about.
• 48:23
  SPEAKER_01: So it's making sure that actually I can have that time off and I can relax a little bit and look and have time to look after that as well.
• 48:31
  SPEAKER_01: And even things like you know, having kids in the future, that's something else that I'll have to think about and have to kind of plan my career around.
• 48:38
  SPEAKER_01: So I could just keep I could just keep building, but at the end of the day, like I I do want peace, you know, in in my life.
• 48:45
  SPEAKER_01: I want, I do want time off.
• 48:47
  SPEAKER_01: I want to actually have time to live my life as well.
• 48:49
  SPEAKER_01: And I think I'm in the privileged position that I'm very I am very young to be starting out.
• 48:54
  SPEAKER_01: I don't at the moment feel like I need to be running ahead with myself and going crazy because you know, I'm in the position basically now where I don't have to be in the office for things to keep running.
• 49:04
  SPEAKER_01: And it's such a fortunate position, and and it's what I spent all last year just trying to work on.
• 49:09
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah.
• 49:09
  SPEAKER_04: So you're building the business and you're getting people in there to do the do parts of the job, yeah.
• 49:13
  SPEAKER_04: I love that.
• 49:13
  SPEAKER_04: Okay.
• 49:14
  SPEAKER_04: I guess it's re reverse engineering, isn't it?
• 49:16
  SPEAKER_04: So same as you do with your clients, you know, how much is enough for you when it comes to your business and how much time do you require outside of the business?
• 49:23
  SPEAKER_04: And have you have you worked that out?
• 49:25
  SPEAKER_04: Do you know what you need?
• 49:26
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I think it's the the whole thing around like you can either have your business and then work your life around it, or you can have the life that you want and then work your business around it.
• 49:35
  SPEAKER_01: And that's what I've tried to do this year.
• 49:36
  SPEAKER_01: And it's just like I'm having better results because of it, because I've got more energy.
• 49:40
  SPEAKER_01: I'm actually being more intentional with my time.
• 49:43
  SPEAKER_01: I'm spending it in the areas that I want to spend it in.
• 49:46
  SPEAKER_01: And it's just it's even better for it.
• 49:49
  SPEAKER_01: You know, rather than spending time doing faffy things and just, you know, doing things for the sake of being busy, I'm really, really intentional now.
• 49:55
  SPEAKER_01: And it's just again, it's just growing so fast that I I can and I'm actually chilling a little bit, which is nice.
• 50:01
  SPEAKER_01: You know, it's quite rare.
• 50:03
  SPEAKER_04: It is, it is rare.
• 50:04
  SPEAKER_04: When you start getting really good people in your business doing the parts of the job that you don't want to do, you want to hand over, you start to realise, oh my god, it's not as tricky or as complicated as I think this is.
• 50:13
  SPEAKER_00: Exactly.
• 50:14
  SPEAKER_04: And the problem is, is like when you end up freeing up that time because you're not running around like a lunatic, um, I'm terrible because I got I just can get lost in an email inbox for now.
• 50:24
  SPEAKER_04: It's like it's just a part of me.
• 50:25
  SPEAKER_04: I'm just terrible with things like that.
• 50:27
  SPEAKER_04: So once I've got somebody in there now who's like managing all my operations and all the fiddly bits that I get lost on, yeah.
• 50:32
  SPEAKER_04: It's just free freed me up.
• 50:33
  SPEAKER_04: But it's like yeah, I could sit there and play some PlayStation or go for a run or go to the gym or whatever.
• 50:38
  SPEAKER_04: You're not gonna know I am.
• 50:39
  SPEAKER_04: I'm not, no, I'm like doubling down.
• 50:40
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, right on a double down.
• 50:42
  SPEAKER_04: It's give me some breathing space to go into somewhere, you know, where I think I can take this.
• 50:46
  SPEAKER_04: And I just keep going forward on that.
• 50:47
  SPEAKER_04: So I suppose it's also understanding what your limits are.
• 50:49
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 50:50
  SPEAKER_04: Um but I think different periods of your life, I think you tend to want more of a chilled life when you're younger.
• 50:57
  SPEAKER_04: Like when I was younger, like if someone said to me, like, you know, you could you could work half and earn this much, you could earn 50 grand a year, but you only work 20 hours a day, I'd have been like, wow, that's amazing.
• 51:06
  SPEAKER_04: What 50 grand?
• 51:07
  SPEAKER_04: I can just work 20 hours a day and I can live my life and all of that.
• 51:10
  SPEAKER_04: Whereas now I'm kind of fucked if I'm sitting around, I get bored, I get super bored, like I'm agitated.
• 51:16
  SPEAKER_04: And it's not because I'm not comfortable within myself, it's just because I'm wired to go and do stuff.
• 51:21
  SPEAKER_01: You're feeling passionate about it as well.
• 51:23
  SPEAKER_01: You can see like the passion coming out of it.
• 51:24
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, I get excited, connection.
• 51:26
  SPEAKER_04: And I think it's difficult when you're in like the game of list where you're just constantly meeting people, you're constantly being you're constantly being shown problems.
• 51:34
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, you'll constantly be showing massive gaping holes where you go, why has nobody fixed that yet?
• 51:40
  SPEAKER_04: And then you start going, right, I can do that.
• 51:41
  SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna fix it.
• 51:42
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, and then when you start to understand and you know it and you can articulate it at scale, yeah, um, people really start to buy into it.
• 51:50
  SPEAKER_04: And when people buy into it, it opens another door for you.
• 51:52
  SPEAKER_04: So it's really kind of tricky.
• 51:54
  SPEAKER_04: But I felt like I've only had that really as I've gotten older.
• 51:57
  SPEAKER_04: I do feel that way.
• 51:58
  SPEAKER_04: I feel like age has helped me massively.
• 52:01
  SPEAKER_04: I had massive imposter syndrome, like a lot, and I was very lacking confidence and broad problems with my anxiety and everything used to hold me back a lot.
• 52:09
  SPEAKER_04: But lately I just feel like my confidence has gone through the roof.
• 52:13
  SPEAKER_04: And at this age now, it feels like this is the time for me.
• 52:16
  SPEAKER_04: But a lot of people, I think, in their 40s express that same feeling.
• 52:19
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, it's kind of you want to go for it, type in your 40s, like you've had your kids, you've done this, you've done that.
• 52:24
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, go for it.
• 52:25
  SPEAKER_04: But then saying, now if I was 24 years old, like you are, right?
• 52:28
  SPEAKER_04: I would 100% be like free, free my time up.
• 52:32
  SPEAKER_04: I'd be going traveling, I'll be doing all sorts, you know.
• 52:34
  SPEAKER_04: Which I did at that age, I quite enjoyed the travelling aspect of life.
• 52:38
  SPEAKER_04: Um, very interesting.
• 52:40
  SPEAKER_04: So you're building a team at the moment.
• 52:43
  SPEAKER_04: You told me you've got a trainee financial advisor.
• 52:45
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 52:45
  SPEAKER_04: Tell me a little bit about that, though.
• 52:46
  SPEAKER_04: How yes, brilliant that you've gone through, you know, you've now already got your training financial plan out of this.
• 52:51
  SPEAKER_01: It makes people laugh.
• 52:52
  SPEAKER_01: Um, yeah, I've got a trainee financial advisor.
• 52:55
  SPEAKER_01: Um, she's 18, which is such a full circle moment.
• 52:58
  SPEAKER_01: So I thought that's when I started.
• 53:00
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and yeah, I think for us it it's just nice to be able to train the next generation.
• 53:05
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I keep talking about bringing new financial advisors in the industry.
• 53:08
  SPEAKER_01: So to actually be able to do it myself, it's it's a nice thing.
• 53:11
  SPEAKER_04: It's amazing.
• 53:11
  SPEAKER_04: Do you pay that person a salary or are they self-employed?
• 53:14
  SPEAKER_01: Uh no, so she's an apprentice, so she's going doing all of our R01s, R02s, and stuff like that at the moment.
• 53:19
  SPEAKER_01: And um, all of that is kind of paid for by an apprenticeship, and then we just pay it like a salary.
• 53:24
  SPEAKER_04: Amazing.
• 53:25
  SPEAKER_04: Do you know much about how that's all organised on the apprenticeship side?
• 53:28
  SPEAKER_04: Do you know, you know, if if someone's listening to this now and they're thinking themselves about taking on an apprentice for financial planner, can you explain like what the benefit of that is or you know what's covered by them and what you have to cover?
• 53:39
  SPEAKER_01: It it was quite simple to be honest.
• 53:41
  SPEAKER_01: So they cover all of the exams, they do all of the like stuff like the role plays and all of the um what's it called?
• 53:46
  SPEAKER_01: Like the assessments and stuff like that as well.
• 53:49
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and then they did she does regular training.
• 53:51
  SPEAKER_01: We give her one, we we we I don't think we have to, but we give her one day a week to study as well.
• 53:56
  SPEAKER_01: So she works four days with us, one day study.
• 53:58
  SPEAKER_01: Um we just obviously pay her a salary, and then she's got best of both of us, and she's watching me shadowing me and all of our meetings and doing the practical stuff.
• 54:05
  SPEAKER_01: She's writing reports and all sorts now.
• 54:07
  SPEAKER_01: She's she's great.
• 54:08
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but then obviously she does the exam side of things as well.
• 54:12
  SPEAKER_04: Brilliant.
• 54:12
  SPEAKER_04: And what's she getting up to?
• 54:13
  SPEAKER_04: Is she getting in front of clients with you?
• 54:15
  SPEAKER_04: Do you take her along to shadows?
• 54:16
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, she's there, yeah.
• 54:17
  SPEAKER_01: She's there.
• 54:18
  SPEAKER_01: Uh well, a lot of my meetings are on Zoom.
• 54:19
  SPEAKER_04: Okay.
• 54:20
  SPEAKER_01: So majority of them actually.
• 54:22
  SPEAKER_01: So it's nice and easy.
• 54:23
  SPEAKER_01: You know, she can be in the room uh listening in and just yeah, she's taking it all in again.
• 54:28
  SPEAKER_01: That's what I didn't have at the beginning of the in at the beginning when I started.
• 54:31
  SPEAKER_01: So if I can give her that, I think she'll she'll overtake me.
• 54:33
  SPEAKER_01: She'll be doing all sorts of things.
• 54:34
  SPEAKER_01: Amazing.
• 54:35
  SPEAKER_01: Where's she come from?
• 54:35
  SPEAKER_04: How's she how did she end up with you?
• 54:37
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so I think she, I think it was actually off Indeed, but she saw like all of our social media posts already because she she's not too far from where we live, um, which is handy.
• 54:47
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but yeah, she saw the LinkedIn and I think she liked the idea of doing the job that I do as well.
• 54:52
  SPEAKER_01: Um and we've we've seen that quite like wide in the industry at the moment as well, with other like people messaging me and stuff and saying that I've never considered a career.
• 55:00
  SPEAKER_01: Now I'm I really want one.
• 55:01
  SPEAKER_01: I want to be a financial planner.
• 55:03
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I've had a 15-year-old uh what's your uh year 10?
• 55:06
  SPEAKER_01: Is it how old are they in your 10?
• 55:08
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah 10's like what 15 or something, yeah.
• 55:10
  SPEAKER_01: About 15.
• 55:10
  SPEAKER_01: I got an email.
• 55:11
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, who's sending emails at that at that age?
• 55:13
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, that's kind of mad.
• 55:14
  SPEAKER_04: What are they asking?
• 55:15
  SPEAKER_01: No, they just sent me a really gorgeous paragraph that was like, I've seen you like on social media, I didn't even know what a financial planner was, and actually now I want to be one.
• 55:23
  SPEAKER_01: Um, if you can like offer any like mentorship or like any, if I can just keep your details on file if I need anything, um, and that I'm gonna go down that route.
• 55:31
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, you're 10.
• 55:33
  SPEAKER_04: This comes back to what I said earlier about Tim, who's part of the PFS Personal Finance Society, and the fact that he's looking for people like you to be able to um articulate what it's like to work within financial planning.
• 55:46
  SPEAKER_04: So people of that age will actually listen to you.
• 55:50
  SPEAKER_01: Or didn't know it's an option and didn't even know it's a job, did they?
• 55:52
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, those people.
• 55:53
  SPEAKER_04: When they look when they yeah, exactly.
• 55:55
  SPEAKER_04: So they're obviously that's obviously working.
• 55:56
  SPEAKER_04: Was that through Instagram or something like that?
• 55:58
  SPEAKER_01: Or uh so I'm guessing she saw me on Instagram.
• 56:01
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, but I got an email.
• 56:02
  SPEAKER_01: It was a great email as well.
• 56:03
  SPEAKER_01: It was so well well written.
• 56:05
  SPEAKER_01: I thought, I'll bring you one when you leave school.
• 56:07
  SPEAKER_04: And you're mad with her and she's all good.
• 56:09
  SPEAKER_01: I've I've I've not met her, no.
• 56:10
  SPEAKER_01: I just sent her an email and just said, you know, like keep keep in touch.
• 56:13
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 56:14
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but yeah, I thought that was nice.
• 56:16
  SPEAKER_04: You could send her this now, couldn't you?
• 56:17
  SPEAKER_01: The video and yeah, just say have a watch, I'll give you a little mention.
• 56:20
  SPEAKER_04: And watch financial planner life.
• 56:22
  SPEAKER_04: There's lots of people talking about what it's like within the profession.
• 56:24
  SPEAKER_04: Would it be interesting?
• 56:25
  SPEAKER_04: Would you be interested in getting involved?
• 56:26
  SPEAKER_04: Because we're putting together a group of people that would actually be perfect to teach kids in secondary school about financial planning, so financial education, but as well a career within financial planning.
• 56:38
  SPEAKER_04: Is that something you'd be interested in?
• 56:40
  SPEAKER_04: All right, cool.
• 56:40
  SPEAKER_04: So we're putting together a little think tank.
• 56:42
  SPEAKER_04: Um we obviously want girls and boys.
• 56:44
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 56:44
  SPEAKER_04: At the end of the day, people are gonna you you have to be rep you have to be representing, right?
• 56:48
  SPEAKER_00: Gosh, yeah.
• 56:49
  SPEAKER_04: There has to be some content that's created for them to understand, otherwise, they'll never gonna understand about it.
• 56:54
  SPEAKER_01: Or they need to see themselves doing it, don't they?
• 56:56
  SPEAKER_01: As well.
• 56:56
  SPEAKER_04: Exactly, 100%.
• 56:58
  SPEAKER_04: Right, you've gone through it in financial planning um at a very early age, um, but you persevered and you came out the other side and you're kicking ass.
• 57:05
  SPEAKER_04: And you know, it sounds like your business is doing really, really well.
• 57:07
  SPEAKER_04: Um what have you what have you generated under management so far out of interest?
• 57:10
  SPEAKER_01: So under management, I think we're up to about 10 million.
• 57:13
  SPEAKER_04: Fantastic.
• 57:14
  SPEAKER_04: That's amazing.
• 57:14
  SPEAKER_04: Brilliant stuff.
• 57:15
  SPEAKER_04: So you've got a value of your business already.
• 57:16
  SPEAKER_04: If you walked out the door tomorrow and you wanted to sell it, you could sell a business.
• 57:20
  SPEAKER_04: Not many people your age can do that.
• 57:22
  SPEAKER_04: So that's pretty damn impressive.
• 57:23
  SPEAKER_04: So, what's that one bit of advice we can leave people on at the moment?
• 57:26
  SPEAKER_04: Okay, so if they're thinking about chucking the towel in, what's the advice?
• 57:30
  SPEAKER_04: What should they do?
• 57:32
  SPEAKER_01: I think just first of all, create the values that you first of all you live your life by, because that's really important.
• 57:39
  SPEAKER_01: And then just make sure that they're also implemented in the business as well, so that any anything you do is always aligned with that.
• 57:46
  SPEAKER_01: But also the biggest thing, and again, I don't know if this would apply to everybody, but I'm sure it would because everybody does have the idea of what a financial planner should look like, and they do think that they need to fit into that or the way that they should act like what I would say is is just be yourself, it will come across so much better to your clients, you'll actually feel aligned with the work you're doing, um, and yeah, you'll see major results because of that.
• 58:08
  SPEAKER_04: Mummy, really appreciate your time today.
• 58:10
  SPEAKER_04: Thank you so much for sharing your financial planner life.
• 58:11
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, thank you.
• 58:12
  SPEAKER_01: Cheers