Latest / Financial Planner Life Podcast / Working 3 Days a Week as a Financial Planner and Thriving! | Hannah Witty

Transcript

Working 3 Days a Week as a Financial Planner and Thriving! | Hannah Witty · Financial Planner Life Podcast

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: I'm not living now for retirement.
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: You know A lot of people are doing that.
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: We I'm don't make it sound corny I'm living the dream.
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: I'm doing what I want to do now.
• 0:12
  Speaker 2: A lot of women out there.
• 0:13
  Speaker 2: Actually, I think that need to hear and see more women within financial planning.
• 0:16
  Speaker 2: Would you kind of agree that that's the case?
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: It's a male-dominated industry and that isn't changing, unfortunately, anytime soon.
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: They're a powerhouse and they're a beacon to the likes of myself or other females who want to follow in their footsteps to think well, if they've done it, I can do it.
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: That whole half of my personal life private, because I felt that I wouldn't get as far in my career, and that's possibly true.
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: Because I felt that I wouldn't get as far in my career, and that's possibly true.
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: So I studied relentlessly, taking exam after exam back to back, having my tea at the office, being the last one to lock up the door.
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: And when my son came along, of course, my priorities changed, and that was difficult.
• 0:59
  Speaker 2: Talk to me about being a mother and talk to me about working within financial planning.
• 1:02
  Speaker 2: Has it ever been tricky?
• 1:03
  Speaker 2: Is it easy?
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: Does it dispel another myth For those women out there?
• 1:11
  Speaker 2: you can do both.
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: I'm excelling at being a mum.
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: I am going to give myself that I'm excelling at being a mum and I'm excelling at being a financial advisor.
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: I am going to give myself props for that.
• 1:21
  Speaker 2: So, hannah, thanks for joining me today on the Financial Planner Live podcast here at Foster De Novo for our special partnership.
• 1:26
  Speaker 2: How are you?
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: It's great to be here.
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm good, thank you.
• 1:29
  Speaker 2: Good.
• 1:29
  Speaker 2: Well, it's been lovely getting to know you because obviously, we had a bit of a pre-podcast chat, which is probably one of my favourite bits actually, because I get to dig a bit deeper into people's background and their history and why they got into financial planning.
• 1:41
  Speaker 2: So it's been really really lovely getting to know you and your journey and your story, which I think is going to be really inspiring to a lot of women out there.
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: Actually, I think that need to hear and see more women within financial planning.
• 1:51
  Speaker 2: Would you kind of agree that that's the case?
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: Yeah, definitely.
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: I don't think that there's enough women.
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: Hopefully that's changing and when I became chartered there was only 3,000 UK females who had that status.
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: I suspect the number's grown, but yeah, I was one of the very early few.
• 2:11
  Speaker 2: Nice.
• 2:11
  Speaker 2: So let's just talk about how you got into financial planning then.
• 2:15
  Speaker 2: So how long have you been working within financial planning and what was your sort of first entry point?
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: Well, I came to the industry as a young 20-something year old I didn't do a related degree, um, I'm originally from where Sussex went to the other side of the country for my university degree, which was performing arts, because that was my passion, and did a bit of traveling, uh, worked on super yachts, uh, so not conventional in um.
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: But my dad had always said to me I want you to meet somebody.
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: And when the opportunity arose, when I came ashore, he said I want you to meet somebody.
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: And he introduced me to a contact of his that was a financial advisor.
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: So it was just a case of quite a life-changing lunch, I guess.
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: And in terms of meeting somebody, and he said Simon, please tell Hannah what you do for a living.
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: And he told me, and it appealed, and in fact he offered me a job at his firm in Hove, but I was moving back to Newcastle, so this is back in 2007.
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: So I wrote a letter to pretty much every firm in the city centre and one took a chance on me and put me through my qualifications and that was my entry point.
• 3:13
  Speaker 2: So what was the most sort of enticing piece of that conversation with the individual that was the financial planner that made you think well, this is something I can do.
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: Well, my dad knows me very well.
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: My mum does as well of, of course.
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: But my dad said you're a people's person, um, and so that that corny phrase came up in the lunch are you a people's person?
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: I said yes, and it was a lifelong relationships.
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: All he said was I've got a client and he's been a client of mine for 50 years and I helped him get on the property ladder.
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: He then had inheritance, sadly, but I invested it for him and got him a pension, and now he's retired.
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: In fact, I'm going for lunch after this lunch.
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: The long-term relationships that, um appealed to me.
• 3:49
  Speaker 2: I've got to ask you the question, though you worked on some of those super yachts.
• 3:51
  Speaker 2: There was a little program called below deck um.
• 3:54
  Speaker 2: Was that the reality of working on a super?
• 3:56
  Speaker 2: Yet were you surrounded by like these ultra high net worth people?
• 3:59
  Speaker 2: Surely they all became clients?
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: well, I did it before it was well known and my dad said how do you plan on doing that?
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: And I said, just, apparently I ring the doorbell.
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: You go to the south of france and you ring the doorbell and they come out and say you, you, you, um.
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: So no, it didn't really in reality get me interested in high net worth individuals.
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: What it gave me was the breathing space to really say what am I going to do next and what career am I going to have?
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: I'm not going to go into a job just to be able to pay my rent.
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: I don't want to move in with mom and dad, um, yes.
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: And you asked me if my schools are transferable and I did a lot of hoovering and, uh, waited on them and met past, um, met hamsters that had passports, hamsters, etc.
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: Yes, some posh hamsters, some very posh hamsters that flew on the private jet wow had all the document.
• 4:45
  Speaker 2: I mean they didn't have, you know, photos like that, they had just the documentation of course, but uh, yeah, I always found, when I traveled, quite a bit when I was younger, and I'm really glad I got that out of the way.
• 4:55
  Speaker 2: It's one of those things.
• 4:55
  Speaker 2: In later life I haven't been that kind of bothered by it, like I don't feel the need to go off traveling everywhere because I got it out of my system at quite a young age.
• 5:03
  Speaker 2: But I feel it's one of those things that if you do it, it creates a kind of openness with people because you meet so many different people from so many different backgrounds and you see how the world ticks, and I think when you do that at a young age and you then go off into the real world of work I don't know it gives you a bit of a bit of life experience absolutely and as you say it gets.
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: I mean I'm, I probably, will hopefully take it to sabbatical one day.
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: I'm not living now for retirement.
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: You know, a lot of people are doing that.
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: We I'm don't make this sound corny I'm living the dream.
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: I'm doing what I want to do now.
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: I'm traveling.
• 5:44
  Speaker 2: I want to got the boys how many children you got three, three crikey.
• 5:49
  Speaker 2: Fair play to you.
• 5:50
  Speaker 2: I've got one, one girl.
• 5:52
  Speaker 2: It's about managing one girl.
• 5:53
  Speaker 2: So talk to me about being a mother and talk to me about working within financial planning.
• 5:58
  Speaker 2: Has it ever been tricky?
• 5:59
  Speaker 2: Is it?
• 6:00
  Speaker 2: Is it easy?
• 6:01
  Speaker 2: Is this one of the reasons why perhaps there might be a barrier to entry about getting into the financial planning profession for women?
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: It has been tricky.
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: I think that, having gone through some poor experiences pre-Wade and pre-Foster De Novo, I have an immense sense of gratitude as to where I am now.
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: I'm exactly where I needed to be.
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: But the industry, not just financial services, the whole UK is a long way to go in terms of supporting mums, in my view.
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: Um, I kept that whole half of my personal life private because I felt that I wouldn't get as far in my career and that's possibly true, um, it's no doubt so.
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: I studied relentlessly, taking exam after exam, back to back, having my tea at the office, being the last one to lock up the door.
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: And when my son came along, of course my priorities changed, and that was difficult, and I've always sought firms that would be more positive.
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: I guess to that, wade's had a mantra of family first, and that's so important to me.
• 7:03
  Speaker 2: So with Wade Financial Planning, you were working there for how long?
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: I think it's about four or five years in total before the acquisition.
• 7:12
  Speaker 2: Before the acquisition.
• 7:12
  Speaker 2: So tell us about that then.
• 7:13
  Speaker 2: So you were part of Wade and then it was acquired by Foster De Novo.
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: It was a very happy time.
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: I mean I'm still happy at Foster De Novo, but it was a very happy time.
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: My parents said the grass isn't always greener and it was.
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: They were great guys and it was um, they were great guys, very supportive of me having a family again.
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: It sounds corny, but if it has a family feel um, that's shown by the low turnover of staff.
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: You know my assistant, lindsey, had been there 11 years.
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: Um, people don't leave because they're happy, they feel valued.
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: Um great care was taken for the christmas do, for example, to um invite partners.
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: So you know the shareholders know my husband, know about him.
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: Um, I don't know if that's a little thing or a big thing, but to me that was something that I had huge gratitude for, that it mattered.
• 8:00
  Speaker 2: They were caring employers and so, by jove, you work your socks off for them because you you respect that yeah, they create that connection between you, your family and the business and create that flexibility yeah let's talk about flexibility because, um, I think a lot of women, um well, and men, to be honest, these days look for flexibility in, in work, um, and we hear the term all the time, don't we?
• 8:22
  Speaker 2: Flexible working?
• 8:23
  Speaker 2: Um, how do you manage your um, your working relationship and your family commitments?
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: I'm very lucky.
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: Um, I manage it through, I guess, getting to where I've got in my career and be able to negotiate that.
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: So I do feel very lucky.
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: I work three days.
• 8:40
  Speaker 1: My husband works shifts.
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: Um, I had to pitch it the right way to say that my husband gets his shifts a year in advance, so you'll know where I am, that sort of thing.
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: So the reality is, you know, I can't work a five-day week, or I choose not to, should I say right now, with young children, it's a juggling act.
• 8:59
  Speaker 2: Tell me a little bit about that then.
• 8:59
  Speaker 2: So let's do a bit of myth-busting here, because when you hear the words sort of flexible working, working mum, you kind of picture palates in the morning, coffee groups in the afternoon and a bit of work here and there.
• 9:11
  Speaker 2: Tell us how you sort of manage your working week then to be able to balance the family commitments as well.
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: I have a great team.
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: I think that's very key.
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: It's not just me, I mean.
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: I alluded to Lindsay earlier as my assistant.
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: I've now got an assistant called Fiona and she's amazing.
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: I'd be lost without her.
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: So having that support, having that backup, it's what I want.
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: It's what I've always wanted.
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: When I had my first son, I did consider throwing in the towel.
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: I did consider downsizing.
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: I looked at downsizing.
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: I actually put on the lottery more than ever, because that return to work back then was really difficult.
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: I didn't have any support and I was really sad to go back to the office.
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: I don't think that would happen here at Foster De Novo they're rewriting parenting policies all the time.
• 9:54
  Speaker 1: You've got the females in those leadership roles that I think would be on hand to support me if I was struggling.
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: I felt very alone back then but anyhow, I'm so pleased I didn't give up my career and I'm now in a company that supports that.
• 10:08
  Speaker 2: Great stuff.
• 10:09
  Speaker 2: So let's go into that then, because obviously, foster De Novo acquired weight.
• 10:14
  Speaker 2: You're now going through that process.
• 10:16
  Speaker 2: So, looking at Foster De Novo and you've touched on it already there's a lot of women in the leadership role and leadership roles within Foster De Novo, which is unusual within financial services in in general, when from the outside looking in and as you're going through the process of being acquired and going through the process of integration, how much of an impact has that had on you positively?
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: it's massive.
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: I mean, it's a male-dominated industry and that isn't changing, unfortunately, anytime soon.
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: Um, they're a powerhouse and they're a beacon to the likes of myself or other females who want to follow in their footsteps, um to think well, if they've done it, I can do it too.
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: So it makes a massive impact and we need to make more of it.
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: Actually, um, I was speaking to another financial advisor within fossa de novo and we were talking about how we go to events and it's the same old, same old.
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: It's the same same group of female.
• 11:07
  Speaker 1: They're not old, but the same group of females and it's small.
• 11:11
  Speaker 1: And I've been going to cpd events for 16 years and there may be one or two new faces, but they're not the numbers.
• 11:18
  Speaker 1: And I go to cpd event there might be 300 individuals it's pretty 10 that are female.
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: Yeah, so I really would love, if I can do anything, to be part of someone's journey, whether they're at Foster De Novo or even thinking about this as a job, ping me a message.
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: I would love to, if I could give back in that way, just like that lunch that made me go in this direction and be a mentor.
• 11:42
  Speaker 1: Even I don't think of myself as a mentor, but why not?
• 11:47
  Speaker 2: Well, it's these types of conversations that are really important, because you're putting yourself out there, showing that you are working within financial services.
• 11:52
  Speaker 2: There are women doing it and absolutely succeeding within it, and we need more.
• 11:56
  Speaker 2: So I think putting yourself out there and going on podcasts is the right thing to do.
• 12:00
  Speaker 2: It's the same.
• 12:00
  Speaker 2: There's a lot of female leaders within financial planning.
• 12:03
  Speaker 2: Get out there and talk about it.
• 12:04
  Speaker 2: Inspire others to join because they're only going to look up and go oh, I can do that because I can see somebody doing that.
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: But it's the practical things as well.
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: When I did my exams, I unfortunately got caught with RDR, so I was, and my employer probably knew this.
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: But no disrespect to them.
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: I actually think maybe if they told me I would have not started.
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: But I was so many through the CF, cf so they moved the goalposts for me and I had to keep going.
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: But the ROs there was a delay in them even becoming in, you know, existing.
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: So, even on a practical sense, if someone needs help, it's to get their qualifications.
• 12:38
  Speaker 1: Um, yeah, I think they need to do more of it perhaps.
• 12:41
  Speaker 2: Talking about qualifications, then charter was important to you.
• 12:44
  Speaker 2: You mentioned that you felt that you were almost compelled to do it to prove yourself yeah, I think, because the goalposts had moved.
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: I was also in the habit of taking exams and I didn't have any children then, importantly so and I was concerned that maybe the cii would make the chartered status the minimum, which they've never done.
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: Um, but yeah, it made sense to get that.
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: I also then knew of chartered firms, ie wades, that would only really want a chartered individual.
• 13:12
  Speaker 2: So I ran a recruitment company for 16 years and if you came across somebody who was female chartered, your candidature was huge.
• 13:19
  Speaker 2: Everybody was interested.
• 13:21
  Speaker 2: So it's definitely one of those things, and I think that becoming chartered as a financial planner does separate you.
• 13:27
  Speaker 2: And also as well.
• 13:28
  Speaker 2: We're seeing this CFP as well.
• 13:30
  Speaker 2: The knowledge and the training and the development and the research that goes into actually doing those qualifications.
• 13:36
  Speaker 2: It does seem to make advisors better.
• 13:39
  Speaker 1: Absolutely.
• 13:39
  Speaker 2: That's one of the things I am picking up on, especially around that CFP as well I hear such positive things about it With your personal situation in respect of work so we've got employed and we got self-employed.
• 13:53
  Speaker 2: Okay, and throughout your career um you've been employed or self-employed employed only employed only interesting.
• 14:01
  Speaker 2: So when it comes to flexible work and we get on that in a minute a lot of people look at self-employment as being flexible.
• 14:06
  Speaker 2: Right, what's it been like to just be employed in your career?
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: I think.
• 14:12
  Speaker 1: Well, for me personally, self-employed was never really an option, and when I joined my first job with an unreg unrelated degree, um, employed was only offered to me and that's why I took, whilst I was a pa to the managing director whilst I did my qualifications, and similarly when I had conversations with Wade.
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: It's all I'd ever known.
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: So I don't know, maybe I was a bit naive to not tap into that.
• 14:34
  Speaker 1: However, whilst there may be a trade-off from employed versus self-employed earnings or even full-time versus part-time, there is a trade-off.
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: I'm taking my little boy swimming on Friday.
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: I'm not sure I could or I would if I was.
• 14:51
  Speaker 2: That's the win for me I have been self-employed for years.
• 14:54
  Speaker 2: Um, I don't switch off.
• 14:56
  Speaker 2: Um.
• 14:57
  Speaker 2: A lot of people will tell you that, whether they're a self-employed financial planner or running running a business, um, once you become self-employed, it's very, very difficult to actually turn work off.
• 15:06
  Speaker 2: It's on you 24 7, so I think the ability to close the book or to turn off the computer and be able to step away is a beautiful thing.
• 15:12
  Speaker 2: Now I know from our conversation that you do.
• 15:15
  Speaker 2: It's not flexible working.
• 15:16
  Speaker 2: It's not like you're not.
• 15:17
  Speaker 2: You've just chosen to to separate your week into condensial week sorry, working week into to less days, right, yeah, and then you've got more days free yeah how have you managed that?
• 15:27
  Speaker 2: to do that, though, and, and is it?
• 15:29
  Speaker 2: Is it less amount of clients you're looking after?
• 15:31
  Speaker 2: Is it more like?
• 15:32
  Speaker 2: Tell us a little bit about the realities of actually splitting your working week into less working days.
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: I'm not sure I'm the best person to answer that.
• 15:40
  Speaker 1: It sort of happened organically.
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: I've been fortunate in that in all my jobs I've inherited client banks.
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: I mean, what an honour, what a compliment that someone is entrusting you with their client bank, with their legacy so, and my earnings are linked to you know, there's an intrinsic link between my earnings and my client bank.
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: So that's where it stems, from inheriting a client bank, and I've never really said no.
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: You know, would you like this client, I'd like you to come and meet such and such?
• 16:07
  Speaker 1: I don't say no and I squeeze it in, and that comes with its own pressures, really, but that's what it is.
• 16:20
  Speaker 2: How many ease it in, and that comes with its own pressures, really, but that's, that's what it is.
• 16:21
  Speaker 2: How many days do you work?
• 16:21
  Speaker 2: A week?
• 16:21
  Speaker 1: three days, three days yeah, okay, and you're able to just switch off the computer and just relax.
• 16:23
  Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, sometimes, invariably, sometimes things happen.
• 16:26
  Speaker 1: I mean, my out of office internally says here's my mobile, like you know, call me um and my new assistant I alluded to earlier, fiona, she did message me quite a lot on my days off, you know, and when I sort of said her, do you mind if you don't do that?
• 16:39
  Speaker 1: And she goes, I thought it was alleviating your anxiety and I was like no, I said I'm back in the following day.
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: You know, my same, my days each week aren't even the same days.
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: So in this particular instance I said I'll pick that up that the next day.
• 16:51
  Speaker 1: She was trying to alleviate my anxiety but I was like so yeah, I'm not sure if I'm the best role model for that, but I am quite strict and on friday I'll be taking my boys swimming.
• 17:01
  Speaker 1: I won't have my laptop on.
• 17:03
  Speaker 2: Everything needs to be in order when I go off on wednesday I think you play it down a little bit, because the conversation we had was you've got a lot of clients and you, you have to work really strictly.
• 17:11
  Speaker 2: By the sounds of it, yeah, I, I work intensely, I feel that it is quite intense.
• 17:16
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 17:18
  Speaker 1: And I'd love it not to be and it probably organically I'll use that word again, but it will change.
• 17:23
  Speaker 1: It is a challenge.
• 17:24
  Speaker 1: It is quite intense.
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: I work like a machine, as does Fiona.
• 17:28
  Speaker 1: Well, we all do.
• 17:28
  Speaker 1: Everyone works incredibly hard.
• 17:30
  Speaker 2: There's a lot of dedicated people up in the Newcastle hub and it's frantic yeah high-paced work must be quite nerve-wracking as well when you're so used to working a certain way within a firm and then that firm gets acquired.
• 17:41
  Speaker 2: Did you get a little bit anxious, a little bit nervous during that transition, and what's the reality of that being like?
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: I'm not sure I got anxious, necessarily.
• 17:49
  Speaker 1: I.
• 17:49
  Speaker 1: I know the guys at Wade's and we we did all, we did our qualifications back together, you know, back in the day pre-rdr.
• 17:55
  Speaker 1: So I know them, I know they're good people, I knew that they made the right choice with the culture and everything.
• 17:59
  Speaker 1: Um, what impacted me momentarily emotionally was I didn't feel chosen.
• 18:05
  Speaker 1: Um, I wouldn't seek working for a larger company.
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: I always worked in small, family-run businesses with the potential for ownership business ownership in the future.
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: So that was a shift.
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: Um, I didn't.
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: Yeah, so I didn't for a millisecond.
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: I thought, first of all, they're lump with me.
• 18:22
  Speaker 1: You know there's no interview.
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: I got two feet across.
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: I wasn't headhunted.
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: There's a bit of ego there.
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: I didn't know I had an ego, but uh, yeah, they were lump with me.
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: I think they're this happy with me.
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: But and what surprised me, from their size and thinking, oh, I don't want to be part of a large company, they feel small and they talk a lot about looking after their people.
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: That's not just lip service.
• 18:46
  Speaker 1: Everyone's approachable.
• 18:49
  Speaker 1: The leadership team feed down.
• 18:51
  Speaker 1: So it doesn't feel as I'm not such a small fish in a large pond.
• 18:57
  Speaker 2: That's good to hear.
• 18:57
  Speaker 2: So you talked about the parenting policy here at like Foster De Novo, and was there any kind of moments where you actually saw a difference in the culture of Foster De Novo compared to, say, the wider financial services or your perceived perception of wider financial services?
• 19:13
  Speaker 2: Was there any kind of moment that made you go, oh wow, like this is actually different.
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean both Wade and Foster De Novo, as I just said, seem to care about their.
• 19:22
  Speaker 1: They do.
• 19:22
  Speaker 1: They care about their employees.
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: They care about their people Celebration Day.
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: Last year we took a boat down the Thames and Roger was reading out the you know people's achievements in terms of their exams.
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: There was photos of people's weddings on uh, on television screens, people's babies and it.
• 19:44
  Speaker 2: It stung a little bit, I got emotional, I hadn't been drinking, hadn't started drinking.
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: I promise um, it hit, it hit hard and I thought I never had that um, and hopefully I'll have some milestones I'm way off 50 yet that that can be celebrated but I thought, wow, that was lovely to see.
• 19:57
  Speaker 1: I just passed exam after exam after exam, I didn't really get any recognition, which it is what it is um so and I've alluded to my children.
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: It was a thing I kept private, um knowing that promotions and opportunities would go, go away from me.
• 20:13
  Speaker 1: That was the reality of it.
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: And returning to work no support.
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: Um, foster day was different.
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: They've got an hr team.
• 20:20
  Speaker 1: You know if you need support.
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: It's a big thing for women going back to work.
• 20:24
  Speaker 1: It not my confidence for sure.
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: I'm still looking to rebuild that how did it?
• 20:29
  Speaker 2: just out of interest?
• 20:30
  Speaker 2: How did it knock your confidence, like what were you going through and what were you feeling?
• 20:34
  Speaker 2: And I suppose if we can go into that a little bit in detail, that might help other people listening that might be thinking about the same thing or maybe returning back to work mums looking at a different career perhaps.
• 20:43
  Speaker 1: It's a hard one.
• 20:43
  Speaker 1: I think it's a hard one for me to give advice on because I think I'm still working on it.
• 20:47
  Speaker 1: When we talked, you talked about what advice would I give to Hannah back in the day, and it's probably the same advice that I'd give to myself now, which is try not to get too stressed or don't stress.
• 20:58
  Speaker 1: That's very hard to do.
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: I mean, I might be taking my boys swimming, but I care tremendously about what I do.
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: I'm very conscientious, so I'll have to keep working until everything's in order to enable me to be able to do that.
• 21:11
  Speaker 1: Be brave would be my other advice to myself and to other women.
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: Um, I think we worry about too much what people think I mean that was half my stresses of this podcast was what if I say something, what you know negatively?
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: What if I trigger somebody?
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: But I'm only speaking through my experiences and hopefully but it's absolutely a positive one I'm where I need to be.
• 21:33
  Speaker 2: I think women tend to have I've noticed this and I've spoken to a lot I think women tend to have.
• 21:36
  Speaker 2: I've noticed this and I've spoken to a lot of women on the podcast and would openly say as well that maybe sometimes lack of confidence and it's been also noticed with women now that are financial planners when they talk to other women about their finances, the mums that they meet at the school gate, etc.
• 21:55
  Speaker 2: Don't have a great deal of confidence when it comes to finances.
• 21:59
  Speaker 2: But when they have the confidence to reach out or maybe drop a message into the facebook mummy's group or whatever which are fantastic ways to generate business.
• 22:09
  Speaker 2: I've had a great chat with somebody quite recently about that.
• 22:11
  Speaker 2: Then women start to come forth and actually seek out that support and guidance.
• 22:17
  Speaker 2: But love to see other women helping other women does that make sense so I think there's a huge connection there.
• 22:23
  Speaker 2: And again it's like this you know, the more that that happens, the more people can empathize within certain situations and they'll go okay.
• 22:30
  Speaker 2: Well, she feels like that, then I feel like that absolutely.
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: I think it's a good thing from an identification.
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: We're not taught financial education in school, you know?
• 22:37
  Speaker 1: Uh, so I've got into my schools sorry, my boys school to give a financial education piece, but we're not taught it.
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: So I am often talking to mom friends.
• 22:47
  Speaker 1: I can't really have a play date without talking about it.
• 22:50
  Speaker 1: You got your wheels in place, right it?
• 22:52
  Speaker 1: Just it exudes out of me.
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: I suppose it's more than a job.
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: I feel very passionately about financial education.
• 22:59
  Speaker 1: I talk to my boys on the school run about mortgages, about pensions.
• 23:03
  Speaker 2: It's just sometimes I just need to tell myself to stop, you know do you feel like when you are out and about and you are at the school gate, for example, talking to other mums, that financial planning becomes almost a part of your conversation, like you almost see yourself, maybe as a financial wellness um guide.
• 23:22
  Speaker 2: Perhaps you feel like that way sometimes.
• 23:24
  Speaker 2: Is it a responsibility?
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: absolutely, I mean friends become clients.
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: A lot of my uni friends, uh, you know, spoke to me about critical illness.
• 23:32
  Speaker 1: Um, and I'm genuine when I say about playdate.
• 23:34
  Speaker 1: Playdate last week and my friend was saying, oh, my husband's got like four or five pensions, isn't that they're all paid up?
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: He doesn't know what they're invested in.
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: I said I'll have a look at them for you.
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: So yeah, and also going back to the female thing, you know, perhaps, arguably, women are very good at being empathetic.
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: I don't come with an ego unless I'm backing myself or something I feel very proud that I've achieved.
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: But, um, if I take my parents, for example, they saw when they saw a financial advisor, the male financial advisor spoke just to my dad because he's a, he's a retired chartered accountant and my mom felt invisible and she goes well, he's talking to him.
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: He's talking to your dad because he knows he'll understand it.
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: But I would not do that.
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: Of course there's been male advisors who wouldn't do that as well, but you know, women typically prefer to speak to it.
• 24:22
  Speaker 1: If you're a widow, for example, or a single person would prefer to speak to a woman.
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: But yeah, it's breaking it down and talking in layman's terms.
• 24:30
  Speaker 2: Wealth is changing hands from male to female.
• 24:32
  Speaker 2: I think 53% of all millionaires by 2027 will be female, and mostly women are looking after the household finances, so it's definitely a shift in where money's going and whose hands they're going into and when you look at the intergenerational wealth transfer that's coming up, with the trillions that are being passed down, again, there's going to be this huge opportunity be to be talking to more women who are in control of more money right and I think that's another great opportunity why women should come into the profession, because it's such a huge opportunity.
• 25:03
  Speaker 2: And I do like the link between well-being, um, I do like that and I think an empathic nature of a lady, a female, tends to be less bullish than the man.
• 25:10
  Speaker 2: You know, guys tend to come in like quite competitive about it all.
• 25:13
  Speaker 2: I'm investing my money to make more money and how much do you make and how much?
• 25:15
  Speaker 2: Yeah whereas I think females tend to have a more um caring nature.
• 25:19
  Speaker 2: Um, I must admit, when I talk to women about finance, it's different conversation.
• 25:23
  Speaker 2: It is to talking to guys.
• 25:25
  Speaker 2: Uh, I personally, as a guy, prefer that I suppose maybe I'm a bit more emotionally aware or something vulnerable, I guess, but I do.
• 25:33
  Speaker 2: I do like the conversation mainly with women.
• 25:35
  Speaker 2: Um, all right, fantastic.
• 25:38
  Speaker 2: So plenty of opportunity within financial planning.
• 25:40
  Speaker 2: You've enjoyed your journey in your career.
• 25:43
  Speaker 2: So you've come from wade.
• 25:44
  Speaker 2: You've been part of an acquisition here at foster de novo.
• 25:46
  Speaker 2: You've now stepped into foster de novo.
• 25:48
  Speaker 2: So let's just finally finally finish on this, like, how do you feel about the future of your career and financial planning and how do you feel about your future here at Foster de Novo?
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: I think it's very bright.
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: I feel very positive.
• 25:59
  Speaker 1: I feel I'm exactly where I need to be.
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: I can walk my children to school and be in the office within 10 minutes.
• 26:04
  Speaker 1: I mean, how lucky is that so?
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: And I've got a great family, my husband, I have tea ready for me when I come home but you know, that's, I suppose, living the dream.
• 26:13
  Speaker 1: It's from my point of view.
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: But uh, yes, and success.
• 26:16
  Speaker 1: In the past it meant lots of different things, but I was obsessed with, uh, having the recognition of my bosses and my colleagues and even the industry, um, and I've learned through having titles and losing titles that that doesn't really matter.
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: I mean, I simply want to be happy, um, happy, put it in a nutshell, and I am happy.
• 26:36
  Speaker 1: I get a huge amount of job satisfaction.
• 26:39
  Speaker 1: It's a very rewarding job and a very privileged position to be in.
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: And since joining Foster De Novo, they do client surveys and whilst you can always think, oh, my clients think highly of me, to see the printed, or, sorry, the written word, to see what their comments about me I mean, it has brought a tear to my eye some of them.
• 26:57
  Speaker 1: It's been really lovely feedback to see.
• 27:01
  Speaker 2: So, yeah, Sounds to me like that reassurance is rewarding.
• 27:05
  Speaker 1: Absolutely.
• 27:06
  Speaker 2: And it's given you a clear indication that the path you're on, the place that you're at and the career that you're in is giving you a fulfilling, purposeful life right.
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and to dispel another myth for those women out there, you can do both.
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: I'm excelling at being a mum.
• 27:19
  Speaker 1: I am going to give myself that he's going swimming on Friday and he's sat in school and I can't quite believe it.
• 27:25
  Speaker 1: I will be in tears.
• 27:26
  Speaker 1: But I'm excelling at being a mum and I'm excelling at being a financial advisor.
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: I am going to give myself props for that so you can have both.
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: You can have a career and enjoy motherhood.
• 27:37
  Speaker 2: You're a legend, inspiration, so thank you very much for sharing your journey on the Financial Plan Life podcast today.