Latest / Financial Planner Life Podcast / Nathan Smith - From college to financial planner, the power of mentorship & why entry level roles are the way forward!

Transcript

Nathan Smith - From college to financial planner, the power of mentorship & why entry level roles are the way forward! · Financial Planner Life Podcast

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_01: Hi and welcome to the Financial Planner Life Podcast, where we talk to professionals at varying stages in their career about what it's like working in the wonderful world of financial planning and financial advice.
• 0:12
  SPEAKER_01: This podcast is proudly sponsored by Recruit UK, a recruitment consultancy specifically focused on the financial services.
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_01: They have a niche specialism, recruiting, within the financial planning industry, so check out their website for the latest job opportunities, hints and tips and blog articles.
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_01: Today's guest is Nathan Smith from Mattioli Woods.
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_01: Nathan is a financial planner on an employed basis.
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_01: He started his career straight from college after a chance encounter with one of the owners of Mattioli Woods.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_01: And we're going to talk to a bit him about the importance of starting at grassroots level to get a great understanding overall of how financial planning works and a greater respect for the people within the business.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_01: We're also going to talk to him about how he overcame his confidence issues to pass his exams within six months, and he shares some hints and tips around how he did this.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_01: We're also going to talk about the power of LinkedIn, especially during lockdown, and how that's helped him generate over 10 million pounds worth of inquiries over the last 12 weeks.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_01: I hope you enjoy the episode.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_01: So hi, thanks Nathan, for joining me today on the Financial Planner Live podcast, albeit via Zoom, not face-to-face, due to COVID-19 lockdown.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_01: I've already seen you wearing shorts and a shirt, so we can't I'm not going to hide that one anymore.
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_01: I won't stand up.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_01: You won't stand up, yeah.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_01: Get his knees out, absolutely.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_01: Well, it's boiling hot, isn't it?
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_01: You've been out in the garden today?
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_00: Uh not really, no.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_00: Um I've I've not had the chance, but I do need to get out there later.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_01: Sunshine.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, definitely.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_01: Get some get it get some vitamin D.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_01: Um, great stuff.
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_01: So, you know, on the subject of of COVID-19, obviously we're we're doing this via Zoom, video chat, and uh and whatnot.
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_01: And has it had a massive impact on you in and and your job of of being a financial planner?
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_01: Have you found it's impacted it in any way or has it improved it?
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_00: Or it's strange actually because initially um getting clients used to technology, so older clients that are not used to this kind of technology uh and talking them through it.
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_00: So maybe at the start it was a case of calling clients up, telling them what to do to follow certain links, and then um getting them on board.
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_00: But after doing that a couple of times, it's become quite normal now.
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I find that I'm probably speaking to my clients more than I ever have.
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_00: It's just a case that normally you're in the car a lot of the time, traveling from meeting to meeting.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_00: Whereas now I'm able to talk to a lot of clients in the same day and get things out the same day.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so it's it's a little bit different.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_00: Obviously, it's still really good to have that face-to-face contact and that relationship.
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, but in these times, being able to speak to people more often is really important, especially with market conditions, etc.
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_00: So, yeah, it's been good.
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_00: I've um not really noticed a massive difference, uh, all albeit the the first couple of weeks getting used to the technology.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_01: Well, fair play.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_01: So you're kind of embracing it really then.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_01: You you're seeing the benefits of using the technology.
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_01: Were you were you using it sort of pre-lockdown or not?
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_01: Were you using video technology?
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_00: No, not at all.
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_00: Um not even.
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_00: Uh some teams would internally if there was teams in different offices and they would speak to each other.
• 3:41
  SPEAKER_00: But it's now been pushed out to the whole company now.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_00: So we're having quizzes with each other to keep the morale going in the team, uh, having webinars for our health and well-being as well, which is really important.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_00: So we're embracing it as a company for both internal and external, uh, which is working really well.
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_01: You know, and somebody I've been speaking to, um, especially in the recruitment industry, is saying, like, oh God, I feel like there's just too much going on.
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_01: Like everybody wants to do a chat or everybody wants to do a, you know, a quiz or something like that.
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_01: And I just want to get on with my job.
• 4:11
  SPEAKER_01: Have they kind of balance that quite well where you work?
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_01: Are they sort of um, you know, some people feel like they can they're constantly being monitored by a video or something, you know, it gets a bit silly.
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_00: So with us, it's pretty much that we'll speak to our clients and we can get involved in different things if needed.
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_00: Um, we are having regular catch-ups with our uh directors or our team directors as a as a team.
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_00: We will dial in, all speak to each other and see how our week's going.
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_00: But that's not uh in any way trying to check what you're doing.
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_00: Um it's not like that at all.
• 4:47
  SPEAKER_00: I've not found with us.
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_00: Uh it's just a touching point to keep in in contact to talk about what sort of things we're facing, what sort of things our clients are talking about, and for us to have the opportunity to voice that and use each other as a soundboard.
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_01: So you mentioned as well, like Yeah, you mentioned as well, you were spending a lot of time in your car previous to the lockdown.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_01: And um, you might phone somebody in your car on the way to a client visit on the way back or something like that.
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and I think that's a big thing that's going to change uh when we come out of lockdown and people start to look at how they work because we spend a huge amount of not only from an environmental perspective, trying to reduce the amount of traffic on the roads, but I think we spend a lot of time in cars unnecessarily.
• 5:31
  SPEAKER_01: And I was talking to a few of the guys in the office, you know, I can see this being quite a hybrid role from now on, recruitment, for instance.
• 5:37
  SPEAKER_01: And I can imagine it's probably very similar to you guys anyway, because you're out and about and seeing people all the time.
• 5:41
  SPEAKER_01: But I don't think it's healthy to have somebody in the office 20, you know, all the time.
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, sometimes some people have to travel like an hour and a half a day in total, sat in cars, wasting money, getting stressed out.
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_01: You know, you could start the day wonderfully brilliant, get in your car, and you're a nightmare, aren't you?
• 5:57
  SPEAKER_01: Because you've been cut up or something, or you know, and you've got to find parking and it becomes a stress on the day.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_01: And I think um if we can create that kind of hybrid trusting lifestyle, that that that work balanced lifestyle, I think it's only going to be beneficial to lots of people's mental health, but also to the environment because we less people on the roads and all that kind of stuff.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_01: So I think there's a lot of positives that are coming off the back of this and the technology side of it as well.
• 6:19
  SPEAKER_01: As you said, at first it's all like, well, I don't want to use videos, it's confusing, and then bam, people are just on it, used to it.
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_01: Older generation are using it more anyway, because they're interacting with the grandchildren or their children, and everyone's kind of doing it from a family perspective.
• 6:32
  SPEAKER_01: So I think it's going to add again this ease of doing business.
• 6:35
  SPEAKER_01: If you can just pick the phone up, have a video chat, happy day, isn't it?
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_01: You don't have to kind of go out and sit there with somebody, although it's nice, it's just an added way to build that rapport, isn't it?
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_00: I think with the technology as well.
• 6:47
  SPEAKER_00: So we had uh I had a meeting this morning with one of our uh employee benefit consultants uh because Matthew Elliott was deal with the wealth management and the employee benefits as well.
• 6:57
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 6:57
  SPEAKER_00: Uh so for businesses to ensure their staff are being looked after uh and to talk about the employee benefit side of that.
• 7:04
  SPEAKER_00: And uh they mentioned that their, I think of employers are now looking at their uh employees' well-being and the the benefit packaging uh in place to make sure that they're well looked after.
• 7:17
  SPEAKER_00: That's quite a lot that believe that they're not in the right position to look after their employees.
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_00: What is this?
• 7:24
  SPEAKER_01: Is this during COVID-19, is it?
• 7:26
  SPEAKER_01: During during the lockdown.
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_00: Since COVID-19, six percent are now looking to review their employee benefit position to ensure that their employees have been looked after.
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_00: So it's huge.
• 7:39
  SPEAKER_01: It is huge, and um, we've got um Health Shield actually.
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_01: I bought that in here at Recruit UK Health Shield.
• 7:46
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, we have that as well.
• 7:47
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's a really good, really good proposition.
• 7:50
  SPEAKER_01: And I know some of the guys um have found it really beneficial, especially things like the counselling, because it's like you get like eight counselling sessions via video uh as part of the proposition.
• 8:01
  SPEAKER_01: And you if you want to pay for more, you can pay for more, and then you get some some free as well.
• 8:05
  SPEAKER_01: So it's really good.
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_01: It's a really good proposition, and um I can understand that as well.
• 8:09
  SPEAKER_01: And I think again, like the more people are working away from the office, and and we've noticed in this, some people can deal with it okay, and some people can't.
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_01: One day you might feel really good, and the next day you might feel really bad.
• 8:21
  SPEAKER_01: But it's a problem, isn't it?
• 8:22
  SPEAKER_01: Because you sat there on your own, and I found it as a director.
• 8:24
  SPEAKER_01: I'm sitting there on my own and I'm thinking, I just really want to reach out to someone and talk to somebody, but I sound a bit needy, you know, I sound a bit like and it's it's it's tough, innit?
• 8:33
  SPEAKER_01: It's uh but it's things that we we kind of can get used to.
• 8:35
  SPEAKER_01: But I also feel sorry for the people as well, like especially in some of these companies where they're going to work because they want to go to work, because it's part of their social group, and not everybody likes being on their own, do they?
• 8:47
  SPEAKER_01: And they like to go to work and they're missing out on that interaction that they might not get in uh you know from from from being at home in their normal sort of home life because work was their their social life as well.
• 8:57
  SPEAKER_01: Um that's a big part of it as well.
• 8:59
  SPEAKER_01: And all these massive companies saying they're not gonna, oh you know, we don't need the office space anymore, and we don't need this, we're gonna save a load of money and great, pump it into some employee benefit stuff as well to make sure they're looked after.
• 9:10
  SPEAKER_01: But I don't think do away with the office.
• 9:11
  SPEAKER_01: I think that's madness.
• 9:13
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I think it's still important to have the uh an office space.
• 9:17
  SPEAKER_00: Um people communicating it, it is it's it's so important still.
• 9:22
  SPEAKER_00: It's not I don't think I think this technology is great, uh, but I think there has to be a balance.
• 9:28
  SPEAKER_00: I don't think it can be completely one-sided, everybody working from this.
• 9:32
  SPEAKER_00: I just don't think that is no.
• 9:35
  SPEAKER_00: A lot of people work different, don't they?
• 9:37
  SPEAKER_00: Like you said, people prefer that um one-on-one relationship.
• 9:42
  SPEAKER_00: They prefer to be around people and being at home all day.
• 9:44
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's only going to be so long before people actually miss that, and people already are.
• 9:48
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, they are absolutely mixed.
• 9:51
  SPEAKER_01: It's about balance, it's about creating this hybrid, flexible type role, isn't it?
• 9:55
  SPEAKER_01: And then when people need it, they can use it.
• 9:57
  SPEAKER_01: And then a huge part of that is about trust, isn't it?
• 10:00
  SPEAKER_01: It's about employees trusting their employees that they are going to do the work where they are.
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_01: And I think when we're forced into a situation like this, we're forced into trusting people.
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_01: And I think what you tend to find is the people that can rise to the occasion around that trust will, and the ones that don't won't.
• 10:15
  SPEAKER_01: And they might well be wrong for the structure of the business that we're in.
• 10:19
  SPEAKER_01: Um, all right, cool.
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_01: All right, great stuff.
• 10:21
  SPEAKER_01: Well, listen, thank you so much for coming on the podcast.
• 10:24
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, um, I've spoken to you before.
• 10:26
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, we've had some good chats over the telephone, and um, you know, Nathan, you always struck me as somebody who was very passionate about their industry they're working in and the company that you work for and the journey that you've been on.
• 10:38
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and it's not a typical journey, and this is the reason why I got you on the podcast, because not everybody I come across starts, you know, at the bottom, if you like, within a business at the young age that you you did.
• 10:52
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and I think it's testimony to the fact that your business has obviously got a fantastic career structure in place.
• 10:59
  SPEAKER_01: So we want to look at that and and understand that a bit more and how you progressed through that and the things that work for you really well, and the things that perhaps didn't, and your learnings on your journey to get you to the level that you are now of being a financial planner.
• 11:13
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so first question I always like to ask is you know, how did you get into the industry?
• 11:19
  SPEAKER_01: How did you get into a financial planning company?
• 11:23
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so I'll take it back to the start because financial planning was never what I wanted to do.
• 11:31
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, it was just didn't even cross my mind, just didn't even think of uh pursuing a career like this.
• 11:37
  SPEAKER_00: But um, whilst at college, I was a student governor and didn't realise that one of the actual governors on the board was Ian Mattioli.
• 11:46
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 11:47
  SPEAKER_00: So I was quite fortunate to have been um given the opportunity to to come and work for Mattioli Woods.
• 11:53
  SPEAKER_00: Uh that doesn't necessarily mean anybody that's in college cannot pursue the same route that I have.
• 11:59
  SPEAKER_00: It was just that I met Ian and that gave me the opportunity and made me realize this is the career I want.
• 12:06
  SPEAKER_00: Whereas a lot of people already know that and they can come in from what happened next.
• 12:12
  SPEAKER_00: And that was starting at the bottom.
• 12:14
  SPEAKER_00: I'd come from college.
• 12:16
  SPEAKER_00: At the time, they didn't have an apprentice uh scheme or anything like that in place, whereas now we do.
• 12:22
  SPEAKER_00: And we have a graduate scheme which I hadn't been to university, and at that time you needed to have gone to university.
• 12:30
  SPEAKER_00: So again, uh it was just a case of working alongside existing client relationship managers and helping them, and also helping out in reception, opening post.
• 12:40
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so doing all of the jobs um that that uh are in the business and starting from basics and working my way up.
• 12:49
  SPEAKER_00: So let's let's let's talk about that then.
• 12:52
  SPEAKER_01: So, okay, so you were at college, you were you're in one of the you're did you say you were a counselor or something, did you say?
• 12:58
  SPEAKER_00: Like a yeah, so I was a governor on the yes.
• 13:02
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, and Ian Mattioli was also a governor as well, and he obviously noticed something in you.
• 13:07
  SPEAKER_01: Did he?
• 13:08
  SPEAKER_01: How did he what did he approach you?
• 13:09
  SPEAKER_01: Did he say, you know, what do you want to do with your life?
• 13:11
  SPEAKER_01: Well, how did that come about?
• 13:13
  SPEAKER_01: That's quite lucky.
• 13:14
  SPEAKER_01: It's quite lucky in a way.
• 13:15
  SPEAKER_01: There's something in that, isn't there?
• 13:16
  SPEAKER_01: A little bit of luck going on, I think.
• 13:18
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe, I don't know.
• 13:19
  SPEAKER_00: It's a little bit strange.
• 13:20
  SPEAKER_00: So with um the meetings that I was in, nothing was said in the meetings.
• 13:27
  SPEAKER_00: It was a case that I would have my part of uh the meeting that I would present, uh talk about the things that we've been doing in college, uh, different things that we should think uh that we thought as students needed to be incorporated uh into the college to make it better.
• 13:42
  SPEAKER_00: And it was just a three or four meetings that I was in, and after that, my principal called me to the office and just said that Ian Mattioli is a successful businessman and uh he is one of the governors and would love you to work for him after college.
• 13:58
  SPEAKER_00: So I was just blown away.
• 13:59
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I bet you were.
• 14:01
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so yeah, that's how it kind of came about, and then I was given the opportunity to go into Mattioli Woods and to shadow Ian for the day.
• 14:12
  SPEAKER_00: So it was a case of going into the office and actually looking around, seeing the sort of things he gets involved in from clients, management, etc.
• 14:20
  SPEAKER_00: And uh just loved it.
• 14:22
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah.
• 14:23
  SPEAKER_01: Well interesting.
• 14:24
  SPEAKER_00: So you're leaving, you know, how old were you when you left college?
• 14:28
  SPEAKER_00: So I was 19 when I left college.
• 14:31
  SPEAKER_00: I traveled to Australia to visit family straight from college with my granddad, which was amazing.
• 14:39
  SPEAKER_00: And then when we came back, that's when I started at Mattioli Woods.
• 14:43
  SPEAKER_00: So it started when I was 20.
• 14:45
  SPEAKER_01: You started when you were 20 at Mattioli Woods, yeah.
• 14:48
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, great stuff.
• 14:49
  SPEAKER_01: So you did your college thing, you know, you were you got essentially you know picked by Ian to come on in and to work with, you know, underneath was it were you working directly underneath Ian?
• 15:03
  SPEAKER_01: Were you supporting him or what you know what was your introduction?
• 15:06
  SPEAKER_01: Because you mentioned you were pretty much doing everything by the sounds of it, a bit of facts in a bit of this, that and the other.
• 15:09
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 15:10
  SPEAKER_01: But but let's talk about your grassroots level.
• 15:12
  SPEAKER_01: What was your first sort of your you know, your first year like when you were working there?
• 15:16
  SPEAKER_00: So one of the uh so if I give you an overview of Matchioli was I'll just try and break it down quite concise.
• 15:23
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, but we are a fully integrated model, so advisor, provider, we offer the investments, etc.
• 15:28
  SPEAKER_00: in-house.
• 15:29
  SPEAKER_00: Uh the pensions themselves are our own.
• 15:33
  SPEAKER_00: So there's a lot of different roles within the company rather than just one sort of element.
• 15:39
  SPEAKER_00: So going uh into the position I did, I was a client relationship manager support.
• 15:44
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 15:45
  SPEAKER_00: So alongside our consultants, we have dedicated client relationship managers.
• 15:50
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 15:51
  SPEAKER_00: So each consultant will have between one to probably five client relationship managers depending on their sort of workload, how many schemes they look after.
• 16:01
  SPEAKER_00: And um, yeah, it was my job to assist them client relationship managers with the day-to-day running of them pension schemes and their investments.
• 16:10
  SPEAKER_00: So it was just getting an idea of to what the what they did day to day, and allowed me to build up a skill set in terms of that to be able to then progress into that role.
• 16:20
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but alongside of that, I also helped out with reception, I helped out doing post, etc.
• 16:26
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 16:27
  SPEAKER_00: Uh and that was just part of the role just to help out and get a good understanding for how the business is run.
• 16:32
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 16:33
  SPEAKER_01: So that sort of grassroot entry level then.
• 16:35
  SPEAKER_01: Do you think that's beneficial?
• 16:36
  SPEAKER_01: Say if someone comes to me now and said, or comes to you and said, Look, you know, I'm what I want to become a financial advisor.
• 16:42
  SPEAKER_01: I want to be a financial advisor.
• 16:43
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe they're 20 years old.
• 16:45
  SPEAKER_01: What what would your advice be?
• 16:46
  SPEAKER_01: Would it, you know, to a to a 21-year-old coming to you saying, I want to be a financial advisor, what would you say?
• 16:53
  SPEAKER_00: A lot of younger people um think that the consultancy role is is is the the best you can get, and they want to get there as quickly as they can.
• 17:05
  SPEAKER_00: It's kind of it's up there and it's it's it's what everybody wants to achieve.
• 17:10
  SPEAKER_00: But I always believe that the grassroots and actually working your way through and understanding the business that you work for, understanding how that business works and the products and services you offer is massively important.
• 17:24
  SPEAKER_00: And whilst it may take you a couple of years longer in order to get to where you want to be, I've found that it's been much more beneficial to me to have that background to now be in the role that I am because I understand everything, I understand how it works, understand the technicalities of things, time frames, processes, I have a good understanding of the people I work with, who I need to go to for certain things, and sign-offs as well.
• 17:51
  SPEAKER_00: Whereas people that tend to want to rush into that financial advisor role, they may not actually fully understand the business they're working for, the processes.
• 18:02
  SPEAKER_00: So it means that when they're advising clients, they could be advising on the wrong time frames, they might not fully understand the process, and then it lets the client down.
• 18:12
  SPEAKER_00: And it's all these different things which may not seem an issue to some people, but they can massively like massively affect relationships with clients and trust as well.
• 18:22
  SPEAKER_00: And that's a massive thing for our job.
• 18:25
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, I think starting um at a sort of grass level and working your way in doesn't mean you've got to do that forever, but it just means that you get a good understanding, and when you are advising clients, you know exactly what you're talking about, and that's I think really important.
• 18:42
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, I think it's probably the best way to get into it.
• 18:45
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, getting a real good understanding of the processes and systems and uh timescales and uh what the individual has to do in that role as well, because as I guess you gradually move up the ranks and you hit the level of what you guys call a consultant, which I assume is a financial planner, yeah.
• 18:59
  SPEAKER_01: When you yeah, reach that the heights of where you want to be, you've got a good understanding of the structure of the business and what the client um timescales and turnarounds can be on certain types of reviews or requests and all that kind of stuff.
• 19:15
  SPEAKER_01: And um I suppose a an understanding and a respect for the people in that position as well.
• 19:22
  SPEAKER_01: So when it comes to you uh, you know, trying to manage your own expectations, a client's expectations, you're also thinking, I suppose, around the wider business and about the impact it has on those guys as well.
• 19:34
  SPEAKER_01: Um does that help you sort of become a better consultant um you know socially as well within the business?
• 19:43
  SPEAKER_00: Do you are you sort of so I've I've built up really strong relationships with with colleagues internally uh across the business, and it is it's massively important.
• 19:55
  SPEAKER_00: And exactly like you said, by me being in that role, if a client was to do, for example, a property purchase, or they wanted to take their pension commencement lump sum, for example, I know the processes and I know what needs to go into that, and I need I know what the client relationship manager needs to do in order to achieve it.
• 20:16
  SPEAKER_00: So whilst it may seem right, we're just buying a property or we're just placing an investment, it can't be that hard.
• 20:22
  SPEAKER_00: There are a lot of things that if you haven't been in that role, you don't actually understand.
• 20:28
  SPEAKER_00: So you might say, Yeah, right, that'll take a couple of days, or it could take a week, or it could take a month.
• 20:33
  SPEAKER_00: So it's really just having that expectation, not only for the client, for yourself, but also for the wider team that's involved.
• 20:40
  SPEAKER_00: And I think, yeah, it's massively important.
• 20:42
  SPEAKER_00: And it it allows them to have trust in you as well.
• 20:46
  SPEAKER_00: So they know that you're looking out for them, they know that you're looking after them and making sure that they're okay and not under pressure.
• 20:52
  SPEAKER_00: Because if you just fire something on somebody, they're just going to crack.
• 20:56
  SPEAKER_00: So having and an understanding for what their role is and being able to work with them is massively important.
• 21:02
  SPEAKER_01: Is there a lot of pressure in the role of say a client relationship manager, administrator?
• 21:10
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I don't really ever think about it when I'm on if I'm honest.
• 21:13
  SPEAKER_01: I don't, you know, is kind of just think, oh, they're supporting me, you know, if I was a financial advisor or a recruiter, they're supporting me.
• 21:19
  SPEAKER_01: That egotistical kind of stance, I think.
• 21:22
  SPEAKER_01: But you know, you've done the job.
• 21:23
  SPEAKER_01: Is you know, is there a lot of pressure upon you in a in a supporting function?
• 21:29
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, absolutely.
• 21:30
  SPEAKER_00: So as a client relationship manager, I know now I'm a consultant, I know that without uh my client relationship managers, I wouldn't be able to do the job that I do as as as well as I do because they are a massive help and they they they have their own relationship with the clients as well.
• 21:51
  SPEAKER_00: So if a client, for example, has got investments, they've got cash, um, property, whatever it may be in their pension, and They've also got the wider investments that we provide alongside that.
• 22:04
  SPEAKER_00: That client relationship manager is responsible for making sure that everything's dealt with.
• 22:09
  SPEAKER_00: So if a client wants to sell an investment, also provide the advice and all the strategic planning behind it.
• 22:15
  SPEAKER_00: The client relationship manager is the one that is actually facilitating the documentation.
• 22:20
  SPEAKER_00: They're speaking to the investment providers if external, if they're our row and they're liaison with them.
• 22:26
  SPEAKER_00: They're talking through all the different processes to make sure everything's right for the client.
• 22:31
  SPEAKER_00: If a client had a property purchase or a property in their pension or borrowing or anything like that, they're looking into that as well to make sure rents are being paid, making sure insurance is in place, making sure if a lease comes to expiry, that right, we're looking at putting a new lease in place.
• 22:50
  SPEAKER_00: They do all the reporting, VAT returns, there's so much to that job.
• 22:55
  SPEAKER_00: So if they're doing that for say, say they've got 100 clients or 150 clients that they look after, it's quite a demanding job.
• 23:05
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, they are massively important and they provide a massive resource for the business as well.
• 23:10
  SPEAKER_01: And do you think there's a so let's say for example, like um, because the the route of say a um an administrator in in that you can go from administrator into like power planner position, or you could go from like administrator to power planner to financial advisor?
• 23:25
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 23:26
  SPEAKER_01: Um do you think somebody who's got that kind of drive to be an advisor would get bored quite quickly in an administrator role?
• 23:33
  SPEAKER_01: Do you think the the skill set required to do the job really well doesn't suit perhaps an extroverted type person who gets bored quite easily?
• 23:43
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but put them in front of a client and they could they've got to you know wow the pants off of them with all their charisma or whatever.
• 23:50
  SPEAKER_01: Or, you know, is that any kind of truth in that?
• 23:54
  SPEAKER_00: I think it really depends on the business you work for and what that job entails.
• 23:59
  SPEAKER_00: Um, whether it's because it's so varied, we don't just deal with pensions and standard investments, it is very bespoke.
• 24:06
  SPEAKER_00: There's a lot of different things going on.
• 24:09
  SPEAKER_00: Um, the client relationship manager actually works alongside the consultant.
• 24:13
  SPEAKER_00: So anything I put in place, we have a chat, we sit down, we discuss what the plan is and what we're doing for this client, and we work together as a team to achieve that.
• 24:22
  SPEAKER_00: So they're very much involved in the planning as well.
• 24:26
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 24:27
  SPEAKER_00: So it it it is I I was a client relationship manager for five years, and I absolutely loved it.
• 24:33
  SPEAKER_00: There was so much opportunity there, so many different specialisms, whether investments, property, uh, loan banks, which is a loan from the pension to the business.
• 24:43
  SPEAKER_00: Um, it's all very technical stuff.
• 24:46
  SPEAKER_00: So being involved in that and being you can be a specialist in those areas, that keeps you occupied as well.
• 24:52
  SPEAKER_00: It gives you something different to look at.
• 24:55
  SPEAKER_00: So I was a specialist in different areas.
• 24:58
  SPEAKER_00: So the property team, uh, borrowings, uh, loan backs to companies, uh, VAT, um, pension contributions and sort of taper and relief, etc.
• 25:09
  SPEAKER_00: So quite complex areas, and also death benefits, divorce, etc.
• 25:14
  SPEAKER_00: So I've specialized in them areas as I gradually built my way up in the client relationship manager role.
• 25:21
  SPEAKER_00: So it's not just a case that you're doing the same thing every day, every day is different, every client's different, and every outcome is different, and then having them different roles on top give you that element of responsibility and a different view from the day-to-day job as well.
• 25:39
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, so yeah, it keeps you very much excited, and I learned something every single day.
• 25:45
  SPEAKER_00: So I there was never a day where I didn't learn something new.
• 25:48
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, and yeah, so I I don't it depends on I guess that one business might just do one certain thing, so there might be a team that deal with a valuation.
• 25:59
  SPEAKER_00: So they'll run valuations every day for for the clients in that company, or they may process the investments for that company for the clients in that company.
• 26:08
  SPEAKER_00: Whereas with us, we do everything.
• 26:09
  SPEAKER_00: So as that client relationship manager, you've got uh you basically have responsibility for everything.
• 26:15
  SPEAKER_00: You you process everything that gets given.
• 26:19
  SPEAKER_00: Um, that allows you to build a broad uh skill set, and that's that's why it's been so beneficial to me in going through that into where I am now.
• 26:28
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, because it's like a grassroots level, you've got your foundations, you're building up the client relationships, you're understanding the process, you're getting an exposure to the different products and uh specialisms, as you put it, as well.
• 26:39
  SPEAKER_01: You give yourself the ability to kind of get noticed as well within the business about having that specific type of knowledge, and you're starting to build relationships and understanding what the financial advisor does.
• 26:49
  SPEAKER_01: Were you getting to sit in with the financial advisors as well on their client meetings and stuff like that as well?
• 26:54
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, so with um with me there, I'm probably skipping ahead.
• 27:00
  SPEAKER_00: You may want to ask me this uh separately, but in terms of why I wanted to become a financial advisor, um, was because um of the relationships I built with clients.
• 27:11
  SPEAKER_00: So, in that client relationship manager role, you build relationships with clients because you speak to them, you let them know what's going on, you you're in constant communication um with them as and when needed.
• 27:23
  SPEAKER_00: So going out with a consultant and actually meeting them was it is a big important role because it means that they then know that, right, I've met that person that I'm speaking to as well.
• 27:35
  SPEAKER_00: So when they call you up, they're familiar with who you are.
• 27:37
  SPEAKER_00: So I went out on quite a lot of meetings with consultants, got to meet the clients that I was looking after, and yeah, just again builds relationships, which is amazing.
• 27:48
  SPEAKER_00: And that's what I loved.
• 27:49
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and it makes that job real, doesn't it?
• 27:51
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I always remember, you know, when you when you're on the phone just phoning people up all the time, you know, doing business development calls, etc.
• 27:58
  SPEAKER_01: And then you actually generate a client or something.
• 28:00
  SPEAKER_01: This is from my perspective, really, an old history of different jobs I've done.
• 28:03
  SPEAKER_01: But when I gone out and sat down and met with met somebody, uh looked into the whites of their eyes, it was a completely it always is a completely different relationship.
• 28:11
  SPEAKER_01: You know, you walk away and when you get on the phone to them the next time, it's a different tone of voice, it's a different sort of understanding.
• 28:17
  SPEAKER_01: And and this is the thing, you know, video definitely adds that, I think.
• 28:22
  SPEAKER_01: It gives you that kind of I don't think it actually fulfills that connection, but I think it aids it sort of a little bit more because let's talk about you and me.
• 28:32
  SPEAKER_01: Like you and me talking on the telephone, you know, we got on well on the phone, didn't we?
• 28:36
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, then we got on the video and had a little kind of brief chat on video, and it was different.
• 28:40
  SPEAKER_01: And now today when we spoke on the video, we were we were far more relaxed, weren't we?
• 28:44
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 28:44
  SPEAKER_01: We've seen each other and we've kind of understood where we're coming from where we're coming from.
• 28:47
  SPEAKER_01: I'm sure if we ever meet each other on a face-to-face basis, it'll be handshaked and how you're doing type thing, isn't it?
• 28:52
  SPEAKER_01: So exactly.
• 28:53
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it does, it does definitely work.
• 28:55
  SPEAKER_01: And um and I think that's a good part about it as well, is if you're getting into the financial advice industry and you're looking at the companies that you're working for, is okay, so if you're going to go in at a level where you're going in as an administrator, what actually are you doing?
• 29:07
  SPEAKER_01: Are you literally just sitting at a computer doing administration, chasing evaluations and stuff like that?
• 29:12
  SPEAKER_01: You know, how much variety is there in the actual role that you're doing?
• 29:15
  SPEAKER_01: If you want to become a financial advisor, ask the questions at interview.
• 29:20
  SPEAKER_01: How, you know, how is this role that I'm coming in?
• 29:23
  SPEAKER_01: How is this going to benefit me to becoming an advisor?
• 29:27
  SPEAKER_01: You know, is there an opportunity for me to sit down with clients and observe meetings?
• 29:31
  SPEAKER_01: Or am I able to speak to clients in a client relationship role?
• 29:35
  SPEAKER_01: Because not all financial advice firms have client relationship managers, you know, they'll have their administrator, they'll have their power planner, and that power planner just sits there and does what they're doing.
• 29:44
  SPEAKER_01: And the financial advisor looks after all the relationships, and that's it.
• 29:46
  SPEAKER_01: You know, they're like, give it their mind, you know, you do the admin and I'll do this.
• 29:50
  SPEAKER_01: This is the part I do.
• 29:51
  SPEAKER_01: And I speak to so many like power planners for, for instance, that you know, they're absolutely more than capable of becoming financial advisors, but I think they're being held back.
• 30:00
  SPEAKER_01: You know, there's lots of lots of power planners ready to become advisors or ready to be trained or coached or developed and guided, but the firms aren't willing to invest that time, energy, and money into them.
• 30:10
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know.
• 30:11
  SPEAKER_01: It's just like, oh, you're a good power planner, you stay there, you're a good administrator, stay there.
• 30:15
  SPEAKER_01: And it tends to be the smaller firms, I I, you know, not everybody.
• 30:18
  SPEAKER_01: Um when you start looking at the firms that are a little bigger and have got the and have thought about the process and the structure of how someone can move through the business, those are the ones that are starting to really add value to the next generation, I think, of financial planners.
• 30:32
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, yeah, agreed.
• 30:34
  SPEAKER_00: And with client relationship managers, they have the ability to speak to clients.
• 30:39
  SPEAKER_00: So they're if I've got um a hundred clients, my client relationship manager may look after 50 of them.
• 30:46
  SPEAKER_00: I may have another client relationship manager that looks after the other 50, for example.
• 30:50
  SPEAKER_00: But yeah, they would speak to the client and they would be their point of contact.
• 30:55
  SPEAKER_00: So they do have a variety of different things they can do.
• 30:59
  SPEAKER_00: If something happens uh within the pension scheme, they can work together in achieving that and come up with a solution and then refer it to me, and then I would say, right, yeah, that's that's a good, or we'll do that actually, but we'll add this on.
• 31:11
  SPEAKER_00: So it's given that responsibility as well.
• 31:14
  SPEAKER_00: And from a power planner perspective, there are a lot of people that just enjoy that and they don't want to do the consultancy element of it.
• 31:22
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and we do have power planners, but that's not for everyday.
• 31:27
  SPEAKER_00: So we us as consultants, all of our letters are very bespoke to our clients because we know our clients, so we don't have a system where we put information in and then it pre-populates.
• 31:39
  SPEAKER_00: All of our letters are bespoke to our clients, and I think that's another important thing with the company I work for, keeping that bespokeness to that client.
• 31:49
  SPEAKER_00: So when they read it, they know it's from you, and they know it's not just a case of bish bash bosh, there you go.
• 31:56
  SPEAKER_00: Here's a letter.
• 31:57
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so whilst we do have the support there in terms of any technical um sort of things that we're doing, we might need certain technical input and how to word that, and we do have the support.
• 32:10
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but yeah, it is very much we do our letters and we make that bespoke for our clients.
• 32:16
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, great.
• 32:16
  SPEAKER_01: So, okay, so you were doing that CR um client relationship manager role for five years.
• 32:21
  SPEAKER_01: Now you're obviously quite knowledgeable around your pensions and different different areas of of financial planning.
• 32:28
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you didn't fluke that, and you haven't just you know, you you've obviously studied towards that and and and had and had some on-the-job training as well, I assume, and we'll talk a little bit more about that.
• 32:37
  SPEAKER_01: But how about your qualifications then?
• 32:39
  SPEAKER_01: Because you you got approach by ear, and Ian said, come and come and you know, we want you to come and work for us on a on an introductory basis and you know, on a sorry, uh sort of um entry-level basis.
• 32:51
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 32:52
  SPEAKER_01: What was your um route to becoming level four qualified then?
• 32:58
  SPEAKER_01: So were you given training um on the job?
• 33:01
  SPEAKER_01: Did you have to do it through an advisor school in your own time?
• 33:04
  SPEAKER_01: What was your route to becoming level four qualified?
• 33:08
  SPEAKER_00: So it's quite funny actually, because I never thought I'd be able to do it.
• 33:11
  SPEAKER_00: I always looked at that as a massive obstacle.
• 33:15
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, going back to the fact that we go out with consultants and we're able to see and meet clients.
• 33:21
  SPEAKER_00: That was really the driver for me.
• 33:23
  SPEAKER_00: And the consultants would talk to me and would say, Nathan, you'd make a really good consultant.
• 33:27
  SPEAKER_00: Do your exams, and we can get you into the training, and you can become a consultant.
• 33:32
  SPEAKER_00: And I used to say, Oh no, like I can't do it.
• 33:35
  SPEAKER_00: And then it was a case of right, we're moving you into the role now.
• 33:39
  SPEAKER_00: We know you want to do it, we know you'll be good at it.
• 33:42
  SPEAKER_00: You've got six months.
• 33:43
  SPEAKER_00: Let's see if you can get your exams done.
• 33:46
  SPEAKER_00: Um, obviously, that was just to put a bit of pressure on me to make me believe myself and make me do it.
• 33:51
  SPEAKER_00: And it did.
• 33:53
  SPEAKER_00: And even though I didn't have to get them done in six months, I did.
• 33:56
  SPEAKER_00: I got them done in seven months and passed them all.
• 33:59
  SPEAKER_00: So I was quite impressed.
• 34:01
  SPEAKER_00: That's amazing.
• 34:02
  SPEAKER_00: In seven months you passed which which exams did you do?
• 34:06
  SPEAKER_00: So I did all six, War01, two, three, four, five, six.
• 34:09
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 34:10
  SPEAKER_01: In seven months.
• 34:12
  SPEAKER_00: Seven months, yeah.
• 34:12
  SPEAKER_01: That's incredible.
• 34:14
  SPEAKER_00: So it's hard work, um, but worth it.
• 34:18
  SPEAKER_01: Right, okay, because some of the people that I've spoken to, like, the advice they always give me is don't stop.
• 34:24
  SPEAKER_01: Don't otherwise you'll lose momentum.
• 34:25
  SPEAKER_01: So once you pass one, do another.
• 34:27
  SPEAKER_01: Once you pass one, do another.
• 34:29
  SPEAKER_01: But most people I've been speaking to have been passing it in like 18 months, 24 months.
• 34:33
  SPEAKER_01: So to get those all done within that short space of time was is pretty amazing.
• 34:37
  SPEAKER_01: So what's your advice?
• 34:39
  SPEAKER_01: Hank, what's your advice to getting your level four qualifications done within six months?
• 34:44
  SPEAKER_00: Well, it was I don't I don't want to sound like I'm blowing my own trumpet because I'm not, but I was doing at the time the client relationship manager role and some of the specialisms.
• 34:55
  SPEAKER_00: I was also on the uh training consultant role as well.
• 34:58
  SPEAKER_00: So going out with consultants twice a week for a full day and helping them with follow-up.
• 35:03
  SPEAKER_00: So I'd draft my own letter to see what they thought and they would help me with it.
• 35:06
  SPEAKER_00: So I was doing all of that um whilst um also doing my exams.
• 35:12
  SPEAKER_00: So in the evenings, I would just dedicate my time to say, right, 10 pages a night, I want to cover, and everybody works different.
• 35:23
  SPEAKER_00: But for me, I was writing everything out and it was taking forever.
• 35:26
  SPEAKER_00: And I thought, right, I really want to, like a lot of this is not sticking in.
• 35:31
  SPEAKER_00: So I'd go through the book, I'd highlight it, and then I'd focus my time on past papers, and I would just nail past papers.
• 35:38
  SPEAKER_00: So 10 pages a night, if I was doing well and I was quite enjoying it, then I'd probably go to 15 pages that night.
• 35:45
  SPEAKER_00: But I'd make sure every single night I dedicated that time to it.
• 35:50
  SPEAKER_00: And I did that every night, and I'd just nail past papers and anything I got wrong, I'd write the notes down, I'd go back to the book, I'd read on the the parts that I've got wrong, and then I'd make my notes because then I know the bits that have stuck in and what have not.
• 36:04
  SPEAKER_00: And then I'd move on next past paper the next night.
• 36:08
  SPEAKER_00: So it'd be an hour or two hours, depending upon what exam it was, to do it.
• 36:13
  SPEAKER_00: But I just thought it was so worth it, and by doing that, I would then get said six past papers, I'd then go back to the first one again, resit it, right?
• 36:23
  SPEAKER_00: I'm still getting that bit wrong.
• 36:25
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, let's read on it again.
• 36:26
  SPEAKER_00: And that's what I did, and it really worked, and it stuck in because when you get things wrong, you can see it there.
• 36:33
  SPEAKER_00: So I'd read like I'd when I'd read the answers, I'd go through like the first ten and then I'd look at the book and go through I'd do it that way.
• 36:41
  SPEAKER_00: So it really stuck in rather than trying to cram everything in.
• 36:44
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but yeah, and then I did that and I passed, and I thought, wow, that was an that was a hard exam I've passed.
• 36:50
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 36:51
  SPEAKER_00: And then I thought, right, I'm gonna try it again.
• 36:52
  SPEAKER_00: So I did it again, pass the next one.
• 36:55
  SPEAKER_00: And yeah, it just continued like that.
• 36:58
  SPEAKER_01: Just spiraled like that.
• 36:59
  SPEAKER_01: And you just continued to book them, did you?
• 37:00
  SPEAKER_01: Did you book them all in advance, or did you just what pass one, book one, pass one, book one?
• 37:05
  SPEAKER_00: So I used to work with a guy, and he knew that I didn't really have much confidence in passing them, and he was doing it at the same time.
• 37:11
  SPEAKER_00: And he said, Nathan, book an exam, you won't regret it because you've got the date in there, and you're just gonna have to do it, and it'll push you.
• 37:21
  SPEAKER_00: So that's what I did.
• 37:22
  SPEAKER_00: So, what I then did after that is I booked that, and about two weeks before, sitting the exam, I would order my next book.
• 37:30
  SPEAKER_00: So I knew the next book was on the way.
• 37:33
  SPEAKER_00: So as soon as I've sat that exam, pops up pass, then I go home, have a couple of days off uh to rest, and then I'd get onto the next book, and then I'd start reading that, and that's how I did it.
• 37:45
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, so end of the day, you you structured your your your learning, didn't you?
• 37:50
  SPEAKER_01: You didn't overload yourself.
• 37:51
  SPEAKER_01: You set yourself a realistic daily goal of 10 pages.
• 37:54
  SPEAKER_01: How long did 10 pages take you?
• 37:55
  SPEAKER_01: Like an hour or so?
• 37:56
  SPEAKER_00: Or yeah, about an hour, an hour and a half.
• 37:59
  SPEAKER_00: Because I used to you'd read you'd read things and you'd want to read over it again.
• 38:03
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, sometimes if it didn't make sense, you'd go over it again.
• 38:06
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 38:06
  SPEAKER_00: So about an hour, an hour and a half a night.
• 38:09
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but I always find with the exams it is very complex.
• 38:12
  SPEAKER_00: The exams they're they're not they're not hard if you put the time into it and you you actually focus and understand.
• 38:20
  SPEAKER_00: I believe that breaking it down made it easy for me because it meant that I've read 10 pages or I've read 15 pages.
• 38:29
  SPEAKER_00: But when I go sleep at that night, or if I'm walking, I can think, oh, right, okay, that happens and this happens.
• 38:36
  SPEAKER_00: Rather than if I've read 30 pages, I've probably forgot half of it.
• 38:39
  SPEAKER_00: So breaking it up into small pieces allows you to maintain the information, actually understand it, and then you continue.
• 38:46
  SPEAKER_00: And I found that having the sort of training that we do, so going out with consultants, we'd cover things in the exam, and then it'd come up in the meeting, and I'm like, ah, that's that's what that is.
• 38:58
  SPEAKER_00: And I understand it now, seeing it in practice, how it works.
• 39:02
  SPEAKER_00: So that really helped me as well.
• 39:04
  SPEAKER_00: And if I was out and asked questions, I'd be like, Oh, how come you did that then?
• 39:08
  SPEAKER_00: Or why have you advised that?
• 39:10
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, right, okay, because I've read this exam and it says blah de blah, and they'll say, Oh, yeah, so with that, that's this, this is how this is so, and it helps you understand different things as well.
• 39:21
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, so that's another benefit of having that sort of training alongside sitting exams, which I did.
• 39:26
  SPEAKER_01: And past papers, easy enough to get your hands on.
• 39:29
  SPEAKER_01: People out there now, if they were listening to this, where could they get the past papers from?
• 39:33
  SPEAKER_00: So you can get them from CII.
• 39:35
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so you can actually get them from there, and they're really good.
• 39:38
  SPEAKER_00: You also can get an audio as well.
• 39:41
  SPEAKER_00: So if anyone walks or goes for a run, um, or even if you're just embedding you you you scrolling through social media and you think actually I could probably do something better with my time.
• 39:52
  SPEAKER_00: I used to literally read a chapter and then I'd go onto the audio, play that whilst walking, and a lot of the time you probably zone out because you're walking and you're looking around.
• 40:04
  SPEAKER_00: But some bits you'd be like, ah, right, okay.
• 40:07
  SPEAKER_00: And it just sticks it in again.
• 40:08
  SPEAKER_00: So having the audio is probably a good thing as well, I found.
• 40:12
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but it's not hard to get a hold of at all.
• 40:15
  SPEAKER_01: I think I think the lack in the confidence side of it is something that a lot of people have.
• 40:19
  SPEAKER_01: And I when I was um a lot younger, I did FPC one.
• 40:22
  SPEAKER_01: And God, I would, you know, I I'm not incredibly good around uh well, I say that now, I'm saying it now, and I quite I'm 38 years old, I don't know if I'm that good at it.
• 40:31
  SPEAKER_01: I haven't done it for a while.
• 40:32
  SPEAKER_01: But when I was in school, I wasn't you know brilliant at at exams, for instance.
• 40:37
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I wasn't brilliant at exams.
• 40:39
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I wasn't brilliant at coursework.
• 40:41
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, for some reason I just didn't seem to gel with school.
• 40:44
  SPEAKER_01: I liked it, I enjoyed it.
• 40:45
  SPEAKER_01: I loved sport, I love people and everything.
• 40:47
  SPEAKER_01: I did, I didn't skybe school, and you know, I was good, but I just didn't get uh uh out of it, you know.
• 40:54
  SPEAKER_01: Um I didn't continue education.
• 40:55
  SPEAKER_01: I left at 16 and went and worked, you know.
• 40:57
  SPEAKER_01: That was my that was my pathway.
• 40:59
  SPEAKER_01: Um it was interesting really because you know that lack of confidence and it's brilliant, obviously, that you were at Mattioli Woods and that you were being shadowed and guided by other financial planners and that you had people next to you that are also going through the exam.
• 41:13
  SPEAKER_01: So I think that camaraderie and the the mentorship is a massively important part of um a young advisor's journey.
• 41:21
  SPEAKER_01: Uh did you think that when you were younger and you know, in that role, did you feel like you weren't good enough perhaps, or that you weren't old enough or experienced enough to pass those exams?
• 41:34
  SPEAKER_01: What was it that was lacking you it was you know, how could some someone listening to this might relate to relate to your experience?
• 41:40
  SPEAKER_01: You know, what do you think it was that was making you lack that confidence in in passing the exams and becoming an advisor?
• 41:46
  SPEAKER_00: So I think similar to you.
• 41:48
  SPEAKER_00: So with school not really being that good at exams, um, I was better with the coursework with um, but with these exams, a lot of them are multiple choice, and I was thinking there's no way that I'm going to be able to do it.
• 42:01
  SPEAKER_00: And being a consultant is such a um a big job to you've got big boots to fill, you've got a big responsibility looking after people's money and essentially their life as well.
• 42:13
  SPEAKER_00: And I was thinking these exams are going to be hard, and everybody said they were hard.
• 42:17
  SPEAKER_00: And I was thinking, well, I never did well at exams at school, there's no way I'm going to be able to do it.
• 42:21
  SPEAKER_00: And it's kind of a little bit that I didn't want to sit the exam and then fail and get knocked down.
• 42:28
  SPEAKER_00: And I guess I guess I just kept putting it off because I thought I'm working with people.
• 42:34
  SPEAKER_00: If they know I'm sitting in an exam, I don't want to come back and be like, oh, I've failed.
• 42:37
  SPEAKER_00: And then if I do it again, I'll have failed again.
• 42:39
  SPEAKER_00: And that was my biggest fear because I thought I've come in um grassroots, I've come in entry-level live, I've built built up my my trust, I've got into the role I am now, and I I don't want to look silly.
• 42:53
  SPEAKER_00: But not that anybody in the business made me feel like that, everybody was supportive, but it was just me personally thinking, I've come from college, I'm not used to this working environment, it's different to me.
• 43:05
  SPEAKER_00: And it was just a case of people getting behind you and supporting you, and that's what happened.
• 43:11
  SPEAKER_00: And people saying from a director level, Nathan, come on, you're coming into this role, you are going to do them, you can do it, because they've seen that I've been putting it off.
• 43:20
  SPEAKER_00: And it's just having people that have faith in you and having faith in yourself.
• 43:25
  SPEAKER_00: So I think dedicate that time, go through it and understand it, and do the past papers, even if it means doing past papers until you feel that you're at a point where actually I'm getting past mortal.
• 43:39
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, now I'll book it.
• 43:41
  SPEAKER_00: But if you've got six past papers that you can keep going through, that's broadly going to cover exactly what's going to come up in the exam, even if it's worded in a different way.
• 43:51
  SPEAKER_00: And each past paper will be worded in a different way to give you an idea of how they're going to try and catch you out differently.
• 43:57
  SPEAKER_00: So just focus on.
• 44:00
  SPEAKER_00: Pass papers, read and understand that book, and I think you'll be absolutely fine.
• 44:05
  SPEAKER_00: If I did it, anyone can.
• 44:07
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, there we go.
• 44:09
  SPEAKER_01: No, but not saying that because fair play, I'm gonna that's that that's that's cool.
• 44:12
  SPEAKER_01: That's the way I kind of look at things actually.
• 44:14
  SPEAKER_01: Because sometimes I you know, people pass them, don't they, at the end of the day.
• 44:19
  SPEAKER_01: You know, people people get through it, and um not everybody, if you base your your life's uh work on how you performed in your your exams at school, I mean your GCSEs or whatever, then um you know that's a bit sad, isn't it?
• 44:31
  SPEAKER_01: And I think there's a lot of people out there that that do do that.
• 44:33
  SPEAKER_01: They think, well, I'm not good at uh passing exams, so I'm not gonna do any more for the rest of my life, which is pretty much what I did.
• 44:39
  SPEAKER_01: Just hide, set up a business instead, become a recruitment.
• 44:42
  SPEAKER_01: Um so yeah, cool.
• 44:44
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, great.
• 44:44
  SPEAKER_01: Well, that's really positive.
• 44:45
  SPEAKER_01: And I think absolutely that you've you've said something out there which I think is really important in the development of um of a young financial advisor.
• 44:54
  SPEAKER_01: And something that I definitely come across is the the guys that have been supported and girls that have been supported um either with a a program, um mentorship, and a business that kind of invests in their futures and sees the value in them and um doesn't sort of keep them down, if you like, you know, you know, infuse them to actually progress.
• 45:17
  SPEAKER_01: You know, they do really well, and that's exactly what's happened to you.
• 45:19
  SPEAKER_01: You know, you've lucky you've gone into a company that really do invest in your future and also show you um how to do it and get you to believe in it more importantly that you can.
• 45:29
  SPEAKER_01: Um I think that's a really important thing.
• 45:31
  SPEAKER_01: And I did an article around mentorship and the importance of mentorship and how that that can change a business, and especially within financial planning, where you've got less financial advisors coming into the industry now, less people becoming advisors.
• 45:43
  SPEAKER_01: Now, you've got your you know, your your St James's places and all that kind of stuff with their advisor schools, but you know, these are people coming from another industry, say 30 years old, maybe 27, 40, 45, whatever age, but they're going straight into a financial advice role, you know, and possibly sometimes straight into self-employment, because they don't really want to go backwards, they feel, to an administrator position.
• 46:07
  SPEAKER_01: But actually, these kind of natural progressive, low, lower level roles where you keep somebody in with an incentive for becoming a financial advisor, and even if it's five years, imagine if you go in at 20 years old, right?
• 46:18
  SPEAKER_01: Five years' time and someone tells you you're going to be a financial advisor, right?
• 46:20
  SPEAKER_01: And you'll be earning, you know, on average, minimum 40, 40,000 pounds, high-end could be 100,000 pounds.
• 46:27
  SPEAKER_01: You know, there's some really good earnings to be had in financial planning as well.
• 46:31
  SPEAKER_01: And if you express out to somebody at the age of 20 years old and say, look, and you, you know, you're a poster boy, really, for for for seven passing exams in seven months becoming a financial advisor.
• 46:42
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, that's great stuff.
• 46:43
  SPEAKER_01: And people should people should hear this story because you know, there aren't enough of this type of stories out there, really.
• 46:49
  SPEAKER_01: And that's I think why a lot of people don't go into the industry.
• 46:52
  SPEAKER_01: A, you're met with a massive barrier of having to do the exams, and then it's like, well, how am I going to do it?
• 46:56
  SPEAKER_01: Where's the support?
• 46:57
  SPEAKER_01: And I think there is support out there, people do do it, there's some great companies offering it, and you're um you're lucky enough to be part of it.
• 47:04
  SPEAKER_01: So you managed then to pass your exams, you nailed your exams within a short period of time.
• 47:09
  SPEAKER_01: Did you then was that at the end of your stint of being a um a client relationship manager, or was that at the beginning and then you carried on?
• 47:16
  SPEAKER_01: How did that work?
• 47:17
  SPEAKER_01: You know, because I know there's a misconception as well.
• 47:18
  SPEAKER_01: I've got my exams, I'm gonna be a financial advisor now.
• 47:21
  SPEAKER_01: We just said that, didn't we?
• 47:22
  SPEAKER_01: It doesn't quite work that way sometimes because experience, isn't it?
• 47:25
  SPEAKER_01: You know, so over to you.
• 47:26
  SPEAKER_01: How you know, when was that?
• 47:28
  SPEAKER_01: Did the exams all of a sudden make you a financial advisor?
• 47:32
  SPEAKER_00: No, no.
• 47:33
  SPEAKER_00: So there are people that may have their exams, but they've they've there's still a lot of training to be done.
• 47:39
  SPEAKER_00: So it doesn't mean that just because you've got exams, you can then go out there and be a consultant, it doesn't mean that at all.
• 47:45
  SPEAKER_00: And I say consultant because the way we look at it is we're not um uh we're not an advisor in terms of we we don't just provide advice on a product, we we are consultants, so we we look at the wider picture, we look at uh what the client needs, and we put a plan in place and we consult them.
• 48:03
  SPEAKER_00: And um, I did a LinkedIn post actually recently on that about a consultant is somebody that is an expert in their in their field and is there to help people, and um yeah, I think with um the the sort of role sorry, I've I've gone off course now.
• 48:21
  SPEAKER_01: What was the right but it happens every single time, so don't worry about it, Nathan.
• 48:26
  SPEAKER_01: Problem is it's trying to get me to remember what I said.
• 48:29
  SPEAKER_01: That's the that's the problem.
• 48:30
  SPEAKER_01: So my my point really was that you you you'd gone through as a client relationship manager, you've got your level four qualifications really quickly, and it was like does getting your level four qualifications then automatically make you a financial advisor?
• 48:42
  SPEAKER_01: At what stage in your in your sort of early career did you then become an advisor?
• 48:47
  SPEAKER_01: Did you get your exams first and then continue in a CRM role for a couple more years and get more experience, or did you go straight at that point into an advisor position?
• 48:54
  SPEAKER_01: How was the transition?
• 48:56
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so with me, so back to um being a client relationship manager, not really having that faith in myself that I could do it, and then being put into the sort of training program for consultancy.
• 49:08
  SPEAKER_00: Um that kind of pushed me to do it.
• 49:11
  SPEAKER_00: So it was really, I was juggling the client relationship manager role and having the insight to the uh consultancy role as well.
• 49:19
  SPEAKER_00: So it was very much towards the end of the client relationship manager role where I started doing my exams, and then that put me nicely into the role that I was in in the training, which I then continued.
• 49:31
  SPEAKER_00: Um, there are people that are doing um their exams, they may have their exams already, and they will stay in the client relationship manager role and get a bit more of an insight to that, and it's really at their discretion.
• 49:45
  SPEAKER_00: So if they say, right, I think I'm ready for it now, they'll have a meeting with the manager and say, Look, I'd like to progress that way.
• 49:52
  SPEAKER_00: And they would they would have a conversation in terms of right, you are ready, let's transition you into that.
• 49:57
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but yeah, for me, it was very much at the end of the client relationship manager role, um, and that then moved me nicely into continuing my training, and then I moved out.
• 50:08
  SPEAKER_01: Do you think that your age, an age of an advisor, do you think it makes a difference?
• 50:18
  SPEAKER_00: Not really.
• 50:19
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so the average age of the consultants at Matthew Lewoods are actually 37 years of age, right?
• 50:25
  SPEAKER_00: The average age.
• 50:26
  SPEAKER_00: So that's quite young because I think the average age in the industry is about 58, I think.
• 50:31
  SPEAKER_00: 54, I think.
• 50:32
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, 58, 54.
• 50:34
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 50:34
  SPEAKER_00: So we're quite young as a as a company, but we like I take pride in that, and I think clients do as well, and professional contacts, because we're not ending our sort of careers and we're not coming to the end of our careers.
• 50:52
  SPEAKER_00: We're in with what's going on, we're keen to learn, we are still learning, and we all learn from each other.
• 50:59
  SPEAKER_00: And it just means that when you meet people, if I met a client that was 60 years of age, he knows I'm going to be around for way past hopefully, um when his lifetime.
• 51:14
  SPEAKER_00: And it means that he knows that he's got an advisor that can work with him throughout his life and then continues.
• 51:20
  SPEAKER_00: So after he passes, for example, he's got that advisor that he trusts and he's built that relationship with that can then look after his family.
• 51:28
  SPEAKER_00: And I th I don't know if it's just me personally, but um I'm really close to my granddad, and a lot of people, a lot of the younger generation are close to their grandparents as well, or or their their parents, um, or even friends and and family and and their mums and dads.
• 51:46
  SPEAKER_00: So it's kind of going into there, you build up a really good relationship, I think.
• 51:52
  SPEAKER_00: I found as being someone younger.
• 51:55
  SPEAKER_00: The clients really value you and and they're like you're doing really well for the for yourself.
• 51:59
  SPEAKER_00: And then when you show them what you can do and impress them as well, it's just amazing, yeah.
• 52:06
  SPEAKER_00: And I think a lot of the sorry, a lot of the older generation as well, they may have children um that are younger than you, similar age, or even a bit older.
• 52:17
  SPEAKER_00: And to be in the position, they know that you've obviously worked damn hard to get to where you are.
• 52:23
  SPEAKER_00: And if you're respectful and you show you care and you you do a good job for them, I don't think you've got any issues.
• 52:30
  SPEAKER_00: Whereas I think if you went in and you was a cocky and oh, I'm a I'm a consultant and I'm gonna manage your money, you won't get anywhere.
• 52:38
  SPEAKER_00: But if you genuinely go in and you want to help them and you're down to worth and you stay grounded, you'll get a long way.
• 52:46
  SPEAKER_00: And that's what I found staying grounded, um, understanding the route that I've taken and not looking down on anybody, it just allows you to go into these clients and just be genuine and help them.
• 53:01
  SPEAKER_00: And I think if you do that, it gets you a long way.
• 53:04
  SPEAKER_00: If you genuinely care, it gets you a long way.
• 53:06
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, okay, great.
• 53:07
  SPEAKER_01: So that kind of relate again, that's early experience of being a CRM client relationship manager has probably helped you on that front because you've had to deal with lots of situations over the telephone, which tend to be harder because people say what they bloody want over the phone, don't they?
• 53:20
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, they don't care, they'll they'll they'll shout at you all sorts of stuff.
• 53:23
  SPEAKER_01: But you know, you have probably having to deal with quite stressful situations like chasing things up and asking them for more personal information, all that kind of stuff, which can be quite annoying.
• 53:32
  SPEAKER_01: But if you get that customer service element right, moving into a role where you're then having to consult them um or advise them becomes a lot easier because you know how to build that rapport and you have that empathy that you learnt from a very early age.
• 53:47
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I did a big stint.
• 53:48
  SPEAKER_01: I used to work for Aviva and I was one of the I was a trainer for Aviva, so I had to train out guys um who had who were involved in the joint venture between the RBS, uh World Bank of Scotland, so bonds and investments and pensions and all that kind of stuff.
• 54:01
  SPEAKER_01: And um I did a big stint in customer service, and I'm really pleased I did because I always went I went straight into sales and I kind of bummed out of sales because I found it a bit meggy.
• 54:08
  SPEAKER_01: It was just foot on, like, you know.
• 54:10
  SPEAKER_01: And then I went into customer service and I really enjoyed customer service.
• 54:13
  SPEAKER_01: I liked helping people, I liked resolving people's problems.
• 54:17
  SPEAKER_01: I, you know, they they came to me and they were angry or they were stressed.
• 54:20
  SPEAKER_01: I didn't see it as like, oh God, another annoying person on the telephone is gonna do my editing.
• 54:25
  SPEAKER_01: I genuinely cared, you know, and I wanted to, my mission was to resolve their situation or at least get them to understand that it can't be done, or yeah, you know, I'm gonna get you to understand what the situation is.
• 54:37
  SPEAKER_01: You know, it's about that as well.
• 54:38
  SPEAKER_01: It's about getting someone to understand what's going on, isn't it?
• 54:41
  SPEAKER_00: You know, and uh that's right, love.
• 54:43
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you know, giving them the yeah, giving them the idea of like, you know, I'm not trying to sell you something, I'm not trying to shove you down sort of a uh, you know, shove you down somewhere that's gonna make me the most money on doing this to protect your protect your, you know, your your your future, your future wealth and your family's wealth.
• 54:59
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, we're gonna look at these areas.
• 55:01
  SPEAKER_01: So that kind of leads into really your your financial planning role then.
• 55:05
  SPEAKER_01: So you say to me, you know, tell me what what makes a great financial planner?
• 55:11
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah what do you think makes a great financial planner?
• 55:14
  SPEAKER_00: So I think it goes off what you've just said, really.
• 55:17
  SPEAKER_00: Um so I'll I'll start off with the fact that you said about helping people.
• 55:22
  SPEAKER_00: And um, I'm not trying to push Mattioli Woods as as we're the the the best thing in the world, but we are employed.
• 55:30
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm employed by Mattioli Woods, which means that I'm not forced to sell certain investments, I'm not forced or uh encouraged to sell anything.
• 55:41
  SPEAKER_00: I'm employed by the company, and it means that I can go out there, sit with a client, and put down exactly what's best for them.
• 55:49
  SPEAKER_00: So there's no if you put the client into that, you're going to get a bigger bonus, or if you sell this, you get a bigger bonus.
• 55:56
  SPEAKER_00: It doesn't work like that with us.
• 55:58
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but the thing I love most about my role is sitting down with someone, just taking all their stress away, putting it in front and just laying it down on the table and just saying, right, okay, what do you want to achieve?
• 56:12
  SPEAKER_00: Tell me your current position so you learn everything about them.
• 56:16
  SPEAKER_00: And to be honest, I love that.
• 56:18
  SPEAKER_00: The fact that the stuff that you find out from people, they probably don't even tell their own children.
• 56:24
  SPEAKER_00: It's very private information.
• 56:26
  SPEAKER_00: So being given the opportunity for somebody to trust you to give you that information, that gives me such great pride to show that that person really trusts me and that like I can help them.
• 56:38
  SPEAKER_00: So it's a case of gathering all the information, learning out, uh learning what their objectives are for the short, medium, and long term, um, and then looking at everything they've put down on the table and saying, right, okay, this is what we've got to do.
• 56:54
  SPEAKER_00: Let's look at this, look at this, um, consolidate that, do this, do that, and right, this is that will then be the position, then, and then this is what it'll allow you to achieve.
• 57:05
  SPEAKER_00: And that's what I love doing.
• 57:07
  SPEAKER_00: I love just taking that stress away, looking at what they want to achieve and what they've currently got, and then proposing a strategy that will allow them to meet their objectives quite easily, and then continuing to work with them.
• 57:21
  SPEAKER_00: And when you see that starting to pay off, it's amazing.
• 57:26
  SPEAKER_00: I love looking at things, looking back at clients that I've helped and going, oh, actually, wow, yeah, that's starting to plan out now exactly how we we thought, and to call them up and to say, Oh, so what we proposed and we did this and this, or that's now working, and this is what's happening, and to hear how happy they are, that's just like the best feeling in the world, and it just drives you.
• 57:51
  SPEAKER_00: So I spoke to a client yesterday um about the proposition we'd done for them, and I was saying, look, even with what's going on, we're in this position, and to hear how happy she was and reassured, it was just the best feeling in the world.
• 58:07
  SPEAKER_00: And I come off that call, I was speaking earlier about obviously COVID-19, and sometimes you can feel a bit low on some days, and the next day you might feel uh right up here.
• 58:18
  SPEAKER_00: But after speaking to that client, I was right up here because it was like that's the best feeling in the world.
• 58:23
  SPEAKER_00: So I'll come off and I was like doing all different things like with work, and I felt really pumped from that.
• 58:29
  SPEAKER_00: And yeah, that's the the sort of drive that I get.
• 58:31
  SPEAKER_00: That's that's what I can feel you there.
• 58:33
  SPEAKER_00: I love about the job.
• 58:34
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that's it's a part that I take, it's a part of the any job that I do.
• 58:39
  SPEAKER_01: I think that you can transfer that to any job, doesn't matter if you're stacking shells on you know in Tesco's.
• 58:43
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I think if you if you genuinely care about the outcome, if you genuinely care about the people it affects, um, and you can make someone's life that bit better, I think it's that's a that's the part of the job that I love in any in any respect.
• 58:58
  SPEAKER_01: And when you say about being a consultant, I agree, you know, it's about looking at every aspect of that person's life and trying to better it.
• 59:05
  SPEAKER_01: Because as soon as you start putting yourself at the center of gain, it doesn't work with selfishness, you know, it's it's it's just it doesn't work, you know.
• 59:13
  SPEAKER_01: And you're gonna go put your head on the pillow at night and go, Oh, I might have earned some money, but unless you're you're a psychopath, you've got to you're gonna turn around and go, like, well, I've just Jesus, that's come out now.
• 59:22
  SPEAKER_01: That's probably shouldn't have done that.
• 59:24
  SPEAKER_01: You know, you know, I've been in situations where I've sat with someone and I've spoken about a company, and thinking to myself, did you really want to push them down that company way, Sam?
• 59:32
  SPEAKER_01: Was that really the right way to go?
• 59:34
  SPEAKER_01: Um and you end up giving them a call and saying, look, there are some other options, and I want you to look at it because you need a real kind of clear balance of of where your career can go.
• 59:44
  SPEAKER_01: Um and that's the kind of, yeah, I get it, and I I love that feeling of um of helping somebody.
• 59:49
  SPEAKER_01: And and also what you said earlier, and I think this is what a lot of people who are thinking about getting to the industry don't quite understand.
• 59:55
  SPEAKER_01: They just think, oh, it's a financial advisor, it's a guy in his fifties with a pair of glasses and a calculator.
• 1:00:00
  SPEAKER_01: And it's not, is it?
• 1:00:01
  SPEAKER_01: It's actually going in very much going into this well-being proposition.
• 1:00:05
  SPEAKER_01: And you said it lightly, you know, you said you sit down with somebody and you put everything out on on paper.
• 1:00:10
  SPEAKER_01: Now, I guess, and I I under I assume what you're saying there is you're putting their goals down, you're putting their fears down, their worries, their concerns, the things that make them anxious.
• 1:00:19
  SPEAKER_01: You know, how are they going to survive when it comes past pension?
• 1:00:22
  SPEAKER_01: When can they retire?
• 1:00:23
  SPEAKER_01: Is there money to be left over?
• 1:00:24
  SPEAKER_01: I've heard all about tax, and am I gonna get taxed my nuts off if I die?
• 1:00:28
  SPEAKER_01: You know, all this sort of stuff.
• 1:00:29
  SPEAKER_01: And it's about, you know, and and I think as well, and you correct me if I'm wrong, but someone can have 10 quid in their bank account and be stressed out about it, and someone can have 10 million quid in their bank account and be stressed out about it.
• 1:00:40
  SPEAKER_01: It's the same stress, isn't it?
• 1:00:41
  SPEAKER_01: Is it the same stress?
• 1:00:42
  SPEAKER_01: Is it the same problems that people are having?
• 1:00:45
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I agree.
• 1:00:46
  SPEAKER_00: Uh somebody could have 10 million, but that might be you don't know how that's invested, you don't know how that impacts their life.
• 1:00:54
  SPEAKER_00: They may be reliant on that 10 million.
• 1:00:56
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, and without 100 pounds of it or a thousand pounds of it, that might really impact their life in whatever it may be.
• 1:01:05
  SPEAKER_00: Same with 10 pounds, that may be all somebody has.
• 1:01:08
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but yeah, it's it's kind of like last week I had an inquiry and I spoke to him and he said, Look, Nathan, I'm 50 years old, and I've been a spender all my life.
• 1:01:20
  SPEAKER_00: Me and my wife, we've had amazing holidays, we've done this, this, and this.
• 1:01:25
  SPEAKER_00: And now I'm coming to retirement.
• 1:01:27
  SPEAKER_00: Like I'm looking to retire in 15 years' time.
• 1:01:30
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and he said, I've not actually looked at what I've got.
• 1:01:35
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know how I'm going to get to where I am or where I want to be.
• 1:01:39
  SPEAKER_00: And it was really just taking it back.
• 1:01:41
  SPEAKER_00: So learning, okay, what's your salary, what's your outgoings, can you cut back on your outgoings?
• 1:01:48
  SPEAKER_00: Um, have you got a mortgage?
• 1:01:50
  SPEAKER_00: How long's your mortgage?
• 1:01:51
  SPEAKER_00: And and he was saying about how his friends are paying off their mortgages now, but he's still got quite a lot.
• 1:01:58
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, he's got loans that he's taken out that he's paying interest on, and he's not focused on his pension, this, that, the other.
• 1:02:04
  SPEAKER_00: And it was all just a bit of a mess.
• 1:02:06
  SPEAKER_00: And it was really just painting a picture of right, this is what you want to achieve, this is what you could have, but this is what we need to do to get there.
• 1:02:17
  SPEAKER_00: And we're given the right tools and equipment that in that call, based on everything that he'd provided, so his current position, I was able to actually on the call with him do some future illustrations based on a conservative growth rate and the proposition I could put in place for him and savings, this, that, the other, to say that right, this is what you could achieve by 65, and this is just you.
• 1:02:45
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and it was it was just about right in terms of what he needed.
• 1:02:50
  SPEAKER_00: And then I said, So we've actually got you, we can actually get you to the position that you need to be just by doing this.
• 1:02:57
  SPEAKER_00: On top of that, you've got your state pension, on top of that, you've got your wife's pension and her investments.
• 1:03:03
  SPEAKER_00: So if we tally all this in together as a big plan, you're going to be okay, but we just need to make sure that we follow this route and that we keep on top of it.
• 1:03:14
  SPEAKER_00: So if something changes and his salary decreases, or something in his something happens and he has to take another mortgage out, or whatever it may be, or he gets divorced, you can just tweak that strategy in terms of right, gone a bit off course here.
• 1:03:29
  SPEAKER_00: How do we get back on it?
• 1:03:31
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 1:03:31
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but yeah, I think having that kind of plan in place is so important, and being able to learn about a client's objectives and provide that clear strategy to them is pretty amazing.
• 1:03:45
  SPEAKER_00: And to be able to see that client at the end of the call, he emailed me and said he'd opened a bottle of wine and they was drinking it because he literally thought that he had just completely messed it up.
• 1:03:55
  SPEAKER_00: He thought, I've left it too late, I'm not going to be able to achieve this, I'm gonna have to cut back, I'm gonna have to downsize my house.
• 1:04:03
  SPEAKER_00: He was stressing about it.
• 1:04:05
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 1:04:05
  SPEAKER_00: But to say, actually, if we follow this, you're going to be absolutely fine.
• 1:04:09
  SPEAKER_00: You've not got to downsize your house, you've not got to do this, you can get the income you need.
• 1:04:15
  SPEAKER_00: Um, it's just an amazing feeling.
• 1:04:17
  SPEAKER_01: Good.
• 1:04:17
  SPEAKER_01: So that's a big part of the job that you like then.
• 1:04:19
  SPEAKER_01: And and and I'm guessing that if you would advise somebody, if you were to say to somebody, look, you know, the career in financial planning, you're gonna make people's make make people very happy.
• 1:04:27
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you're gonna ease people's anxieties and fears and worries around money.
• 1:04:32
  SPEAKER_01: Now, uh I'll be a bit controversial here.
• 1:04:37
  SPEAKER_01: Well um people with people with money, right?
• 1:04:42
  SPEAKER_01: They've got money.
• 1:04:43
  SPEAKER_01: You're advising, you tend to advise people that have money.
• 1:04:46
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, right.
• 1:04:47
  SPEAKER_01: So as a financial advisor, especially post RDR and uh you're getting rid of commissions and it's all fee-based and and everything like that, yeah.
• 1:04:54
  SPEAKER_01: You tend to feel that there's a certain type of client that can afford financial advice over other people.
• 1:05:01
  SPEAKER_01: And a lot of people in the UK are being uh pushed to one side because they're deemed to be not being able to afford advice.
• 1:05:08
  SPEAKER_00: Do you think that's fair or I think that the the view on financial advice is that it's for the rich, for the famous, and you've got to have money to be able to have a financial advisor.
• 1:05:23
  SPEAKER_00: But that's not the case at all.
• 1:05:25
  SPEAKER_00: I think financial advice is available to anybody, and if you can put a plan in place, I think one of my colleagues, uh Sarah, she actually did a post on this, and it was saying if you're 30 years of age, and it talks about certain things, and I'll share the article with you uh that she did.
• 1:05:46
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but it was saying 30 years of age, saving X amount of money uh a year, um, assuming a relative growth rate, etc., and having the right planning in place, you could reach a value of maybe a million pounds.
• 1:05:59
  SPEAKER_00: And It's kind of that's probably somebody that's got nothing right now, and they're probably at the early start of their career and this, that, the other.
• 1:06:10
  SPEAKER_00: But I don't think I think if you look at the benefits of advice, sometimes it outweighs that cost, and it depends on the charging structures of the people you're working with.
• 1:06:21
  SPEAKER_00: Um I know for us we have different pensions for different people.
• 1:06:25
  SPEAKER_00: So if we've got somebody at the start of their career a professional and they're looking to grow that, we've got a certain pension scheme for that client, which is limited on cost, and it's um it just allows somebody to build up their pension pot before they need to get to more of a sophisticated pension scheme.
• 1:06:42
  SPEAKER_00: But having that advice and working with somebody from outset, talking through a plan and then building that through, the benefits of that initial cost probably massively outweighs uh everything else.
• 1:06:57
  SPEAKER_00: So, yeah, I think it is deemed to be you've got to be rich, you've got to have money.
• 1:07:02
  SPEAKER_00: But sometimes you have to have that advice and that guidance to be able to get money and to understand where you need to put your money.
• 1:07:10
  SPEAKER_00: So, yeah, I think overall, I think the industry has looked at that uh it is expensive where it's not always the case.
• 1:07:18
  SPEAKER_01: So, a big part of that, really, again, in a lot of people banging the drum, is a financial education, isn't it?
• 1:07:22
  SPEAKER_01: Really?
• 1:07:22
  SPEAKER_01: It's educating people that you know, now's the time to start looking after your money if you stick this amount of money into your pension.
• 1:07:28
  SPEAKER_01: I was listening to some guy earlier, and um, you know, he was saying, like, if you want a million pounds in your pension and you're a certain age, like now's the time to start putting it in there, and I can pretty much guarantee I'll get you a million quid in your pension.
• 1:07:38
  SPEAKER_01: You know, it's like there it you know the earlier you start doing it, isn't it, the better.
• 1:07:43
  SPEAKER_01: But the problem is, I suppose, is that we're not really taught about it at a young age, and we're not taught about it in our 20s or whatever, and all we want to do in a consumerist world is actual mate did it, mate did until he was 50 years old.
• 1:07:54
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, go on nice holidays and uh drink beer and uh party.
• 1:07:58
  SPEAKER_01: You know, that's the kind of uh the the vibe that people are kind of seeing, isn't it, on Instagram and all that kind of stuff.
• 1:08:04
  SPEAKER_01: Um but you are starting to see people on social media, especially financial advisors now, taking advantage of personal branding, raising their profiles and saying, look, guys, you know, here's some free advice.
• 1:08:14
  SPEAKER_01: You know, let me tell you about how a pension works, let me tell you about compound interest, let me tell you about the well-being side and the you know how good you're gonna feel when you start looking after your money.
• 1:08:23
  SPEAKER_01: You know, how stressed are you around debt and credit cards and all of that?
• 1:08:26
  SPEAKER_01: You know, let me teach you about that.
• 1:08:28
  SPEAKER_01: Let's look at ways that we can get you saving money.
• 1:08:30
  SPEAKER_01: Have you thought about these savings plots?
• 1:08:32
  SPEAKER_01: And I think that's really good.
• 1:08:33
  SPEAKER_01: And um, social media being um a very um obvious place for financial advisors to do it, and you started to embrace a little bit on social media.
• 1:08:41
  SPEAKER_01: I can see it.
• 1:08:41
  SPEAKER_01: You you're starting to put yourself out there a bit, aren't you?
• 1:08:44
  SPEAKER_01: And um, you know, and and does that help you generate new clients?
• 1:08:48
  SPEAKER_01: Have you built many new relationships or etc.
• 1:08:51
  SPEAKER_01: off the back of that?
• 1:08:52
  SPEAKER_00: In uh in in lockdown, I've actually built a lot of professional contacts.
• 1:08:57
  SPEAKER_00: I've um I've had a lot of inquiries from LinkedIn as well.
• 1:09:00
  SPEAKER_00: Yep.
• 1:09:00
  SPEAKER_00: Um it's just really again going back to that just being genuine, wanting to help people and saying use me as a soundboard.
• 1:09:09
  SPEAKER_00: If you need help, I've had a call this morning with um a guy in Scotland that had come across my profile and wanted to approach me about how do I get in the industry?
• 1:09:19
  SPEAKER_00: What do I need to do?
• 1:09:21
  SPEAKER_00: I had a guy a couple of weeks ago that did the same, and then probably a couple of months ago again.
• 1:09:26
  SPEAKER_00: So I've had people reach out for me uh to me uh that are looking to get into the industry and I've helped them and I've given them guidance, um, which I've really enjoyed because I've been in that position.
• 1:09:38
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 1:09:39
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so it's nice to be able to give that to them.
• 1:09:41
  SPEAKER_00: But yeah, LinkedIn is massive, and I have tried to create that brand for myself.
• 1:09:46
  SPEAKER_00: That whilst I work for Mattioli Woods, like I am a consultant and I will be the one that you're working with.
• 1:09:52
  SPEAKER_00: So the the Mattioli Woods is the company I work for, employed by Mattioli Woods.
• 1:09:57
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but like if you can come to me, that's absolutely fine.
• 1:10:02
  SPEAKER_00: We can talk through stuff, we can plan this stuff.
• 1:10:04
  SPEAKER_01: Well, um the thing is with LinkedIn as well, LinkedIn, you know, all of your professional connections that you want to work with, right?
• 1:10:10
  SPEAKER_01: Whether that's acting, you know, professional connections being a client, someone that you know you manage their money, or an introducer relationship.
• 1:10:18
  SPEAKER_01: So somebody who could pass on a client to you to give advice, whether that's an accountant, solicitors, or sports entertainer or personal trainer, whatever your kind of niches and whoever you know want to generate client introductions from.
• 1:10:33
  SPEAKER_01: And I think um, you know, not every financial advisor, but a lot of financial advisors overlook the power of LinkedIn.
• 1:10:38
  SPEAKER_01: And I've said it before on pretty much every kind of podcast really is that there is such a huge network.
• 1:10:43
  SPEAKER_01: You can, you know, if you use something like a sales navigator, you can you can look at people based on their age, their demographic, where they live, um, their job titles, um, everything, you know, and you can really home in on those types of people.
• 1:10:56
  SPEAKER_01: And if you construct beautifully well-crafted in mails and actually kind of make them engage, you know, and have an automated system to follow it up and everything like that, you can generate some amazing, amazing leads, you know.
• 1:11:08
  SPEAKER_01: It's a full-time, it feels a bit like a full-time job sometimes doing LinkedIn.
• 1:11:12
  SPEAKER_01: Trust me, in the recruitment, in the recruiter world, you're doing everything, you're spinning phone calls and emails and end mails and all that kind of stuff.
• 1:11:18
  SPEAKER_01: But one thing I've definitely seen, and when I started working with um like lead generators that that that that will work on your behalf, looking after your profile, optimizing it, and then reaching out to your core demographic to generate leads, uh so successful, so much better than like your you know, your inbound marketing campaigns from digital marketing and all of that kind of stuff.
• 1:11:39
  SPEAKER_01: And I think the the advisors who are starting to do that are starting to see the value in it of building a following as well of niche audience that they want to work with, you know, putting that content out there on a regular basis as you do, um, is only positive.
• 1:11:54
  SPEAKER_01: And I mean, like, you know, you're not spending hours a week, are you sticking out content?
• 1:11:58
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, you took a photo of a swan a couple of days ago that got about 30 likes.
• 1:12:01
  SPEAKER_01: It's good, it was a photo.
• 1:12:03
  SPEAKER_01: It was a good photo.
• 1:12:04
  SPEAKER_01: It was definitely a good photo, but that's all you've got to do, isn't it?
• 1:12:07
  SPEAKER_01: Put something out that shows a bit of your personality as well, a little message.
• 1:12:11
  SPEAKER_01: And I think people like that, you know, they buy into it.
• 1:12:14
  SPEAKER_00: Um, yeah, even with like uh my granddad, I've put things on there about my granddad, uh, my brothers, uh, that kind of thing.
• 1:12:21
  SPEAKER_00: It's it's all relatable.
• 1:12:23
  SPEAKER_00: I think I had a picture of my granddad holding a cake, and I said, Financial financial planning isn't a piece of cake, yeah.
• 1:12:30
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but with the right advice it can be.
• 1:12:32
  SPEAKER_00: Uh this just relating things.
• 1:12:34
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but it is, it's it's with LinkedIn.
• 1:12:37
  SPEAKER_00: I've started doing um voice notes.
• 1:12:40
  SPEAKER_00: So if I connect to somebody that I've wanted to connect to, I'll send a personalized voice message.
• 1:12:46
  SPEAKER_00: Some probably may find that creepy, I don't know.
• 1:12:50
  SPEAKER_00: But um, I just send a voice note because it's personal and they know that it's not just a message that's been sent to a thousand people.
• 1:12:57
  SPEAKER_02: How are you getting that?
• 1:12:58
  SPEAKER_00: How you doing really well?
• 1:13:00
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I've actually had people voice noting me back, yeah, saying actually I didn't know you could do this, this is really cool.
• 1:13:06
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 1:13:06
  SPEAKER_00: Um, even just if you see somebody's doing well, just message them and say, like, it's amazing you're doing well, and you build up relationships.
• 1:13:15
  SPEAKER_00: There's actually a a guy that um if if he watches this, he'll probably laugh, but he was um on LinkedIn that I'd connected with a while ago, and he'd put a video up of him and his daughters doing a TikTok on LinkedIn.
• 1:13:28
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and I messaged him and I said, It's so nice to see something different and refreshing because it is all about COVID-19.
• 1:13:35
  SPEAKER_00: Here's what I can do to help you, this is what I can do.
• 1:13:39
  SPEAKER_00: And it is, it's not very nice.
• 1:13:41
  SPEAKER_00: You want something different, and that's what his his um video did.
• 1:13:46
  SPEAKER_00: And he said, Let's have a call tomorrow.
• 1:13:49
  SPEAKER_00: And I said, Okay, that's fine, have a call.
• 1:13:51
  SPEAKER_00: And he's one of uh one of the top tax advisors in the UK.
• 1:13:55
  SPEAKER_00: Lovely.
• 1:13:56
  SPEAKER_00: I had a really good chat with him, told him about what we do.
• 1:14:00
  SPEAKER_00: He then said, Right, one of my mates who's one of the top 20 accountants in London, um, I'll speak to him.
• 1:14:08
  SPEAKER_00: Within half an hour, he called me back and said, Can you give him a call?
• 1:14:12
  SPEAKER_00: I gave him a call.
• 1:14:13
  SPEAKER_00: I've already I've had a couple of meetings with him now.
• 1:14:16
  SPEAKER_00: Been working together, having some really good chats, and uh he's passed me over a client that he wants me to help him with.
• 1:14:22
  SPEAKER_00: And happy tease.
• 1:14:24
  SPEAKER_00: That's just from messaging somebody and seeing what they're doing and actually paying an interest.
• 1:14:32
  SPEAKER_00: If you've not got any interest in that person, then don't message them because if you can't have that relationship with them, there's no point, it's a waste of time.
• 1:14:40
  SPEAKER_01: No, there's gonna be some there's gotta be common grain, isn't there?
• 1:14:42
  SPEAKER_01: There's gotta be common grain, it's gotta be a a niche, and you know, for example, a niche audience.
• 1:14:47
  SPEAKER_01: Me, you know, messaging somebody who's doing really well in cybersecurity is gonna do absolutely nothing because I don't I I I I do nothing about cyber security.
• 1:14:55
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I I I'll make sure that I comment on financial planning posts, I'll make sure if I put a plan post out, I hashtag financial planning because I'm trying to talk to a niche audience if I message somebody, and that's the beautiful thing about LinkedIn as well.
• 1:15:07
  SPEAKER_01: People give you all their information.
• 1:15:09
  SPEAKER_01: So you can look at their profile, you can say, Oh Chris, I I used to work at um you know, as you can say, I work at Matthew Woods.
• 1:15:15
  SPEAKER_01: I've seen that you know, you you work there or connection of yours, two connections of yours, you know that I know.
• 1:15:19
  SPEAKER_01: That's like one of the best ones.
• 1:15:21
  SPEAKER_01: Hey Chris, um you're connected to to Dave and I'm connected to Dave.
• 1:15:24
  SPEAKER_01: How'd you know him then?
• 1:15:25
  SPEAKER_01: And then bang, you've got a conversation, you've got a conversation going.
• 1:15:28
  SPEAKER_01: And there are you know, there are so many sort of clever little programs that can automate that process as well, and make it very make it very simple.
• 1:15:35
  SPEAKER_01: But you you're a personable bloke, and I think it's the personal touch that works every single time.
• 1:15:40
  SPEAKER_01: So, you know, you might send 200 messages to someone saying, All right, can we connect?
• 1:15:44
  SPEAKER_01: Or you could say, Hi, Chris, looked at your profile, I can see that you love playing squash.
• 1:15:49
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I'm not much of a squash man, but I play tennis.
• 1:15:51
  SPEAKER_01: You only ran the corner from me, and you're a tax accountant, I'm a financial advisor.
• 1:15:55
  SPEAKER_01: Can I buy you a coffee?
• 1:15:57
  SPEAKER_01: Something something could come off the back of that.
• 1:15:59
  SPEAKER_01: It's you know, it's someone's gonna go, oh yeah, I'll reply to that.
• 1:16:02
  SPEAKER_01: They're not gonna say, I've got another, you know, another spammy message.
• 1:16:05
  SPEAKER_01: They're gonna reply.
• 1:16:06
  SPEAKER_01: I like the voice note thing.
• 1:16:07
  SPEAKER_01: I know you can do that.
• 1:16:08
  SPEAKER_01: And um I'm not gonna I'm gonna do it.
• 1:16:10
  SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna I'm gonna get I'm gonna do it um this afternoon actually.
• 1:16:12
  SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna do one.
• 1:16:14
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, but it is it it it it's a case where I've had messages before and it's somebody messaged me and they say, Right, I can generate UX amount of leads for new clients, but it's like I don't really want that, and I know that you've just sent that to loads of other people, and it's a really long email, um, and I just click off it.
• 1:16:36
  SPEAKER_00: It's like yeah, it's like, well, you could be generating me 200 clients, but are they right for me?
• 1:16:42
  SPEAKER_00: Can I work for them?
• 1:16:43
  SPEAKER_00: Are they who are they?
• 1:16:46
  SPEAKER_00: Um I think to be a consultant for a client, you've got to have a relationship with them.
• 1:16:52
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 1:16:53
  SPEAKER_00: You could pass me 200 people and they probably don't want to deal with me or vice versa.
• 1:17:00
  SPEAKER_00: You've got you've got to have that relationship.
• 1:17:02
  SPEAKER_00: So deal with that audience.
• 1:17:04
  SPEAKER_00: I think having that personal touch, and to be honest, I do it.
• 1:17:07
  SPEAKER_00: So if I go out for a walk at night, um probably sounds a bit weird now thinking of it that probably a bit breathless walking, sending a voice note, but uh I just say I'm just I hope you're well.
• 1:17:19
  SPEAKER_00: I'm just on my daily walk.
• 1:17:20
  SPEAKER_00: I thought I'd send you a um a note just to say it's great to be connected.
• 1:17:24
  SPEAKER_00: That'd be good to hear from you and send that and you get another one back.
• 1:17:28
  SPEAKER_00: And how's your walk going?
• 1:17:29
  SPEAKER_00: Um uh I've been doing this, that, the other, and or you could be in bed at night and just send a message to somebody.
• 1:17:35
  SPEAKER_00: It doesn't have to be right, I'm gonna dedicate three hours and gonna message as many people as I can.
• 1:17:42
  SPEAKER_00: It's a case of just sitting down.
• 1:17:44
  SPEAKER_00: If you've got some spare time, so if I was on my lunch and I sat down scrolling through LinkedIn, oh, he looks a good guy.
• 1:17:51
  SPEAKER_00: I like what he's posting.
• 1:17:52
  SPEAKER_00: I'll send him a voice note.
• 1:17:54
  SPEAKER_00: Just send him a voice note.
• 1:17:55
  SPEAKER_00: It doesn't have to be uh a thing that's going to take you hours, it can just be a one-off message.
• 1:18:02
  SPEAKER_00: The guy I messaged, it was half eleven at night when I messaged, and he messaged straight back.
• 1:18:06
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, really?
• 1:18:07
  SPEAKER_00: Um and got a meeting in the next day.
• 1:18:09
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, fair bad.
• 1:18:10
  SPEAKER_00: Um but yeah, it's just a case of again breaking things down.
• 1:18:16
  SPEAKER_01: Well, the one thing I would always say, be careful with LinkedIn is especially on your mobile phone, is that it can be like quite intrusive and it quite it can overtake your life a little bit.
• 1:18:25
  SPEAKER_01: Because I find my I like I was on a holiday a couple of days last week and um sat out on the balcony.
• 1:18:31
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not working, but I'm looking at my phone and I'm looking at my LinkedIn.
• 1:18:34
  SPEAKER_01: And as much as I I kind of think that's good because I might be making some money or I might be making some relationships or whatever, does it really does it is it really beneficial to my mental health?
• 1:18:46
  SPEAKER_01: You know, am I getting some downtime?
• 1:18:49
  SPEAKER_01: Am I, you know, should I be should I be reading that or should I be reading my Stephen King book that I told you about?
• 1:18:55
  SPEAKER_01: You know, or spending some time with my daughter or or or closing my eyes and getting some rest, you know?
• 1:19:00
  SPEAKER_01: And um, what do you do to look after your mental health and uh your well-being?
• 1:19:08
  SPEAKER_00: So I it is it is hard.
• 1:19:10
  SPEAKER_00: So you you have to have breaks.
• 1:19:12
  SPEAKER_00: Um so with me, it will be in the evening, so I'll go out for a walk every every night, and I make sure that I do that every night.
• 1:19:21
  SPEAKER_00: So seven o'clock, I go out, just go for a walk, put my airpods in, listen to some music, and uh yeah, just go for a walk, get fresh air.
• 1:19:30
  SPEAKER_00: Um, some nights I might say, Right, I won't go for a walk tonight.
• 1:19:34
  SPEAKER_00: Uh I'll pop down and see Grandad.
• 1:19:36
  SPEAKER_00: And in lockdown, I'll just sit outside and he'll stand on his front door, uh doorstep, and I'll just speak to him.
• 1:19:43
  SPEAKER_00: And it just gets you away and and and gives you a break.
• 1:19:46
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and then just like you, uh sometimes I'll read different articles um about different people and what they're doing.
• 1:19:54
  SPEAKER_00: Um, watch a couple of videos of people that have probably done well.
• 1:19:58
  SPEAKER_00: So I watched one, uh Lord John Lee, which is actually really good.
• 1:20:02
  SPEAKER_00: Which one's it?
• 1:20:03
  SPEAKER_00: Uh he was a uh Lord John Lee.
• 1:20:06
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 1:20:06
  SPEAKER_00: Uh so one of uh the connections that I've made, um, he does podcasts as well, and uh he had actually interviewed him.
• 1:20:14
  SPEAKER_00: And I watched that, and he was the first um he had the first ice that was over a million pounds.
• 1:20:20
  SPEAKER_00: So from the start he'd built it up to over a million pounds, that's massive.
• 1:20:25
  SPEAKER_00: Um and it was just about how he's his advice to to the younger generation and to people that are are in the our sort of position.
• 1:20:34
  SPEAKER_00: And it's just watching things like that and thinking, actually, that's really good.
• 1:20:39
  SPEAKER_00: There's a couple of things that you mentioned, like um he's talking about clients that just buy and sell investments all the time, and was talking about that it's a long-term position, and it's not a game of poker, we're not in a casino here.
• 1:20:55
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and I thought that's a really good way of putting it.
• 1:20:59
  SPEAKER_00: We're not in a casino.
• 1:21:00
  SPEAKER_00: This is this is your money, this is your wealth, this is a plan, it's a long-term plan.
• 1:21:04
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and some of the things like his little sayings was really good.
• 1:21:08
  SPEAKER_00: So I find watching videos like that um helped me sort of zone out and quite enjoy them.
• 1:21:15
  SPEAKER_00: So that's what I find.
• 1:21:17
  SPEAKER_01: So it's still kind of obviously you're quite passionate about your job, you enjoy it, don't you?
• 1:21:21
  SPEAKER_01: It's it's you know, and and and there's absolutely nothing wrong with that.
• 1:21:24
  SPEAKER_01: And if you know, and your downtime, if you want to watch some videos or or read some articles around your role and how you can improve and and make things better, then that's that's your interest, and that's you know, that's that's what you like to do, and you're a family man there with your grand that I know that because I see your pictures, very sweet.
• 1:21:40
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, and um even seeing friends, so yeah, seeing friends get obviously lockdown, it's a little bit difficult, but normally I would uh go and see friends and yeah, just hang out and and and yeah.
• 1:21:53
  SPEAKER_01: So, what's your first year of being a financial planner been like then?
• 1:21:57
  SPEAKER_00: Well, COVID-19's made it completely different, nobody's ever faced anything like this before.
• 1:22:02
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, um, so yeah, a little bit different to what I expected.
• 1:22:08
  SPEAKER_00: But you know what?
• 1:22:09
  SPEAKER_00: I look at it and I think it's probably actually not been a bad thing um in terms of of how the the job is adapted because it means that I've been able to sort of normally you you talk about the 2008 financial crash, but I wasn't part of that.
• 1:22:27
  SPEAKER_00: I didn't understand what was going on there.
• 1:22:29
  SPEAKER_00: I obviously knew what happened and I know why things went wrong and how difficult it was, but I wasn't advising clients then, so it's really hard if you sit in front of someone to say, Well, when there was a financial crash in 2008, and they're thinking it's probably in secondary school there or primary school or whatever.
• 1:22:48
  SPEAKER_00: But um to have something like this and to understand how clients are reacting and just getting put into that environment and trying to work out yourself, not knowing what's going to happen.
• 1:23:02
  SPEAKER_00: Um, it's been challenging, but again, it's about having the right people around you, it's about having the right team.
• 1:23:09
  SPEAKER_00: And yeah, I think it's been it's been good.
• 1:23:12
  SPEAKER_00: I'm enjoying it.
• 1:23:14
  SPEAKER_00: Even in in the current environment, I'm I'm enjoying it.
• 1:23:17
  SPEAKER_00: And I've been able to build closer relationships with the clients I look after.
• 1:23:22
  SPEAKER_00: Because I've been able to speak to them, reassure them, and just be honest that we don't know what's going to happen, but we believe that we're in the right boat in these uncharted waters, and and this is why.
• 1:23:34
  SPEAKER_00: And keeping in touch with them and ensuring that they're comfortable.
• 1:23:37
  SPEAKER_00: And if not, then why not and and put a plan in place for it?
• 1:23:42
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so yeah, I've really enjoyed it.
• 1:23:44
  SPEAKER_01: Re enjoying it, good man.
• 1:23:45
  SPEAKER_01: Well, it's a bit of a baptism of fire, isn't it, really?
• 1:23:47
  SPEAKER_01: And as you said, you know, I I joined I joined my recruitment company, okay, in the financial crisis of 2008.
• 1:23:55
  SPEAKER_01: So when I when I joined it, like everything went sh everything went kaput, you know.
• 1:24:00
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 1:24:01
  SPEAKER_01: And we were recruiting for banks, and all the banks started, you know, and then RDR happened and started kicking out all the advisors.
• 1:24:06
  SPEAKER_01: So I went through, you know, credit crunch, all that that happened.
• 1:24:09
  SPEAKER_01: I I totally got it.
• 1:24:10
  SPEAKER_01: And actually it it it it did fine, you know, fine-tune you, it did make you stronger and um more aware of what you were doing and how much time you might well have been wasting.
• 1:24:20
  SPEAKER_01: Um and it's um it's definitely done that.
• 1:24:23
  SPEAKER_01: And I think this time round as well, I've looked at things that we were doing and started to remove them without fear.
• 1:24:30
  SPEAKER_01: So what I found is that you can build things up to almost protect yourself or the job you're doing, to make yourself worthwhile or whatever, yeah.
• 1:24:39
  SPEAKER_01: And then something like this comes along, and you're thinking, well, I've got to save money, I'm gonna start to peel it away.
• 1:24:43
  SPEAKER_01: And as you start to peel it away, you start to think, well, that was working, but it was costing a lot of money.
• 1:24:49
  SPEAKER_01: How can I do that cheaper?
• 1:24:50
  SPEAKER_01: And then you start thinking, well, I don't need to do it that way anymore, I can do it this way.
• 1:24:53
  SPEAKER_01: And already we're saving money.
• 1:24:55
  SPEAKER_01: We're seeing areas where we're saving money, people are starting to work smarter, we're still making placements, we're still getting people into jobs, we're looking at video stuff, we're looking at the way people can work from home so that improve home, you know, health and well-being.
• 1:25:06
  SPEAKER_01: You know, there's so many positives I think that come over, come off at the back of COVID-19 that that that obviously don't um, you know, I'm not put into the fact that people have died as well, you know, that's not great.
• 1:25:18
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but there are things that are happening that we should be grateful for.
• 1:25:23
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and um, you know, I think moving forward, I think it's uh, especially for you in your first year, difficult time.
• 1:25:28
  SPEAKER_01: But Crikey, you know, can it get any worse?
• 1:25:31
  SPEAKER_01: You know, that's a good thing.
• 1:25:32
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, kind of like worse.
• 1:25:34
  SPEAKER_00: And yeah, if you can smash this and look after your clients and do a good job, then you're gonna be laughing.
• 1:25:42
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you're gonna be laughing.
• 1:25:44
  SPEAKER_01: So, what's the future hold for you then, Nathan?
• 1:25:46
  SPEAKER_01: What does the next couple of years look like for you?
• 1:25:48
  SPEAKER_00: So I just want to carry on working as hard as I can, um, building trusting relationships, and I would like to become a director at Matthew Leewoods.
• 1:25:58
  SPEAKER_00: That's not because being a director is I'm uh I'm up here kind of thing, but it's I love the company I work for, and to be in a position where I could help people and have some obviously you have an influencer as you are because they listen to you, but being in that position is just a it's a bit of pride, I guess, to say, right, I've done this and I want to make the best for this company.
• 1:26:25
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so that's my next kind of step.
• 1:26:29
  SPEAKER_00: Um obviously, not it's not going to happen straight away, it's going to take a lot of work.
• 1:26:34
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but that is my my route, just to continue to to build myself up.
• 1:26:39
  SPEAKER_01: There's lots going lots going on with Mattioli Wood though, isn't there?
• 1:26:42
  SPEAKER_01: Because they're starting to move into the acquisition market now as well, aren't they?
• 1:26:46
  SPEAKER_00: So we've always so we initially started off in uh Ian Mattioli's garage, so Ian Mattioli and Bob Woods.
• 1:26:54
  SPEAKER_00: And yeah, they're over the uh they first started out as pension troubleshooting, so they'd look at a client's position.
• 1:27:01
  SPEAKER_00: It's like you mentioned earlier.
• 1:27:04
  SPEAKER_00: Um you probably wasn't advising in the 1980s, but there was a lot of misselling back there.
• 1:27:11
  SPEAKER_00: Clients being putting into positions where they wasn't probably best for them, was being charged high levels of commission.
• 1:27:18
  SPEAKER_00: And in the uh Matheoli and Bob was quite fortunate that they didn't work for a company that um that did that, but they they saw that there's a lot of clients in positions they probably shouldn't be in.
• 1:27:32
  SPEAKER_00: And from that, uh they set up as a pension troubleshooting, so they'd review a client's position and charge a fee opposed to commission, built trust up, and um and then started branching out.
• 1:27:46
  SPEAKER_00: So that's where we developed our own pensions in house, our own investments in house, and that's where the fully integrated model comes from.
• 1:27:54
  SPEAKER_00: So we've just uh adapted.
• 1:27:56
  SPEAKER_00: But in terms of acquisitions, we have made a number over the years.
• 1:28:00
  SPEAKER_00: Uh so it's not something that we've just gone into that we're now starting to do.
• 1:28:04
  SPEAKER_00: But it's really goes back to where we first started.
• 1:28:09
  SPEAKER_00: So helping clients.
• 1:28:10
  SPEAKER_00: So some of the companies that we probably acquire, clients need that planning.
• 1:28:15
  SPEAKER_00: They've not had advisors, and it's a case of reviewing their position and putting them in a position where they should be.
• 1:28:22
  SPEAKER_00: Um so again, going back to that kind of garage and looking after clients, and yeah, so the companies we will acquire will review their position and ensure them clients are looked after how they should be.
• 1:28:34
  SPEAKER_01: Well, great stuff, um, Nathan.
• 1:28:36
  SPEAKER_01: Obviously, um you're an ambitious guy and you've been working hard.
• 1:28:39
  SPEAKER_01: And um, I think your story will should hopefully inspire somebody who might well be 20 years old, let's say the position that you were in college, 19, thinking about getting into financial services, but predominantly financial advice, and understanding there are companies out there that can offer that direct route into the position of becoming a financial advisor, and that in reality it can take some time not to turn your nose up at the journey because the journey is part of it.
• 1:29:06
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and things like being a client relationship manager, administrator, you know, scanning some documents, these are things that will teach you about the role from grassroots level up and make you a better planner and understand the business far greater.
• 1:29:20
  SPEAKER_01: And um, I mean, you're moving in how old are you now?
• 1:29:22
  SPEAKER_01: 27 years old?
• 1:29:24
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 1:29:24
  SPEAKER_01: So 27 years old and um fully qualified financial planner.
• 1:29:29
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, um, happy days, you know, that's that's a great, great position to be, and you're full of ambition.
• 1:29:35
  SPEAKER_01: And um, I mean I think that's great.
• 1:29:38
  SPEAKER_01: I think it's a great story, Nathan.
• 1:29:39
  SPEAKER_01: And I think it should show somebody who's younger that they can become a financial planner, that it's not a boring job, you know, that you can earn good money in it as well.
• 1:29:48
  SPEAKER_01: I know we didn't talk about the money side of it.
• 1:29:49
  SPEAKER_01: We brief briefly touched on it, but it's a good earning, um, you know, it's a great opportunity to earn good money.
• 1:29:55
  SPEAKER_01: There are lots of there are less financial advisors now than ever.
• 1:29:58
  SPEAKER_01: There's gonna be loads leaving the industry and there's gonna be a massive shortage.
• 1:30:02
  SPEAKER_01: So if you're a young person now thinking about becoming a financial advisor, now's the time to get into it because you'll be writing your own check in the future, won't you?
• 1:30:10
  SPEAKER_00: Well, even um even with Matthew Ellie Woods, we now offer the apprentice uh scheme.
• 1:30:15
  SPEAKER_00: So we do have people coming from school now from an apprenticeship.
• 1:30:19
  SPEAKER_00: And uh one of the guys that uh started about three years ago now, coming at 16, and he's basically he wanted to get on straight away, really ambitious.
• 1:30:30
  SPEAKER_00: And he said, Right, I want to do my exams, I want to be a financial advisor, this is what I want to do.
• 1:30:35
  SPEAKER_00: And he's sat all of his exam uh exams, he's now going for chartered.
• 1:30:39
  SPEAKER_00: And I think he's 18, no, 19 now.
• 1:30:43
  SPEAKER_00: He's 19, he's done all of his exams, uh, he's been helping out with paraplanning, etc.
• 1:30:49
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but it just goes to show it doesn't matter whether you're leaving school, whether you're leaving university, whether you've done another job and now you want to get into it, with the right support, you it goes a long way.
• 1:31:03
  SPEAKER_00: And yeah, it doesn't matter what age you are.
• 1:31:06
  SPEAKER_00: So, yeah, I know guys that are 16 that are fully qualified at the age of 18, 19.
• 1:31:12
  SPEAKER_01: So I think you're absolutely right there.
• 1:31:14
  SPEAKER_01: The company's that and I think testament as well to the company, isn't it, that um they've put that energy and effort into it, understand the value of training and developing people, especially around the apprenticeship side of it.
• 1:31:24
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and that's only going to be that's only gonna do good things because I think it does create a loyal workforce as well, because you know, when someone invests in you, I think you want to give back and um it so it shows the right message.
• 1:31:36
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and all anybody really needs is a little bit of motivation, a little bit of guidance.
• 1:31:41
  SPEAKER_01: You don't need it given to you, you just need someone behind you giving you a prod and saying, Come on, you can do it.
• 1:31:46
  SPEAKER_01: You can do it.
• 1:31:46
  SPEAKER_01: I believe in you.
• 1:31:47
  SPEAKER_01: Come on.
• 1:31:47
  SPEAKER_01: And I think that's the bit that you know, um, you know, you everyone needs that, I think.
• 1:31:53
  SPEAKER_01: And um, please you found it, Nathan, in Matteoli Wood.
• 1:31:56
  SPEAKER_00: So um it's after me.
• 1:31:58
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 1:31:58
  SPEAKER_01: Well, listen, it's been an absolute pleasure talking to you today.
• 1:32:01
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you so much for your time.
• 1:32:02
  SPEAKER_01: Um, it's now Friday afternoon, quarter to four.
• 1:32:05
  SPEAKER_01: I'm sure you're gonna send some voice messages now, aren't you, on LinkedIn?
• 1:32:08
  SPEAKER_02: I am, yeah.
• 1:32:09
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not.
• 1:32:10
  SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna go and sit on my balcony and I'm gonna sit in the sunshine.
• 1:32:13
  SPEAKER_01: That's what I'm gonna do.
• 1:32:14
  SPEAKER_01: Hey, looking, Sam.
• 1:32:15
  SPEAKER_01: Look at it, I know, it's because I was off on a week and I had a week off, didn't I?
• 1:32:19
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I I'm terrible when it comes to getting in the sun.
• 1:32:21
  SPEAKER_01: I shouldn't really do it, but um, yeah, I was just um I told you I was drinking I I got really addicted to green tea.
• 1:32:27
  SPEAKER_01: So I was drinking like iced green tea, like um amazing iced green tea.
• 1:32:32
  SPEAKER_01: The best thing I tried it, yeah.
• 1:32:34
  SPEAKER_01: Mate, the best thing about it, right, is green tea, three tea bags, lemon ones as well, you know, the lemon lemon flavoured ones.
• 1:32:40
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, steep that for 15 minutes, take the tea bags out, whisk in some palm sugar and a little bit of honey, then fill it up with cold water, put it in the freezer, then blend it afterwards.
• 1:32:52
  SPEAKER_01: So don't freeze it, but like uh chill it right down, then then blend it, and it froths up.
• 1:32:58
  SPEAKER_01: So it looks like a tall kind of if you're having a tall glass poured over ice, it looks like an alcoholic drink.
• 1:33:04
  SPEAKER_01: But it's like and you take, oh my god, squeeze lemon into it.
• 1:33:06
  SPEAKER_00: Oh my god, the best thing.
• 1:33:08
  SPEAKER_00: You start selling them off your uh selling them off your balcony.
• 1:33:11
  SPEAKER_00: I tell you what.
• 1:33:12
  SPEAKER_01: A bit high up for that.
• 1:33:12
  SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna overlook in the water for it, no one will get up there.
• 1:33:14
  SPEAKER_01: But yeah, absolutely.
• 1:33:15
  SPEAKER_01: My wife loves them as well.
• 1:33:16
  SPEAKER_01: But um, I'm gonna go back, have one of those, and um, you know, enjoy my enjoy my weekend.
• 1:33:21
  SPEAKER_01: But thank you so much for your time today, Nathan.
• 1:33:22
  SPEAKER_01: I really appreciate that.
• 1:33:24
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, thanks for yours as well.