Latest / Financial Planner Life Podcast / Apprenticeship v University, Early Financial Planning career development at Foster Denovo with Ryan Edwards

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Apprenticeship v University, Early Financial Planning career development at Foster Denovo with Ryan Edwards · Financial Planner Life Podcast

• 0:00
  sam: And today's guest on the Financial Planner Live podcast is Ryan Edwards from Foster De Novo.
• 0:04
  sam: Ryan is a client relationship manager and he has had three promotions since joining Foster De Novo.
• 0:10
  sam: We talk about the innovative culture, why it's been supporting him, the mentorship that he's been receiving and why he wants to become a financial planner by the age of 25.
• 0:20
  sam: We talk about training and development and why you should join Foster De Novo, Ryan.
• 0:41
  sam: Thank you so much for joining me today on the Financial Planner Life podcast.
• 0:44
  sam: How are you?
• 0:45
  Ryan: Yeah, very well.
• 0:45
  Ryan: Thanks, sam, Very much indeed Good man, good man.
• 0:48
  sam: Well, it's part of the Foster De Novo special, so it's really really pleased to have you here today.
• 0:56
  sam: You can tell us a little bit about your career journey and what you've experienced whilst working for Foster De Novo.
• 0:59
  sam: So just briefly, first of all, can you give us a bit of an introduction as to who you are and what you're currently doing?
• 1:04
  Ryan: Yeah, absolutely.
• 1:05
  Ryan: My name is Ryan Edwards.
• 1:06
  Ryan: I'm 23 years old.
• 1:07
  Ryan: I am a Client Relationship Manager at FOSTA at De Novo Been with FD since August 2021.
• 1:13
  Ryan: Love my time here.
• 1:19
  Ryan: Got to say very, very lucky to have fell on my feet here In as many years.
• 1:21
  Ryan: I've had as many promotions.
• 1:22
  Ryan: It's all carried on going very well here through sort of mentorship, um, but I had a great support network around me which has led to the successes I've had here.
• 1:29
  Ryan: Very, very fortunate and uh and yeah, love my time fd.
• 1:31
  Ryan: I'm a big advocate, I've got to say.
• 1:33
  sam: Got to say oh, fantastic, that's what we're here to here to find out today what it's like to work for foster de novo.
• 1:37
  sam: Um, brilliant, so three promotions since you've been here as well.
• 1:41
  sam: It is a company that that does promote people.
• 1:43
  sam: There's loads of career opportunities.
• 1:44
  sam: That's something that I've picked up since doing the podcast partnership, so that's really great.
• 1:48
  sam: But let's just take a step back.
• 1:50
  sam: Let's work out a little bit about how you got into the profession, because you didn't sort of set out, did you, to become an employee within a financial planning business.
• 1:59
  sam: So how did you end up getting to this point?
• 2:01
  sam: How?
• 2:01
  sam: How did you end up getting to this point?
• 2:03
  sam: How did you start out in the profession?
• 2:04
  Ryan: Yeah, absolutely.
• 2:04
  Ryan: So I've got a good comparison with my father.
• 2:06
  Ryan: My dad he works in construction so I knew going from an early age I didn't want to be on a site.
• 2:11
  Ryan: I've had a few sort of times with him, realised that that wasn't for me, in comparison to my grandfather he always wanted.
• 2:17
  Ryan: He's got a saying he said he wants his desk, his phone and his pen pen and I knew that was sort of the career that I wanted to go down.
• 2:24
  Ryan: In terms of how I got into the profession, I went to sixth form, scored well in A-levels, had the option and way up between university and an apprenticeship and ended up going down the route of an apprenticeship with another firm, ended up having an investment operation certificate apprenticeship, which is a very sort of back office focused apprenticeship.
• 2:42
  Ryan: During my time there, day to day, I was on the phone dealing with sort of different advisors, clients, para planners, back-office administrators, and that was my sort of exposure into financial planning as a whole.
• 2:53
  Ryan: I knew during that time, during that apprenticeship, that I was to me feel like I was on the wrong side of the phones.
• 2:58
  Ryan: I wanted to be on the other side and have that sort of client focus.
• 3:01
  Ryan: I've always been better sort of speaking to people than anything along those lines.
• 3:03
  Ryan: So so yeah, that was sort of the entry.
• 3:04
  Ryan: I've always been better at sort of speaking to people than anything along those lines.
• 3:05
  Ryan: So yeah, that was sort of the entry point into there.
• 3:08
  Ryan: It was through the apprenticeship and then through there I was fortunate enough to have landed a position within FD Fantastic.
• 3:13
  sam: So let's just have a quick look at this apprenticeship versus going to university because it's a really interesting subject, isn't it?
• 3:18
  sam: Because there's the getting exposure within a company, doing a job on a day-to-day basis, or there's going to university, getting your qualifications, then leaving university and getting a job, and often what you find is people tend to go in at the same jobs, but someone just takes four years of university to get there instead and might well get into some debt.
• 3:38
  sam: Absolutely.
• 3:39
  sam: What's your thoughts about apprenticeships and having gone through it yourself and choosing that over, say, the university route?
• 3:46
  Ryan: yeah, definitely so.
• 3:48
  Ryan: One sort of comment that gets thrown around quite a lot, especially sort of news and things like that, is the idea of learning and earning.
• 3:52
  Ryan: I'm a very big advocate of apprenticeships.
• 3:54
  Ryan: As you can imagine, quite biased in that argument, I've got wonderful friend group around me, many of whom went to university and have now come out in these junior roles, and I look at myself as a comparison.
• 4:03
  Ryan: I have pushed along the line quite a way, as opposed to when I would have been sort of entering the job market, leaving university In terms of how that's put me, instead with FD, like I say, I've had a few internal promotions during that time as opposed to having an entry-level role, and that apprenticeship did sort of open the door for me with an FD.
• 4:22
  sam: Because the apprenticeship wasn't with Foster De Novo right.
• 4:24
  Ryan: The apprenticeship wasn't with NFD, but that's how I landed my position with FD.
• 4:28
  Ryan: It was the sort of opener of the door, so to speak, and it got me my ticket on the train to London, so to speak.
• 4:33
  Ryan: Fantastic.
• 4:34
  sam: So when you joined Foster De Novo, how did you end up landing that job?
• 4:38
  Ryan: So that come around through a LinkedIn message.
• 4:41
  Ryan: It was a recruiter who worked with NFD reached out.
• 4:44
  Ryan: I think I may have spoken to him on the phone or spoken to him on the phone a few times, and yeah, that's how I landed.
• 4:49
  Ryan: It was a sort of a telephone interview.
• 4:51
  Ryan: After that was an in-person interview.
• 4:52
  Ryan: I think it was just during COVID times, I think a lot of people still working from home.
• 4:56
  Ryan: So very sort of timid, nervous Ryan entered a Zoom call and went from there.
• 5:00
  Ryan: But yeah, that's how I landed that.
• 5:02
  sam: You mentioned when you were in that apprenticeship role that you were kind of on the other side of the fence or the other side of the phone, as you put it.
• 5:07
  sam: So for you, you knew quite early on that you wanted to be more client facing.
• 5:13
  sam: Is that right?
• 5:13
  Ryan: Yeah, absolutely so.
• 5:14
  Ryan: The analogy I use is, like I say, I was on the phone sort of day to day speaking to these advisors, these clients, and seeing the things that would happen.
• 5:20
  Ryan: I used to see these six, seven-figure sort of sums come in across and dealing with them and making sure they're invested correctly on the other end and I thought actually no, that to me sounds incredibly interesting.
• 5:29
  Ryan: So that was where I knew I sort of wanted to focus my time towards and push to get on the other end of the phone.
• 5:35
  Ryan: I've always had that ambition to sort of be where that was.
• 5:39
  Ryan: So that was sort of steadfast all the way back in that apprenticeship.
• 5:42
  Ryan: And I've been given the opportunity and now I'm doing the role with NFDA Fantastic.
• 5:47
  sam: I always think it's really important, though, to get that entry level experience to see what it's like behind the scenes, to understand what the administrative side of a role actually is, so you can look back on it and understand what people do in specific roles and just really how a business actually works.
• 6:03
  sam: So I think getting in at the grassroots level is very, very important.
• 6:06
  sam: I know Foster De Novo are so good at bringing on juniors and progressing them through the business.
• 6:12
  sam: They have a really clear, structured career framework and I mean, how long have you been here for now?
• 6:17
  Ryan: So yeah, as I mentioned, sort of started in August 2021, 2021 came in as the junior or the most junior role.
• 6:22
  Ryan: I should say.
• 6:23
  Ryan: It's a client experience uh administrator, which is the cea.
• 6:26
  Ryan: That's the junior role.
• 6:28
  Ryan: So those sort of responsibilities are literally just about getting your, your, your industry knowledge up, your product knowledge aware, um, building that sort of steadfast knowledge up, and then, once you have your framework, you can then progress up to being a client experience executive.
• 6:41
  Ryan: That's a sort of a role where you then have responsibilities.
• 6:44
  Ryan: Advisors would be your port of call.
• 6:46
  Ryan: You are solely the point of contact for that advisor, but the responsibilities are still junior.
• 6:52
  Ryan: You are still processing applications.
• 6:54
  Ryan: There's not much client involvement there.
• 6:55
  Ryan: That is still sort of a junior role, so to speak.
• 7:00
  Ryan: From that point onwards you then have a senior client experience executive.
• 7:04
  Ryan: That's when you start potentially having a little bit more client involvement, depending on how your relationship with that advisor is.
• 7:09
  Ryan: And then, from sort of two steadfasts there you can kind of go from one of two options.
• 7:13
  Ryan: You then go into the sort of back office route practice manner, client relationship manager, practice manager and client relationship manager Just to correct myself there.
• 7:21
  Ryan: So those are your two options there, and then, in an alternate manner, you have the idea of going towards sort of power planning routes, the idea of becoming an advisor, which is the route I'm taking, um.
• 7:30
  Ryan: So there's many, many avenues that are provided through fd and and, and, as long as you do wish to pursue one, foster denover will be behind you, supporting you there fantastic.
• 7:39
  sam: So did you know much about the financial planning profession as a career?
• 7:44
  Ryan: So, truth be told, no, I did sort of stumble into the career, so to speak.
• 7:47
  Ryan: I've always known, sort of when I was younger, that maths were my core focus, as opposed to the word side of things.
• 7:53
  Ryan: My little brother is the literacy king, so to speak.
• 7:56
  Ryan: That's what we refer to him as he's always been better at writing stories things like that.
• 7:59
  Ryan: And we refer to him as he's always been better at writing stories things like that and I always knew that to me that wasn't where I was going down.
• 8:06
  Ryan: So, yeah, maths-based was always going to be the path for me.
• 8:08
  Ryan: A few work experience placements I had a sort of work experience in London Metal Exchange when I was younger.
• 8:11
  Ryan: I was fortunate enough to be provided that for a family friend, so I had sort of exposure in a London-based environment.
• 8:16
  Ryan: I know that environment was for me.
• 8:19
  Ryan: So as soon as I saw this junior role available to me and it was provided for me through FD I took it and jumped it with both hands Fantastic.
• 8:26
  sam: So talk to me about the training and the development that you've had during that period, because you progressed quite quickly through different role types.
• 8:35
  sam: Now, was that just because of your ability to pick things up really, really quickly and grasp new ideas, and did you push your manager to promote you, or was there training, was there support in place and guidance?
• 8:50
  Ryan: so, since day one, fd you, you have your plan, you have your progression route planned out for you and we're not talking like a three or four or five year progression plan.
• 8:58
  Ryan: This is a.
• 8:58
  Ryan: This is where you are going to be in a year's time.
• 9:01
  Ryan: So I had my framework set out quite clearly from from day dot.
• 9:04
  Ryan: I have, like I mentioned, started as a client experience administrator the cea role.
• 9:09
  Ryan: I knew straight away that the progression route to client experience executive and the framework was there that I needed to achieve in order to get there.
• 9:15
  Ryan: Um, so yeah, from from a progression point of view, I've always known the steps I need to take in order to get to that next framework and to get to that next promotion.
• 9:24
  Ryan: My managers and mentorship have been absolutely crucial in getting me there.
• 9:28
  Ryan: I've got some wonderful team leaders, wonderful team managers around me who all just genuinely want me to succeed.
• 9:33
  Ryan: That's the crucial thing.
• 9:35
  Ryan: And there is a succeeding culture within FD.
• 9:38
  Ryan: They talk about the idea of the stakeholder business.
• 9:39
  Ryan: It's all stakeholder business, exceeding culture within FD.
• 9:40
  Ryan: They talk about the idea of the stakeholder businesses, stakeholder business.
• 9:45
  Ryan: I remember sort of listening when I heard Roger's podcast and how crucial and how fundamental it is to FD success.
• 9:48
  Ryan: I completely echo that, really, really echo that.
• 9:51
  Ryan: I felt very much a part of the FD culture, the FD family that it's referred to.
• 9:57
  Ryan: I know that term is thrown around, especially when you have these sort of corporations, but definitely so when we are sort of that medium-sized firm, there is still that, that approach to it.
• 10:06
  Ryan: I mean, I see roger most days I'm in the office.
• 10:08
  Ryan: I see helen most days.
• 10:09
  Ryan: Helen are these, these senior leadership roles within fd?
• 10:12
  Ryan: We are all as one and it is treated like a team and that is sort of one of the crew or the key, crucial parts of fd, which is which is wonderful fantastic.
• 10:20
  sam: Well, that's always good to have that leadership team around you, inspiring and also being there, open, being able to answer any questions and showing a keen interest in you as a person as well and in your career definitely always feels like you're kind of valued.
• 10:33
  sam: You know that stakeholder element of it as well, knowing that the performance of the business.
• 10:37
  sam: You're going to be rewarded for that performance definitely also as well.
• 10:41
  sam: Also, looking to the left and looking to the right and seeing people that are actually progressing, you know it can be very stagnant sometimes and historically within financial planning it's like you're an administrator.
• 10:51
  sam: You stay there definitely.
• 10:52
  sam: You know you're a power planner.
• 10:53
  sam: Stay in your lane.
• 10:54
  sam: Um, when you've got these companies that are growing, and especially with the crestline investment here at foster de novo, it's it's it's massively sort of injecting a culture of innovation and growth and the stories I'm hearing about people like moving up into different role types or moving across.
• 11:09
  sam: Even I've got somebody on podcast this afternoon who's a change manager.
• 11:13
  sam: Yes, you know, you don't get many change and project managers within the financial planning firm, so it's interesting to hear about all these different types of roles and I had, and also just that people aren't pigeonholed into it.
• 11:23
  sam: I also think it's really, really important that young people are inspired to want to become a financial planner.
• 11:30
  sam: Historically it's like you haven't got enough grey hair to be a financial advisor you stay to do the administration and when you're older you can be a financial planner.
• 11:38
  sam: How have you felt?
• 11:38
  sam: Have you felt sort of victimized at all by being a younger guy, knowing that deep down you want to become a financial planner, or have you been inspired by those around you?
• 11:47
  Ryan: yeah, so in terms of, uh, the idea of a gray-haired financial advisor, yeah, absolutely that.
• 11:52
  Ryan: That is sort of the key component is that you look at a financial advisor, you close your eyes, you imagine one.
• 11:55
  Ryan: Yeah, they got gray hair.
• 11:57
  Ryan: Um, I think the average age we're looking sort of past 55 now.
• 11:59
  Ryan: Um, I'm an average reader of the ft advisor.
• 12:03
  Ryan: Uh, had a wonderful article the other day.
• 12:05
  Ryan: Uh, looking at the idea of the advice gap, the difference between the age of the financial advisors and how the age of them are sort of increasing as time's going on.
• 12:12
  Ryan: I think, off the top of my head, there's only 180 odd advisors under the age of 25 in the uk, which is is a very small the elusive club I'm trying to get into, so to speak.
• 12:23
  Ryan: But, yeah, like I say, you close your eyes, you imagine a soldier advisor, the idea of FD, fostering talent within FD and moving people forward.
• 12:33
  Ryan: I have many sort of examples I can give of friends who are in the similar roles to me that are progression.
• 12:38
  Ryan: I mean Josh Ladden, one clear example, a very, very good friend of mine.
• 12:41
  Ryan: He's qualified within the space of the last of 18 months.
• 12:47
  Ryan: Started off as a very junior role.
• 12:47
  Ryan: Uh, he had a different career path, had that change of heart to come over to financial planning and is now progressing and will be taking up an advisor role sort of later in the year once he qualifies.
• 12:55
  Ryan: So it's wonderful.
• 12:55
  Ryan: Fd really are behind you in that respect and it's important for to get young people into the industry.
• 13:00
  Ryan: It's an aging industry and it's definitely a need or a want to get people into the industry and hopefully, uh, sort of few sort of metrics, such as this podcast and getting out there that people will be attracted to it so you've got aspirations to be one of those 25 sorry, there's under 25 financial advisors that we have such a rarity of actually having within the profession.
• 13:21
  sam: So your aspirations and goals are to work towards that um.
• 13:25
  Ryan: So, yeah, in terms of sort of my aspirations, absolutely wish to be a part of that elusive under 25 brigade, I call it.
• 13:32
  Ryan: Um, I've passed two out of the six exams needed to do so through through the cii.
• 13:37
  Ryan: Uh, have recently sat a third was unsuccessful, but we'll be resitting that within the next few weeks, um, and then that way we're halfway done.
• 13:44
  Ryan: Um, and, like I mentioned, I've just had my 23rd birthday.
• 13:47
  Ryan: So, yeah, well, on my way to hopefully achieving that and then going from there in terms of sort of progression.
• 13:53
  Ryan: After that, obviously I won't be sort of thrown into the world.
• 13:55
  Ryan: I'll probably take up an employed role with nfd or potentially, uh, sort of a self-employed role and maybe an employed role hybrid mix.
• 14:01
  Ryan: But I know, whatever I choose to do, I'll have conversations with Helena, I'll have conversations with sort of the senior leadership team, and I know that I'll have the support in order to do what I wish to do, which is which is wonderful at the right time exactly.
• 14:13
  sam: You are part of a team in your client relationship manager role, where you support an existing financial planner.
• 14:21
  sam: That's right.
• 14:22
  sam: Does this financial planner mentor you?
• 14:26
  Ryan: Absolutely the idea of my mentor.
• 14:29
  Ryan: Her name is Marnil Stafford.
• 14:30
  Ryan: I'm very, very proud and pleased to be working with her.
• 14:32
  Ryan: She started in a very similar position to myself.
• 14:35
  Ryan: She started in a junior administrative role.
• 14:36
  Ryan: After moving countries, settled in the UK and from there just gone from strength to strength.
• 14:43
  Ryan: Within foster day novo.
• 14:44
  Ryan: There's been sort of the women in finance series has recently been put out by fd.
• 14:47
  Ryan: She featured in that um.
• 14:49
  Ryan: She's been invaluable to to my progression at fd and I'm very fortunate enough really to speak and to work for her.
• 14:57
  Ryan: I do consider myself fortunate in that respect.
• 14:58
  Ryan: She's a wonderful woman, has led me from strength to strength, has been so kind enough to invite me into client meetings, really to speak and to work for her.
• 15:01
  Ryan: I do consider myself fortunate in that respect.
• 15:02
  Ryan: She's a wonderful woman, has led me from strength to strength, has been so kind enough to invite me into client meetings, which is very rare, especially in our industry, and being so young that she had the trust in me to do that.
• 15:08
  Ryan: She's provided me study materials, guides, staying after work, talking me through my exams.
• 15:15
  sam: She's a wonderful woman and the idea of mentoring is definitely something that fits within her remit absolutely is it something that you want to do yourself as you sort of progress through the business give back to other people as they come through?
• 15:25
  sam: Do you get the opportunity to do that yourself at the moment?
• 15:28
  Ryan: so in terms of sort of my role, my role is very much sort of client facing.
• 15:31
  Ryan: Um.
• 15:31
  Ryan: So in terms of giving back within sort of other administrators to be truth be told, many of the advisors do that in any instance.
• 15:37
  Ryan: Marnell isn't a rarity in that respect, so I know many advisors who are doing that within the london office um, the idea of sort of not only themselves progressing but then creating roles after their progression, you know the idea of junior roles, junior advisors all coming through the mix.
• 15:51
  Ryan: It is a wonderful time to be a part of fda.
• 15:53
  sam: It really is does she talk to you a little bit about your own progression and how maybe you'll be able to support her further with more client facing work as you progress through your qualifications as well and become competent?
• 16:07
  Ryan: Absolutely so.
• 16:08
  Ryan: She's been kind enough to invite me to a few client meetings.
• 16:11
  Ryan: And don't get me wrong, I'm nowhere near ready to take on that responsibility, but at some stage I will be, I'll be qualified to do so and I look forward to that stage.
• 16:20
  Ryan: Um, but yeah, her her input into to my career in itself with fd has been invaluable.
• 16:28
  Ryan: She really has been been the driving force and that fire under my shoes, so to speak, to really push me forward.
• 16:32
  Ryan: Very, very lucky to consider her not only a friend but as as the advisor that I work for no, it's great to hear you got a good, you know, such a solid mentor there.
• 16:39
  sam: It gives you a real push and a real motivation when you come into work, when somebody's there to be able to guide you and help you.
• 16:45
  sam: But also, pushing that a little bit further, I think being exposed to client meetings is so, so important.
• 16:50
  sam: And again, historically, when you speak to administrators, you speak to power planners, and they don't even sit in front of clients.
• 16:55
  sam: It's almost kind of like you sit over there and and we'll deal with the client stuff.
• 16:59
  sam: But I think the the more exposure you get, the younger you are, the better you're going to be in the long run and it keeps you motivated, it keeps you interested.
• 17:08
  sam: You get to understand the culture of the client.
• 17:10
  sam: Don't you, the type of individual you're dealing with, start to pick up things on what they're worried about, what they know and what they don't know?
• 17:16
  sam: Do you sometimes find some of these clients?
• 17:18
  sam: They they either think they know a lot or they don't know a lot, and they keep quiet and you kind of like looking there and thinking, god you know, at this point, if you ask this type of open question, you're going to get probably quite an emotive answer.
• 17:29
  sam: So it's quite a nice way to kind of ease you into those client relationships to see exactly how they actually work yeah, absolutely.
• 17:37
  Ryan: I mean I can think to, I can think to give some examples behind that.
• 17:39
  Ryan: I mean, as mentioned, been here for three years.
• 17:41
  Ryan: I've had clients that I've administered from start all the way through to now that have had three years' worth of a review service through Foster De Novo.
• 17:48
  Ryan: You know we had our quantum select bases.
• 17:51
  Ryan: That was our review service beforehand.
• 17:52
  Ryan: Consumer duty now coming into the forefront after this and revision of that review service and how that looks like I've moved and had clients have have gone through that process and that transition.
• 18:02
  Ryan: So, yeah, some refer to me and come directly to me as opposed to the advisors, which is wonderful.
• 18:06
  Ryan: It's an element of trust that I take great pride, in which is great.
• 18:09
  sam: What about qualifications?
• 18:10
  sam: What are you doing around that at the moment?
• 18:12
  Ryan: In terms of where I currently stand, I'm on my path to, to becoming qualified.
• 18:15
  Ryan: I'm currently studying through the CII in order to to get my qualifications.
• 18:20
  Ryan: I'm a third of the way there.
• 18:21
  Ryan: I've had two out of the six done.
• 18:22
  Ryan: I have r01 and ro5 and I'm currently studying for my row.
• 18:25
  Ryan: Three had to take in that exam, due to resit it very soon.
• 18:29
  Ryan: Um, I only found it by one, which, uh, is, yeah, very heartbreaking.
• 18:33
  Ryan: As you can imagine, I wasn't best pleased when I saw that result.
• 18:35
  Ryan: But trials and tribulations, that's all part of the process.
• 18:38
  Ryan: Picking myself up, getting back on with it on the bandwagon, so to speak Very important, just to pick myself up and get cracking with it.
• 18:45
  Ryan: It's part of the process and I look forward to passing that exam, which I will do in a few weeks' time, and then, moving on from there, I'll be halfway qualified.
• 18:53
  Ryan: And, yeah, there we are.
• 18:56
  sam: Are the exams quite challenging.
• 19:01
  Ryan: I do find them challenging, yes, and it's more so where the time fits in.
• 19:03
  Ryan: There there is a an element of sacrifice that comes in with having a full-time responsibility during that nine to five hours, um, and then and then revising after work.
• 19:11
  Ryan: You know the idea of not going out to the pub, not going out to my mates, not going play football, and you know family sacrifice essentially not going out to these things, um, and putting myself first and my career first, especially at a young age.
• 19:22
  Ryan: And there is some pressure behind not doing that, especially being in a friend group where a few friends have come out of university not pursuing a further result.
• 19:30
  Ryan: You know any further education inside of the workplace.
• 19:33
  Ryan: They've got their degree, they've got a bit of paper, they're ready to roll.
• 19:36
  Ryan: That's not me, unfortunately.
• 19:37
  Ryan: I haven't got that luxury.
• 19:39
  Ryan: I've still got halfway to go and, yeah, another 18 months, I suppose, ahead of getting exams under my belt before I can kick my feet up and relax before potentially moving on to being chartered.
• 19:50
  sam: You've got aspirations to go down the chartered route.
• 19:51
  sam: Then Absolutely.
• 19:52
  Ryan: Yeah, I feel like it's.
• 19:53
  Ryan: I owe it to myself, I feel like not going to university, uh sort of, and having that sort of same basis really, I think being chartered is is the sort of highest pat on the back you can give yourself, especially industry.
• 20:04
  sam: Um, yeah, definitely have aspirations of being chartered, especially with nfd any challenges you've come up against working in financial planning in your career so far is anything that's sort of taken your legs out or has been a big challenge.
• 20:16
  Ryan: So my sort of jump up between the senior client experience executive role that I was in before the start of this year and the client relationship manager role that I'm currently in.
• 20:25
  Ryan: There has been a jump up in responsibility.
• 20:26
  Ryan: I have had to step up work a little bit longer and be a lot more client-centric.
• 20:33
  Ryan: Clients have come to me directly as we approached tax year end, which has been very interesting.
• 20:39
  Ryan: I mean having conversations with my advisors, clients directly, without any need for them to make contact to the advisor.
• 20:45
  Ryan: There's definitely may have been a jump up there in responsibility, but one that I've taken on my shoulders and look forward to moving forward with In terms of hardships, anything along those lines being so young I mean, like I say I'm only 23 years of age and managing a practice which, essentially, is what I'm doing with NFD.
• 21:03
  Ryan: It's challenging yeah, I wouldn't say imposter syndrome, but yes, that sort of regard, being the age that I am and having the responsibilities on my shoulders that I do.
• 21:11
  Ryan: What do you do about that?
• 21:12
  Ryan: Truth be told, I confine in people and have open conversations, so I lay bare things to my family.
• 21:21
  Ryan: I'm very close to my family mum, my dad and my younger brother.
• 21:23
  Ryan: I'm very family centric, so I know full well they're behind me in in all respects.
• 21:27
  Ryan: There have the conversation, my team leader, team manager, wonderful support I have for them, very, very close with them.
• 21:32
  Ryan: Fortunately enough, I was very, very much friends with them before they even took the manager responsibility off of myself.
• 21:37
  Ryan: So I have a wonderful team manager.
• 21:40
  Ryan: His name is Niall Whittaker.
• 21:41
  Ryan: Couldn't speak highly enough of the gentleman.
• 21:42
  Ryan: He really, really is a true friend of mine and very much, you know, speak with him outside of work, as I do inside of work, which is wonderful, so very much on my shoulders there.
• 21:52
  Ryan: And, of course, the advisor I work for speak with her and the team most days.
• 21:57
  Ryan: So I have a lot of support around me at FD.
• 22:00
  Ryan: Very lucky to be able to say that and privileged in a sense, really, because I know that for many that may not be there, but that definitely is the case within FD.
• 22:08
  Ryan: There's a lot of mentorship and a lot of yeah, a lot of love in FD.
• 22:13
  sam: No good.
• 22:13
  sam: Well, that's what we want to hear.
• 22:15
  sam: At the end of the day, you know you want to be in a position where you do feel supported.
• 22:18
  sam: If it does get tough, is somebody going to help you?
• 22:21
  sam: Is somebody going to give you some feedback?
• 22:23
  sam: Are they going to sort of help you get over that obstacle?
• 22:25
  sam: Because it's a brand new job, it's a brand new experience for you.
• 22:28
  sam: What I love the environment has created an excitement in you, but it's also created a vision in you that you can see where it's going to take you and a lot of companies out there don't have that clear career pathway.
• 22:41
  sam: They don't show you where you can go.
• 22:43
  sam: You're kind of locked in your one role and that's actually it.
• 22:46
  sam: But you do have that clear career path and you've already outlined exactly where you want to go.
• 22:54
  sam: So you've hanged your hat on being that financial planner.
• 22:57
  sam: Then, yeah, that's what you want to do, absolutely, absolutely Just.
• 22:59
  sam: You know, let's talk about the role of a financial planner.
• 23:02
  sam: Then what does it mean to you?
• 23:04
  sam: Why is it such a sought after role for someone like yourself?
• 23:08
  Ryan: So I'm a very compassionate person, always have been.
• 23:10
  Ryan: I'm the man that cries at films.
• 23:12
  Ryan: I'm the man that has been through quite a lot of hardship, family-wise, especially in my younger years.
• 23:17
  Ryan: I've had very much sort of an older head on my shoulder since younger.
• 23:20
  Ryan: Since I was younger In terms of why I believe I'll be able to pursue this career path and why I think I will do very well inside of it is because it's human.
• 23:32
  Ryan: The idea of a financial advisor is a very human role.
• 23:34
  Ryan: We're not talking about, you know, a hedge fund or an company.
• 23:37
  Ryan: We're talking about sort of numbers on a spreadsheet.
• 23:38
  Ryan: This is someone's life savings, this is someone's pension pot, this is their life's work that you are working towards and putting a plan together for.
• 23:45
  Ryan: And, especially if they're not in the position they want to be in, how we get them there.
• 23:50
  Ryan: And being able to tell them that they've got there, I think is a wonderful thing to be able to do how to provide to someone.
• 23:55
  Ryan: I've been in a few client meetings where we've been able to tell people they're able to retire early in jobs they don't enjoy doing.
• 24:01
  Ryan: What wonderful thing to be able to tell someone.
• 24:03
  Ryan: So, yeah, things like that.
• 24:05
  Ryan: It it brings numbers alive, it makes it human, and I've always sort of pursued a job where not only it could be compassionate but numbers based and financial planning brings together the two I think we've started to really understand as well the connection between well-being and financial well-being.
• 24:18
  sam: Absolutely, I think, um, we're not.
• 24:20
  sam: We're not a country that talked about money a lot.
• 24:23
  sam: I know I certainly didn't grow up talking about money.
• 24:25
  sam: No one taught me about money, but we have so many emotions that are attached to it and so many beliefs that are attached to it and, um, I think when you've got somebody who's well educated and understands the system, how it works, how investments work, how pensions work, and being able to articulate that and to be able to educate somebody, I think that's a big part of it now, isn't it that education, financial education I think being in a role where you can do that in a way that doesn't make someone feel like they're stupid is powerful.
• 24:53
  sam: Definitely, you know, and being able to update people on a yearly basis as to how it's performing it kind of takes away that worry, doesn't it?
• 25:00
  sam: For you as a person?
• 25:01
  sam: You know it takes away that worry I think we've got.
• 25:04
  sam: We've got a sort of a journey to go on to be able to offer that financial education and financial well-being to the wider, you know, community in the whole of the uk.
• 25:12
  sam: I think there are some people that don't get access to financial advice, you know, purely because they don't earn enough or they don't have enough money.
• 25:18
  sam: So I think the whole financial coaching and the well-being element is really really exciting as well.
• 25:23
  sam: So you see more financial coaches out there, more financial education, more podcasts talking about it, giving people that access to information that they might not have got even in the school curriculum, which is quite sad, isn't?
• 25:34
  Ryan: it.
• 25:34
  Ryan: So, being a sort of school leaver approaching the workplace, the idea of salary coming in every single month, what do I do with it?
• 25:40
  Ryan: Do I just, you know, spend it on the new game, the new shoes, the new coats?
• 25:44
  Ryan: Be a little bit more responsible with your money, it was sort of the idea.
• 25:48
  Ryan: And if you haven't got someone you know, no-transcript retirement age.
• 26:02
  Ryan: So it's important to be practicing the right principles from young, educating from young, making sure you put yourself in in good light, and then it'll pay dividends later on in life.
• 26:13
  Ryan: Definitely so.
• 26:13
  Ryan: But you're right in identifying there definitely is a knowledge gap, especially from a school leaving point of view, to maybe, I would argue, mid-20s.
• 26:21
  Ryan: If you can get that part right, you'll set yourself up well for the rest of your life.
• 26:24
  sam: Yeah, and I think we're entering a pretty exciting time for financial planning and financial advice as a whole.
• 26:29
  sam: Technology coming in, the ability to be able to offer advice services to everybody in the uk.
• 26:37
  sam: I think it's a very exciting time.
• 26:38
  sam: We're going to see more of it.
• 26:39
  sam: You just know all your mates are going to be knocking on your door asking you for some financial I hope so.
• 26:44
  sam: I hope so.
• 26:44
  sam: Yeah, when you're fully qualified.
• 26:46
  sam: Okay, tell us a little bit about the future then.
• 26:48
  sam: What are you looking to do over the next, say one, two, three, five years?
• 26:52
  Ryan: definitely so in terms of a one, five, ten year plan.
• 26:54
  Ryan: I have sort of laid that out for myself already in terms of the next sort of year, what that holds for me, um, in terms of internal progression within fd, I think I've reached where I wish to be as a client relationship manager.
• 27:05
  Ryan: I have access to client meetings, building up my industry knowledge and my client facing metrics there and experience there.
• 27:11
  Ryan: From a qualification point of view, I wish to get my qualifications done within the next year to 18 months.
• 27:17
  Ryan: That's the.
• 27:18
  Ryan: You know I can't open any doors without that.
• 27:19
  Ryan: Once that happens, I'm qualified there.
• 27:22
  Ryan: We'll go through the compliance metrics within fd in order to become an advisor and then I have a wonderful conversation to have with, with my senior leadership team.
• 27:29
  Ryan: Am I going down the self-employed route?
• 27:31
  Ryan: What sort of support metrics will be provided there?
• 27:34
  Ryan: What?
• 27:34
  Ryan: What will happen?
• 27:35
  Ryan: Or am I going down the employed route?
• 27:37
  Ryan: Fortunately enough for an fd, they have a wonderful two-part element.
• 27:40
  Ryan: You have our private client business.
• 27:42
  Ryan: You have our second site business and your eba advisors who provide advice days to companies.
• 27:47
  Ryan: That's an employed role, that's a salary role, um, and you know, starting out so young, building up my client knowledge, my client facing experience, being able to sell, being one part that definitely, definitely need to build up my knowledge on.
• 27:57
  Ryan: That may be the best call for me moving from one side of FD to the other side of FD the private clients to the employee benefits, and that's a wonderful part of FD.
• 28:07
  Ryan: That's something that not many companies offer is the idea of moving from one part to the other and then potentially moving back, which I intend to do yeah, I think that's.
• 28:15
  sam: I think if you've got the opportunity to do that, that's absolutely spot on and you nailed something there as well.
• 28:19
  sam: You know you can't you get.
• 28:20
  sam: Your qualifications doesn't make you a financial planner.
• 28:22
  sam: You do need to build those relationship skills, don't you?
• 28:25
  sam: And you did say the word.
• 28:25
  sam: You know the dreaded s words in financial planning sales and you do need to know how to sell your services, how to position yourself to introduce us, how to see, get someone to see that what you're offering is of value to them and sales plays a part in that and, I think, employee benefits.
• 28:41
  sam: It's a wonderful way to gain that experience and to have second sight here at foster de novo and go down that route.
• 28:47
  sam: It also opens you up to the corporate side as well, doesn't it exactly so?
• 28:50
  sam: Corporate businesses, which is going to be a huge area, and I know foster de novo are really keen to get into the corporate space, definitely in respect of employee advice.
• 28:58
  sam: So to me, that sounds like you've got the world at your feet.
• 29:01
  sam: You've got loads of opportunity here at foster de novo, so you don't need to be looking over the fence really.
• 29:07
  sam: Just need to look to the left and to the right within the business and forward and see that you've got a huge career opportunity here for you.
• 29:13
  sam: So what advice would you give to anybody listening to this podcast thinking about joining someone like Foster DeNovo or even getting into the financial planning profession?
• 29:21
  Ryan: I would say jump at it.
• 29:22
  Ryan: It's a wonderful time to get into the industry with all of these advisors aging, with these roles.
• 29:27
  Ryan: Moving on the idea of partner buyouts, which is something that FD is pushing for We've done three in the last year, which is wonderful.
• 29:33
  Ryan: We've done three in the last year, which is wonderful.
• 29:34
  Ryan: These advisors need people to look after their clients once they retire.
• 29:37
  Ryan: It's all good and well buying everyone out.
• 29:38
  Ryan: Who's going to take the responsibility on their shoulders?
• 29:40
  Ryan: It's going to be the younger generation.
• 29:42
  Ryan: It's going to be people like myself and my colleagues who are moving forward in our careers, and FD has that progression path clearly laid out for you and it will get you there.
• 29:51
  Ryan: And that's the wonderful part.
• 29:53
  Ryan: With the support network around me, with the backing, with my exams, the mentorship leadership, there's a clear vision of how you get there and that's the most wonderful part of fd fantastic, and you want to be one of those 150 I think it is under 25 years old within the financial planning profession absolutely.
• 30:08
  Ryan: That is a clear goal that I have in my mind and I look forward to achieving it.
• 30:12
  Ryan: Definitely so fantastic.
• 30:13
  Ryan: Thanks so much for your time today.
• 30:14
  Ryan: Thanks, sam.