Latest / Financial Planner Life Podcast / Lisa Tipton – Paraplanner turned business owner

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Lisa Tipton – Paraplanner turned business owner · Financial Planner Life Podcast

• 0:04
  SPEAKER_02: 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.
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_02: This podcast is proudly sponsored by Recruit UK, a recruitment consultancy specifically focused on the financial services.
• 0:25
  SPEAKER_02: 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.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_02: First off, happy new year to all my listeners.
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_02: 2022?
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_02: Is it the year we finally get over COVID?
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_02: I don't think so.
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_02: But anyway, wishing everybody a happy new year.
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_02: And to kick things off in 2022, Lisa Tipton from New World Financial Group is joining me today.
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_02: She's the director of financial planning and she talks about her career from moving from power planning into power planning management, compliance, into running her own financial planning practices.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_02: She's one of the owners that have come together to set up New World Financial Group.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_02: And interestingly, both come from a compliance background, which is quite strange when you look at new financial planning firms that are being set up.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_02: Lisa shares very deeply about her career, and we go really into sort of hyper focus around the role of a power planner and the roots of a power planner as well.
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_02: And we break down what the role is and really the levels of experience required for each position.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_02: And it's really, really interesting for anybody who's sort of starting out on their journey in financial planning and want to go down the power planner route.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_02: And it's also really, really interesting and inspiring podcast for anybody that's in a power planning position that also has an entrepreneurial streak and wants to set their own business up.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_02: You know, this can be done now within the power planning profession.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_02: And it doesn't have to be setting up an outsourced power planning company.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_02: You can actually move into setting up your own financial planning company.
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_02: I hope you enjoy.
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_02: Lisa, thank you so much for joining me today on the Financial Planner Live podcast.
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_02: Happy New Year.
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_02: You're my first guest of the new year 2022.
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_02: And um, I'm pleased you're here today.
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_02: How are you doing?
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_00: Uh I'm good, thank you.
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you very much.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_00: Happy New Year to you too, and it's it's good to be here.
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you so much.
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_02: Did you have a nice break over the Christmas period?
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_02: Did you shut down?
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_02: Because a lot of financial planning firms tend to kind of take a good two to three weeks.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_02: I know we do recruitment.
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, we we shut down completely from the 23rd.
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_00: I was actually away from the 21st, and then we came back on the fourth.
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_00: So um I went in for a half day between Christmas and New Year to a nice quiet office, just kind of get a few things organized, which was quite a nice little gentle route back in.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_00: But yeah, it was it was nice to take a break.
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_02: It's great taking a break.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_02: I think Christmas, I think dining tools over Christmas.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_02: I think we're quite lucky in the profession that we're in recruitment, is to our clients down tools.
• 3:03
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_02: You know, it was like we were recruiting into the NHS or something, different story.
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_02: Um, so we get that opportunity to um disconnect um and focus on our families and ourselves and come back in the new year.
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_02: I always feel really refreshed these days coming back into the new year.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_02: So I did have 10 days COVID, which is a bit annoying.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_02: Oh no, because I didn't I didn't have any symptoms either, right?
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_02: So it was just I had to spend 10 days in.
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_02: But actually, again, I found that I know it's quite nice.
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_02: I I sort of locked myself away, and it was nice to have a bit of a bit of time to myself in peace and quiet.
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, chance to rest and recuperate a bit, and then you can start the new year, and it it feels kind of everything feels new in the new year, doesn't it?
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_00: It's uh a new start.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_02: It does indeed.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_02: Excellent, great stuff, Lisa.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_02: I'm pleased you had a nice time.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, Lisa.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_02: Well, thank you, like I said, coming on the podcast.
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_02: It's a careers-based podcast, it's the financial plan of life, and um, it's all about your journey, really, how you got into the profession, what you've done within the profession, how you've moved through and um progressed, I suppose, your career, because right now you're celebrating your first year of being a business owner.
• 4:07
  SPEAKER_02: New World Financial Group is the company that you are part owner of.
• 4:11
  SPEAKER_02: And um, I mean, being a business owner myself, I know that it's not simple running a business.
• 4:17
  SPEAKER_02: So, what really interests me about you as well is that um, you know, what stood out when I saw it was that you're a company that's really looking to and also embrace the financial planning element and the coaching element side of it as well.
• 4:29
  SPEAKER_02: And I think um moving forward in the future, that's a you know, clearly an area where it's a great way to pick up clients that perhaps can't afford or need the full financial planning, but just need some coaching and some simplistic kind of approach to advice.
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_02: And you might be able to get them on a cheaper angle or whatever.
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_02: But um, you know, keen to hear a little bit about that, you know.
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_02: I know you're a new business, you might not have got so far with it yet, but it's always interesting to hear your views on it.
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_02: Um also being a power planner, coming from a power planning background, then moving into becoming a part owner of a financial planning firm.
• 5:01
  SPEAKER_02: That to me is really, really interesting.
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_02: And probably to the audience as well, who are in administration or power planning positions that are thinking about how they progress their career.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_02: Perhaps they have a skill set that's suited to management, perhaps they're quite entrepreneurial, but they don't want to step into financial planning, which is historically where every new business came from.
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_02: It was always currently led by a financial planner.
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_02: Um, so it's interesting to talk to somebody that's become a business owner from the more power planning um side as opposed to being a financial planner.
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_02: So that's really interesting, I think, as well.
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, great.
• 5:35
  SPEAKER_02: Well, where I always like to start, Lisa, is um understanding really how you yourself got into this wonderful profession of financial planning.
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_02: Could you sort of give us an overview of that?
• 5:47
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, absolutely.
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_00: Um I think like a lot of people, I probably kind of stumbled into certainly into financial services.
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_00: I know that's a very, very uh common move.
• 5:57
  SPEAKER_00: Although I think I think more people are you know making that deliberate choice to come into financial planning now, which is good.
• 6:03
  SPEAKER_00: So uh I went to university at 18 to Manchester, uh, like a lot of people, graduated at 21 without really knowing what I wanted to do with my life.
• 6:13
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so I was sort of looking for jobs, I wanted to stay locally in Manchester, and I kept seeing uh an advertisement for a case handler at one of the life officers, and I saw it about three times and it started to get to the point where I was like, I need to I need to apply for this.
• 6:29
  SPEAKER_00: Don't really know fully what it is, but uh I'll give it a go.
• 6:33
  SPEAKER_00: So um yeah, I applied for that.
• 6:35
  SPEAKER_00: I got the role, and it was it was a great introduction to financial services.
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_00: I think it's one of those things that um doesn't happen so much now because obviously the life officers aren't quite what they were sort of over 20 years ago when I started.
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but at the time we we started, we had a three-month kind of introductory period where we just did an overview of of everything really about the industry, about all the different products, about pensions, ice they were investments, so advices were maybe slightly after that, uh, protection, all of those different things was kind of a crash course.
• 7:15
  SPEAKER_00: So, yeah, it was great.
• 7:17
  SPEAKER_00: I enjoyed it.
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_00: Though it was quite a young, um young team, I guess.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_00: And because it was a head office, there was opportunities, there were opportunities to do you know different things there.
• 7:29
  SPEAKER_00: So I was there for about five years, um, started off kind of processing cases, moved into actually training people.
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_00: So those new starters that came in, I did a comment to actually do the training for them, and then moved over to a more compliance type role there.
• 7:46
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, cool, great.
• 7:48
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I agree with you um around the life offices and the life businesses.
• 7:52
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I myself work for Aviva, um, and that was where my sort of first exposure to financial services and to financial advice was because Aviva had a joint venture with the Royal Bank of Scotland and Nat West and sold like with profit bonds and um life protection, whole of life cover and you know, uh protected bonds and all sorts of stuff.
• 8:13
  SPEAKER_02: They had those types of things, and I was in a position where I joined as like a customer service agent, talking to the customers and sort of giving them pension updates and all that, transfer forms and all those types of things, uh, information only.
• 8:24
  SPEAKER_02: And then myself, yeah, I progressed within um within to train within to the training department.
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_02: So I said, train out like what a bond is and what a pension is, and we were going through things like A-day at the time.
• 8:35
  SPEAKER_02: So it was like trying to explain to somebody fresh out of college or university, yeah, what a day is, and it was quite a complicated type subject at the time.
• 8:43
  SPEAKER_02: Um, so yeah, it gave great exposure, as did the banks, didn't it, with the bank assurance?
• 8:47
  SPEAKER_02: It did, yeah, they did.
• 8:48
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, um, I think they're still there, they're just not as it's just not as um, it's just not as prominent.
• 8:55
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and also the link into then becoming a financial advisor or moving to financial advice isn't as easy, especially with the banks.
• 9:03
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 9:04
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 9:04
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, cool.
• 9:05
  SPEAKER_02: Brilliant.
• 9:06
  SPEAKER_02: So your sort of taste of management, your taste of compliance was in those life offices.
• 9:11
  SPEAKER_02: So you did that, you're in a life office, but then obviously life office is in comparison to working for a financial planning firm or a financial advice firm, slightly different.
• 9:20
  SPEAKER_02: So what made that?
• 9:21
  SPEAKER_02: How did you make that transition from working in a kind of life office over to a financial advice or financial planning firm?
• 9:30
  SPEAKER_00: Well, after um Friends Providence, which was the first life office I worked at, I moved on to a different life office where it was a little bit different because I was in an area office rather than the head office.
• 9:41
  SPEAKER_00: So you got that slightly different experience of being in a relatively small office.
• 9:47
  SPEAKER_00: You still had that big head office elsewhere, but it was more like working in a small company, I'd say, to a certain point of view.
• 9:55
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so I was there for quite a while, about nine years, and during that time I had two kids.
• 10:02
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so I worked uh part-time for a while.
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_00: So it was great for giving me that kind of you know, work-home balance, a little bit of flexibility with taking them to school and that when they were small.
• 10:12
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and I also uh got the opportunity to do my diploma, so that was you know great from the point of view of upskilling.
• 10:21
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I guess I was doing a little bit of team management at the time, but by the time I kind of got to the end of my period there, I was I was a lot more aware of what I wanted to do and the areas that I wanted to work in.
• 10:34
  SPEAKER_00: Um and I was getting more and more attracted to the technical aspects of it and of the ultimately the power planning.
• 10:44
  SPEAKER_00: So that was something that was still kind of developing at the time, and I probably didn't realise myself how much it differed between officers from being kind of purely administrative to being you know full-on reviewing the case, providing all the advice.
• 11:00
  SPEAKER_00: So in some ways, I got very lucky with my first paraplanning role.
• 11:05
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so we actually moved from Manchester to Teeside.
• 11:09
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I took a few months out with the kids.
• 11:11
  SPEAKER_00: My youngest was just starting school, so I thought, right, done a big upheaval, you know, get them settled into the new school and that, and thought, well, this is my opportunity now to go back to working full-time and to actually really start to progress my career a bit more.
• 11:27
  SPEAKER_00: So uh, as I said, I was quite lucky to get a trainee power planning role up here, and also the company that I worked for was uh very progressive in terms of power planning.
• 11:38
  SPEAKER_00: So, unlike some companies where it is, I guess, glorified administration, the power planning role there really did encompass everything.
• 11:49
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so I uh we would you know get a case, all the information would be collected by the administrators, and we'd get all the clients' aims and objectives.
• 11:58
  SPEAKER_00: We were using uh buoyant cash flow modelling for the time.
• 12:02
  SPEAKER_00: And you'd take that case and you just build this plan for them.
• 12:06
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and you know, we had the the opportunity to put everything together to work out the best way of helping them to achieve what they wanted to achieve.
• 12:15
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and I I loved that.
• 12:17
  SPEAKER_00: I found that great that being able to pick up this fresh file with all this information that you don't know what's going to be in there, and take it and actually try and make someone's kind of retirement or whatever it was they wanted to achieve possible.
• 12:32
  SPEAKER_02: It's interesting, isn't it?
• 12:33
  SPEAKER_02: Because when you describe it like that, the role of a power planner, I think often people think that that's the role of the financial planner, the actual advisor, the client-facing financial advisor.
• 12:42
  SPEAKER_02: Um, where now you're seeing more and more and more that the financial advisor holds the relationship, goes out, wins the client, passes that folder, as you described, yeah, across to the power planner.
• 12:53
  SPEAKER_02: And the power planner looks at you and goes, whoa, let's have a look at this then.
• 12:56
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 12:56
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 12:57
  SPEAKER_02: And they get stuck into it and they look at it, they do the research, and they can see straight away what they can, what they can't do, and have a more of a detailed, thorough approach that someone who's going out to win clients, for example, or hold the relationship, doesn't have that time to do.
• 13:10
  SPEAKER_02: And that's why that power planner role came in, didn't it?
• 13:13
  SPEAKER_02: And that's why it's become more and more prevalent as the more and more pressure upon the advice firm to deliver um sound financial advice that's right, uh, but also the pressure upon you guys to evidence it correctly.
• 13:25
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and I think it is incredibly important to have those two people working together on it, because if you've got one person just doing everything, then the chances are they might miss something or they might be better ideas that they haven't thought about.
• 13:40
  SPEAKER_00: Um, having two people really properly, properly work together, um, explore all avenues of the case and look for the best possible outcomes, that's that's got to be good for the client.
• 13:51
  SPEAKER_02: Absolutely, it's a definite positive relationship.
• 13:53
  SPEAKER_02: And we'll move into that conversation shortly, actually.
• 13:56
  SPEAKER_02: One thing you mentioned there, and I always kind of want to pick up things that people say and just sort of analyze it a little bit.
• 14:01
  SPEAKER_02: Um, there was the glorified administrator and power planner, something that we've sort of come up against over the years as we start to categorize the role responsibilities of what a power planner is and what an administrator actually is.
• 14:17
  SPEAKER_02: And I think people can and have done previously, fallen into the role of, say, an administrator and the company calling it a power planner and not doing it.
• 14:27
  SPEAKER_02: Perhaps they might be doing a little bit of report writing, but they aren't doing the full nuts and bolts, nitty-gritty of what true power planning is.
• 14:36
  SPEAKER_02: Um, really interesting to hear what your sort of example is.
• 14:38
  SPEAKER_02: So if you were to compare the two, what would you say like an administrator is, even like a senior administrator, up to what actually a true power planner is?
• 14:50
  SPEAKER_00: Uh I would say I guess the senior administrator would be responsible for all the communications with the product providers, gathering all the information, probably um communicating with the client, keeping the client updated, you know, where we are in the process, doing that uh application paperwork, sending that off.
• 15:13
  SPEAKER_00: Whereas the power planner would be, I guess, taking that case when that information's already been prepared, actually exploring the advice options, doing the cash flow modelling, looking at the investment options, what's suitable for the client, analysing their risk profile, tolerance for risk, capacity for loss, all of that information, uh, reviewing the information that the administrator has gathered in terms of understanding exactly what the plans they've got, whether there's any particular benefits to them.
• 15:45
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and then ultimately putting all of that together and then reviewing that with the financial planner and together formulating the advice.
• 15:56
  SPEAKER_02: Fantastic.
• 15:56
  SPEAKER_00: And then writing a thought.
• 15:58
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, fantastic.
• 15:59
  SPEAKER_02: That's a great explanation.
• 15:59
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you so much for that.
• 16:00
  SPEAKER_02: I think it's really helpful for the listeners to hear it as well.
• 16:03
  SPEAKER_02: Um, because I think what can be quite difficult is that, like I said, someone can fall into a role of an administrator and think they're a power planner, but actually they're not, or being told they're a power planner.
• 16:12
  SPEAKER_02: Um, one thing I from moving from say an administrator into a power planning role, let's say somebody's thinking about becoming uh wanting to move into financial advice and they're seeing these two positions, they're seeing power planner and they're seeing financial advisor.
• 16:29
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 16:30
  SPEAKER_02: Would you say it's advisable and wise for somebody to start their career as an administrator and work their way through to then becoming a power planner?
• 16:42
  SPEAKER_02: And then perhaps if they choose, moving across into financial planner.
• 16:48
  SPEAKER_02: Or do you think there is an ability, let's say, to almost take somebody straight from uni straight into a power planner position and by passing something like administration, so it kind of appeals a bit more to say graduates?
• 17:02
  SPEAKER_02: What do you think?
• 17:04
  SPEAKER_00: I think you can do both, and there are advantages and disadvantages to both.
• 17:08
  SPEAKER_00: You just have to have the right structure in place.
• 17:12
  SPEAKER_00: So there's advantages certainly for the company to taking someone on as an administrator first because they're getting, I guess, you know, use out of them straight away.
• 17:22
  SPEAKER_00: They're not spending quite a long time doing training when perhaps they're not adding to the productivity of the business.
• 17:28
  SPEAKER_00: And I think there's also advantages to the person doing it.
• 17:32
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I mean, my first roles in in life officers were all administration-based, although I went straight when I went to a financial planner into a power planner role.
• 17:40
  SPEAKER_00: I guess I'd had that, you know, experience elsewhere.
• 17:44
  SPEAKER_00: And it is good for learning about you know, about the products, for getting used to speaking to um providers, for learning some of the terminology as well, because there's a lot of very kind of you know detailed terminology and financial planning that everyone thinks everyone else understands, but if you if you're new to the industry, of course you don't.
• 18:05
  SPEAKER_01: No.
• 18:05
  SPEAKER_00: Um so there's definitely advantages to that, but I appreciate as well that you know that's not going to be right for everyone.
• 18:12
  SPEAKER_00: Some people, you know, want to perhaps move a little bit quicker.
• 18:16
  SPEAKER_00: And I think there are definitely ways of uh of doing it where you can go straight into a power planning or even a financial planning role.
• 18:24
  SPEAKER_00: Um, at the after I'd kind of done power planning for a while at that first financial planning firm, I did move into a training and development role there.
• 18:33
  SPEAKER_00: And what we did do is we ran um a three-month induction course for both new power planners, some of which were straight out of university, and for a couple of new financial planners who tended to come from different careers.
• 18:48
  SPEAKER_00: And it's it's time heavy, I guess, for the company in terms of doing it.
• 18:54
  SPEAKER_00: And what you need to do to make it work is you have to have that um team around them that can support them, that can make sure that you know, in those early days, everything is checked and double-checked and triple checked so that you know there can't possibly be any mistakes.
• 19:12
  SPEAKER_00: But also you can compartmentalise what they do, you can get them signed off on certain bits early on.
• 19:17
  SPEAKER_00: So they are contributing to the company while they are still learning.
• 19:21
  SPEAKER_00: So it's definitely doable.
• 19:22
  SPEAKER_00: It's something, you know, at New World in the future, we definitely like to look into, you know, running those schemes to actually bring more people into the profession.
• 19:33
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, you're right there.
• 19:34
  SPEAKER_02: Time heavy, costly, obviously.
• 19:36
  SPEAKER_02: And for smaller firms, for instance, that just don't have that ability to do it, it can be incredibly difficult to take that risk and to take that punt because you know everyone's probably stretched, aren't they, to their full sort of capacity when you're setting up a business.
• 19:49
  SPEAKER_02: So having that in there is very, very difficult.
• 19:51
  SPEAKER_02: And especially, I suppose, as well, if you've got somebody who perhaps is a bit of an older financial advisor or an older financial advisor force, and they're not sort of as used to sort of training and developing power planners now, in what the term the power planner is now, there can be a bit of a um, again, time restraint.
• 20:07
  SPEAKER_02: Do I really want to do that with my time?
• 20:09
  SPEAKER_02: Um, you know, and it's great to see things like the Verve group, you know, that are training and developing power planners to then put them into financial planning firms.
• 20:17
  SPEAKER_02: And I think that is an area that will grow massively.
• 20:20
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and that's what I'd like to see is that pre-sort of um skills training that prepares them for going into that type of role.
• 20:30
  SPEAKER_02: Because for instance, you know, if I hear people say, well, if I get the level four qualification, Sam, then I'm a financial advisor.
• 20:35
  SPEAKER_02: And it's well, not quite.
• 20:36
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, you know, you're qualified and you learn some things, but it's very technical.
• 20:41
  SPEAKER_02: What you don't learn is actually what the job is, how to do it, and what the skills are required to do it, the day-to-day soft skills, etc.
• 20:48
  SPEAKER_02: Um, well, I know Michael Pashley's created a uh qualification that sort of teaches those skills and helps with somebody preparing them to be kind of a financial advisor, which is really, really useful.
• 20:58
  SPEAKER_02: Love to see something like that around power planning.
• 21:01
  SPEAKER_02: And it's great because you're actually part of a mentorship group, aren't you?
• 21:05
  SPEAKER_00: That's right, yeah.
• 21:06
  SPEAKER_02: The PowerPlanner Club with Sean Davies Cole, who had on the podcast also.
• 21:09
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and that mentor group is um aimed at sort of helping those people, isn't it, really, who perhaps might be in an admin or a power planner role and maybe feeling slightly um not alienated, but on their own, because perhaps the firm doesn't have the luxury of a training department or a power planning manager or somebody that can invest in that individual's time um to progress their career and move forward, etc.
• 21:31
  SPEAKER_02: So that's really useful.
• 21:33
  SPEAKER_02: Um, in I just want to ask you a question about that mentoring group, really.
• 21:37
  SPEAKER_02: Um, how have you found it?
• 21:39
  SPEAKER_02: And do you think that mentoring is a responsibility that the power planning community really have to take on if they want to see that role grow even further?
• 21:53
  SPEAKER_00: Uh I think you're right.
• 21:54
  SPEAKER_00: I think it probably is.
• 21:55
  SPEAKER_00: I think it's a great idea, and I think uh Sean and Chloe are doing a great, great job on.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_00: With it.
• 22:01
  SPEAKER_00: Because, as we've kind of already discussed, power planning does vary so much between companies, and people that are in the role don't even necessarily know if what they're doing is normal for a power planner or is not.
• 22:14
  SPEAKER_00: And usually one of the advantages, but also downsides to financial planning companies is most of them are small.
• 22:23
  SPEAKER_00: And therefore, there's not that many people you can probably learn from and grow from.
• 22:28
  SPEAKER_00: So having that scheme set up to match mentees and mentors up is great.
• 22:33
  SPEAKER_00: And also, you know, they're running um different events and things like that, webinars for people to actually, you know, see and gain a bit more information.
• 22:44
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, great.
• 22:45
  SPEAKER_02: So it's a useful thing.
• 22:46
  SPEAKER_02: And I think if if there's power planners out there that are interested in mentoring and helping support people through it, I suppose draw back on your own personal experiences of how difficult it might well be to get ahead.
• 22:58
  SPEAKER_02: And can you give back and help other people?
• 23:00
  SPEAKER_02: And I think in any kind of situation where mentoring is involved, when you do give back, you tend to learn a little bit about yourself as well.
• 23:07
  SPEAKER_02: And then that always helps you with your own personal development, but also any kind of future um situations you might get yourself into, like running your own business.
• 23:15
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, absolutely.
• 23:16
  SPEAKER_02: The more people you know in your tribe if you the better.
• 23:20
  SPEAKER_00: I think it's as well, it's good to see what opportunities are out there for power planners for people that are maybe quite new to the industry to actually see where power planning can go.
• 23:31
  SPEAKER_00: Because I think there has been this view in the past that you know it's a stepping stone to being a financial advisor and actually being able to demonstrate that there's different options out there, whether that's being, you know, a really technical senior power planner, whether that is managing, moving into compliance, setting up your own business, or for some people, the the right step is financial planner.
• 23:54
  SPEAKER_00: But I think in the past, too many people have made that that step from power planner to financial planner just because they thought that that was the natural next step rather than because it was the right thing to do.
• 24:04
  SPEAKER_02: Because it was the right thing, yeah.
• 24:05
  SPEAKER_02: Exploring that area as a career within its own right has lots more opportunities.
• 24:10
  SPEAKER_02: And you know, it's only going to get bigger and it's only going to grow.
• 24:14
  SPEAKER_02: And the need for um individuals within compliance positions and management positions and all the different levels of power planning as well, because it's going to become more and more compartmentalized, isn't it?
• 24:26
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and we talked a little bit about this.
• 24:28
  SPEAKER_02: I had um someone else on the podcast recently, and we spoke about the the sort of structure of a power planner role, because all you see is power planner.
• 24:38
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 24:38
  SPEAKER_02: You know, and we've already touched on the fact that there's administration positions, there's CRM, you know, client relationship roles, and there's the report writer, there's a researcher, there's somebody who's a chartered, who's done it for years, and perhaps has an expert skill within a certain area.
• 24:55
  SPEAKER_02: Um, if you were to compartmentalize this now based on your experience of actually going through the power planning route and eventually running your own being part owner of a financial planning business, if you were to come partmentalize that career progression, if you like, that route and create a career structure, how do you see it?
• 25:13
  SPEAKER_02: How many roles are there within the term power planner, for instance?
• 25:18
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, I think within the term power planner, there's probably the if you are talking not administration, you know, what I classify as you know, properly power planner, I think there's probably trainee power planner, uh, which is the point you're probably still doing all of your exams, you're still learning all of the different systems, you're learning, I think a lot of the time you you perhaps don't even necessarily realize what you don't know, you know, those things that kind of suddenly jump out at you if you've got that experience, like figures that don't quite look right, things like that.
• 25:49
  SPEAKER_00: So you're still learning all of those things and hopefully getting hopefully getting a bit of mentorship internally or externally.
• 25:56
  SPEAKER_00: And then there's what I would classify as a power planner, which would involve uh working with the financial planner to formulate the advice, making sure you understand all of the plans, the products, the recommendations you're making, the investments, having the ability to work all those different systems you're probably using, like analytics, cash flow modelling, bringing it all together, and that report writing as well.
• 26:21
  SPEAKER_00: Then there's probably moving on from there, you probably have senior power planner or technical power planner, or maybe technical planner.
• 26:28
  SPEAKER_00: And that's the one that is really the technical expert that has that, you know, really in-depth knowledge.
• 26:34
  SPEAKER_00: That's probably the person that everyone in the company goes to if they've got a question.
• 26:38
  SPEAKER_00: How does this work?
• 26:39
  SPEAKER_00: How does that work?
• 26:40
  SPEAKER_00: Doing all the standard power planning stuff as well, but you know, that really, really deep knowledge.
• 26:46
  SPEAKER_00: And at that point, you probably I'd have thought, you know, on committees and things like that as well, you know, contributing to due diligence committees, investment committees, hopefully starting to, you know, mentor people that are coming into it.
• 26:59
  SPEAKER_00: And then they're probably the three main power planning ones.
• 27:02
  SPEAKER_00: And then you've got your options, I guess, from there.
• 27:05
  SPEAKER_00: Where do you go from there?
• 27:06
  SPEAKER_00: Do you want to go into that technical role or would you be more suited to a management role?
• 27:11
  SPEAKER_00: You know, there's obviously power planning managers, but it is quite a different job to power planning.
• 27:16
  SPEAKER_00: I've done power planning management in two different companies, and you're not sat there, you know, analysing cases, writing reports anymore.
• 27:24
  SPEAKER_00: You might be checking other people's cases, but your your time is taken up differently.
• 27:29
  SPEAKER_00: So it is it is a different role and it is a different skill set that will suit some people and not suit other people.
• 27:35
  SPEAKER_00: And for other people, it might make sense to go into um compliance or to financial planning.
• 27:42
  SPEAKER_02: Great.
• 27:43
  SPEAKER_02: Really great, really great breakup.
• 27:45
  SPEAKER_00: There's lots of options.
• 27:46
  SPEAKER_02: It is, and and and brilliant that you articulated that so well because it's very difficult sometimes to uh for someone to understand that that there is all these different types of routes.
• 27:56
  SPEAKER_02: And um, it's really good also for anybody who's listening that runs their own financial planning business that you know you can break down the role of a power planner.
• 28:04
  SPEAKER_02: There are different levels that you require.
• 28:06
  SPEAKER_02: You don't have to have the most senior tech, senior technical power planner.
• 28:10
  SPEAKER_02: You know, you don't have to possibly have three if you're a small business.
• 28:13
  SPEAKER_02: You can have people at different levels of experience and different levels of knowledge and really break it down and therefore kind of nurture those people coming through and help build your business through training and development whilst people are working on the areas that their skill set sort of demands and requires.
• 28:28
  SPEAKER_02: Um, so I really like that.
• 28:29
  SPEAKER_02: And also the moving into the um the power planner planner management route as well, because again, there are individuals that move into power planning that um like to just do what they want to do, perhaps could be more introvert than extrovert in the beginning, but actually have a you know, have a desire and a skill set to want to be managers.
• 28:50
  SPEAKER_02: Um and it's great to see that now people can move into those management positions, but like being a manager, it takes you away from the thing that you were interested in in the beginning.
• 28:58
  SPEAKER_02: And that's always something to bear in mind, I think, with any manager role.
• 29:02
  SPEAKER_02: The feeling of being a manager gives you the level of prestige, you know.
• 29:05
  SPEAKER_02: My friends think I'm a manager, that means I've got a bit more control, or you know, I'm a I'm doing, you know, it's an element of prestige, and sometimes be careful what you wish for, isn't it, in a role.
• 29:15
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, because it takes away the things that you love about it, and then you're having to deal with people and also how they how they work.
• 29:23
  SPEAKER_02: And and your background in training and development obviously helped you massively with that, as did my training and development background as well.
• 29:29
  SPEAKER_02: But it's a toughie, it's a struggle, it's hard.
• 29:31
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but that's good to hear that there are those roots.
• 29:34
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and I'm gonna just sort of sort of, if you were to sort of put a timescale on that, right?
• 29:38
  SPEAKER_02: Let's say, for example, somebody joins and they're a trainee power planner.
• 29:42
  SPEAKER_02: What do you think, timescale-wise, realistically, would it be for somebody from a trainee level, all the way up to say being a senior technical power planner?
• 29:51
  SPEAKER_02: What do you think a realistic timescale for somebody to do that would be?
• 29:55
  SPEAKER_00: I think it depends massively on the person.
• 29:58
  SPEAKER_00: Um also probably their prior experience as well, what they've done before, you know, whether they they're bringing stuff to it.
• 30:07
  SPEAKER_00: So it's difficult to put a timescale on.
• 30:09
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, a lot of companies will put, you know, say five years and things like that.
• 30:13
  SPEAKER_00: But I think that is quite restrictive because some people will will develop quicker than that.
• 30:19
  SPEAKER_00: And but you do also need to bear in mind that if you are really being that kind of deep technical knowledge, it does take some time and experience, mostly experience, uh, to be able to be in that position to know that.
• 30:34
  SPEAKER_00: So I'd probably say anything between two to three and five years, but it it like I said, it depends on the person, it depends what they're exposed to on a day-to-day basis as part of their job, depends who they are learning from, um, and it depends how how committed they are.
• 30:53
  SPEAKER_02: It's really important also that the companies that actually hire these power planners do have that clear career plan in place and they can break it down with timescales and expectations of what somebody should be learning at every stage, but also really what their salary and benefits package is going to look like running alongside that as well, just to kind of give somebody the fact that that, okay, within two years, I should be at this level of earnings and I should be at this level of knowledge, and I should have these many many qualifications, and I should have ticked these many competencies off my list.
• 31:22
  SPEAKER_02: And I think um a lot of companies have fallen down on that front.
• 31:26
  SPEAKER_02: And what you then see is the power planner then go, right, well, I've got a little bit of experience here.
• 31:30
  SPEAKER_02: They're not nurturing me, so I'm going to sidestep into that company and sidestep into that company.
• 31:33
  SPEAKER_02: And that's how a lot of power planners have kind of moved around.
• 31:36
  SPEAKER_02: I think keeping your staff in place and having something that's clear, career structure-based will sort of nurture them for that five-year period.
• 31:43
  SPEAKER_02: And they won't move if they feel that they've got the objectives that are there in front of them, they can see it and it's tangible and it can be done.
• 31:49
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but you know, on the other hand, as well, it's great, isn't it?
• 31:52
  SPEAKER_02: Because anybody that's got that level of experience, because it's such a source-after position and companies are crying out for good quality, you know, you've got the choice and you can look around a little bit so you're not sort of, you know, open your eyes a little bit to what might be out there if you're struggling a little bit on your own, would be my sort of advice around.
• 32:09
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, uh, you know, I agree completely.
• 32:12
  SPEAKER_00: And I think it is about, you know, recognition, about I think what everyone wants really is recognition for a job well done, um, whether that's in the form of pay rises or praise or you know, whatever form that may take.
• 32:27
  SPEAKER_00: And I think uh that clear career structure is really important.
• 32:30
  SPEAKER_00: It's something we do, you know, have in place at New World for power planners and financial planners, you know.
• 32:36
  SPEAKER_00: And I think in terms of time scales, one of the steps you have to have had a minimum of 12 months as a financial planner.
• 32:42
  SPEAKER_00: And I think that's it in terms of time scales, it's really around, you know, knowledge, what you're doing, what you're demonstrating, what you've you know, passed in terms of exams and things like that.
• 32:53
  SPEAKER_00: So uh hitting your KPIs rather than being strictly time-based.
• 32:58
  SPEAKER_02: Can I ask as well, with power planning, do you think the qualification route that you take is also important?
• 33:06
  SPEAKER_02: Um, so whether or not you're CII or whether or not you're going through, you know, any, you know, um L IBF, for example, do you think it's a it's a you know important the route that you go down, or is it all the same when it comes to power planning?
• 33:23
  SPEAKER_00: I don't think it's all the same, but I'm also not sure that any of them have got it quite right for power planning yet.
• 33:29
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 33:30
  SPEAKER_00: So um I went through the CII route and that's what we're using at the moment.
• 33:36
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and I that's great for technical knowledge, but it's not great for day-to-day skills for either financial planners or for power planners, really.
• 33:45
  SPEAKER_00: There is that big gap there.
• 33:47
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I think the with financial planners, the CIR, CISI um certification seems to be kind of starting to step up a little bit there.
• 33:58
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but in terms of power planners, I think there still is a bit of a gap in terms of getting that you know exactly right.
• 34:05
  SPEAKER_00: I know the CII have got the power planning certificate now, but um I've heard a little bit of people struggling a little bit with getting through some of the the coursework just because it's maybe not entirely clear exactly what what they're wanting from from the people doing the um the assessments, which which does make it very difficult.
• 34:27
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it does, doesn't it?
• 34:28
  SPEAKER_02: And especially if you haven't got anybody really within the business that's done it before.
• 34:31
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 34:31
  SPEAKER_02: So you know you're then reliant, aren't you, on those external trainers, and then perhaps those external trainers might be focused on getting through the exams, yeah, uh, like the ROs, for example, and maybe not so much on these niche and sort of specific qualifications relevant to the role of power planner.
• 34:45
  SPEAKER_02: But I can imagine that will grow and there's stuff out there.
• 34:47
  SPEAKER_02: And if there is anything out there and anyone knows about it, send it my way because it'd be really interesting to talk to them.
• 34:52
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, there are apprenticeships out there now, which is uh I think good for both financial planners and power planners.
• 34:59
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I think having that extra support through through the apprenticeship is is good and helpful.
• 35:05
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I think probably the only bit is whether there's could each company kind of does things their own way, there's still that additional learning in terms of, you know, how does your company work?
• 35:17
  SPEAKER_02: And it's a good point actually about the apprenticeships levy because there is a levy out there that helps companies use, you know, uh use external services for training and the qualification costs, and you get like a specific amount towards hiring somebody as an apprentice.
• 35:32
  SPEAKER_02: I think the term apprentice needs to be dropped because it's not it's a title that always kind of historically was like oh an apprentice mechanic or you know, or it's a lowly job, it's not, you know, it's it's looked upon as you know, it's looked upon as like entry level.
• 35:47
  SPEAKER_02: But you know, you don't need to call it an apprenticeship at all.
• 35:50
  SPEAKER_02: So if like a firm has got you want to take advantage of the apprenticeship levy, just turn around and call it an academy.
• 35:55
  SPEAKER_02: Say what we're doing, you know, we've got an academy and we train you.
• 35:58
  SPEAKER_02: An external trainer comes in, so it frees up our time, so we're not having to be put, you know, all those things.
• 36:03
  SPEAKER_02: And it's like use it in that way, just repackage it because it's there.
• 36:07
  SPEAKER_02: And it's really, really interesting because not enough financial planning companies actually use it as an external tool to help grow their businesses.
• 36:13
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, no, I I think you're completely right there.
• 36:16
  SPEAKER_00: And um, apprenticeship is the wrong name for it because you you don't have to be young, you don't have to be even new.
• 36:22
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you just have to have not had training in that particular thing before.
• 36:25
  SPEAKER_00: We're we're actually making use of the uh financial, well, actually the financial planning apprenticeship for um our um late newest power planner.
• 36:35
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 36:35
  SPEAKER_00: Um, although she's in a power planner role, when I actually looked at the apprenticeship, I thought that the financial planner one was actually probably more suited to her development.
• 36:46
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so um yeah, I think I think it's a great tool that's out there.
• 36:50
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but you're right about the name, it's probably needs changing.
• 36:54
  SPEAKER_02: It does need changing, absolutely.
• 36:56
  SPEAKER_02: And a good point that you made there as well.
• 36:57
  SPEAKER_02: It's not, you know, it's not just for 16-year-olds leaving school, it's for any, it's any age.
• 37:03
  SPEAKER_02: You know, it's um it's a very um very great way to get that extra training and development going.
• 37:08
  SPEAKER_02: Fabulous.
• 37:09
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 37:09
  SPEAKER_02: So you went through the power planning route.
• 37:11
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, that was your career.
• 37:12
  SPEAKER_02: You went through the power planning route, moved into power planning management, and then eventually you've now moved into a position of actually being a business owner.
• 37:20
  SPEAKER_02: You know, you're one of the one of the owners of there of New World Financial Group.
• 37:24
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and that's really great because again, you know, seeing people that move through the power planning stages move into running their own businesses, you see a lot of the external uh out uh outsourced power planning companies setting up and people setting up those and running those.
• 37:37
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but a power planner then or a power planner moved stroke compliance moving into being part of the business and being the business owners.
• 37:44
  SPEAKER_02: Yes, that happens a lot, but again, it just reinforces that route.
• 37:47
  SPEAKER_02: You can be an entrepreneur within the route that you went down as well.
• 37:52
  SPEAKER_02: You know, it's not just about being the financial advisor to be an entrepreneur, it can become from the back office functions as well, the support functions.
• 37:59
  SPEAKER_02: Um, so just tell us a little bit about New World Financial Group then, because it's been going for one year.
• 38:03
  SPEAKER_02: Congratulations, that was quite recent.
• 38:05
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 38:06
  SPEAKER_02: Um, tell us a little bit about the company and and and why you set it up.
• 38:10
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so uh we set it up.
• 38:12
  SPEAKER_00: Uh I mean we've been going for one year, as in we've been trading for one year, but actually we've been set up for over two years now because we had to go through the uh SCA authorisation process, which obviously takes a while and then a little bit of um, you know, getting everything ready to start trading.
• 38:28
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, myself and uh colleague that I work with at a previous firm, um, we'd both had experience on senior management teams before, and we'd had a good idea of what we really wanted a you know perfect financial planning firm to look like.
• 38:46
  SPEAKER_00: So we spent quite a long time kind of discussing it, developing that.
• 38:49
  SPEAKER_00: And what we what we really want to do is to to really make financial planning fully you know inclusive for everyone.
• 38:57
  SPEAKER_00: So lately there's been a lot written about you know the financial benefits to financial planning.
• 39:03
  SPEAKER_00: You know, there's a lot of statistics that show how much better off people are over a certain period of time, um, and even more so for those that actually start out with with less money, and also there's more and more evidence showing the emotional benefits of it.
• 39:19
  SPEAKER_00: And we've seen ourselves, you know, over our careers that the benefit that it can have to people, but often it's not the people that are kind of already, you know, really rich that need the help and support.
• 39:32
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, they do need help and support, but those people that, you know, aren't sure whether they've got enough to retire, they're not sure whether they're going to have to downsize, they're not sure whether they're gonna have to, you know, keep working till they're 67, that they're being neglected really, just because of the way financial planning has been set up and and the way it's charged, it's really it's been really difficult uh traditionally for financial planning firms and financial advice firms to profitable profitably service those clients that have less assets and also those ones that are just coming through, you know, those that are just starting to want to save.
• 40:16
  SPEAKER_00: And if you can make a difference then, you know, when someone's 30, by the time they sort of reach retirement, the impact's going to be massive.
• 40:25
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so we've got the opportunity as a new firm to be able to try and do things a little bit differently, to structure the charging, to hopefully make it work for everyone, to develop our propositions so that yes, we absolutely want to help those people that are, you know, 55 that have assets already built up.
• 40:47
  SPEAKER_00: You know, we can do all that, we can look at their ideal lifestyle, we can put it all together, plan it for them, help them into retirement.
• 40:54
  SPEAKER_00: But also, we can help those people that are just starting out.
• 40:59
  SPEAKER_02: Absolutely.
• 40:59
  SPEAKER_02: And of course, make a profit on each of those types of clients that you work with because you're running a business at the end of the day.
• 41:05
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely, yeah.
• 41:06
  SPEAKER_02: You could spend your whole life trying to help other people in those situations, but they don't want to pay for the for the for a fee that means that you can earn the living that you want to earn and be a profitable running business.
• 41:16
  SPEAKER_02: And that's the purpose why we get into business is to make profit.
• 41:19
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 41:20
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I really like that.
• 41:21
  SPEAKER_02: That's a great way to also look at it because there is that wealth management, and there are that, you know, that those those very, I suppose, high net worth or even the ultra high net worth area where it's wealth management, isn't it?
• 41:32
  SPEAKER_02: It's kind of you've got a load of money, let's kind of look after that for you and make more for you.
• 41:36
  SPEAKER_02: Or, you know, there's always stuff that needs to go on with that.
• 41:38
  SPEAKER_02: And I suppose in that area as well, there's a lot of technical type clients and difficult technical type investments, and that's very interesting, also, isn't it?
• 41:47
  SPEAKER_02: And also, of course, it's it can be very profitable because they have money.
• 41:51
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and it's it's uh it's not an easier sale.
• 41:56
  SPEAKER_02: It's not an easy, it's not easier, is it?
• 41:58
  SPEAKER_02: It's just it just means that you don't have to have so many of them to be able to service them and higher offer a higher level of service and the fee that goes along with that.
• 42:08
  SPEAKER_02: So when it comes to this mass affluent market, this next generation that are going to be just inheriting so much money, you know, that great transition of wealth that's happening, you know, lots and lots of people are gonna be inheriting lots of money.
• 42:20
  SPEAKER_02: There's gonna be more millionaires than ever, isn't there?
• 42:23
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and these are the ones that have really been neglected because all of a sudden they've got money.
• 42:27
  SPEAKER_02: So but also as well, they're thinking about their own futures, aren't they?
• 42:31
  SPEAKER_02: Because like I'm 40 and I've only really started getting financial planning now because you know I wasn't really thinking about it before.
• 42:38
  SPEAKER_02: And it wasn't really something that I needed or felt that I felt that I needed to look at.
• 42:43
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and what I like to see now, especially with like YouTube and everything, is that you're seeing coaches talking about the importance of like your pension and why you need it, where it's invested.
• 42:54
  SPEAKER_02: And you know, you've got the DIY brigade, the fire guys that are all doing it themselves and teaching you how to do it yourself, and everyone's downloading Harbury's Landstein apps and thinks they're Wolf of Wall Street.
• 43:04
  SPEAKER_02: But there is a requirement and a need for somebody with expert opinion to be able to help and guide and coach those individuals.
• 43:10
  SPEAKER_02: And I noticed with New World Financial Planning Group that you've got this kind of coaching element that you want to also bring into it.
• 43:15
  SPEAKER_02: Is that where you're sort of looking to build a relationship with the audience that sort of perhaps have been off the radar to most traditional financial or wealth management firms?
• 43:27
  SPEAKER_00: So I think it's it's about recognising that people have different needs at different points of their life.
• 43:33
  SPEAKER_00: Like you've said, uh up until now, you've probably felt you haven't necessarily needed financial planning, but you probably have still needed some uh support and understanding and learning with your finances throughout the time, you know, even if it's from you know, people leaving school understanding what their first payslip means, how tax works, you know, how to manage their debts and mortgages and things like that.
• 43:56
  SPEAKER_00: So it's about um we're looking at bringing in um what we're going to call future learn hopefully over the next sort of three to six months which will be um online learning and support really uh no charge for that but just really to help people to to better understand their finances and be able to to manage them better and then as they get it's about helping people through sort of each stage of the their journey really when they get to the point where they probably are ready to start actually you know saving a bit more into pensions investments maybe have some protection needs um then kind of move to the the future plan stage where what we want to do really is is get that ideal hybrid of streamlining everything as much as possible to make that you know low cost.
• 44:46
  SPEAKER_00: If we can keep costs down like that then we can still afford for them to have that time with the financial planner to discuss it and to get the recommendations.
• 44:56
  SPEAKER_00: So you know that's something that we're we're working on at the moment and um we you know we're running future plan but what we want to do is really look at the costings and try and bring that down as we streamline it more and more and hopefully you know actually eventually move that to a more subscription based basis where people can can pay for it like they pay for the gym.
• 45:18
  SPEAKER_02: Fantastic yeah absolutely making it easier for people to get that financial advice and also making it personable so they can just actually click an app, can't they, and go in there and start to do it that way and connect nice and easy.
• 45:29
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, fantastic.
• 45:30
  SPEAKER_02: I love the sound of all that and um you know it's it's it's great to see it.
• 45:34
  SPEAKER_02: And I think having when you're in a business and you set your own business up you can have all these ideas can't you?
• 45:40
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah you think to yourself like I've got all these ideas of what I'm going to do.
• 45:42
  SPEAKER_02: I'm a terror for it.
• 45:43
  SPEAKER_02: I'm a you know I I've got I'm an entrepreneurial mind and I can think of a brilliant idea.
• 45:47
  SPEAKER_02: And then when I have to sit down and do it I'm like oh God like the streamlining the time it takes the energy and you know it doesn't happen overnight does it you know we can all it's a lot of work we can all come up with a brilliant idea but it's like it's the implementation of that yes the implementation of that idea.
• 46:05
  SPEAKER_02: So one thing I would like to ask you about running your own business then.
• 46:09
  SPEAKER_02: So moving from being employed were you employed before?
• 46:12
  SPEAKER_02: Yes.
• 46:12
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah so you're employed the safety of an employment the salary and all those typical types of things.
• 46:16
  SPEAKER_02: So how did you end up you know without prying too deeply and don't feel that you have to sort of tell me all but why you all of a sudden you wanted to become a shareholder and run your own business and lose hair and age quickly and stress yourself out.
• 46:31
  SPEAKER_02: Tell me about that.
• 46:32
  SPEAKER_00: Do you know what I think I often still wonder it it is very different.
• 46:39
  SPEAKER_00: And I think you probably don't realize uh how different it is until you actually you know do it.
• 46:45
  SPEAKER_00: So I was uh approached by one of my my colleagues one day I was actually it was the first day of my holiday and he sent me a message uh basically saying I need to speak to you today.
• 46:54
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like okay he came down to the little town where I live and we met for a coffee is like right I think we should do this and um I was like yeah great but I'm going away for a week so uh I think we got down there about 11 o'clock and I sort of sat with my husband and talked about it and we drank uh a lot of wine and I think uh went to bed about three o'clock in the morning but I was never not gonna do it it it was too exciting it was um yes it's scary and yes it's difficult um it I wouldn't say to go into it lightly particularly if you're you know going to be directly authorized like we are it is a lot of work to get through the SEA process and you need to be very careful with you know managing those first that time then and also those you know first few months because the money doesn't come in instantly you need to make sure um you know that you are covered we had we had plans in place we did consultancy work in the meantime which was you know how we were able to you know keep ourselves going yeah up until that point but um yeah and even even though I'd sort of worked for two different financial planning companies and been on the senior management team at both I thought I thought I understood everything about not everything but you know about running a company and I thought yeah I know I know this and it's it's completely different when it's your own and those first couple of months when you realise that you're the one that's responsible you're ultimately responsible for these people that you've employed because we employed two financial planners from from day one we are very unusual in the fact that neither myself or or Sam a business partner are client facing we sort of doing all the work behind the scenes but we we did employ two financial planners so it's like yeah I'm responsible for this person for making sure that there's enough in so that they they get paid for growing this business.
• 48:55
  SPEAKER_00: And yeah I I found that a culture shock and quite scary for the first probably for the first six weeks and then I probably mostly got over it.
• 49:03
  SPEAKER_02: Well that's really interesting actually that you both are non-client facing and very unusual.
• 49:11
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah very unusual yeah and you set up your business together I mean that in itself you must have had a confidence or as you put it an excitement you were going to you know make this work because that's a leap of faith and then to hire two financial planners because the pressure you're then under to be able to because unless those financial planners come along with a client book, you know they they did bring some clients with them.
• 49:38
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah they can come along and you'll say right okay you can clean your face a little bit with the book that you've got coming in but what we need to do is to be able to support you in a way or offer you a brand or a service that is going to get you more clients or more access um or make your life easier.
• 49:53
  SPEAKER_02: That's what that's what kind of it's almost like how a network started out isn't it it's kind of like very compliance driven um and um ease of process and then said come on all your financial advisors come over and and and work over here.
• 50:05
  SPEAKER_02: I mean aspirations for growth then is that sort of your mindset was like let's make the best processed business in financial planning and then all the financial planners will come and work for us.
• 50:15
  SPEAKER_00: Is that kind of is that your thought process well um I'm not sure how to face it exactly like that.
• 50:23
  SPEAKER_00: I think I do think that there are big advantages to the fact that neither of us are you know primarily client facing I think a lot of companies are very much lifestyle companies because it is a financial planner that set it up and it's basically yeah we'll just take it to the next level with my existing clients but without any real polar aspirations to growth.
• 50:44
  SPEAKER_00: I think it gives us the opportunity to really you know define what we want from the business because we're not our time isn't necessarily taken with client meetings.
• 50:53
  SPEAKER_00: I still do a lot of case checking and things like that which obviously takes up time but yeah we can you know design those processes we can design those um what we want from the tech to make it work to to get where we want to be and that is the starting point for for growing so yeah we've got the you know the business channels at the moment which are aimed at different client types but we do want to grow in terms of you know the numbers with New World in terms of financial planners but also you know you know potentially have people join us as as associates as potentially appointed representatives at New World at a later date.
• 51:32
  SPEAKER_02: Okay so you're looking at all those options and building your business model to be able to score all the options that are available out there that's a really good model to do.
• 51:39
  SPEAKER_02: And I think having two heads that are working together on a strategy basis in the background without the I dare say a distraction but it can be a distraction distraction when you've got to also put food on your table.
• 51:49
  SPEAKER_02: So like winning the clients it's it's it's probably a really that's probably the exciting bit I'd assume for you is that the strategy and yeah.
• 51:56
  SPEAKER_00: And I I think two people working together um does work well you were sort of saying before about you know it's easy to have the the ideas it's the implementing and I think we work well together like that.
• 52:07
  SPEAKER_00: My my business partner is is great with ideas.
• 52:10
  SPEAKER_00: He'll come to me with a hundred ideas and I kind of try and you know work together to actually you know put the stepping stones to to get those in place.
• 52:19
  SPEAKER_02: Take the ideas and put the ones that are really good and urgent and important into some sort of process where you can trial and error and see where it goes.
• 52:26
  SPEAKER_02: So things like the project management skills around that are probably really really helpful for you.
• 52:32
  SPEAKER_02: I find that within mine is like again we talked about earlier didn't it all the great ideas but you know actually implementation is completely different.
• 52:38
  SPEAKER_02: That's a hard but yeah yeah it's a completely different thing.
• 52:40
  SPEAKER_02: You are obviously a startup and I do think we're in a startup phase when it comes to financial planning firms.
• 52:46
  SPEAKER_02: I think you know there's going to be more and more smaller firms growing because there is more and more support for those firms to be able to grow whether that's outsourcing work um on a cheaper basis, you know, marketing, branding, website building databases, um even things like programming to create specific bespoke tech that's relevant to the actual firm itself you know it's it's a lot more available and people are a bit more savvy around how to do it.
• 53:14
  SPEAKER_02: Do you see the growth of your business then where you are sort of looking at apps and um database sort of side do you sort of focus your attention more onto the off the shelf selection or are you thinking about more um bespoke and growing it and working with say somebody to develop those apps and processes for you a bit a bit in a bit more detail?
• 53:34
  SPEAKER_00: We've actually just started working with someone who's um also set up a a new company but a tech company to uh over the next 12 months to to start to to build those processes and apps and that that technology side for us.
• 53:48
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah that's something we've literally just started in the last week.
• 53:52
  SPEAKER_02: And do you think you know historically with these startup firms it was always like I said like financial advisor off he goes and he builds up those more and then he passes some business on and all of that kind of stuff.
• 54:00
  SPEAKER_02: Yours is a different model to that um you're starting from the processes and structure of the business first create the crew you know the the amazing foundations the environment and then like we say if you build it they will come type mentality.
• 54:10
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah um do you feel like you're going to then build upon your team internally and hire like marketing managers and um uh perhaps relationship managers or people in-house that develop tech and are a bit more IT savvy or do you think you'll always be or do you think you'll always kind of look at that on a more outsourced basis?
• 54:30
  SPEAKER_02: What do you think?
• 54:31
  SPEAKER_00: I think uh potentially long term I think certainly in terms of like relationship managers I think we we definitely would and probably sooner rather than later uh marketing yes definitely potentially up until now we've kind of worked with different companies I think with marketing there's so many different strands to it and also because we're um you know targeting different aspects at different people it does mean probably that there's not necessarily a one size fits all in terms of marketing so it might be that different people are needed for for different parts of the business at different times um but I think it is probably something that will come you know in-house to a certain extent eventually and um the same with tech really so experiencing your first year okay if you had a crystal ball a year ago then you could predict the future what would you have told yourself what would you told yourself a year ago um keep calm mostly that I think keep calm don't panic it'll be fine things take longer than you think I I always kind of think I can do things you know quicker than I can and then have a tendency to get frustrated with everyone around me that things aren't going as as quickly as I would like them to so um I'm giving that advice to myself from a year ago although now I'm I'm sat here in January 2022 saying right we're gonna do all of this so maybe I should be giving that advice to myself now.
• 56:01
  SPEAKER_02: I suppose sometimes as well and I've found this over the years I can run a business of 13 years now and I have to manage my expectations yeah and also the expectations of others within my business because they're busy you know and I have a tendency to come up all these great ideas and expect everyone else to do it for me.
• 56:16
  SPEAKER_02: You know I'm that kind of I'm that kind of guy.
• 56:18
  SPEAKER_02: And um it's about being realistic isn't it and taking something that's going to think right well I that's going to take a lot of time because there's so many other things that are going to come up that I've never come up against before.
• 56:29
  SPEAKER_02: You're always kind of in the unknown aren't you?
• 56:32
  SPEAKER_02: You know you're all you're always in the unknown and it's having that confidence to push through the unknown and um realize that you're also going to fail more times than you've ever failed in your life like it you know you're gonna hit a wall you're gonna hit a wall you're gonna hit a wall you're gonna and you smash through it and you don't realize you smash through it because there's no one there patting you on the back to tell you otherwise is there?
• 56:52
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah so it can be quite tough.
• 56:53
  SPEAKER_02: And I think um my advice for anybody in that first year is just be realistic as you said I think it's great advice be completely realistic.
• 57:00
  SPEAKER_02: Don't panic and just know that you're gonna get through it.
• 57:03
  SPEAKER_02: Do you think you mentioned there you saved a bit of money up you did a bit of consultancy work within that first year as well to cover your costs was that a bit of a you know was that a bit of a shock to the system that perhaps you you know it's brilliant you sit down with people and they put a business plan together and it's like yeah year one I'm gonna be earning£1500 and you're like oh I'm I don't know about that.
• 57:21
  SPEAKER_00: And um did you feel like like your expectations of what you were going to earn for instance didn't work out what what you thought it was when you very first I think our expectations of how quickly revenue would start coming through were were probably a little bit off in terms of it takes a while you know things don't happen overnight.
• 57:40
  SPEAKER_00: And even when even when you've got the client and the advice it still can be quite a long period before the money actually starts tickling through the door.
• 57:49
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah I'd say that was the big one don't don't overestimate how quickly you know revenue will start coming in.
• 57:57
  SPEAKER_02: Fantastic so what does the next couple of years look like for you guys and exciting stuff?
• 58:02
  SPEAKER_00: Exciting stuff yeah expansion hopefully um you know being able to properly build out those business channels that we've got and actually you know getting more of those clients that have traditionally been neglected by financial services um and hopefully you know getting all that that tech streamline that I'd love to do to actually you know make this a nice slick process that doesn't involve a power planner having to input into five different systems and wait six weeks for you know someone to come back with something yeah.
• 58:35
  SPEAKER_00: So would your advice be to anybody that's perhaps in a power planner role or in a compliance function that has a you know a burning ambition to run a business or be part of a financial planning firm maybe in a sort of ambition entrepreneurial ship do you think it's advisable to them to sort of get out there and start networking with financial planners perhaps to sort of explore those options do you think that's a good bit of advice I think it is yeah I think um you know explore your options for you know a business partner I think it's probably going to be very hard to do that on your own from a power planning position unless you've for whatever reason got an awful lot of money and contacts behind you.
• 59:15
  SPEAKER_02: So yeah start networking build relationships um work out you know who you'd like to build a business with make sure that you're both got the same vision for how you want it to look there's me with my entrepreneurial brain now ticking away it was like well I could surely there's space there then for a little community where I introduce power planners compliance managers with the financial advisors who both think they want to run their businesses and I just join the two together.
• 59:41
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah absolutely I think I think that it is a good combination because it's two quite different personality types and whilst a financial planner might be quite you know gun pay let's do all of this because they like the relationship they like you know moving quickly the compliance and the power planning tend to be a little bit more okay but have we done have we chicked all the boxes have we done all this so it works well for client relationships and for client um for working with clients I don't see why it wouldn't work well for businesses.
• 1:00:12
  SPEAKER_02: Because I suppose really you know it's not something that a power planner would be doing is sort of networking with financial planners really outside of their own yeah businesses they're in you know thank you so much for your time today Lisa really really value your time I really value your your your information your your advice and everything about that you know it was really really good and I think anybody listening to the podcast today would definitely pick up a lot of useful information about the route down the power planning side and eventually running your own business.
• 1:00:41
  SPEAKER_00: So thank you so much and good luck with the future no problem at all thank you very much and thanks for having me on thank you Lisa