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Clark's Financial Sparks – Bryce Clark · Financial Planner Life Podcast

• 0:04
  SPEAKER_00: 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_00: This podcast is proudly sponsored by Recruit UK, a recruitment consultancy specifically focused on the financial services.
• 0:25
  SPEAKER_00: They have a niche specialism, recruiting, within the financial planning industry.
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_00: So check out their website for the latest job opportunities, hints and tips, and blog articles.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_01: Hello everyone, it's Elena back for this week's episode of the Financial Planner Live Podcast.
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_01: And this week I'm joined by Bryce Clark, who is a client services administrator at Wellington Wealth.
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_01: Within this week's episode, we talk about the importance of the administration role, how it is incremental to the business and your own personal development.
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_01: We talk about Bryce's Instagram account, Clark's financial sparks, and how he adds value to the industry.
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_01: We also talk about the link between behaviour, psychology, and money and how we encourage more young people like Bryce into the industry.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_01: How are you this evening, Bryce?
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, yeah, I'm really good.
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_04: Thank you.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_04: I'm going on holiday this week, so I'm I'm quite quite happy.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_04: What about yourself?
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_01: The countdown is on.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_01: I go away next week.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_01: So last full week of work.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_01: Well, thanks for Monday, but last full week of work this week.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, looking forward to that well-deserved summer break, I'm sure.
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_01: But um to the question I like to start with everyone.
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_01: You're client services administrator at Wellington Wealth.
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_01: But do you mind telling us a little bit about your career journey today?
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, so I um probably start with at school.
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_04: Uh I was pretty rubbish at school, didn't put much effort in, didn't really have any drive or purpose other than I quite enjoyed sports and I did well at sports and um that kind of stuff.
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_04: But in terms of education and actually trying at school, I just didn't really have any drive or goals.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_04: So I did I didn't get the greatest of exam results.
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_04: Uh, left school, kind of not really knowing what to do.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_04: I applied to be a PE teacher at uni because I had no idea what else to do in my life because I was like, I like sport.
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_04: I'll just do something teaching that I've nearly got the grades for that.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_04: And uh I didn't end up doing that.
• 2:25
  SPEAKER_04: And a family member worked back in the day for one of the big pension providers, uh, and he said, Oh, why don't you try speak go to the financial services industry?
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_04: So there was a local uh provider near me, applied for there, managed to get into there and a back office, really like basic um admin kind of role, and then started kind of getting adjust, getting used to um figuring out the industry because like before joining the industry, I actually had no idea what financial services really included, other than like banking and maybe investment bankers, Wall Street, all that kind of stuff.
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_04: And yeah, I started to really enjoy it, enjoyed working with the people in the industry, enjoyed learning about the industry.
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_04: There's just so much to learn, especially as a young person.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_04: And then I started to look at different avenues, different roles.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_04: Um, and that was after about two and a half years during lockdown.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_04: Um, I kind of was looking at who's the big players in the roles, and I was like, Financial planners sounds like a really good job because I like speaking to clients, but when you're on this provider side, where I was in the back office, you didn't really get much of that.
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_04: And the one or two interactions I did have with customers, I really enjoyed and actually felt fulfillment in my job when I was doing that.
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_04: Um, so I thought planners sounded really good.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_04: So I started applying for jobs, was kind of hit with the barriers at first when I first started looking.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_04: There really wasn't a great deal of opportunities up here.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_04: Now that I'm in the industry, I can see where to look for stuff.
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_04: But when you were kind of just headless chicken, just running about on LinkedIn and whatever, trying to look for jobs, it was actually really difficult.
• 4:13
  SPEAKER_04: If you didn't have a degree or you hadn't been to uni, um, or you didn't have someone you know that works in financial planning.
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_04: I found it pretty tricky.
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_04: Um, but I basically sent out my CV to a load of companies in and around Scotland with basically my objectives, my goals, um, my experience so far since leaving school.
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_04: And uh luckily Wellington Wealth got back to me.
• 4:37
  SPEAKER_04: And here I am a year, a year down the line um training to be well.
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_04: I'm doing my exams, I'm doing my level four exams at the minute, and I'm I'm absolutely loving it.
• 4:47
  SPEAKER_04: It's amazing.
• 4:47
  SPEAKER_04: I'm really glad I made the move.
• 4:49
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, lucky them, lucky you.
• 4:51
  SPEAKER_01: I think it's a really good match.
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_01: But you just mentioned then, do you feel like when you're first sort of stepping into the industry?
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_01: And it do you know, depends your position.
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_01: It can be second career-ish, you know, school lever, unilever.
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_01: You know, do you think there's not enough resources to help people with that transition to step with it into financial planning?
• 5:11
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, it's hard because it is getting better.
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_04: And if you know where to look, the quality of the stuff out there is actually really good, like this kind of podcast and others like it.
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_04: There's actually a lot of good things going out there, but if you don't know where to look, it's very hard to channel yourself down that way.
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_04: I was just lucky that I was kind of interested and just stumbled across like podcasts and things to do with financial planning.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_04: Um, but because it's not exactly a degree at most universities, like things like accountancy are um financial services, people don't really know what a planner is either because a lot of people don't have a planner.
• 5:49
  SPEAKER_04: So if your dad or mum doesn't have a planner, you don't have a planner, nobody really knows what they are.
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_04: Um so I think maybe by design, naturally, um, people don't know what it is, so they don't know that they want to aspire to do that as a job.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_04: But then that comes back on us um to kind of get that out there into the wider audience, places like school.
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, for example, like when I was in sixth year and I was finishing school with not a clue what to do.
• 6:15
  SPEAKER_04: I think if a planner was there and kind of said uh you don't need to go to uni and this is what the job entails, I think I would have actually been really interested in it.
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_04: So that's kind of things that I think uh I do understand it's a lot of uh time and effort.
• 6:29
  SPEAKER_01: But yeah.
• 6:30
  SPEAKER_01: And I think that's something that um a lot of us in our office resonate with.
• 6:35
  SPEAKER_01: We very often have had the conversation that some of us within our team didn't go to uni, and individuals have said there was just a financial planner there in that career sphere that told me, you know, what it is and what it entails.
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_01: I would have been super interested and I would have wanted to hear more.
• 6:51
  SPEAKER_01: So it's definitely about that lack of understanding and that lack of knowing where to look.
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_01: Lozo, you just said then, now that you're within the industry, you have a slightly different perspective.
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_01: And I think there are members within the audience that listen to this.
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_01: And um, we get a lot of people that contact us that want to step into the profession.
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_01: So now that you've navigated that initial journey and you have a slightly different perspective, could you elaborate on a bit more on you know what you said that you know where to look?
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_01: What are potentially the best ways to navigate that transition into the industry?
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, I mean, I think although I do criticize it, and I think it's one of the uh most overrated social media platforms on the planet, it's actually really good for getting into the niches and the communities that you want to be a part of.
• 7:39
  SPEAKER_04: Financial planning Twitter is also uh very active, but you kind of need to watch who you follow on that because you can get their own idea.
• 7:47
  SPEAKER_04: Um but yeah, social media, obviously, social media.
• 7:50
  SPEAKER_04: Um if you want to get into financial planning, search up companies around you, kind of go into their social media, see who they follow, see who they interact with, and eventually you will start to get there.
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_04: But it's just a bit of like diving in.
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_04: And if if you want to find out what's out there, it is out there, you just kind of have to actively like look for it.
• 8:08
  SPEAKER_01: I guess do you think it's an element of being proactive rather than reactive, especially in the Nistral stages?
• 8:15
  SPEAKER_01: You've got to you know put yourself out there, put the ego aside a little bit, get in contact with people and ask the right questions to get the right results.
• 8:22
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, especially as a young person and someone that doesn't have a degree or isn't quite sure what they want to do, companies could be taking a punt employing you, really.
• 8:33
  SPEAKER_04: So you need to really just put yourself out there.
• 8:35
  SPEAKER_04: What's the worst that can happen?
• 8:36
  SPEAKER_04: They'll say no.
• 8:37
  SPEAKER_04: You just email anybody, you literally just throw yourself out there as a young person.
• 8:41
  SPEAKER_04: Uh, and I think that's the best way to tackle it head first.
• 8:44
  SPEAKER_04: Message the CEO, message the whoever it is, just do it.
• 8:48
  SPEAKER_04: If you don't get a response, who cares?
• 8:50
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, you might not, you know.
• 8:51
  SPEAKER_01: And here you are, a year old in your role as a client services administrator, and absolutely loving it.
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_01: So it goes to show that putting yourself out there and putting that ego aside is actually going to get you the results and allow you to step into your role.
• 9:04
  SPEAKER_04: I mean, I sent I sent uh that email to over 50 different companies just because I just had no idea.
• 9:10
  SPEAKER_04: Like I sent it to legal practices and everything because I wasn't actually sure where you find financial planners.
• 9:16
  SPEAKER_04: And um, I think I had like a handful of responses.
• 9:20
  SPEAKER_04: Uh a couple of them saying, Oh, thanks, we don't have anything.
• 9:23
  SPEAKER_04: A couple of them saying, Oh, jump on a call with us, we don't have anything, but we'll chat to you.
• 9:28
  SPEAKER_04: And then I got one or two interviews.
• 9:30
  SPEAKER_04: Um, but but even from that interaction, I knew I was in an industry that I wanted to be in.
• 9:36
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 9:36
  SPEAKER_04: Like the fact that they were willing to take time out of their day to talk to me about what's involved in and learning more about the industry, like I kind of knew I was heading in the right direction.
• 9:47
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, fab.
• 9:48
  SPEAKER_01: And now, as you said, in the in the industry working as a client services administrator, and very often when I speak to individuals um who want to step within the industry, their long-term aim is to be a financial advisor.
• 10:00
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and lots of people almost want to bypass the administration roles or the back office roles, and very often get in contact saying, I want to be a trainee financial advisor.
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_01: How do I get to that point?
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_01: But I think it's really important and interesting to have someone that is in an administration role and shine a light on how important that role is.
• 10:19
  SPEAKER_01: So now that you've been in that year for a role, how do you think the administration role is crucial to the business?
• 10:26
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, I mean, I can only speak from our perspective, and um you can see the difference between advisors when I used to work at provider and from this side as well, advisors that understand the whole business and actually all the roles involved, and the advisors who just ran straight into it.
• 10:44
  SPEAKER_04: Um, I feel like for me personally, and speaking to some of the advisors that I kind of aspire to be like, um, having that all around knowledge is a lot more meaningful and it's going to be a lot more useful in the long term when you eventually become a planner, than say banging out your level four, start advising clients once you've been uh signed off.
• 11:08
  SPEAKER_04: Uh I think that's just our age group, our ego, um perhaps getting ahead of us, expecting if we have a uni degree, then we're jumping straight in at the top, top right in the deep end, which was maybe a blessing in disguise for me because I did have an ego uh when I was younger.
• 11:26
  SPEAKER_04: Um, and maybe if I went to uni, I'd be expecting, like the expectation is I'm just gonna walk straight in there, be a financial planner or whatever it was I wanted to do.
• 11:36
  SPEAKER_04: Um whereas I kind of felt like I was coming from the bottom because I didn't have very much in way of qualifications and kind of expecting to build my way up, but I've found out through speaking to people and seeing it around here that that's kind of the best way to be.
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_04: If you want to aspire to be a financial planner, you need to know all the parts involved.
• 11:57
  SPEAKER_04: And in the actual business um itself, like the admin rules are crucial.
• 12:04
  SPEAKER_04: It's like the building blocks kind of at the bottom.
• 12:07
  SPEAKER_04: Uh what I do anyway, communicating with clients, making sure that everything is there and ready, everything's correct, all the data is correct, which is so important, ready for the advisor to be able to present it to a client, knowing that what's there is reliable and accurate information.
• 12:27
  SPEAKER_04: Um yeah, especially the way we operate as well, a lot of the time it's myself that will go back to clients and ask them for information or or or or arrange meetings.
• 12:38
  SPEAKER_04: So you're kind of like the first point of contact if a client needs something, so you also have that responsibility of being the face almost of like a company, uh, but which is like uh it's great.
• 12:51
  SPEAKER_04: It's you can learn so many good skills that I'm sure benefit me in the long term.
• 12:56
  SPEAKER_01: Because we'll what I always talk about when I speak to people about the roles in financial planning, how an administrator is incremental to the process.
• 13:04
  SPEAKER_01: You have to have all clubs of the machine to make it well effectively and efficiently, really.
• 13:10
  SPEAKER_01: And but I think lots of people bypass that and think because it's a back office role or an administration role, you're not as crucial to the financial planners and almost put that on some sort of level of pedestal.
• 13:23
  SPEAKER_01: But really, and I'm sure you appreciate this from being in the role, as I mentioned, all parts of the machine need to be working smoothly to allow the clients to have the easiest and most valuable sort of experience they can.
• 13:38
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, fab.
• 13:39
  SPEAKER_01: And as you mentioned then, you know, you are in the long term wanting to be a financial advisor.
• 13:44
  SPEAKER_01: And you're obviously in the administration role now.
• 13:46
  SPEAKER_01: And as you were talking about then, you know, that role and going through that process is crucial for you to learn the building blocks of how all parts of the process work to allow you to be the most successful financial advisor as possible.
• 13:59
  SPEAKER_01: But if that's your long-term aim, what are the building blocks that you have to navigate now to get you to that position?
• 14:07
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, I mean, the obvious ones, my exams, uh I need to get that knowledge down.
• 14:12
  SPEAKER_04: But uh other than that, definitely the soft skills, the presenting skills, confidence in what you're saying, um being able to communicate with people that are from different backgrounds, different races, different age groups.
• 14:23
  SPEAKER_04: Um, you kind of need to learn all that before you can actually sit in front of a client and confidently present what the plan that you're presenting to them.
• 14:30
  SPEAKER_04: Or um I think definitely the soft skills, but I think they're kind of maybe overlooked by a lot of people that are getting into the industry.
• 14:39
  SPEAKER_04: They kind of think, oh, yeah, you need to be really knowledgeable and you do need to be really knowledgeable, but you also need to have that soft skills because they always talk about creating a relationship with a client because money is so important to everybody, and it's such a sensitive topic, especially in the UK, to really get under the nails of people and into the nitty-gritty, they need to trust you.
• 15:03
  SPEAKER_04: Um, and it in my opinion, that starts with good communication and being open with people and and kind of helping helping them through the process, especially in Scotland, where people can be quite uh like a bit thingy about a bit personal information and stuff, but a bit dry.
• 15:21
  SPEAKER_04: Now you need to really be able to create that good um communication with the client, which comes from your soft skills.
• 15:29
  SPEAKER_01: And I think that'd be lots of people within our audience, they're in a very similar position to yourself in that administration role, being in there for some time, whether you've sort of really wanted to be in the industry, you've naturally fallen into it, as quite a lot of people do, and they want to be financial planners.
• 15:44
  SPEAKER_01: Was he building on that soft skills and the knowledge?
• 15:47
  SPEAKER_01: What you said is super important.
• 15:48
  SPEAKER_01: But have you got any tips or tricks to almost like accelerate your career to that point, or is it all about just like following the process?
• 15:56
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, I firmly believe in just keeping the long-term goals uh in mind.
• 16:00
  SPEAKER_04: The like you saying there, like speeding things up.
• 16:03
  SPEAKER_04: I really don't think there is any shortcuts uh in anything in life, and it's so easy in this age group to be stuck in the instant gratification.
• 16:14
  SPEAKER_04: You've got TikToks, you've got it's all the dopamine on your phone.
• 16:18
  SPEAKER_04: We're so used to having instant gratification that you kind of for me anyway.
• 16:22
  SPEAKER_04: I enjoy having longer-term goals and building up towards something, uh, and it's very easy to keep falling back into that mentality of now faster, better, and when some things just do take time.
• 16:34
  SPEAKER_01: And we've spoken about this before, and I think there's um an image around not necessarily financial services, but um financial planning, but financial services and being involved with finance on social media that is all about fast cars and flashy watches and get rich quick kind of mindset.
• 16:53
  SPEAKER_01: And I think do you agree with me saying that you've you've really got to realise that a lot of the time this isn't a quick turnaround, you've got to go through the process of your exams and see everything through properly.
• 17:04
  SPEAKER_01: It's not an instinct and it's not a situation of right, I want to do this, I'm gonna get loads of money and it's all gonna happen tomorrow.
• 17:10
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, definitely.
• 17:12
  SPEAKER_04: Um, it's it's kind of changing your behaviour, really.
• 17:14
  SPEAKER_04: And like when I first started doing my level four exams, I would I kind of banged through the first one straight away and was like, oh, it's just gonna be so easy and quick.
• 17:24
  SPEAKER_04: But then you start to actually realize that you need to know all this stuff, so you should just take your time over it and really learn what you're doing whilst, which is what is one of the good things about learning alongside your job, because in your job you're kind of adapting those soft skills like we spoke about before, but then you're also going home at night or on the train in the morning and and honing in your actual knowledge and uh the more technical side of stuff.
• 17:47
  SPEAKER_01: And building on your soft skills and your presenting side of things.
• 17:51
  SPEAKER_01: So obviously, I would say, you know, coming on the podcast today for being a younger age kind of a person, absolutely excellent at presenting and getting your point across very eloquently.
• 18:00
  SPEAKER_01: And another brilliant way to see how you can do this, Bryce, is Clark's Financial Sparks, which is your Instagram page, which if you've not watched it, it's how I found Bryce.
• 18:10
  SPEAKER_01: You've definitely got to make sure you give a search into your stuff into your Instagram.
• 18:15
  SPEAKER_01: But a lot of this is aimed at speaking to people of our age category where we both are.
• 18:21
  SPEAKER_01: What was the origin of Clark's Financial Sparks?
• 18:24
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, it was kind of born out of my own lack of knowledge.
• 18:30
  SPEAKER_04: There's like a few reasons why I started it really.
• 18:32
  SPEAKER_04: I started doing my financial planning exams, uh, and the stuff that I was reading, I was like, this is really relevant to people my age.
• 18:41
  SPEAKER_04: Like people should know all this, but it's so easy for me because I'm in the industry to like every single day you learn about new things, about your finances and your money, which is so important.
• 18:51
  SPEAKER_04: Um, but if you're not involved in the industry, you you just don't learn these things because you're not actively engaged in it.
• 18:56
  SPEAKER_04: And I was like, how can I take this textbook that is extremely boring that no one's actually going to read um other than people that are sitting the exam and get it out to people our age and actually in a way that's jargon-free and actually practical help?
• 19:14
  SPEAKER_04: So that's kind of what that was born out of, and also just the fact that for me to learn, I feel like I need to be able to explain it to people.
• 19:22
  SPEAKER_04: Um, so coming across and whether it be wheels or posts or whatever, I actually have to articulate myself and get out the knowledge from my brain out my mouth, which I find hard sometimes, and actually present it to people, which I give more soft skills that you kind of develop in coming on podcasts and stuff like this.
• 19:40
  SPEAKER_04: It's all just so it's it's fun.
• 19:43
  SPEAKER_04: That's what it is at the end of the day.
• 19:45
  SPEAKER_01: It's really complicated stuff.
• 19:47
  SPEAKER_01: Like, if I think if you just handed me an R05 textbook and were then like, have a look through this, I would be looking through it like it's it's complicated information and be able to express it in a way that is accessible and interesting to our generation, but informative, is you know, making financial education more accessible in general.
• 20:10
  SPEAKER_01: So, was that the main impact of the what the main impact you wanted the videos to have, that educational element?
• 20:16
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, just more accessible.
• 20:18
  SPEAKER_04: I mean, that's one of the biggest things in our industry for young people.
• 20:22
  SPEAKER_04: It's just not really practical for businesses yet to advise on people that don't have very much money.
• 20:28
  SPEAKER_04: Like if you want to be cutthroat about it, uh really, there's a lot of people that just don't give advice to young people because it's not profitable.
• 20:34
  SPEAKER_04: And at the end of the day, if your business isn't profitable, you can't help your other clients.
• 20:39
  SPEAKER_04: Uh, so I feel like there's a massive area of people like my age who just need guidance, like they don't need advice or anything, they just need a bit of guidance, especially now that I'm 22, so everybody my age is coming out of uni this year, earning the first time that they're full sat uh a full salary for the first time, and um, they'll not actually have a clue what to do with it or how to act, and they won't know about workplace pensions and they won't know they'll get the option to opt out of the workplace pension, and they wouldn't even give that two seconds thought.
• 21:13
  SPEAKER_04: They'd be like, Oh, another£200 in my hand, yeah, opt out of that.
• 21:16
  SPEAKER_04: Who needs that in 30, 40 years?
• 21:19
  SPEAKER_04: So getting that knowledge.
• 21:21
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 21:22
  SPEAKER_01: My dad's a finance advisor, and I still, when I started, my job was like, I have no idea what to do with my finances, and the workplace pension thing is so interesting, what you mentioned then, because I have friends that are there, like, oh, well, I want to go on holiday in the summer, so I'm gonna opt out of my workplace pension now because then that money that's been going into my pension will pay for my summer holiday.
• 21:43
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm there like, yeah, but who's gonna then pay for your retirement?
• 21:47
  SPEAKER_01: Because as you said, it's that instant gratification mindset that lots of long people have in terms of the long term.
• 21:54
  SPEAKER_01: And I don't know whether you agree with me, but especially people in my generation, I feel like.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_01: Making financial guidance more accessible to them helps them build wealth quicker, whether that's wealth that they want to invest or start thinking about their pensions, but start building that quicker so they actually access financial advice quicker.
• 22:15
  SPEAKER_01: And then they then have the basic um knowledge on finances to know when they should then reach out to a financial advisor.
• 22:22
  SPEAKER_01: So this financial guidance actually uplifts the industry rather than giving people the information that they don't need to access it themselves.
• 22:30
  SPEAKER_04: Yep, 100%.
• 22:31
  SPEAKER_04: That's that's definitely hopefully uh I mean, there's actually a lot of really good content creators out there that do finance and the finance influencers and that they're looked down upon from a lot of people in the industry, and I do get it because there's some people that are just yeah, they're just pushing the completely the the wrong message.
• 22:51
  SPEAKER_04: But there's some good stuff out there, like if if you want to look for it, but I just feel like if we're in the industry and we're the professionals behind it, that it should be us kind of educating people on how to actually create wealth and and and not all this like long uh like short-term trading, cryptos, short and stuff, and all that kind of like you just kind of need to, I don't know, get kind of help people guide people to how to actually build wealth and get away from that instinct of gratification of yeah.
• 23:27
  SPEAKER_01: That's an that's an interesting point because there might be individuals that you know watch this podcast now or you know are interested in finances themselves and go out and are seeking guidance from the internet or different social media streams.
• 23:40
  SPEAKER_01: What advice would you give to people to almost check that what they are listening to is credible so they aren't following sort of the wrong information?
• 23:48
  SPEAKER_04: It's it's really hard actually because the the people the fast cars and the Rolexes shout the loudest.
• 23:55
  SPEAKER_04: So it's actually really hard.
• 23:56
  SPEAKER_04: Like you just get drowned out.
• 23:58
  SPEAKER_04: For example, I talk about like just saving up monthly into an index fund.
• 24:03
  SPEAKER_04: Uh it's so boring and simple, but like it does work.
• 24:06
  SPEAKER_04: Like we see it with clients and you see it with the older generation.
• 24:10
  SPEAKER_04: So I've been just consistently, diligently uh saving monthly into a low-cost index fund, and they actually have loads of money, and it's a reliable, it has been reliable anyway.
• 24:22
  SPEAKER_04: Um, but yeah, the the Rolexes and the Lamborghinis shout louder.
• 24:27
  SPEAKER_04: So when you start kind of getting into what how you can take charge of your money, uh you kind of get led down that path.
• 24:35
  SPEAKER_04: And um yeah, it's it's why a lot of people invest in these kind of things, lose a lot of money, and then just leave with a bad taste in their mouth and go, uh, finances aren't for me, I'm just not gonna take care of it.
• 24:49
  SPEAKER_04: It's it's so scientological as well.
• 24:51
  SPEAKER_04: If you get hit with that loss and you've got a scar there, it's very, very hard for you to go back and try it again.
• 24:58
  SPEAKER_04: But yeah, that's that's why you kind of need to get the the more to the other side.
• 25:02
  SPEAKER_04: Like for example, I kind of say if it sounds exciting, it's probably not the best thing for you.
• 25:10
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, you obviously can't give advice, but for me, anyway, for personally, if I see anything in the saying invest in this, you'll 20 times that, you're 50 times that, that sounds so exciting.
• 25:21
  SPEAKER_04: So it's probably not realistic.
• 25:24
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 25:27
  SPEAKER_01: Almost if it's too good to be true, it probably is kind of thing.
• 25:31
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 25:32
  SPEAKER_01: And that's one thing that you pointed on there that I think made me chuckle was that almost the the things that are tried and tested and that you know work are almost a little bit boring.
• 25:42
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm the same age group group as you, we've said this before, you're you're 22, I'm 23.
• 25:48
  SPEAKER_01: So coming from probably someone else who probably hasn't got the the highest level of financial education that they should have, you know, for people of our sort of age group, what is the the top tip that you would give me in terms of or the most useful nugget of wisdom in terms of financial education that we think will benefit me?
• 26:07
  SPEAKER_04: I think we kind of spoke about this before.
• 26:09
  SPEAKER_04: Uh me personally, I don't think it's so much technical, I think it is a lot about behavioral.
• 26:15
  SPEAKER_04: So don't compare yourself to others, compare yourself to the person you were a year ago, five months ago, a week ago, and just constantly try and get better than yourself.
• 26:25
  SPEAKER_04: A lot of the reason why people our age invest in these kind of things and buy these kind of things is because they're trying to look better than other people or they're jealous of other people.
• 26:33
  SPEAKER_04: So they want to they want to be like them and they're they're comparing themselves and their situation to somebody else's online situation most of the time.
• 26:42
  SPEAKER_04: Usually that's not actually the uh what is realistic in that person's life, that's their social media presence, and you're trying to chase that, but it's completely unrealistic.
• 26:51
  SPEAKER_04: So I'd probably just say, yeah, don't compare yourself to others, compare yourself to your previous self.
• 26:57
  SPEAKER_01: And that's another thing that's really interesting that we touched on previously, that it's not just you know, lack of education that influences how you are with money, it's your behaviours and the psychological side of it as well.
• 27:09
  SPEAKER_01: And that's something that you said that you were really interested in.
• 27:12
  SPEAKER_01: Do you mind elaborating on that a little bit further?
• 27:14
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, um, I think maybe it's because I came from a sporting side and when I was younger, like it's a lot to do with psychology.
• 27:22
  SPEAKER_04: I play golf, um, and golf is such a mental sport.
• 27:27
  SPEAKER_04: Um, you don't actually realise like the difference between a half-decent golfer, a good golfer, and the elite golfers are literally just what's between the ears.
• 27:36
  SPEAKER_04: It's nothing to do with their swing most of the time.
• 27:39
  SPEAKER_04: Um, it's all what's between the ears, how they think, how they talk to themselves, the kind of mentality, mentality that they have.
• 27:46
  SPEAKER_04: So to me, money is so engrossed in your behavior and your psychology and external factors and how you read them in your mind.
• 27:56
  SPEAKER_04: Apparently, you can form habits from the age of around eight or nine, um, your money habits.
• 28:03
  SPEAKER_04: When you actually don't have an income, you maybe get some pocket money, um, but you learn these behaviors and habits from your parents or your grandparents or the people you spend time with, and you carry them through to your teenage years.
• 28:16
  SPEAKER_04: And if you don't kind of cut those, they're very, very hard to break off, and it can lead to the bad habits falling through into your 20s, 30s and kind of snowballing.
• 28:26
  SPEAKER_04: So, yeah, I just find the behavioral stuff really interesting and because it it really does, it it shapes the decisions that you make with your money daily, even though you don't know what's happening, because it's it's not it's not at the forefront of your mind, it is somewhere deep in their back, and it's the reason why you make most financial decisions that you do.
• 28:48
  SPEAKER_01: So interesting.
• 28:49
  SPEAKER_01: It's like a subconscious thing that that sits within you.
• 28:52
  SPEAKER_01: Have you got any examples of any of the habits that you might that might be engraved with you you don't even realize?
• 28:59
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, I would expose myself here.
• 29:02
  SPEAKER_04: I I spend I spend money, whereas my brother like doesn't spend money ever.
• 29:10
  SPEAKER_04: He like just saves and saves and saves and doesn't spend money.
• 29:13
  SPEAKER_04: And I think it maybe stemmed from when I was younger, I was very cocky and wanting to appear like I've got an amazing life and I'm the best at everything.
• 29:22
  SPEAKER_04: And I feel like that's followed through into my 20s that I want to kind of maybe when I first started earning money, let's say, I quite liked the status of having different things.
• 29:33
  SPEAKER_04: Now I just spend money because I like traveling and enjoying myself and stuff like that.
• 29:37
  SPEAKER_04: I'm a bit better with it now.
• 29:39
  SPEAKER_04: It's just save and invest.
• 29:41
  SPEAKER_04: And um, but I do enjoy spending money on travel now.
• 29:44
  SPEAKER_04: Whereas when I first started earning a wage, I I was trying to get one up on people.
• 29:49
  SPEAKER_04: And I feel like that maybe came from in high school where I was trying to look better than I actually was in front of my peers and that social pressure.
• 29:59
  SPEAKER_04: Whereas my brother, on the other hand, he he can care less what people think of him and spend money on very much other than things that he values, uh, which is good.
• 30:09
  SPEAKER_01: And do you think understanding, and you know, you said it's something that you're personally really interested, but do you think from a professional perspective, that having a deeper understanding of how these psychological and different behaviors affect how we deal with money can make you a better financial planner?
• 30:25
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, I I I think so.
• 30:27
  SPEAKER_04: I mean, I've never really put into practice, but I've heard other planners talking about it, and it definitely sounds like um if you learn about people's reasons why you can kind of help them.
• 30:40
  SPEAKER_04: And all of that is to do with behavior and their kind of habits with money.
• 30:45
  SPEAKER_04: Um, for example, paying things for contact lists is so like subconscious, you actually have no idea, like you that's especially relevant to our generation.
• 30:55
  SPEAKER_04: Things like as well.
• 30:57
  SPEAKER_04: People just go, I'll just pay that back.
• 30:59
  SPEAKER_01: Will they resonate with that?
• 31:01
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, you have no idea the consequences if you miss the payments or or or whatever.
• 31:06
  SPEAKER_01: We've spoken about, you know, to begin with, how sort of you you know start working for a provider, learning more about the industry, wanting to step into financial planning and ultimately, you know, doing clerk's financial sparks.
• 31:20
  SPEAKER_01: And it's very obvious that you're super passionate about the profession.
• 31:23
  SPEAKER_01: And it's very obvious when you end up stepping into that advisor role, you're gonna be absolutely excellent at it.
• 31:28
  SPEAKER_01: But there is a well-known advice gap when we speak about sort of the industry and coming from someone within your position who's you know not known much about it, has ended up stepping into it and is very active about saying that there is some responsibility for people within the profession to speak about the profession.
• 31:45
  SPEAKER_01: What a first off, why do we need to encourage more people into the industry from sort of your perspective?
• 31:52
  SPEAKER_04: Yep.
• 31:52
  SPEAKER_04: Um I've I've not looked at the recent numbers, but uh, I think we are all aware of the fact that the planners are getting older and the industry is getting older.
• 32:01
  SPEAKER_04: So I think bringing in people from a younger age group is not a bad thing.
• 32:05
  SPEAKER_04: I think it's quite a good thing.
• 32:07
  SPEAKER_04: I also think there's a lot of people my age that are looking for more from their jobs.
• 32:12
  SPEAKER_04: People a lot of people are waking up to the fact that the degree that they picked, they don't actually like it.
• 32:18
  SPEAKER_04: You picked that at the age of 18, 17, 18.
• 32:21
  SPEAKER_04: It if you don't like it four years later, I think in the past people just went with it and kind of grinded it out, whereas now a lot of people that I know are switching degrees, are switching careers.
• 32:32
  SPEAKER_04: Um, so that's an opportunity for us because there's so much talent that we can take in from outside of our profession, and there's different things that we can learn from outside of our profession that we can implement in our profession to make it even better than it than it currently is.
• 32:47
  SPEAKER_04: And there's a long way to go, I think, in improving, but obviously everything can always improve.
• 32:52
  SPEAKER_04: And one way of that doing that is through diversification.
• 32:57
  SPEAKER_04: I think bringing people in from different backgrounds, different um kind of education standpoints, it can only benefit the industry.
• 33:06
  SPEAKER_01: And I think ultimately we want to get into a position where you know everyone from every background, every upbringing, all the different nuances that we all have as an individual feel like there is a place for them either within the profession or to access the advice that they need.
• 33:22
  SPEAKER_01: And I think by you know diversification, as we said, encouraging different people within the industry from lots of different backgrounds, may that be school leavers, you know, different careers, anything like that, is only gonna add value to us as an industry and allow us to provide the financial advice that is needed to as many people as we can because you know everyone should have a financial advisor, in my opinion.
• 33:46
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, definitely.
• 33:47
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, I would I would agree.
• 33:48
  SPEAKER_04: And I think especially for young people as well, getting into this industry.
• 33:52
  SPEAKER_04: I think we could we have a lot to offer young people, uh, my generation.
• 33:55
  SPEAKER_04: I think we are there's a lot of amazing people um that can come into the industry and make it a better place, but there's also a lot for us to be learned from the older people.
• 34:06
  SPEAKER_04: And I think there's so there's so many amazing people in this industry.
• 34:12
  SPEAKER_04: I think it is really exciting, and we kind of need to shout from the rooftops about this industry and the fact that people coming out of uni and college and stuff that there is this amazing gap in the financial services and that is there to be filled by people our age and that can be filled.
• 34:29
  SPEAKER_04: Like that's what I was talking about earlier, the barriers to entry.
• 34:32
  SPEAKER_04: When I first started thinking about being a financial planner, the first kind of Google search that I did, the first article I found said that you had to have a degree.
• 34:42
  SPEAKER_04: So straight away I was like, oh well, that's that's that in the bin.
• 34:45
  SPEAKER_04: And it was just an absolute load of nonsense.
• 34:47
  SPEAKER_04: I don't even I don't even know what page it was now.
• 34:50
  SPEAKER_04: It was so long ago.
• 34:51
  SPEAKER_04: And then there was other things saying you need to be like amazing at maths and all this kind of stuff.
• 34:55
  SPEAKER_04: And I just started thinking, oh, it's not really for me.
• 34:58
  SPEAKER_04: But then now that I'm in the industry, I actually I see the type of old-fashioned advisor that that website was kind of getting at.
• 35:09
  SPEAKER_01: And there's, you know, when my dad always wanted me, my dad, who is a financial advisor, always wanted me to be a financial advisor.
• 35:15
  SPEAKER_01: And I always said no, it's quite funny that now I've ended up in this space where I'm working so closely within the industry.
• 35:23
  SPEAKER_01: But I think if I had more access at all the different levels, if we said, whether it be school or more connection to platforms like this, or it was more well known out there.
• 35:33
  SPEAKER_01: And I'd been able to listen as a 17-year-old, not knowing what I wanted to do with my future to an individual like yourself, a couple of years above me, about how fruitful the career is.
• 35:44
  SPEAKER_01: I probably would have looked at it again rather than thinking, no, it's it's I've you know, you put it into this box.
• 35:50
  SPEAKER_01: And this platform itself is, you know, an excellent way to encourage, make financial advice or financial planning as an industry more accessible to people, to educate them on what it is.
• 36:01
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but there's loads of different ways that we can encourage people into the industry.
• 36:06
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, you yourself have said when I did my deep dive on Clark's Financial Sparks that you felt like there was no advice for young people in the UK on getting into the industry without a degree.
• 36:18
  SPEAKER_01: So, you know, how do we encourage more people into the industry from your perspective?
• 36:24
  SPEAKER_01: Who you said, you know, being in with the industry for a year, can see a long career in it, would like more people to join it yourself.
• 36:30
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, I mean, you can you can't force people into an area that don't want to be in, but we can certainly promote our career.
• 36:38
  SPEAKER_04: We can certainly promote our career and um show people the benefits of it and the what it's actually what it actually involves.
• 36:47
  SPEAKER_04: I think a lot of people just have got tunnel vision, and I totally understand that like the business owners and the advisors, they're all very busy people, and there's a lot to do and uh a lot of um servicing for clients.
• 36:58
  SPEAKER_04: Um so that's where I feel like people like myself, like if you're just getting out started out, you might as well take the take everybody else along on the journey with you and kind of promote like what's going on and show a realistic expectation of what you can achieve in this industry and how you can get started.
• 37:15
  SPEAKER_04: And that's one of the things that has come out of Clark's Financial Sparks is some of my friends being more actively engaged in asking me what do you do as a job, like what's your goals in the job.
• 37:26
  SPEAKER_04: I've never actually heard of financial planning.
• 37:28
  SPEAKER_04: Is that like an accountant?
• 37:29
  SPEAKER_04: Is it like a banker?
• 37:30
  SPEAKER_04: Like, people are actually genuinely really interested in what I do as a job and what I aspire to do.
• 37:37
  SPEAKER_04: So I think getting that out on social media, shouting about your job.
• 37:42
  SPEAKER_04: People again on LinkedIn, like everybody shouts about what they had for breakfast.
• 37:48
  SPEAKER_04: So shout about your career and show people how how good a career it is.
• 37:53
  SPEAKER_04: And and rather than shying away from the question of what do you do, is it like an accountant?
• 37:58
  SPEAKER_04: Well, not really, but whatever.
• 38:00
  SPEAKER_04: Uh actually promote and say yes, uh, I I love my job and this is what you do, and especially to younger people, I think um also I it takes a lot of time and effort, but getting into schools and talking to younger people about the job and um the way the path into the job, also creating more opportunities for younger people as well.
• 38:22
  SPEAKER_04: Um, so that's on the business owners side, I guess, um, creating perhaps apprenticeships for financial planners, kind of getting people into the industry, creating more opportunities so um that there is that gap for people to come into, and there are those roles because that was another barrier I found a lot of the time it was must have three years experience in a financial planning office, uh, or they must have a year's experience with like a back office system.
• 38:52
  SPEAKER_04: And I was like, I'm coming from three years at a provider's site, like that's what I've been doing for the past three years.
• 39:01
  SPEAKER_04: Like, why is that not good enough to get into financial planning?
• 39:05
  SPEAKER_04: Like it says, like that it's a basic role.
• 39:09
  SPEAKER_04: Like, why do you need three years specifically?
• 39:11
  SPEAKER_04: But I do understand it being at this side because you want someone that can slot into the business and start working.
• 39:16
  SPEAKER_04: But I think creating those more entry-level jobs for people, um, I think it can only benefit you and your business.
• 39:23
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 39:24
  SPEAKER_01: And ultimately, I think, especially from a recruitment perspective, what you know, what we do in terms of our bread and butter, we speak to so many different people that want someone with experience.
• 39:34
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and you know, you miss out on individuals like yourself.
• 39:38
  SPEAKER_01: I think, you know, if people, the 50, 60 firms that you applied to now would watch this podcast episode, people that didn't respond would be there, like, oh my God, I wish we'd sat and had a conversation with him.
• 39:50
  SPEAKER_01: So I think having an episode with someone like yourself who's been within the industry from a year where it's already making a massive impact, going above and beyond.
• 39:59
  SPEAKER_01: I'm sure, you know, in your day-to-day, you're absolutely hitting the mark.
• 40:03
  SPEAKER_01: For business owners that are listening to this, it demonstrates what you might say is, you know, taking a punt on someone with no experience can allow you to get, you know, hungry, ambitious, motivated people that you're completely just brushing aside if you don't sort of you know give them the option to apply or have that initial conversation with us.
• 40:24
  SPEAKER_01: And as you said, as I just said then, you're obviously a very inspirational individual in the sense of someone that's just stepping into the industry.
• 40:33
  SPEAKER_01: So this is a big question, but I know you're going to have an answer to it.
• 40:36
  SPEAKER_01: But what is your mission statement within your career within financial planning?
• 40:40
  SPEAKER_01: What would you like to achieve with the next however many years you've got within the industry?
• 40:45
  SPEAKER_04: Kind of deep, especially for someone my age, but I want to like help as many people from now until I die.
• 40:52
  SPEAKER_04: I want to help as many people as possible, whether that be in finances, making them feel better about themselves, um, enjoying their job, enjoying their career, like just helping as many people as possible.
• 41:02
  SPEAKER_04: And I feel like financial planning is a really rewarding career to be in because you do help people not only with their money, but again, get back to that deep-rooted psychology.
• 41:11
  SPEAKER_04: You help them with their life, you improve their life, or you improve their family's life and the things that matter to them.
• 41:18
  SPEAKER_04: You help them achieve their goals and reach their goals.
• 41:20
  SPEAKER_04: I love seeing people doing well, and I think that's kind of like my mission statement is just to help as many people hit their goals and and dreams as as I can.
• 41:30
  SPEAKER_04: And that includes people my age getting into a career that they actually value and they feel passionate about, uh, is also helping them.
• 41:37
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, well, thank you so much, Bryce, for sharing us all your nuggets of wisdom this evening.
• 41:43
  SPEAKER_01: It's been an absolute pleasure speaking with you.
• 41:45
  SPEAKER_01: And I think this is a really interesting episode for to shape the perspective of business owners, people that are just stepping into the industry, or people that you know within their first the infancy of their career.
• 41:57
  SPEAKER_01: So, thank you very much for speaking with me this evening.
• 41:59
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, thanks very much for having me on.
• 42:01
  SPEAKER_04: I appreciate it.
• 42:01
  SPEAKER_01: No worries.