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The Financial Planner Life Academy · Financial Planner Life Podcast

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_01: And today's guest on the Financial Planner Life podcast is Adam Owen.
• 0:03
  SPEAKER_01: And we are talking about the Financial Planner Life Academy, the first fully independent advice academy for the profession.
• 0:11
  SPEAKER_01: We're going to train and develop the next generation of administrators, power planners, mortgage and protection advisors, and of course, financial planners.
• 0:19
  SPEAKER_01: On this episode, we go into great detail about what is covered in the academy and why you should sign up if you're looking for a career within the financial planning profession.
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_01: I hope you enjoy.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_01: Adam, thanks for joining me on the Financial Planner Life podcast.
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_01: How are you, mate?
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_01: Sam, really great today, and thanks for inviting me on.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_01: Looking forward to it.
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_01: Top man, excellent.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_01: Well, look, we had to do a podcast together because we're now in partnership.
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_01: We've created the Financial Planner Life Academy, of which I am so happy about.
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_01: I visualized this some time ago when I first really set up the Financial Planner Life podcast.
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_01: I really wanted an academy somewhere where we could bring those that are thinking about joining the profession or have made a decision to join the profession into a community where they get expert training around not only their qualifications, which are massively important, but also the soft skills and practical skills required to do multiple jobs within financial planning.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_01: The academies that are out there at the moment are all geared around the next generation of planner, financial advisor.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_01: And they'll put them through academies and give them training and development and qualifications.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_01: And then at the end of that, most of them, not all of them, are standalone self-employed.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_01: You are now a financial advisor, off your pop and win some clients.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_01: To me, that's okay for some people, but not for everybody.
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_01: And I think the financial planning profession needs to evolve when it comes to academies.
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_01: And it needed you and I to come together to create something special that sits in front of the current entry opportunities in the profession.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_01: And today we're just going to dig a bit deeper as to what we have created and again the reasons why and who I think this is really suitable for.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_01: And just to kind of really flesh out some of the some of the reasons again why we're doing it.
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, great.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, cool.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, Financial Planner Life Academy is going live.
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_01: By the time people are listening to this, it is going live.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_01: We've been beavering in the background, building it all, filling it up with really great content.
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so let's start with that.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_01: I've partnered with you guys over there at NextGen Planners because you're doing amazing things in the space of training and development for the next generation of financial planners and those that work within the profession.
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_01: So we've chosen from day one to train out the level four qualifications through the CII.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_01: So module one to six of the CII.
• 3:03
  SPEAKER_01: So let's just start there then.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_01: Why have we each, why do we think that that's the best option to train out for new delegates coming into the profession?
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, and well, we chose to launch the Financial Plan of Life Academy with that qualification.
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_00: We will be adding the CISI and the LIABF routes to the program as well over the first six months.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_00: But we chose to launch with that qualification in the first instance, because the CII qualification is designed in such a way to be modular.
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_00: So the regulated diploma in financial advice is a great qualification for a financial planner and financial advisor.
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_00: It's the core qualification that's needed to be achieved.
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_00: But then when we strip that back a little and we look at R01, the first qualification in the set of six, that is a foundation qualification for so many other things.
• 3:52
  SPEAKER_00: So it's the core qualification for the paraplanner certificate.
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_00: It's a core qualification to go and be and to go and take the discretionary investment management certificate.
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_00: It forms a core qualification if you're moving into compliance at a later time.
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_00: So that core qualification is really what attracted us to launching first with the CII regulated diploma route.
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_00: Because when people first join the profession, they might not have that really strong sense of exactly what they want to do, but they know that they want to be in the profession.
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_00: So this gives a foundation module first and an opportunity just to think around what happens next in the career.
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_01: Fantastic.
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and absolutely.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_01: And the vision of the Financial Planner Life Academy, it wasn't just training people to be financial advisors, client-facing, level four qualified, caste status financial planners.
• 4:51
  SPEAKER_01: Although within our community, that's 100% where you can train and develop and get the qualifications and move towards.
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_01: But we wanted a community from the Academy that exactly what you said was challenge the individual as to where they think they want to go with their career.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_01: So as long as they come into the Financial Planner Life Academy, they don't need to hang their hat on anything.
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_01: They can start their qualifications, lean into the financial planner life community, and start to learn more about the career of those that work within the profession.
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_01: So it might be that someone's thinking, I want to be a financial planner.
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_01: And that's their goal.
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_01: They'll want to be a financial planner.
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_01: But does their background, their experience lend themselves to go straight into financial advice?
• 5:42
  SPEAKER_01: Or would it be better for them to take some qualifications and to understand the role of, say, an administrator or the role of, say, a power planner and work towards that route and find a job at entry level as an IFA administrator and work their way up through the ranks to becoming a financial planner.
• 6:05
  SPEAKER_01: Now, for some, that you know, the financial planner is the be-all and end all.
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_01: But actually, for others and people here on my podcast, they are so glad they started out as an administrator.
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_01: They're so glad they went down the power planner route, and they're so glad they ended up in a financial planner role with that level of experience instead of taking a two-footed jump into it.
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_01: And that's mentioned, you know, some of these academies that are out there, some of the entry opportunities we see out there when someone types in, I want to be a financial planner, it really does lend itself to self-employment.
• 6:35
  SPEAKER_01: Now, self-employment is risky.
• 6:39
  SPEAKER_01: If you're somebody that lacks the experience or ability to find clients, to go out and business develop, perhaps you don't come from a sales background.
• 6:49
  SPEAKER_01: Perhaps the only network you have is friends and family.
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_01: It's uncomfortable approaching friends and family when you set up a business to try and ask them to buy things from you or to use your services, right?
• 7:01
  SPEAKER_01: You have to understand what's required of you when you join the financial planning profession as a self-employed financial planner.
• 7:08
  SPEAKER_01: It is tough.
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_01: And one of the things I wanted to do was with this academy was to position itself as being the first point of contact for anybody that wants to join the financial planning profession.
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_01: So when they come into the academy, Adam, straight away they can start their qualifications.
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_01: They can do it at their own pace whilst they're still in their current job and in their current career.
• 7:29
  SPEAKER_01: They don't have to jump two-footed into an academy where they have to leave their job and put everything on the line, family commitments, financials, uncertainty.
• 7:38
  SPEAKER_01: They can come into my community, our community, and they can start learning about the different role types and more importantly, what a career pathway looks like within the profession before they make the decision to do something that might cause them a hell of a lot of stress if they don't have the relevant experience, background, and network to lean in on.
• 7:59
  SPEAKER_01: And that's a big part of what it's about.
• 8:01
  SPEAKER_01: It's about teaching those individuals not only the qualifications you need to pass to get to the level you want to get to, but actually what is required of a financial planner.
• 8:11
  SPEAKER_01: And we have training within the community that will teach somebody about social media marketing, that will teach somebody about how to network, how to sell yourself, how to build clients.
• 8:23
  SPEAKER_01: We even give uh training and development around technology within the profession.
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_01: And if somebody was wanting to be a financial planner, there's something called competent advisor status, right?
• 8:33
  SPEAKER_01: Now, getting competent advisor status means you need to be employed by somebody, but having the ability to prepare yourself for competent advisor status increases your candidature when you go and look for a new job opportunity.
• 8:46
  SPEAKER_01: So it's about tackling all these areas that I don't think lots of people think about when they want to get into the profession.
• 8:53
  SPEAKER_01: So our community, start your qualifications at a pace that works for you, with qualified trainers that have delivered training and development to help people pass the qualifications.
• 9:06
  SPEAKER_01: What's your pass rate in your community, Karenie, at the moment, Adam, when it comes to qualifications?
• 9:11
  SPEAKER_00: For the RO qualifications, Sam, we're at an over 90% first-time pass rate across all of them.
• 9:16
  SPEAKER_00: So we know that the candidates who follow our process are successful in passing their exams.
• 9:23
  SPEAKER_00: Of course, you know, that's not just about the trainers, the video content that's on demand, the sessions that we do on a weekly basis for group tutorials, the classroom sessions that go on before their exam is sat.
• 9:36
  SPEAKER_00: It's also about the huge commitment that each candidate puts in time and effort into this career and developing these qualifications.
• 9:45
  SPEAKER_00: But the great thing about the community and what we bring to the Financial Planel Life Academy is that collaboration, that ability to do this with somebody else.
• 9:55
  SPEAKER_00: Because one of the biggest challenges in setting a set of exams and qualifications that you might never have tackled before.
• 10:01
  SPEAKER_00: And for so many people entering the profession with very little background or experience in the subject matter that you're studying, is where do you go to ask what might be perceived as one of those silly questions, questions you don't really feel comfortable asking.
• 10:15
  SPEAKER_00: But if everybody's in the same boat and everybody's asking the same question, then you're part of a group of people asking those questions.
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_00: And so it suddenly becomes easier.
• 10:22
  SPEAKER_00: You've got people to bounce ideas off, you've got people who might have a strength in a particular part of a syllabus that you don't have, but then you'll be able to help them.
• 10:31
  SPEAKER_00: And so it becomes a collaborative process and it enables people to begin to build that network as well.
• 10:37
  SPEAKER_00: Because the the relationships and the friendships that people forge now in this very early stage of their career in the Financial Planet Life Academy will be relationships that they will continue and take with them throughout their careers.
• 10:51
  SPEAKER_00: Think of it more, I think, Sam, as a college or a university environment, but one that's online.
• 11:19
  SPEAKER_00: And so actually, for financial planners, for power planners, for administrators trying to get into financial planning, you're building that network now in the Financial Planner Life Academy that you will take forward throughout your entire career.
• 11:32
  SPEAKER_00: And I think that's super powerful.
• 11:35
  SPEAKER_01: I had a, yeah, you're absolutely spot on.
• 11:37
  SPEAKER_01: Um had this conversation actually with Ryan May on my podcast today.
• 11:42
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so if anyone's listening to this, go back and listen to the Ryan May episode.
• 11:46
  SPEAKER_01: He absolutely waxed lyrical about how good the Next Gen Plan community is.
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_01: We bonded over community and the power of the power and the impact it's had on both of our careers.
• 11:59
  SPEAKER_01: One thing I've learned around building the financial planner life and the community that I've built around it is that I can now turn to experts within financial planning anytime I've got an idea or anytime I've got a question.
• 12:14
  SPEAKER_01: You're one of those people I can turn to you and I can talk to you and I can share with you my thoughts and my ideas, and I can get perspective and I can get guidance, and I don't have to reinvent the wheel.
• 12:27
  SPEAKER_01: And I love that.
• 12:28
  SPEAKER_01: It's that collaborative support that a community actually brings you, and that's what I want from the financial plan of life.
• 12:36
  SPEAKER_01: Because not only transitioning from one career to another, that's stressful.
• 12:41
  SPEAKER_01: There's a lot of stress that can be brought upon you.
• 12:44
  SPEAKER_01: Am I making the right decision?
• 12:46
  SPEAKER_01: And what I want someone to do when they come into that community is not only start their qualifications in a calm way that looks after their well-being, right?
• 12:55
  SPEAKER_01: And we manage their expectations properly, not let's get you passed in six months and get you up and running as an advisor in six months.
• 13:01
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not really promoting that.
• 13:03
  SPEAKER_01: I want somebody to come in, start to educate themselves around the qualifications and what that teaches us.
• 13:10
  SPEAKER_01: Pass those, make sure they pass those with the right support and development in place, because that's absolutely fantastic.
• 13:15
  SPEAKER_01: And when you end up then looking at trying to get your first job within the financial planning profession, you're prepared with your qualifications before you leave, like, let's say, a salary that's paying you a decent amount of money.
• 13:26
  SPEAKER_01: Because if you've got higher levels of qualifications before you enter the profession, your candidature will go up because the cost associated by the employer taking you on, for instance, and the risk is reduced.
• 13:40
  SPEAKER_01: So they're willing to take more of a chance on somebody that's gone through an academy past their qualifications and did soft skills training, practical training, and understands the profession as a whole and has, more importantly, as well, I think, which has been lacking in a lot of academies out there, an independent view of what the profession actually looks like.
• 14:02
  SPEAKER_01: I want to make sure that anybody that comes in is educated around financial planning careers.
• 14:09
  SPEAKER_01: What are the job roles?
• 14:11
  SPEAKER_01: What are the salary expectations?
• 14:13
  SPEAKER_01: How long should it take me to move from administrator to power planner?
• 14:17
  SPEAKER_01: What should I know as a power planner?
• 14:20
  SPEAKER_01: How do I position power planning to financial advice?
• 14:24
  SPEAKER_01: What's the difference between IFA and restricted?
• 14:27
  SPEAKER_01: The list kind of goes on and on.
• 14:29
  SPEAKER_01: Now, you might have the entrepreneurial individual that comes in and actually is really driven to run their own business.
• 14:35
  SPEAKER_01: Now, if they come into that community, we're not going to talk to them about shoving them down a pathway to one company.
• 14:41
  SPEAKER_01: We're not about that.
• 14:42
  SPEAKER_01: We're about saying to them, look, if you want to be self-employed, let's look at what self-employed actually means within the profession.
• 14:49
  SPEAKER_01: Do you understand what a network is?
• 14:51
  SPEAKER_01: Being an appointed representative, a registered individual?
• 14:54
  SPEAKER_01: Do you understand what directly authorized is and what's required for you to actually go directly authorized?
• 15:00
  SPEAKER_01: So working together with those individuals and leaning into our mentors who have been there, done it, and got the t-shirt allows the individual coming to our community to go, right, I'm going to build a career roadmap that works for me and is aligned to my intrinsic values and my goals, and more importantly, is realistic.
• 15:20
  SPEAKER_01: And I really, really want people to understand that that when you come into that community, it's about making sure that when you leave the profession you're in to start in the financial planning profession, that you're going in at the right level for you that gives you the right level of support and you're putting your best foot forward and you fully understand exactly the route that you're going down.
• 15:42
  SPEAKER_01: Adam, I've spoken to people that have sat in positions for five years, and I hear this a lot in power planning.
• 15:48
  SPEAKER_01: So they sit in power planning roles for quite some time on the promise that they're going to become a financial advisor.
• 15:53
  SPEAKER_01: But they sit in there for too long, but they don't quite know how to position that with the employer they're actually with.
• 15:59
  SPEAKER_01: They don't know how to have that conversation with them.
• 16:01
  SPEAKER_01: The employer doesn't want to lose them because they don't want to lose a good power planner.
• 16:04
  SPEAKER_01: They're as rare as you know, hen's teeth, aren't they, to find?
• 16:06
  SPEAKER_01: So what we do in this situation is say, look, you know, that's fine if you want to go admin, if you want to go power planning, maybe you end up wanting to make a career out of power planner and we'll look at that.
• 16:14
  SPEAKER_01: But we'll talk to you about how to position those uncomfortable conversations as well.
• 16:18
  SPEAKER_01: How to move forward within your career.
• 16:20
  SPEAKER_01: What is a realistic amount of time to be spent in power planning if your end goal is to be a financial planner?
• 16:26
  SPEAKER_01: How do you position yourself at interview to make sure that you come across confident in who you are, but letting the employer know that you also have ambitions to progress your career forward and how to confidently ask the questions of that employer as to how they can evidence they're going to do that for you.
• 16:44
  SPEAKER_01: So again, working with those individual candidates to help them through their qualifications, because that's really, really important.
• 16:51
  SPEAKER_01: It increases your candidature, but then helping you make the right decision when entering the financial planner profession for the right reasons in the right role type.
• 17:00
  SPEAKER_01: So that's what I'm super excited about.
• 17:02
  SPEAKER_01: And there's nobody doing that.
• 17:04
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely, Sam.
• 17:05
  SPEAKER_00: And we're bringing international communication coaches into the Financial Planner Life Academy to present a series of modules exactly on that and how to have difficult conversations.
• 17:18
  SPEAKER_00: And quite often, that difficult conversation is about what's happening with the other person, but also it can be what's happening in our own mindset and our own psyche.
• 17:26
  SPEAKER_00: The conversation sometimes is less difficult than we maybe believe it's going to be.
• 17:32
  SPEAKER_00: And so we have coaches coming into the Financial Planner Life Academy that will provide support for that.
• 17:39
  SPEAKER_00: And there'll be training modules that will be available on demand and live sessions as well.
• 17:44
  SPEAKER_00: So we have the app so people can access this content mobile, but also they can join a live session on their laptop or PC, settle down and ask questions and really engage with the process.
• 17:57
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and I absolutely love that.
• 17:59
  SPEAKER_01: Tell us a little bit about more, a little more, sorry, about some of the other training and development programs that we're going to gradually build and release into the financial planner life community to support uh the delegates' journeys.
• 18:14
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 18:15
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 18:15
  SPEAKER_00: So we start with the building blocks.
• 18:18
  SPEAKER_00: And everything that we we look to design is around building blocks because we know that with 80,000 firms out there in this space, that's a lot of opportunity to go and be employed and to gain and drive your career forward.
• 18:35
  SPEAKER_00: But the the key really is to think about what skills do those organizations want.
• 18:39
  SPEAKER_00: There isn't only one way of doing things.
• 18:42
  SPEAKER_00: And so we don't prescribe, and there won't be a prescribed financial planner life academy way of doing things.
• 18:49
  SPEAKER_00: What we'll focus on are the building blocks.
• 18:52
  SPEAKER_00: And it will be communication skills, it'll be technical skills, it will be IT skills, it will be all of the things that join everything else together to begin with.
• 19:01
  SPEAKER_00: So our communication skills program is the foundation for that.
• 19:05
  SPEAKER_00: We have a program for people who are looking to move into financial advice, a program for points, and a program for mortgage advisors as well.
• 19:15
  SPEAKER_00: And so you have this opportunity to develop those communication skills, but within a context of a career option as they go forward.
• 19:23
  SPEAKER_00: So we do the foundation levels, and then we move forward to begin to specialize and look at the specialist communications that you need to have.
• 19:31
  SPEAKER_00: Some of it is communicating to clients, some of it is sales, some of it is actually communicating to strategic partners.
• 19:38
  SPEAKER_00: There's a lot of different ways of communicating.
• 19:41
  SPEAKER_00: And of course, it's not just verbal, it's the written word as well.
• 19:44
  SPEAKER_00: It's email, it's everything, it's even social media.
• 19:47
  SPEAKER_00: And so the support for all of those elements.
• 19:50
  SPEAKER_00: But then as we begin to think about the more technical elements of content, then we'll be looking at cash flow modeling and all the different requirements of cash flow modeling, where it's right to deploy cash flow modeling, what the challenges are, and to really understand the subject.
• 20:06
  SPEAKER_00: It's not about learning how to use a specific cash flow modeling tool.
• 20:10
  SPEAKER_00: It's about when you get to a place of employment, that whatever tool they're using, you understand enough about that subject that you can just drop straight into it.
• 20:20
  SPEAKER_00: And you'll know exactly what people are talking about straight away.
• 20:24
  SPEAKER_00: Beyond that, then we have other skills modules that we build.
• 20:29
  SPEAKER_00: Lead generation is absolutely key.
• 20:32
  SPEAKER_00: And so there'll be a lead generation program looking at all aspects of creating new networks, building new client relationships, and just expanding into spaces that actually a lot of people don't consider when they're building a career.
• 20:47
  SPEAKER_00: So we'll be looking about how to build contacts on the internet.
• 20:49
  SPEAKER_00: We'll be looking at how to do core basic marketing.
• 20:52
  SPEAKER_00: And I know, Sam, that you've got a huge amount planned for personal branding as well, which is going to really help people accelerate their careers.
• 21:01
  SPEAKER_00: And then we have the specialist subjects as well.
• 21:03
  SPEAKER_00: So how to be a power planner.
• 21:05
  SPEAKER_00: That, of course, is something that we would have to have there.
• 21:08
  SPEAKER_00: What is the role of an administrator?
• 21:10
  SPEAKER_00: But then it doesn't just talk about the how-to, it talks about some of the real technical aspects.
• 21:15
  SPEAKER_00: And so we'll begin to build through masterclasses and live events with experts in their field to really help people boost their core knowledge for all of these subjects.
• 21:26
  SPEAKER_00: And we have our financial planning tools and techniques, which is one of the flagship programs we'll be introducing, which really helps people get a handle quite early on in their careers, uh progression, in terms of exactly how you can build your own scripts to be the best version of a financial planner that you can be if you want to move into that role.
• 21:48
  SPEAKER_00: But likewise, we do the same for mortgage advisors and para planners and administrators as well.
• 21:53
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 21:54
  SPEAKER_01: What I love about all of that is that you are building knowledge.
• 21:57
  SPEAKER_01: So when it comes to the time when you're really Ready to start your career within financial planning at whatever level opportunity is right for you based on self-reflection.
• 22:09
  SPEAKER_01: You've actually got a huge amount of skills that you've learned from the community that you can build into your CV or into your LinkedIn profile to show that you have gone out not only in gain qualifications, but gain that soft skill and in times practical skills and knowledge required to get you through the door and give you the best interview possible.
• 22:33
  SPEAKER_01: Now, what I love about our community as well is I'm bringing together the experts within Financial Planner Life with over 15 years of experience of placing people within the financial planning profession.
• 22:44
  SPEAKER_01: So we know a thing or two about what clients companies are looking for when it comes to hiring staff.
• 22:50
  SPEAKER_01: And our job within that community is to prepare every single delegate for what to expect when they go to those interviews.
• 22:58
  SPEAKER_01: So we're going to do things like interview preparation.
• 23:01
  SPEAKER_01: We're even going to do things like, and this is often gets overlooked.
• 23:04
  SPEAKER_01: If you look at a CV and you look at LinkedIn, what's the most important thing?
• 23:07
  SPEAKER_01: Now, LinkedIn right now is absolutely 100% when it comes to job searching, one of the most important things that you can use because it allows you to raise your personal brand.
• 23:18
  SPEAKER_01: But sometimes you don't want to say to everybody, I'm looking for a new job in the financial planning profession, if you've still got one foot in another career.
• 23:25
  SPEAKER_01: So I'll talk to individuals about how they can start to build an audience of employers and how they can start to actually appear on their radar before they actually sign up or send an email or a message or apply to a job opportunity.
• 23:44
  SPEAKER_01: We also work alongside those individuals within our community to introduce them ourselves to some of the clients that we actually work with, and clients that we feel are a good home for those that are starting their career out in whatever role it is: administration, mortgage and protection, power planning, and financial advice.
• 24:03
  SPEAKER_01: And we'll start to earmark and understand within our community the people we think would be a good fit for a specific type of company within a specific location.
• 24:11
  SPEAKER_01: We hear all the time, and I promote this a lot, that there is an abundant of abundance of opportunities within the financial planning profession.
• 24:18
  SPEAKER_01: Now, over the next five to ten years, there is going to be a huge amount of opportunity in the financial planning profession.
• 24:26
  SPEAKER_01: And they're going and the financial planning profession now has to act in respect of how they attract that talent.
• 24:31
  SPEAKER_01: And that's what we're doing here is to create an incubator of the next generation of talent, okay, to steal your company community name.
• 24:38
  SPEAKER_01: But that's true, that's exactly what we're doing.
• 24:40
  SPEAKER_01: But the idea is to say, look, we're going to help you support you, get you into companies that match the expectations of what they're looking for when it comes to a new employee.
• 24:50
  SPEAKER_01: Now, a lot of the time, even though there is an abundance of opportunities out there, employers are looking for individuals that have experience.
• 24:59
  SPEAKER_01: The Financial Planner Life Academy is that stepping stone that gives you the experience enough to get your foot through the door and show your worth.
• 25:08
  SPEAKER_01: It's not like you're turning up, knocking on a door, cap in hand, saying, Can I have a job, please?
• 25:12
  SPEAKER_01: We're not gonna, that's not gonna happen.
• 25:15
  SPEAKER_01: This is about preparing you fully at the right time to make that choice that you're then gonna go out and start to market yourself or lean into some of the guys that I and girls that I've got in the community that can start to introduce you to clients as well.
• 25:28
  SPEAKER_01: So we're gonna teach people how to how to basically get ahead in their career.
• 25:33
  SPEAKER_01: And these are skills that they're gonna use throughout their career.
• 25:36
  SPEAKER_01: And we go back to understanding what a career roadmap looks like for you based on your goals.
• 25:42
  SPEAKER_01: So instead of you kind of thinking, I wonder where it's gonna take me, I'm hoping that from our community, you'll have a blueprint and know exactly where it can take you.
• 25:50
  SPEAKER_01: And then you become accountable for your own career development.
• 25:53
  SPEAKER_01: And we work with you throughout your career journey.
• 25:56
  SPEAKER_01: You lean back into us at any time and we can help you.
• 25:59
  SPEAKER_01: That's what it's all about, that continual support around career development and of course the training and development around qualifications, soft skills, and practical skills.
• 26:10
  SPEAKER_00: That's exactly it, Sam.
• 26:11
  SPEAKER_00: And I think one of the big strengths of the collaboration is that at NextGen Planners, we had developed the training modules and the skills modules and everything else.
• 26:21
  SPEAKER_00: But if we're bringing hundreds and then thousands of people into the profession over the next five years, we need that pathway for them to go.
• 26:31
  SPEAKER_00: How do we then actually help those people move forward in their careers?
• 26:34
  SPEAKER_00: It's one thing to get the training, it's a whole other thing to turn that into a career.
• 26:39
  SPEAKER_00: And I think that is the magic of this collaboration, is that we've brought those two things together.
• 26:44
  SPEAKER_00: And with those two powerful functions, then it will supercharge people's uh aptitude and ability and then take them into competence and then onto their career.
• 26:56
  SPEAKER_01: And what we're gonna do as well with the Financial Planner Life Academy is work with those hiring companies.
• 27:02
  SPEAKER_01: So we're gonna start to look at companies that are willing to take on somebody who is fresh to the profession.
• 27:09
  SPEAKER_01: We're gonna start to communicate with them and ask them what they are looking for?
• 27:14
  SPEAKER_01: What type of things are they looking for?
• 27:15
  SPEAKER_01: But not only that, I want to build an accreditation.
• 27:19
  SPEAKER_01: And we're in the early stages of doing that, building an accreditation, a way for us to put some of those hiring companies under the spotlight to go through an accreditation to show that they are a financial planner life approved company when it comes to hiring.
• 27:36
  SPEAKER_01: So we're gonna start doing that and developing that within the community, within the profession over the next few years.
• 27:42
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm really looking forward to working closer with those hiring companies as well as the demand for talent gets higher and higher, as the advisors start to phase out of the profession due to retirement, and we're gonna position ourselves beautifully to be the academy support to the profession.
• 28:01
  SPEAKER_01: And that's what I really, really want to be is the academy support to the profession and aligning those firms that match our expectations.
• 28:08
  SPEAKER_01: I'm a B Corp.
• 28:10
  SPEAKER_01: The financial plan of life is a B Corp.
• 28:12
  SPEAKER_01: We put a, you know, we put a microscope over our business and we have to make sure that we're looking out for people, planet, and we're doing things with purpose.
• 28:20
  SPEAKER_01: So for me, it's incredibly important that the types of people we partner with share our values and care as deeply as we do about the next generation.
• 28:28
  SPEAKER_01: And I care deeply about those companies as well.
• 28:31
  SPEAKER_01: I don't want them to take chances and risks on things if it's not a good, if it's not a good risk, you know?
• 28:38
  SPEAKER_01: They have to, and I have to listen to them as much as I listen to the candidates because by doing that and marrying the two together, it's gonna be a better profession.
• 28:46
  SPEAKER_01: So if we have to develop our training and um for the academy, we're gonna be agile and we're gonna do that.
• 28:51
  SPEAKER_01: And that's what it's all about.
• 28:52
  SPEAKER_01: And I love what you said earlier.
• 28:53
  SPEAKER_01: This isn't our way is the highway, the fixed way is the highway.
• 28:56
  SPEAKER_01: We're gonna tell you what you should do.
• 28:58
  SPEAKER_01: We're gonna guide, help, and evolve as the profession evolves and as your career evolves as well.
• 29:04
  SPEAKER_01: So you can dip in and out, you know, whenever you want, really.
• 29:07
  SPEAKER_01: That's no problem.
• 29:08
  SPEAKER_01: What I want to make clear at this point, Adam, we thought long and hard about just having this academy for those that are second careerists new to the profession, but we realize there are lots of people that are currently in the financial planning profession right now who need the support and the help that the financial planner life community can give them, not only just around their qualifications and upskilling their practical and soft skills to help them push forward in their career, but for them also to have an understanding of what the profession is currently looking like at the moment.
• 29:36
  SPEAKER_01: And perhaps they need some interview skills, perhaps they need some uh development skills or some help in respect of helping them find that opportunity, whether that's in their current employer or outside of it.
• 29:48
  SPEAKER_00: That's exactly right, Sam.
• 29:50
  SPEAKER_00: And yeah, Next Gym Planners, we've always been an inclusive community.
• 29:54
  SPEAKER_00: And when we were looking at designing the Financial Planner Life Academy with you, it just didn't seem right to exclude people.
• 30:02
  SPEAKER_00: And that's the key, really, isn't it?
• 30:04
  SPEAKER_00: That we we you are bringing so much interesting stuff from a career support and amazing additional features to the academy that we didn't want to simply restrict it to new entrance, leaving college, school, university, or second careerists.
• 30:20
  SPEAKER_00: So it is an open community and it's a collaborative community as well.
• 30:26
  SPEAKER_01: And we were only going to have the academy for second careerists, where I believe the academy should be open to those that perhaps are in the profession already, but are just lacking the support from potentially their current employees.
• 30:47
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe they're unhappy in their current roles, maybe they don't feel that they're pushing their career forward, maybe they need training and development and support to get through their qualifications, to give them this the soft skills, the experience to help again show their worth to be promoters, or perhaps they need some help about what the career actually looks like within financial planning, what the landscape looks like, salary expectations, are they in the right place?
• 31:09
  SPEAKER_01: Are there other opportunities for them?
• 31:11
  SPEAKER_01: So again, this is open to people also already in the profession who want to lean into it to get ahead.
• 31:20
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, absolutely, Sam.
• 31:21
  SPEAKER_00: And I think that we can find, can't we, that as you know during our careers that we are a little stuck.
• 31:27
  SPEAKER_00: And it might be that we've taken a career path that isn't necessarily fitting for that moment in time.
• 31:34
  SPEAKER_00: But it also could be simply that an employer doesn't have the resource to develop the training in-house.
• 31:40
  SPEAKER_00: And so we can be there supporting employers as well to actually build those relationships more with their team and to help their team develop.
• 31:48
  SPEAKER_00: So the Academy is there and is open, as you say, to all.
• 31:52
  SPEAKER_00: There is going to be a strong focus on new entrance to the profession and to second careerists, of course, and there'll be all of that support there.
• 32:00
  SPEAKER_00: But we are providing high-level quality training and support in qualifications that actually, you know, other other people within the financial services profession already may well want to access.
• 32:12
  SPEAKER_00: And we didn't want ultimately to restrict that and say this is just for a particular group of people.
• 32:18
  SPEAKER_00: And the other great thing about community and collaboration is that if you've got a blend of people in the academy, then actually they can help each other out and they can share experiences.
• 32:28
  SPEAKER_00: And that's where the real power of that community comes back into play.
• 32:32
  SPEAKER_01: Fantastic.
• 32:33
  SPEAKER_01: You know me, Adam, I'm a big fan of mental fitness.
• 32:36
  SPEAKER_01: I'm on the board of directors for Talk Club, which is the men's mental fitness charity.
• 32:40
  SPEAKER_01: It's a question that always starts with how are you today out of 10?
• 32:44
  SPEAKER_01: When I send you a text, I usually ask you that question, don't I?
• 32:47
  SPEAKER_01: Now, for me, going through a career change, going through a transition can often become stressful and can throw up a lot of worries and fears and anxieties.
• 32:58
  SPEAKER_01: So, what I want to make sure is that in our community, we're going to build a talk club.
• 33:03
  SPEAKER_01: So if anybody wants to join that talk club and just share with other people who will talk and listen, it's a mental fitness club.
• 33:11
  SPEAKER_01: There is going to be that within the community also as well, that people can dip in out and lean into as and when they actually need it.
• 33:18
  SPEAKER_01: And because it's community-based within the financial plan of life community, there's going to be lots of similar people in the similar situations.
• 33:24
  SPEAKER_01: So hopefully it'll be helpful to move through any um barriers that you might be coming up against in respect of your thinking, um, maybe some of the worries, maybe you're finding it difficult, maybe you just want a different perspective.
• 33:35
  SPEAKER_01: You want to listen to what someone else is going through, whether it's good or whether it's bad.
• 33:38
  SPEAKER_01: Talking and listening is really, really powerful.
• 33:41
  SPEAKER_01: So, one thing that's really, really important to me is the talk club itself will be in there and that'll be available.
• 33:45
  SPEAKER_01: But do you know what?
• 33:46
  SPEAKER_01: I want to hear from the community, I want to be active in that community.
• 33:49
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not going to stick a load of pre-recorded videos in there and just sit back and just uh leave it at that.
• 33:55
  SPEAKER_01: I want to be in there listening to what people are actually asking, the questions that are on their mind.
• 34:00
  SPEAKER_01: And I encourage people within that community to leave me messages because what I'm going to do at least once every two weeks, ideally once a week, is live QA sessions answering those questions from the community.
• 34:13
  SPEAKER_01: And if I don't know the answers to it, I'm going to be leaning into my community, financial planners, power planners, administrators, business owners, yourself.
• 34:21
  SPEAKER_01: We're going to come in there and we're going to answer those questions collectively.
• 34:24
  SPEAKER_01: Or I'm going to get the answer and deliver it.
• 34:26
  SPEAKER_01: But I really want to be interactive.
• 34:29
  SPEAKER_01: It's really, really important.
• 34:31
  SPEAKER_01: I'm a big fan of physical fitness as well.
• 34:33
  SPEAKER_01: I think physical fitness is a really um, you know, it keeps your mind straight.
• 34:36
  SPEAKER_01: You're going through your qualifications, career change.
• 34:38
  SPEAKER_01: You want to be the top of your game.
• 34:40
  SPEAKER_01: I think physical fitness is a big part of that as well.
• 34:42
  SPEAKER_01: It's something that I believe in.
• 34:44
  SPEAKER_01: There's a friend of mine called James Stammers.
• 34:46
  SPEAKER_01: He set up a company called The Alchemy of Aging, which is all about as you get older, what you should be doing in respect of looking after your body, your body, and to keep your body and mind straight.
• 34:56
  SPEAKER_01: Now he's going to be coming in into the community also and providing some free advice around how to look after your body, how by doing that, what impact impact it will then have on your study, training, development, and further on in your career.
• 35:10
  SPEAKER_01: So we I want to bring things like that into the community as well.
• 35:13
  SPEAKER_01: And there's lots of mental health experts, there's lots of mindset experts.
• 35:17
  SPEAKER_01: So gradually we're going to be bringing people in, special guests, special appearances, and really building that kind of community of um high performance.
• 35:26
  SPEAKER_01: High performance for me is a big thing at the moment, even in my own business.
• 35:31
  SPEAKER_01: I'm observing who the high performers are in my business.
• 35:34
  SPEAKER_01: I'm building a culture of support around them.
• 35:37
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm thinking, how can I support high performers?
• 35:40
  SPEAKER_01: How can I get them to do more?
• 35:42
  SPEAKER_01: How can I get them to be happier as they're doing more and not stressed?
• 35:46
  SPEAKER_01: So for me, a focus on high performance is top of the table.
• 35:51
  SPEAKER_01: So that's definitely something that I want within the financial planner life community.
• 35:55
  SPEAKER_01: Wellbeing is massively important, but we're all there to want to achieve.
• 36:00
  SPEAKER_01: And that need to achieve mentality, not the need to avoid failure, is something that I want to instill within the community.
• 36:07
  SPEAKER_01: I want people to feel it's good to achieve if you do it in the right way by looking after your well-being and your managing expectations around it.
• 36:16
  SPEAKER_01: Because the last thing you want to do is go and take a self-employed financial advisor job, have a shitload of pressure on you to go and generate clients, and you can't, regardless if you've got a high performance mentality.
• 36:28
  SPEAKER_01: You know, it's gonna, it's gonna take your legs out.
• 36:31
  SPEAKER_01: And anybody can listen to my podcast and I interview lots of people.
• 36:35
  SPEAKER_01: The majority of people who go self-employed as a financial planner find it incredibly difficult in year one, year two, and year three, regardless of the training and support that they have.
• 36:47
  SPEAKER_01: It's a tough old gig.
• 36:49
  SPEAKER_01: So I want to make sure that the right people are coming in, the right mindset, and we're supporting that mindset as well.
• 36:54
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm looking forward to evolving the community as we go.
• 36:58
  SPEAKER_01: That's really, really important to me.
• 37:00
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's super important, Sam, from a mindset point of view when we think about dealing with the qualifications.
• 37:05
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, the qualification framework takes time to work through, it's a lot of effort, and you need to make sure that you are listening to your body and how tired you are and all of those things so that you're actually taking the time at the right time to do the right things.
• 37:22
  SPEAKER_00: And the method that we've introduced, we call it the study less pass more method.
• 37:26
  SPEAKER_00: And it's not about, you know, watching television and relaxing when we say study less.
• 37:31
  SPEAKER_00: It's actually about just using the time that you spend as effectively as possible for you.
• 37:36
  SPEAKER_00: So we spend time looking at different study techniques, and we'll have modules on those different study techniques so that people can find the right version of study for them.
• 37:47
  SPEAKER_00: We also spend a lot of time looking at what doesn't work, but the things that people have traditionally done, that you get taught in school, that you just go through the textbook, write notes from the textbook.
• 37:57
  SPEAKER_00: This is how we're always told to revise.
• 37:59
  SPEAKER_00: But these things don't always work for all people.
• 38:02
  SPEAKER_00: And so techniques that make your study efficient, but also engaging and even at times entertaining.
• 38:10
  SPEAKER_00: That's what we're looking for, because that's how you'll stay fresh and you'll continue to progress through these qualifications, not just at level three and level four, but then on to level six, onto degree level and chartered financial planner status, as many people will want to go in their careers.
• 38:27
  SPEAKER_00: But that is a long path and it takes stammer, it takes commitment, and it takes moments and times of peak performance.
• 38:36
  SPEAKER_00: And so, like an athlete training over a career, that is exactly what you'll need in that financial planning career.
• 38:43
  SPEAKER_00: And that's where all the stuff that you're bringing to the Financial Planner Life Academy just starts those habits straight away, don't they?
• 38:51
  SPEAKER_00: And it's about building those habits and using those methods throughout.
• 38:55
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, absolutely.
• 38:56
  SPEAKER_01: And lean into the community to support each other.
• 38:59
  SPEAKER_01: That's exactly what it's it's there for.
• 39:01
  SPEAKER_01: So if anybody's listening to this podcast episode today, hopefully we've given you enough interview information to convince you really that the Financial Planner Life Academy should really be the first stepping stone on your journey to entering the financial planning profession.
• 39:19
  SPEAKER_01: Not only to get those really important qualifications in place, but to fully understand what a career within the financial planning look planning profession looks like.
• 39:28
  SPEAKER_01: So you take a calm and calculated and educated approach to your first job that starts your long-lasting and happy and successful career within financial planning, hopefully without any regrets.
• 39:45
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you, Adam, for your time today.
• 39:47
  SPEAKER_01: Much appreciate that.
• 39:48
  SPEAKER_01: If anybody's interested in the academy, click the link in the comments section of this podcast episode, and you can sign up for the academy.
• 39:56
  SPEAKER_01: Get yourself in there and get yourself studying straight away.
• 39:59
  SPEAKER_01: Any questions, leave it in the comments section.
• 40:01
  SPEAKER_01: And you're more than welcome to reach out to me on LinkedIn.
• 40:04
  SPEAKER_01: You'll find me at Sam Oakes, Financial Planner Life.
• 40:07
  SPEAKER_01: Many thanks.