Latest / Financial Planner Life Podcast / You Can Build A Brilliant Financial Adviser Career Without Going Self-Employed | Laura Fordham

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You Can Build A Brilliant Financial Adviser Career Without Going Self-Employed | Laura Fordham · Financial Planner Life Podcast

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Spend five minutes on social media these days and you'll be forgiven for thinking if you're not an entrepreneur, building your own business in financial planning, you're a failure.
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_00: So in this episode, we challenge that idea.
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_00: I'm joined by Laura Fordman, an employed financial advisor at Titan Wealth, working with high net worth clients and building a career centred on responsibility, consistency, and long-term relationships.
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_00: Laura joined Titan through an acquisition and we talk honestly about what that transition was really like, what changed, what improved, and how the right environment can fundamentally affect how you do your job.
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_00: We explore why Laura chose an employed advisor career, what she values about focusing on advice rather than business ownership, and how stepping away from the pressure to build something has allowed her to do better work for her clients.
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_00: We go deep into responsibility, inheriting clients, building trust when you weren't the advisor they originally chose, and what clients actually need during periods of change.
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_00: And towards the end, we zoom out.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_00: We talk about women in financial planning, why so few stay, and why only around 16% of advisors in the profession are women, and what genuinely helps people build careers that last.
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_00: We finished with Culture and Alignment.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_00: What to look for in an employer, and what does one titan really mean?
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_00: So let's get to it.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_00: So, Laura, thank you so much for joining me today on the Financial Planner Life Podcast.
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_00: How are you?
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, very well, thank you.
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you for inviting me.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_01: I feel very uh privileged to be here.
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_00: What a little trip down from Harrogate.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, yes, nice, easy train, L N E R straight here.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, all went well.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_00: Fantastic.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_00: Well, listen, we're absolute pleasure to have you here.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_00: It's part of our special partnership with Titan Wealth, uh, where we're interviewing people uh who work for the company, all different varying positions about what their career is like at Titan Wealth, but also how they got into the financial planning profession.
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_00: Is there anything that you can share with our listeners that's going to help them in their career as well?
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_00: So before we kick things off, if you could just introduce yourself and where you are in your career right now, that'd be really helpful.
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, so um I'm part of the private client team.
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_01: Um I look after ultimately retail clients in generally in Yorkshire, but I have got some clients in London and some in the Midlands.
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_01: Um I've been in financial services since well, 2015, really, when I started.
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and I've been a financial advisor going back to 2017 was when I was sort of signed off to give advice.
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, good stuff.
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_00: So, what led you to a career within financial planning?
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so it's it's probably not the the most uh normal routine.
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_01: So I came back from being abroad um for six years, and I sort of needed to immediately get back into work, which I was happy to do, and I took on a year's maternity leave at Barclays Wealth, just doing admin.
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I'd like to think there's a bit of fate involved to me getting there, and I really enjoyed it.
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_01: The thing that I was really intrigued about was the wealth managers, as they're called within Barclays and what they were doing.
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I was really just involved with sort of printing off the client packs and and greeting the clients and things like that.
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_01: So I started thinking about, you know, what what could a life in financial services look like?
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_01: Um at that time, Barclays had finished their what used to be called the Master Apprentice, where they train individuals up to become ultimately wealth managers, as they refer to it.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_01: And I spoke to a couple of colleagues who were in the in the wealth team, and they mentioned to me about power planning.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_01: Um they suggested maybe I should consider paraplanning and that might be a good route and kind of what that would look like.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_01: So I did, I went away, I did my research, um, and quite quickly discovered that actually it wouldn't be the right role for me.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_01: I very much knew I wanted to be client-facing, which you know maybe sounds a bit sort of cocky now looking back, doesn't it?
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_01: But at the time I thought, no, you know, I can see I understand what the power planning role is, and I can see, you know, it's it's right for some people, but I knew that I wanted to be client-focused ultimately.
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 4:17
  SPEAKER_00: So I think as well, though, I think a lot of people, there's two options, isn't there?
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_00: One is very analytical and research focused, the other one is very relationship focused, right?
• 4:25
  SPEAKER_00: So if you're a personality type that's gonna look at a wealth manager leading, you know, even in the in the in the in the way it's it's it's coined, wealth manager sounds prestigious, right?
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_00: If you're gonna be leading a wealthy client into a room and talking about their investments and their future and their financial situation, it sounds more appealing to somebody that has that extrovert type personality or relationship-focused mindset, right?
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_00: Whereas like the power planning administration is heavily research focused, it's very analytical.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_00: And I think some people are drawn more towards the inner workings of how say investments are structured and pensions and all of that.
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_00: And they love that, you know, they love the detail.
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 4:59
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so you didn't so when you're doing that admin role, did you kind of touch a little bit into that at all or not?
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_01: No, I was pu it was purely born out of curiosity.
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_01: So, you know, my job it was sort of a very much an admin role, printing off client packs, you know, getting things ready for client meetings, just purely, you know, without any sort of knowledge in the actual um role that the wealth managers were doing.
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so so yeah, so I looked into what options there were ultimately.
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_01: So once I'd realised that power planning wasn't for me, and I kind of discounted that at the time.
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_01: So this is now 2016.
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_01: At the time, sort of the the St.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_01: James's Place Academy, I think it had been going for a few years at that point.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_01: Um, again, another colleague within Barclays said, Why don't you look at St.
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_01: James's Place?
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_01: I was familiar with them because when I'd opened the post and things, we'd get letters from St.
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_01: James's, you know, things like that.
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_01: So I knew the name, um, but nothing more really.
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_01: So I looked, I started investigating what that would look like, um, what the route into that would be, what the timings were like, you know, what the kind of um travel, because I had a daughter at that point who was four, so you know, I knew that I needed it to work for everyone.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_01: I couldn't be completely selfish and just kind of go into it, forgetting about everyone else in my life and what they needed from me.
• 6:21
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and quite quickly I realised, you know, it it would work, it would be tough.
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_01: It was, you know, it was going to be six to twelve months of tough work, you know, lots of commitment, some sacrifices, you know, personally in terms of travel.
• 6:37
  SPEAKER_01: But I realised that actually I I could do it.
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_00: So St.
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_00: James's Place is predominantly set up for people to enter the profession on a self-employed basis and run their own partner practices.
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_00: So you were at Barclays doing a bit of administration, understanding the two routes, power planning or wealth management.
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_00: And then moved across to St.
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_00: James's Place within the with the mindset of running your own business, I assume.
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_01: No.
• 6:59
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 6:59
  SPEAKER_01: So that was never um that was never part of the plan.
• 7:04
  SPEAKER_01: It wasn't the part of the job that excited me.
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_01: And obviously, St.
• 7:07
  SPEAKER_01: James's Place, you know, um are really set up for people having their own partner practices.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_01: And I can completely see the appeal for certain individuals, but really I knew, you know, it it was a route into the industry and and it was right, but long term I didn't have any huge desires to have my own business.
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_01: The thing that was exciting to me, and the reason why I sort of was was um attracted to you know financial advice was really the client-facing side of it.
• 7:40
  SPEAKER_01: The fact that, you know, it would definitely keep me on my toes, it'd be a constant learning process, you know.
• 7:46
  SPEAKER_01: I guess even when you've been advising for 20, 30 years, it's constantly evolving, isn't it?
• 7:51
  SPEAKER_01: So um, and and the thought of doing a really good job with clients, but also then running a business in the background, I didn't see, and obviously there are ways to do that.
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_01: There's plenty of really successful advisors who do that.
• 8:05
  SPEAKER_01: But my passion and what I wanted to do was the client-facing element of the job.
• 8:11
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, cool, brilliant.
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_00: Did you have a go at running your own business at all when you were at St.
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_00: James's Place?
• 8:15
  SPEAKER_00: Did you even step into that a little bit?
• 8:17
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 8:17
  SPEAKER_01: So when I when I was sort of signed off and certified by the FCA and you were able to go out and give advice, the initial sort of year was really working for myself, building up um a client base.
• 8:30
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, they had great supervision.
• 8:34
  SPEAKER_01: So, you know, I was under um supervision from a manager within St.
• 8:38
  SPEAKER_01: James's place.
• 8:39
  SPEAKER_01: So despite me being on my own in some respects, I did actually feel really quite supported.
• 8:44
  SPEAKER_01: But the great thing about me doing all of that on my own for the first year was I did the power planning, I did the admin, I did the chasing, I did the client servicing, and I did the advice, which at that point was manageable because you know I started off with sort of 10, 15, 20 clients, so I could do all of that, and that's really helped me today because I understand.
• 9:06
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not saying, you know, I'm a I'm a great paraplanner, but I could write my own letters.
• 9:13
  SPEAKER_01: I did know how to chase providers up for information, you know, I did know how to write a client-facing letter and all those kind of elements.
• 9:20
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm glad that that is how it transpired, but really quite quickly, I went into a practice, um, which was always, you know, really my intention of the job.
• 9:31
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, brilliant.
• 9:32
  SPEAKER_00: What do you think the you know, the the people are thinking about getting into the profession and they're looking at academies, right?
• 9:37
  SPEAKER_00: And Titan Wealth will are coming to the table with an academy, they've got their own academy at the moment, um, where they're taking people from sporting backgrounds through their qualifications.
• 9:45
  SPEAKER_00: And there's a number of people in that business.
• 9:47
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, we had Ella Safri on the podcast, and she was talking about her journey from power planning into financial advice, and they're really, really supportive in that state.
• 9:56
  SPEAKER_00: What do you think those academies really taught you?
• 9:58
  SPEAKER_00: If you look back on it and you think about that as your entry route into the profession, what's the thing that you took the most from that that really has helped you in your career?
• 10:09
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, obviously, we we had lots of coaching in terms of making sure that we were ready to sit the exams.
• 10:15
  SPEAKER_01: So obviously, that you know, that's a really important part because you can't do the job without that.
• 10:19
  SPEAKER_01: But I think really the the the most value that I got personally from the academy was hearing from other financial advisors.
• 10:29
  SPEAKER_01: So hearing firsthand about, you know, the challenges in the first year, what kind of level of resilience you need, you know, hearing from other peers ultimately, what their journey had been like.
• 10:41
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so that was really important.
• 10:44
  SPEAKER_01: And also just understanding sort of the wider scope of financial planning.
• 10:48
  SPEAKER_01: You know, realistically, we all have to start off, you know, with a with a small amount of clients and build client banks in in that situation.
• 10:57
  SPEAKER_01: But just really understanding actually how far you can take it and what a what an amazing career, you know, long-term career you can have.
• 11:06
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but yeah, I, you know, we had so much support within St.
• 11:11
  SPEAKER_01: James's Place and they had so many people within their business who were really, who really wanted to support the Academy people.
• 11:19
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 11:19
  SPEAKER_01: You know, so we were constantly able to speak to, you know, someone who'd just come out of the academy six months ago or 12 months ago or two years, you know, to see what their journey had been like.
• 11:30
  SPEAKER_01: And obviously, you know, we were all nervous.
• 11:32
  SPEAKER_01: It was a big step for everyone.
• 11:33
  SPEAKER_01: It was a second career for everyone on our intake of the academy.
• 11:39
  SPEAKER_01: Everyone had financial responsibilities, families, you know, everyone needed it to work.
• 11:45
  SPEAKER_01: So just hearing from other, you know, similar-minded people um about yeah, how they'd found it was was encouraging.
• 11:55
  SPEAKER_00: When you stepped into self-employment, though, and you were having a go at doing it yourself, yeah.
• 11:59
  SPEAKER_00: Did it teach you a lot about resilience and what you need to do to get yourself off the ground and feed yourself, basically?
• 12:06
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 12:07
  SPEAKER_01: And I think you know, that very much um, you know, eat what you kill type mentality, which which is how it was, um, it's amazing how what a sort of drive that is to actually write business and to actually onboard clients.
• 12:24
  SPEAKER_01: And it really gives you a the mindset that this is tough.
• 12:28
  SPEAKER_01: You know, nobody, nobody was under any illusion, and myself either, that this was going to be easy.
• 12:36
  SPEAKER_01: You know, we were all very much aware that you know, that the first few years building up clients and and understanding how it is working in a regulated environment like financial services is was going to be tough.
• 12:48
  SPEAKER_01: But actually, those little wins you get along the way, sometimes quite small, sometimes you know, you land a great client and you sort of can't believe it, um, made it all worth it.
• 12:59
  SPEAKER_00: When did you know that this was the right path for you then?
• 13:02
  SPEAKER_00: How many months or years into the profession did you go?
• 13:06
  SPEAKER_00: Do you know what?
• 13:07
  SPEAKER_00: This is definitely the career for me.
• 13:09
  SPEAKER_00: When did that drop?
• 13:10
  SPEAKER_01: I think after, I would say after a couple of years, because I'm naturally just my personality, I can be a bit self-deprecating in in a sort of humorous way.
• 13:21
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but I'm definitely not of a character, you know, obviously we've all got egos, but I'm, you know, I sort of it wasn't particularly self-doubt, but more just, you know, don't don't sort of don't decide this is a success until you really feel it.
• 13:39
  SPEAKER_01: So it took a couple of years for me to to for me to feel confident that actually, you know, I was going to have a long, you know, long-lasting um career in this.
• 13:51
  SPEAKER_01: And I think, you know, when you start getting referrals from existing clients, that's really the ultimate, the ultimate stamp, isn't it, to say you're doing good.
• 14:00
  SPEAKER_01: And obviously that takes a bit of time.
• 14:02
  SPEAKER_01: People don't refer you on the first basis that they meet you.
• 14:06
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, a couple of years in, you know, I I got into the groove with it, started, you know, bringing on more clients, feeling confident with sort of all the aspects of it.
• 14:17
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and and yeah, and I guess it's just grown really from there, the confidence.
• 14:22
  SPEAKER_00: Great.
• 14:22
  SPEAKER_00: So you carried on um as an employed an employed financial planner, and you still are today.
• 14:27
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 14:28
  SPEAKER_00: So you you moved on from um St.
• 14:30
  SPEAKER_00: James's Place and you went down the IFA route.
• 14:32
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 14:33
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 14:33
  SPEAKER_00: So tell us a little bit about the journey next.
• 14:35
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so it was a really tough decision to move on because um St James's Place, you know, that their their sort of history is people people don't leave.
• 14:45
  SPEAKER_01: So it really was a really tough decision that I contemplated for quite a long time.
• 14:50
  SPEAKER_01: But it was ultimately driven off the back of wanting to be independent, which of course I knew would never be an option within St.
• 14:56
  SPEAKER_01: James's Place.
• 14:57
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I felt as though I was giving really great advice at St.
• 15:00
  SPEAKER_01: James's Place.
• 15:01
  SPEAKER_01: I didn't, you know, have any sort of moral issues with the proposition there, but I was really keen to be independent.
• 15:08
  SPEAKER_01: Selfishly, I thought, you know, it will also sort of from a knowledge point of view, it will widen my knowledge and it will give the job a bit more variety than I had at the time.
• 15:19
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but also I recognised that clients were looking for independent financial advice, and also from a professional connections point of view, you know, solicitors, accountants, they they they would, as a generalization, prefer to be working with an independent financial advisor than a restricted financial advisor.
• 15:37
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 15:37
  SPEAKER_00: If you'd have known that back in before, say going down an academy route, yeah.
• 15:42
  SPEAKER_00: The difference between IFA restricted, did you fully understand it before you got into the profession?
• 15:48
  SPEAKER_00: Um, would you have made a different choice or or or or journey into the profession if you you knew the, I don't know, the importance of being IFA?
• 15:57
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 15:58
  SPEAKER_01: I I definitely did my research and got my head around, you know, what being restricted was.
• 16:03
  SPEAKER_01: So I I went into it eyes wide open.
• 16:06
  SPEAKER_01: I can't claim that I didn't.
• 16:08
  SPEAKER_01: Um it's difficult for me to think if I'd have done anything different because I did have such a great grounding and training programme at St.
• 16:17
  SPEAKER_01: James's Place.
• 16:18
  SPEAKER_01: And I do feel as though, you know, what I learned through that process has very much shaped how I work today and how I, you know, the the kind of discipline that they'd instilled in me is what I still work to today.
• 16:31
  SPEAKER_01: So I wouldn't like to think about doing it any differently.
• 16:34
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, it's, you know, it's who knows what the outcome would have looked like.
• 16:38
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but of course, what I did realize as as I started working with clients is, you know, some of them, not all of them, but some of them were, you know, they did, they would have rather I was independent, is the reality.
• 16:52
  SPEAKER_01: As I say, not all clients, but definitely professional connections.
• 16:56
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, they were looking for a level of independence.
• 17:01
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, great.
• 17:01
  SPEAKER_00: So let's just talk about that a little bit around the professional connections side before we move on to your career at Titan Wealth.
• 17:09
  SPEAKER_00: With professional connections, did you work with a lot of professional connections?
• 17:14
  SPEAKER_00: Was that kind of your bread and butter at generating clients?
• 17:17
  SPEAKER_01: So definitely starting out, you know, I recognise that professional connections would be a really great source of referrals for me.
• 17:26
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so I was really I I had some personally, I'm sure like most people do, you know, they they're friends with someone who's got an accountancy practice or a solicitor.
• 17:36
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but I thought, no, I need to start building these relationships because what we've been told, you know, these relationships, you don't just suddenly go for a coffee with with someone and all of a sudden, you know, they're sending you referrals weekly.
• 17:49
  SPEAKER_01: You need to build up relationships, you need to build up, you know, credibility with them, they need to trust you, they need to know that you're not going anywhere.
• 17:57
  SPEAKER_01: You know, they don't want to be chopping and changing all the time.
• 18:00
  SPEAKER_01: Um so, so really it was kind of day one that was a really big focus of part of um being a financial advisor.
• 18:08
  SPEAKER_01: And some have sort of come and gone over over the time, but you know, it's amazing, even now.
• 18:14
  SPEAKER_01: Sometimes I'll get a referral and ask where it's come from, and it's actually traced back to really quite a few years ago, a professional connection that I'm, you know, maybe met a couple of times.
• 18:25
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so I do think it's really important.
• 18:27
  SPEAKER_01: I think it's unrealistic to ever think that you'll have the kind of um relationship with a professional connection where you know you'll be getting so much business that you, you know, it will be your soul source of new business because you know, quite often for them, they want they also want to pick the right advisor for certain clients.
• 18:47
  SPEAKER_00: So it's part of the acquisition strategy.
• 18:49
  SPEAKER_01: Definitely part of it, definitely part of it.
• 18:51
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and I think also with clients, it builds your credibility with them.
• 18:55
  SPEAKER_01: If they ask for a name of a, you know, even just uh down to conveyancing solicitor their moving house, or you know, they it's I I do think it builds credibility when you can say, Oh yeah, I've got a great contact, you know, other clients have used them, they've been really happy with the service.
• 19:11
  SPEAKER_01: I'm really happy to pass their name on.
• 19:14
  SPEAKER_00: And what type of professional connections were you working with and in without your throughout your career, which ones do you feel are the most successful?
• 19:20
  SPEAKER_01: I think um from a referral point of view, it's easier for accountants.
• 19:24
  SPEAKER_01: I think it's a more natural referral for them because you know they're obviously looking at you know at their clients, sort of they've they've got all their financial information.
• 19:36
  SPEAKER_01: Um, solicitors as well.
• 19:38
  SPEAKER_01: Um, actually, my partner's a divorce lawyer.
• 19:41
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 19:42
  SPEAKER_01: So I'd already had some um businesses, you know, some solicitors' firms that I'd kind of been building up relationships with, but estate planning as well, because that's a very easy referral for us, you know, and we naturally get quite a lot of referrals that were able to pass on to, you know, solicitors, wills, lasting powers of attorney, setting up trusts.
• 20:02
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 20:03
  SPEAKER_00: If someone was thinking about getting into professional connections and wants to start approaching accountants or solicitors, how how do you display what your worth actually is to that person, that you are of value and you should hold a relationship?
• 20:15
  SPEAKER_00: What's the you know, tried and tested route perhaps that you've taken?
• 20:18
  SPEAKER_00: Is there any advice that you could give somebody just to say, look, keep it simple, do this?
• 20:22
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 20:23
  SPEAKER_01: I would say, and again, this came from a recommendation from a personal contact.
• 20:29
  SPEAKER_01: You know, uh nobody likes the hard sell, do they?
• 20:32
  SPEAKER_01: I think most people, you know, want a level of um friendliness and professionalism.
• 20:38
  SPEAKER_01: So really having that conversation with them, showing them, you know, what how you work with clients and really asking them for the opportunity to be able to work with their clients.
• 20:48
  SPEAKER_01: You know, no one wants to commit to any long-term sort of contract saying, you know, you must refer X amount to me, but just saying, you know, I'd really like to, you know, work together if you feel that there's a client that would fit, you know, my general demographic, or you think actually personality-wise, it would be right for the client, you know, please give me the opportunity to speak to the client.
• 21:13
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I think that's really just being open and honest and you know, and also telling them, you know, what you could potentially refer back to them because it needs to be mutually beneficial.
• 21:23
  SPEAKER_01: It's not, yeah, it doesn't always quite work out like that, but you know, everyone's busy, so they want to feel as though actually that you know it could be mutually beneficial the relationship.
• 21:33
  SPEAKER_00: On that point, in recruitment, we used to reverse market somebody.
• 21:36
  SPEAKER_00: So if I knew, for example, that you were interested in moving on from where you were working, I would reverse market you to companies.
• 21:43
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 21:43
  SPEAKER_00: And that might actually open up job vacancies or terms and business that with that firm that we never had in place.
• 21:49
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 21:50
  SPEAKER_00: Because you're a really attractive uh candidate to them, right?
• 21:52
  SPEAKER_00: You might be able to bring some assets with you or whatever it might well be.
• 21:55
  SPEAKER_00: Did you ever kind of have a client and go, Well, actually, I'm gonna use this client as a bit of a Trojan horse or a talking point to open doors into introducer relationships because it's a value to the client to maybe be introduced to that solicitor or that accountant.
• 22:09
  SPEAKER_00: Did you ever do that?
• 22:09
  SPEAKER_00: Is that a strategy that works or not?
• 22:11
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I think, I mean, naturally, some clients have some really complicated affairs, you know, not just from a financial point of view, but wider, you know, business owner, and actually at some point, at different stages, they almost need every professional service that's going.
• 22:29
  SPEAKER_01: You know, and we and I do have some of those clients now at Titan.
• 22:33
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but yeah, it has to, you know, I guess you it's a big responsibility passing that client over to someone else, isn't it?
• 22:42
  SPEAKER_01: And as we know, sometimes things do go wrong, you know, not from anyone's sort of negligence, but you know, or a relationship doesn't flourish as you would have hoped.
• 22:51
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm always very conscious if I if I am referring my existing clients to other professional services, you know, to give them the assurance that other clients have worked with them and found, you know, and and and had a positive experience.
• 23:05
  SPEAKER_01: But please don't feel, you know, if the fit's not right for the client, don't feel as though, you know, you have to you have to pursue that.
• 23:14
  SPEAKER_00: I think as well, if you're building a I I do it myself, I've got a really strong connect, like network.
• 23:19
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 23:19
  SPEAKER_00: A really strong network.
• 23:20
  SPEAKER_00: You know, if I want to introduce somebody over to build websites, I've got a brilliant website builder, videographers, podcasts, whatever it might well be, yeah, I really pride myself on the network I have because I always think even if I can't help that person at that point in time, if I introduce them to somebody that's going to give it do an amazing job for them, they're always gonna come back to me in the future, right?
• 23:38
  SPEAKER_00: Or I might check in with that person and say, How did you get on?
• 23:40
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 23:40
  SPEAKER_00: And if I know the person I've introduced them to, perhaps I can get some feedback on it and I can really solidify the relationship a bit more.
• 23:45
  SPEAKER_00: So I think it's just super important in anything you do that you build an amazing network of professionals around you that all have skill sets, right?
• 23:53
  SPEAKER_00: And then you become that key person of influence within that sphere, that circle of individuals, right?
• 23:57
  SPEAKER_00: That you are on the financial planner, you know, no, over there's the web designer or over there's the accountant or the divorce specialist or whatever it might well be.
• 24:05
  SPEAKER_00: Good.
• 24:06
  SPEAKER_00: I just want to go into that because you know, a lot of people do struggle with the professional connection side.
• 24:09
  SPEAKER_00: So hearing somebody's experience around it, I think, is really useful.
• 24:11
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's definitely work, isn't it?
• 24:13
  SPEAKER_01: You know, you definitely have to work at it.
• 24:15
  SPEAKER_01: And I think it's just managing your own expectations from the outset, you know.
• 24:20
  SPEAKER_01: You need to build these relationships over time.
• 24:23
  SPEAKER_01: And I think most professional, you know, most people in professional services want to know that you're not going anywhere.
• 24:29
  SPEAKER_01: You know, they always feel more confident when you've been around for, you know, and that's tricky in the early years because you haven't been around for long.
• 24:36
  SPEAKER_01: No.
• 24:37
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, keep at it, I'd say to anyone with a professional connection.
• 24:40
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, don't just think it's one and massive, trying to do it, keep keep doing it, keep doing it, keep doing it.
• 24:45
  SPEAKER_00: Perfect, great stuff.
• 24:46
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, so you know, you you moved on from St.
• 24:48
  SPEAKER_00: James's Place.
• 24:48
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you went IFA.
• 24:50
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 24:50
  SPEAKER_00: So tell us about that part of the journey.
• 24:51
  SPEAKER_00: Where did, you know, so how did you end up getting to Tyson Wealth, for example?
• 24:54
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so um in 2021, I started sort of exploring options.
• 25:03
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I was nervous.
• 25:04
  SPEAKER_01: I wasn't, you know, I wasn't at all sort of uh skipping around excited.
• 25:09
  SPEAKER_01: I was very nervous and I knew that you know I'd be leaving behind clients at that point, some of which I'd had for nearly six years.
• 25:17
  SPEAKER_01: Um and a feeling of sort of letting them down, really, because ultimately it's it's an important relationship, isn't it?
• 25:25
  SPEAKER_01: So I started exploring my options.
• 25:28
  SPEAKER_01: Um thankfully, you know, there were there were options out there, and really just trying to understand what the world looked like outside of SJP from a financial advice point of view, because within that business, you don't not many people leave, so it's difficult to know.
• 25:43
  SPEAKER_01: I ended up joining a firm in um April 22 called LEBC, who were a national IFA business.
• 25:52
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and they had a Leeds office um which had actually been closed during COVID, but there was a Leeds branch as such, so support staff based in Leeds.
• 26:02
  SPEAKER_01: The client, the portfolio that was going into was largely based in Yorkshire.
• 26:06
  SPEAKER_01: And I was excited, you know, I I knew already that there was still so much to learn.
• 26:11
  SPEAKER_01: I didn't feel as though after six years, oh gosh, yeah, I've got this, you know, I there's nothing you can't tell me.
• 26:16
  SPEAKER_01: I it's a constant, I guess, every day is a school day type mentality.
• 26:21
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but I was excited to see what what that would look like being an independent financial advisor and what doors that would open for me.
• 26:29
  SPEAKER_01: Um and of course, you know, excited to get to know a new portfolio of clients.
• 26:35
  SPEAKER_00: So L E B C ended up being acquired by Aspira.
• 26:40
  SPEAKER_00: Aspirer.
• 26:41
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 26:42
  SPEAKER_00: Aspira ended up being acquired by Titan Wayne.
• 26:46
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 26:46
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 26:47
  SPEAKER_00: So that nervousness about stepping away from what you knew for six years when you were in a partner practice into the IFA world, all of a sudden a lot of change through acquisitions.
• 26:56
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 26:57
  SPEAKER_00: How did that how did that make you feel as an I you know as an IFA on an employee basis in firms that were going through multiple acquisition?
• 27:05
  SPEAKER_01: I think from my point of view, the were the the the continuous thing was my clients, you know, ultimately I very much feel, I'm sure as every financial advisor does, I am here to look after clients.
• 27:19
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and clients at that point were kind of we were a couple years into them getting to know me.
• 27:26
  SPEAKER_01: So, you know, we definitely hadn't solidified the relationship with everyone, but we were starting to get to know each other.
• 27:32
  SPEAKER_01: I was starting to understand how clients work.
• 27:34
  SPEAKER_01: So this the acquisitions going on in the background really was just a change in name from a client's point of view, and also from mine.
• 27:42
  SPEAKER_01: And I knew that with time it will bring you know a lot more to our sort of toolkit, and there'll be a lot of positive things to come out of it.
• 27:50
  SPEAKER_01: But I was very conscious to not let it distract me from my day-to-day because the day-to-day is busy, you know, and clients and and clients also I you know explained to them that it's business as usual.
• 28:04
  SPEAKER_01: I'm here, we're all still here within the business, you know, it it's a positive thing, um, and we'll just carry on doing a great job for you.
• 28:13
  SPEAKER_00: Fantastic.
• 28:13
  SPEAKER_00: So moving across to Titan wealth, yeah.
• 28:16
  SPEAKER_00: Um, what changed um for you positively then?
• 28:20
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 28:20
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 28:21
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 28:21
  SPEAKER_01: So I definitely feel now that in terms of what we can offer clients from a service point of view, we've got a much broader scope now.
• 28:31
  SPEAKER_01: So rather than having to look externally for certain areas of business, you know, we've got either a panel or we've got in-house options for them.
• 28:41
  SPEAKER_01: So it's nice to be able to talk to clients about other services and other products that we can offer them with fully in the knowledge that I know they're going to get a great service and it and all the due diligence has been done.
• 28:55
  SPEAKER_01: Um, it there hasn't been much change for me on a sort of general day-to-day basis because my you know, my support network and my people around me, my you know, the team, the manager, all that, everyone's exactly the same.
• 29:08
  SPEAKER_01: But in terms of what we can offer clients, it's a much broader proposition.
• 29:12
  SPEAKER_00: Has it allowed you to spend more time on certain areas of the business that you really enjoy?
• 29:16
  SPEAKER_00: So things like client relationships have you found that you're doing more things that you enjoy since being part of it in wealth?
• 29:22
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I mean, definitely the the client-facing part of the job is the job that I hopefully every financial advisor loves.
• 29:30
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but I do feel now because we've got operationally we're a lot bigger business, you know, and over time, of course, there's going to be teething issues, but you know, the processes are being smoothed out.
• 29:44
  SPEAKER_01: We've got a slicker operation than we had previously, and ultimately, yeah, that means less time spent on dealing with you know more administrative areas, so more time with clients and hopefully allows to build the client bank further.
• 29:58
  SPEAKER_00: Amazing.
• 29:58
  SPEAKER_00: On the sort of subject of the client bank and the types of clients that you work with, could you just give us a little bit of information about assets under management that you manage?
• 30:07
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 30:07
  SPEAKER_00: Average investable assets of the clients you work with, the demographic.
• 30:11
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 30:11
  SPEAKER_01: So at the moment, I think my household count is 110 households.
• 30:16
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and the average portfolio size is 750,000.
• 30:22
  SPEAKER_01: So I've got some you know, clients with a lot more, and I've also got some clients with less.
• 30:27
  SPEAKER_01: But the move for me from my previous role to what was LEBC was definitely to look after a more funds under management, ultimately, a client bank that had higher funds under management.
• 30:40
  SPEAKER_01: So that was also a drive.
• 30:43
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, I'm very conscious with clients that you know everyone is treated as equal.
• 30:50
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I don't want to, of course, you know, a client who has five million funds under management may or may not be more demanding.
• 30:58
  SPEAKER_01: Some of them definitely are, and some of them actually, you know, they're so busy with other parts of their lives that you don't hear from them as much.
• 31:04
  SPEAKER_01: But what I do know is whatever we're looking after for the client, it's incredibly important to them.
• 31:10
  SPEAKER_01: So, you know, everyone is equally deserving of the time and and the um commitment to to them as individuals.
• 31:20
  SPEAKER_01: Fantastic.
• 31:20
  SPEAKER_00: Obviously, Titan wealth, well known, have grown really quickly.
• 31:24
  SPEAKER_00: 44 billion under management in four years, isn't it?
• 31:26
  SPEAKER_00: 1,400 staff.
• 31:28
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 31:29
  SPEAKER_00: And they're not stopping, they're continuing to grow.
• 31:31
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, world domination, literally.
• 31:33
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 31:33
  SPEAKER_00: Because they've acquired AHR over in Dubai, they've got licenses across the world, they've just gone out and acquired a business over in America as well.
• 31:40
  SPEAKER_00: So definitely not slowing down.
• 31:42
  SPEAKER_00: No.
• 31:42
  SPEAKER_00: Which is um great to be part of that journey, right?
• 31:45
  SPEAKER_01: Definitely.
• 31:46
  SPEAKER_00: In that situation, what you often get as well is obviously through acquisition, new clients come in and new clients need to be serviced.
• 31:52
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 31:52
  SPEAKER_00: Have you experienced that?
• 31:53
  SPEAKER_00: Have you had clients passed to you by somebody else to look after that weren't originally your client and perhaps they're being passed over to you and not know you?
• 32:02
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 32:02
  SPEAKER_01: So so I have had that um within sort of Titan Wealth planning, and as we were as LEBC.
• 32:10
  SPEAKER_01: So naturally, when other people have moved on and have been passed other clients, um it's difficult to say if you're at full capacity, isn't it?
• 32:19
  SPEAKER_01: Because there's always that little bit extra time that you could find.
• 32:23
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but I guess building relationships with with clients that that I've been passed is is a really big responsibility.
• 32:31
  SPEAKER_01: You know, as we know, they didn't choose choose me as their financial advisor.
• 32:36
  SPEAKER_01: You know, maybe um I'm very different to who's looked after them previously.
• 32:41
  SPEAKER_01: So I take that really seriously, and I really want to make a great first impression.
• 32:46
  SPEAKER_01: And I want to understand what they loved about their previous advisor, and maybe, you know, not what they didn't like, but was there anything missing in terms of, you know, is there anything else that we can offer you?
• 32:57
  SPEAKER_01: Was there any sort of gaps in any areas of the service that we gave you?
• 33:04
  SPEAKER_01: So I think it's a great opportunity when you take on a new client, which of course will be happening more and more with all the acquisitions Titan are doing.
• 33:12
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but it's really giving giving the focus and the time and the dedication to those new clients, I guess you know, leads to keeping them and retaining them.
• 33:22
  SPEAKER_00: 100%.
• 33:23
  SPEAKER_00: It's interesting because I've spoken to a a a number of younger advisors that have come through Titan Wealth.
• 33:28
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 33:28
  SPEAKER_00: I mean some are some are looking after 100 million plus.
• 33:32
  SPEAKER_01: I'm sure.
• 33:33
  SPEAKER_00: Through clients that have been passed over to them.
• 33:36
  SPEAKER_00: I think it's such a huge opportunity for a brand new advisor to be able to have that exposure to clients that average investor assets are around the 750k mark as well.
• 33:46
  SPEAKER_00: So I think the opportunity for the next generation in Titan or anybody that's coming into the business is huge because of the acquisition trail.
• 33:53
  SPEAKER_00: And I think that's great.
• 33:54
  SPEAKER_00: Exposure is good, right?
• 33:55
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 33:56
  SPEAKER_00: Getting in front of people is good.
• 33:57
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 33:57
  SPEAKER_00: As much as prospecting is good as well.
• 33:59
  SPEAKER_00: Like being able to cut your teeth and understand, look, God, if I don't find somebody, I'm not going to be paying the bills this month.
• 34:04
  SPEAKER_00: That also sharpens the pencil a little bit as well.
• 34:06
  SPEAKER_00: Definitely.
• 34:07
  SPEAKER_00: How much of your time right now is spent on prospecting versus servicing existing clients?
• 34:11
  SPEAKER_00: Is it you know, as time's gone on and your journey's gone on in your career, where are you at now?
• 34:15
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I mean, I'd say it's probably at its lowest level just because of the you know, the size of the portfolio that I'm looking after now.
• 34:23
  SPEAKER_01: And as you said, you know, coming from the early years when it was literally, you know, it was it meant everything to onboard new clients.
• 34:32
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I still, I mean, I see really my prospecting activity around the referrals from existing clients.
• 34:39
  SPEAKER_01: So this organic referral process, you know, checking in with clients, making sure that they are happy with what you're delivering.
• 34:47
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I don't personally, and I know you'll get a huge range of answers if you ask this question.
• 34:52
  SPEAKER_01: I don't ask at the moment clients outright, you know, do you know anyone to refer to me?
• 34:58
  SPEAKER_01: Because um naturally I believe it will happen and it and it does happen.
• 35:03
  SPEAKER_01: And I've always had quite a nice flow since joining the business, you know, as it was L E B C of existing clients referring to me.
• 35:12
  SPEAKER_01: So it'd be difficult to put an amount of a sort of percentage of time on it, but it's happening in the background, is what I like to think.
• 35:20
  SPEAKER_00: Fantastic.
• 35:22
  SPEAKER_00: Always ask this question if I was to follow you around for a week or so.
• 35:25
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, like legally, I'm not hiding in the bushes.
• 35:28
  SPEAKER_00: If I was to follow you around for a week or so, what would be going on in your world?
• 35:31
  SPEAKER_00: What would you be up to from a work perspective?
• 35:33
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 35:34
  SPEAKER_01: So um, without breaking it down to too granular for you, my morning is always getting back on emails.
• 35:41
  SPEAKER_01: So I am absolutely um true to my word in the sense that I will always get back to clients within 24 hours unless I'm on holiday.
• 35:50
  SPEAKER_01: I don't I don't offer that when I'm on holiday.
• 35:53
  SPEAKER_01: So the first thing in the morning is always checking emails and where possible getting back to clients before sort of my working day starts.
• 36:01
  SPEAKER_01: Um, it's then really a mix of being out at client meetings and and some clients still request to do Teams meetings.
• 36:08
  SPEAKER_01: We like to see clients face to face.
• 36:10
  SPEAKER_01: I would rather see clients face to face, but some of them it works better for them.
• 36:14
  SPEAKER_01: You know, it's part of their working day.
• 36:16
  SPEAKER_01: They can do it on the lunch hour or they can do it after work.
• 36:19
  SPEAKER_01: Um, it's a lot of structure to the day.
• 36:22
  SPEAKER_01: I think, I think in this job, and definitely, you know, just the fact we're in a regulated environment, you need to have a lot of structure to your time because it's there's constant distractions, really, you know, clients calling you, emails popping up, things getting close to deadlines.
• 36:40
  SPEAKER_01: So, really, you'd probably be quite bored by me because I'm I'm almost, you know, too sort of militant with my time that that you wouldn't be having much fun, Sam.
• 36:50
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but very much speaking to clients, sitting with clients, and each client likes to be treated differently, don't they?
• 36:56
  SPEAKER_01: Some clients, you know, won't want me to sit on the sofa and want to tell me, you know, lots of information about grandchildren.
• 37:02
  SPEAKER_01: I've got lots of other clients who want to get straight down to the hard numbers, they want to know timings for next sort of steps for you know how we're progressing things.
• 37:11
  SPEAKER_01: So you've got to be really um nimble, I guess, and adaptable.
• 37:16
  SPEAKER_01: But mainly the time is spent speaking to c speaking to clients and seeing clients.
• 37:21
  SPEAKER_00: There is a distinct lack of women within the financial planning profession.
• 37:24
  SPEAKER_00: There's about 16% of all financial planners are female.
• 37:27
  SPEAKER_01: Oh wow.
• 37:28
  SPEAKER_00: Um in 26 leaders are female.
• 37:31
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 37:31
  SPEAKER_00: It's very low.
• 37:32
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 37:33
  SPEAKER_00: Coming on the podcast today, the financial planner life, and talking about your career is only going to inspire new people to join the profession.
• 37:39
  SPEAKER_00: And we've had so many women join the profession who messaged me and said they've come through the podcast.
• 37:45
  SPEAKER_00: Ella, again, who came on the podcast from Titan Wealth, watched a podcast episode with Natasha Persig-Baxter, and that was her route into the profession.
• 37:52
  SPEAKER_00: Natasha Persig-Baxter came into the profession because she watched my podcast.
• 37:58
  SPEAKER_00: So it's a great opportunity for us to really talk about why this profession's really good.
• 38:03
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 38:03
  SPEAKER_00: We've done that already.
• 38:04
  SPEAKER_00: We you know, we love it.
• 38:04
  SPEAKER_00: We're talking to people about their wealth and helping financial well-being and all that kind of stuff.
• 38:08
  SPEAKER_00: But why do you think financial planning is a great career for women?
• 38:15
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, it's definitely a career for someone who wants to be kept on their toes, somebody who wants a continuous learning process, you know, someone who doesn't want to be bored, someone who wants to, you know, explore every sort of strength within them and also weakness.
• 38:32
  SPEAKER_01: It's a long-term career where you can build long-lasting relationships.
• 38:36
  SPEAKER_01: And I wouldn't like to say, you know, women are better than men at anything, but one of the really important parts of it that I think women excel at is a natural curiosity in people and the listening skills.
• 38:50
  SPEAKER_01: You know, that is a really important part of the job.
• 38:53
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, picking up on things that clients say and just asking those probing questions, you know, obviously in a professional way, but just really having a curiosity about people and a willingness to sit and spend time and listen and get to know them.
• 39:08
  SPEAKER_01: I think without those qualities, I I I think the job would be really tough.
• 39:15
  SPEAKER_00: I think I I was doing a presentation to um some university students about a career within financial planning.
• 39:21
  SPEAKER_00: And I say, close your eyes, and when when you close your eyes, I want you to think about what a financial planner looks like.
• 39:26
  SPEAKER_00: And most said male, yeah, you know, m male, grey hair, in a suit, glasses, middle-aged.
• 39:33
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 39:34
  SPEAKER_00: How can we articulate that the profession isn't male focused?
• 39:39
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 39:40
  SPEAKER_00: So, from your perspective of going out and seeing clients, they're obviously welcoming a female.
• 39:45
  SPEAKER_01: Definitely.
• 39:46
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's not like they're kind of like, well, you're not you're not a man, like, you know, yeah, disappointing.
• 39:50
  SPEAKER_00: Disappointing.
• 39:51
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 39:51
  SPEAKER_01: It's like I can be a man if you want me to be.
• 39:53
  SPEAKER_00: But what about what about when it comes to actually women um advising women?
• 39:58
  SPEAKER_00: Do you get a lot of women come to you?
• 39:59
  SPEAKER_00: You know, when you sit down with Mr.
• 40:01
  SPEAKER_00: and Mrs.
• 40:02
  SPEAKER_00: Smith, you know, do you find that you engage with the wife more than the husband, or is it equal?
• 40:09
  SPEAKER_00: You know, is there a value add for a female sitting down in in couples?
• 40:13
  SPEAKER_00: And and feedback-wise, have you ever heard?
• 40:15
  SPEAKER_00: Well, no, actually, it's great to have a female advisor.
• 40:17
  SPEAKER_00: We've always had a male advisor or something along those lines.
• 40:19
  SPEAKER_00: Have you come across that?
• 40:20
  SPEAKER_01: So when I came into the portfolio that I look after now, they previously had a male advisor for 20 plus years.
• 40:27
  SPEAKER_01: Um, who they, you know, everyone thought was absolutely fantastic.
• 40:32
  SPEAKER_01: And he was, you could see from his work, he'd done a fantastic job.
• 40:35
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but there were a lot of households, husband and wife, traditionally, where the wife had not attended the meeting for years.
• 40:43
  SPEAKER_01: Now, I never, you know, there's kind of a line to cross, isn't there?
• 40:47
  SPEAKER_01: I didn't push too hard on why that is, but I was really keen to where possible bring them both in together.
• 40:55
  SPEAKER_01: And I think now, you know, sort of getting to the fourth year, I'd like, well, I'm pretty confident that I've got a lot more women who were already existing clients more engaged with it, you know, more interested.
• 41:08
  SPEAKER_01: They're not hopefully, well, I'm sure they don't feel any sort of intimidation.
• 41:12
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I'm quite an open, honest, down-to-earth person, and I know when to, you know, not use jargon and and all that kind of stuff, you know, all those, all those skills that you would expect from a financial advisor to know, you know, on what level to speak to individuals.
• 41:27
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, I definitely think that there are more women within my portfolio who are who are starting to engage more now because I've kind of pushed for it.
• 41:37
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I've wanted to have them in the meetings.
• 41:39
  SPEAKER_01: Some of them have said, you know, I don't really, I don't understand.
• 41:43
  SPEAKER_01: There's a lot of um, you know, bit of uh an insecurity about not fully understanding what we're talking about in a meeting and almost becoming disengaged because they feel as though they're not following it.
• 41:56
  SPEAKER_01: But actually, you know, spending the time to explain things, you know, more detail than we're discussing with the husband, for example, you know, and making them realise that they do understand it, you know, and and just taking away that sort of I guess nervousness.
• 42:13
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but I have also built up through my own connections, you know, quite a lot of professional women who, for whatever reason, would rather deal with uh another female.
• 42:23
  SPEAKER_00: Do they refer more women?
• 42:25
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, women chat more.
• 42:26
  SPEAKER_01: We know that, don't we?
• 42:27
  SPEAKER_01: Women chat more, and I think women are probably more open about their finances with other women.
• 42:34
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe I don't know.
• 42:35
  SPEAKER_01: I've got no research on that, but I do think women well, we know women chat more.
• 42:40
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, great referrals, women.
• 42:42
  SPEAKER_00: Do women tend to take longer to make a decision than men?
• 42:44
  SPEAKER_00: Men tend to be more bullish.
• 42:46
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 42:47
  SPEAKER_01: I think I think women just want to know all the detail up front, which of course we offer all of that for everyone.
• 42:54
  SPEAKER_01: Um, women sometimes just need a little bit more um confidence or encouragement to know that they are making the right decision.
• 43:02
  SPEAKER_01: But I think by the fact that they've you know often contacted me anyway, means that they're ready to, they're ready for action as such.
• 43:10
  SPEAKER_00: You tend to find as well, like um like Hannah, who's who's joining me at the financial plan of life, I'm actually putting her through her qualifications to become a financial advisor.
• 43:17
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, nice.
• 43:17
  SPEAKER_00: Um, she got into uh finance through debt.
• 43:20
  SPEAKER_00: So was following financial coaches and then got herself out of debt and then was realizing, oh wow, now I'm in the situation where I can invest money.
• 43:27
  SPEAKER_00: And it only kind of went to a point where she was like, Well, you know, could I do this as a career?
• 43:31
  SPEAKER_00: So she started looking at financial planning.
• 43:34
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but she would follow, you know, coaches, and a lot of those were females, so female role models, she was talking about like female finance platforms that she was on.
• 43:42
  SPEAKER_00: So I think women also, as well, when they want to go deep dive into something, will go down the social media route and follow women that are like them, explaining them, you know, in simple financial educational terms.
• 43:52
  SPEAKER_00: And I think that's a huge area, and I think women can dominate on like your Instagrams and TikToks and LinkedIn video content.
• 43:59
  SPEAKER_00: Do you tend to come across really well and do attract women more so?
• 44:04
  SPEAKER_00: And there's a couple uh of ladies that I spoke to who ran their own partner practice as well, and and they do so much business on like a hyper-local basis.
• 44:12
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 44:12
  SPEAKER_00: So on a hyper hyper-local basis, they'll use like your Facebook groups, so like mummies of Bishop Staunton, right?
• 44:18
  SPEAKER_00: You know, and they're in there and they're talking, but they get so many referrals and they get known as the financial advisors for women within their local area.
• 44:25
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's great.
• 44:25
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, the school gate and stuff like that, there's huge opportunities for women to network with it with other women.
• 44:31
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 44:32
  SPEAKER_00: Um and and this is what I'm hearing huge referrals.
• 44:35
  SPEAKER_00: So when it goes back to the professional introducers that you spoke about earlier and how to build a network of people that refer business into you, yeah.
• 44:41
  SPEAKER_00: If you're a female, connect with other female, especially professionals, because you're gonna get good business if you deliver a good service.
• 44:46
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, definitely, definitely.
• 44:49
  SPEAKER_00: I just want to end this now with one question.
• 44:52
  SPEAKER_00: Okay it's a term that's been thrown around quite a bit.
• 44:54
  SPEAKER_00: One titan.
• 44:55
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 44:56
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 44:56
  SPEAKER_00: What does one titan mean to you?
• 45:00
  SPEAKER_01: One titan, so I mean, ultimately it means one business, doesn't it?
• 45:06
  SPEAKER_01: We're all we're all um in this together.
• 45:09
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and really an offering for clients, you know, everything for me comes back to clients because that that's what I spend every day doing.
• 45:18
  SPEAKER_01: Um so one titans mean means the best possible offering for clients that's that's out there.
• 45:26
  SPEAKER_01: So, you know, all these acquisitions, all these other businesses that have come in that are not just you know traditional financial planning as the business was that I came from.
• 45:36
  SPEAKER_01: Um what what can they add for clients?
• 45:39
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and I'm only hearing and seeing and experiencing really great things from these acquisitions.
• 45:45
  SPEAKER_01: So one Titan ultimately means great client outcomes for me.
• 45:49
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 45:50
  SPEAKER_00: So in whatever scenario the client needs to be looked after in the business is being able to grow strategically to be able to offer those services in one place.
• 45:59
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 46:00
  SPEAKER_00: Centralized.
• 46:00
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 46:01
  SPEAKER_00: Love it.
• 46:01
  SPEAKER_00: Well, listen, thank you so much for sharing your journey today on the Financial Planet Life Podcast.
• 46:06
  SPEAKER_00: Not as bad as you thought, was it?
• 46:07
  SPEAKER_01: No, quite like talking.
• 46:09
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I know that I knew that I liked talking, but yes, not um in such a structured format.
• 46:15
  SPEAKER_01: But no, hopefully, yeah, hopefully I'm not suggesting that me alone would inspire anyone to do anything.
• 46:22
  SPEAKER_01: But you know, hopefully it might form part of um someone's decision making process, and and there was some helpful bits in there.
• 46:31
  SPEAKER_00: 100% it was well.
• 46:32
  SPEAKER_00: So thank you so much for your time today.
• 46:33
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
• 46:34
  SPEAKER_00: Cheers.