Latest / Financial Planner Life Podcast / Benjamin Beck - from the army to financial planning and mentoring the next generation of financial planners.

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Benjamin Beck - from the army to financial planning and mentoring the next generation of financial planners. · Financial Planner Life Podcast

• 0:02
  SPEAKER_01: Hi, and welcome to the Financial Planner Life podcast, where we talk to professionals at varying stages in their career about what it's like working in the wonderful world of financial planning and financial advice.
• 0:15
  SPEAKER_01: This podcast is proudly sponsored by Recruit UK, a recruitment consultancy specifically focused on the financial services.
• 0:23
  SPEAKER_01: They have a niche specialism, recruiting, within the financial planning industry, so check out their website for the latest job opportunities, hints and tips, and blog articles.
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_01: And today's guest is Benjamin Beck from Nigel Grice Associates.
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_01: Benjamin is a fantastic guest today.
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_01: He shares loads around his journey into financial planning.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_01: He used to work in the armed forces, did that for six years.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_01: So he talks about that transition and what he's doing to help other people within the armed forces get into financial planning.
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_01: He went through the Open Work Academy, went from zero experience all the way up to level four qualified financial planner.
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_01: And he talks about his journey in great detail and some of the challenges that he came up against and why he's decided to coach and help inexperienced candidates find a job within financial planning.
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_01: He's a fantastic guy, loads to share.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_01: I hope you enjoy it.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_01: Thanks for joining me today on the Financial Planner Live Podcast.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_01: How are you doing, my man?
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, good, thank you.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_03: Thanks for having me on.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_03: How are you?
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_01: I'm all right, mate.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_01: I've been a very busy boy today.
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_01: I've been um I had Louisa from um Be Spoke Trading Solutions on the podcast, recording one just before, but just before you, and um some amazing things they're doing over there at Be Spoke Uh Trading Solutions.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_01: Um I know that if I was ever gonna do the CII qualifications, they are definitely somebody I would do it with.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm gonna be recommending them from now on.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_01: Have you ever used them at all?
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_03: So I use them to go through CI myself, it really helps.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_03: The textbooks can be a bit dry, but that kind of like it gives flavour to the learning and sort of those extra questions you have.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_03: They have kind of good narrative sections in there who just kind of adds in more information around around the topic.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_03: So you don't actually always have to do your own research to understand the reasons behind changes.
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and what I thought was really interesting, she raised a really good point, you know, you don't have to go to the CII and have their study books or download their download their content.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_01: You don't have to use it.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_01: So if you were looking at doing your CII qualification, right, then just go to someone like Be Spoke Training Solutions.
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_01: They've rewritten the actual book, yeah.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_01: So it's like really easy to digest, then it's understandable.
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, like, and I said to myself, that's a really good point, actually, because I remember when I did FPC so many years ago, the book was like that.
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_01: And I had to have like some training tapes, and it was just someone reading from the book, it was terrible.
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and they've got a beautiful little app as well, haven't they?
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_03: Though you can do like some um uh some mock exams, which I think are really it's it's all helpful stuff.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_03: I found that you know the overlap was really helpful.
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_03: I believe it's different to CISI, where uh from memory, I think with them you have to order the actual CISI book.
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, and I don't think they have as many uh solutions as in external training providers who delivers the stuff that uh BTS does.
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_03: So in that in that setting the framework from from doing CIR route can be easier, I guess, in a sense.
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_01: Top man, yeah, yeah, great stuff.
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_01: Um well listen, the reason why we got you on the podcast today, then Benjamin, is um you're my number one fan.
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah.
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_01: Hey, I see you, I see you a lot on obviously um LinkedIn, and you're a big advocate of what I'm doing here at the Financial Planner Life, which is trying to attract more people to the financial planning profession, trying to deliver content that's going to be helpful and educational to them within their career, how they can get into the profession, how they can progress their progression.
• 3:52
  SPEAKER_01: And you're a big fan of helping people by the signs of it and giving people that leg up um into the profession because it's quite can be quite difficult, can it, in the early stages?
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah, massively.
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_03: Um yeah, I found it when uh when looking to get into the whole profession.
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_03: Um, I did a lot of research, but it's limited what you can find out there in terms of explaining the various training routes, the institutions to read with, uh, what they mean, and even down to the fact that I I know you guys have produced uh some good guides as to the different pathways.
• 4:29
  SPEAKER_03: But back when I was looking into it, they didn't exist.
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_03: So then trying to find out the various roles available and actually what they entail.
• 4:37
  SPEAKER_03: Um, yeah, I had to learn the hard way as such.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_01: Well, this is the thing, and that's why I wanted to create the podcast because I've heard other financial planning podcasts, but they don't really go into detail about the actual role itself, the specifics and the language that's used to explain something.
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_01: And um, you know, I had Hannah Hunt on recently, and she started out as an IFA administrator, and she talks about what an IFA administrator actually does and the natural progression then into power planning and the difference between the two.
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_01: And I think you know, it's one of those questions that people don't want to ask it because they don't want to sound silly, but it's the type of information that people need to understand.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_01: It's like, well, actually, you know, perhaps starting out as an IFA administrator would be the right route for me as opposed to going straight in as a financial planner.
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_01: I didn't realise that that was what it was because especially the term IFA admin, I mean, there's not there's a little bit of admin, but a lot of it is dealing with product provisors, platforms, all sorts of stuff, isn't it?
• 5:27
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I I would say there's some there's some massive overlap, and depending on uh the size of the firm you're looking to join.
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, personally, I've been incredibly lucky with the role I have.
• 5:37
  SPEAKER_03: So I'm now qualified a financial advisor, but when I first started out, um, because of the size of the firm, I then got to taste every single area of financial planning.
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_03: So the starter off with basic admin and then went on to sort of basic power planning and then more advanced stuff.
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_03: And as my skill set grew, it could kind of take more responsibility within the business and dealing with more of the aspects of it.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_03: Okay.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_03: Um, so because I've myself, you know, thought my um when I was been speaking to people to try and define kind of what is admin and what was power planning.
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, and it's quite difficult really to sort of identify exactly where does where where's the line is quite blurred.
• 6:19
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and we found that within the recruit within the recruitment profession here at Recruit UK.
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_01: And someone might call themselves an administrator, but actually when you dig deep, they're actually a power planner, or someone might call themselves a power planner, but they're not, they're just an administrator.
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_01: And I think it's um it can be quite confusing because also you don't need to be level four qualified to be a power planner, for instance.
• 6:37
  SPEAKER_01: You don't need to be.
• 6:39
  SPEAKER_01: And um, and and and yeah, you're you're finding these role responsibilities.
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_01: And when you dig deep on it, you understand fully what they're actually doing.
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_01: But no one's really articulating it.
• 6:47
  SPEAKER_01: They're saying a power planner, this is a power planner, a day in the life of a power planner, but it's no kind of detail to understand.
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, well, what would then make me be a power planner?
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_01: What would you know, allow me to type a title?
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_01: So I think unearthing and turning those stones over and asking the questions.
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_01: And and you yourself, you know, you're passionate about passing that knowledge of what you've learned so far on to the next generation that are coming through.
• 7:08
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 7:08
  SPEAKER_01: And that's a big part.
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_01: We'll talk about that a little bit later.
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_01: What I'd love to talk about right now, though, is okay, you've gone through that process where a lot of people have struggled to get into financial planning and you're now level four qualified and you're working now as a financial planner, correct?
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_03: Yes, that's correct.
• 7:21
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, absolutely.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_03: So um go on.
• 7:24
  SPEAKER_01: I was gonna say, tell me how that came about because your career and your background is in the army, isn't it?
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, so uh it actually starts in Norway, so I'm Norwegian, so uh hence while the accent maybe you know difficult to place.
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_03: But yeah, so uh I joined the British Army in 2020 and served for six years, and while serving uh in the army, obviously picking up a lot of life skills and and trying to identify what I wanted to do with my life throughout that process.
• 7:53
  SPEAKER_03: So the whole journey started when I did some distance learning with Auburn University.
• 7:58
  SPEAKER_03: So I did business and administration with them and picked up some accounting uh modules and you know, normal business modules, and realized I really enjoyed the financial stuff.
• 8:09
  SPEAKER_03: Um started a bit more research uh and found out you know you could study more detail, you know, more specifically with C ISI that I started with, and uh started with these small modules, so I think it was uh level two or level three.
• 8:26
  SPEAKER_03: Um past those predominantly just interest only, so I don't have to research and Google everything.
• 8:34
  SPEAKER_03: But I really enjoyed it.
• 8:35
  SPEAKER_03: So I then decided to sort of whilst still serving, you know, pick up another module.
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_03: And as it got more advanced, I really enjoyed it.
• 8:43
  SPEAKER_03: And I thought actually, there may be you know there may be a career there for me, you know, if I could pass these exams and why not?
• 8:51
  SPEAKER_03: And so I I then left the army and then decided, right, let's you know, let's head head in first with the the uh financial planning profession.
• 9:02
  SPEAKER_03: Um so I managed to uh get an admin role uh via financial planning firm um via the CISI corporation and they effectively said, well, we follow the CSR route, no, sorry, CIR route, and that was an interesting beginning to differentiate because then I learned investment firms they tend to look at uh investment advice diploma with CISI.
• 9:29
  SPEAKER_03: If I had known that, then I would have gone the CIR route.
• 9:33
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 9:34
  SPEAKER_03: Um and then obviously then started reading with a CIR.
• 9:37
  SPEAKER_03: Um further on, so that was uh six month role.
• 9:41
  SPEAKER_03: Uh sadly, I had to uh they let me go because they ideally needed someone more of a power planner standard, whereas I was more um learning the hard way and had a lot more uh yeah uh difficulties in that sense.
• 9:55
  SPEAKER_03: Uh but then I landed a role here um in Oxford, still in Oxford.
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_03: Sorry, I should have mentioned that the first role was in Oxford and then moved on to another firm in Oxford.
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_03: And they took me on um initially as a technical uh administrator.
• 10:09
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_03: But in the interview I said ideally I want to become qualified, yeah, but that suited them fine because they needed someone quite fluid sort of admin power planner, and ideally they could download advisor.
• 10:21
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 10:22
  SPEAKER_03: Uh so I started um working here.
• 10:24
  SPEAKER_03: Um uh should I mention an uh company named Nigerian Grice Associates, again, I'll show it.
• 10:30
  SPEAKER_03: Um and soon after I was enrolled into the open work academy.
• 10:35
  unknown: Right.
• 10:35
  SPEAKER_03: So I basically it's a 12-month program to take it from R01 to R06, um, basically get you qualified within a year.
• 10:44
  SPEAKER_03: So that was perfect.
• 10:45
  SPEAKER_03: By that time I had already done um the R01 and R05, which had really hugely helped me uh getting my foot in the door.
• 10:54
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, uh, and that's part of what I do now on LinkedIn and reach out to new entrants to sort of have a conversation with them, what I've done, being proactive about getting into the profession because there's plenty of people without any experience, yeah, anything that can differentiate themselves to help them, yeah.
• 11:12
  SPEAKER_03: But yeah, uh okay.
• 11:13
  SPEAKER_01: That's really interesting.
• 11:14
  SPEAKER_01: A couple of things that came up there in the early stages, and I like to talk about those early stages because I think a lot of our listeners are at those early stages and they're kind of making decisions and they're unsure but if the decision they're making is the right one.
• 11:26
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so you did some research like into financial planning, for example, you looked at the qualification routes, and why so so why did you decide to why was it the CISI route and not the CII route?
• 11:38
  SPEAKER_01: Why what made you make that decision?
• 11:40
  SPEAKER_01: And and because obviously for you it felt like did it feel like the wrong decision, or was it just that the firm would prefer you to be CII?
• 11:49
  SPEAKER_03: So I initially went with the CISI because that's when I did some research online, that's the first firm I stumbled upon.
• 11:57
  SPEAKER_03: Like to look of the training materials.
• 12:00
  SPEAKER_03: I initially I didn't actually think of this is what I want to do for a profession.
• 12:05
  SPEAKER_03: It was just I would I wanted to understand investments.
• 12:08
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, should probably mention from a young age or always had fascination with the financial markets.
• 12:13
  SPEAKER_03: So initially it was just wanted a formal framework to understand investments and how they work.
• 12:20
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, so I did it for my own learning.
• 12:22
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah um, but then as I started further on, and then because I enjoyed it that much, that's when I kind of triggered the idea of well, I'm doing this for fun and spending more money on it.
• 12:31
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I may as well, you know, see if I can do it for a profession.
• 12:35
  SPEAKER_03: Um, but that's when I learned how uh financial planning firms they prefer the CII framework over CISI.
• 12:44
  SPEAKER_03: Not really sure kind of the regulatory reasons behind why, but I've found that in banks and those institutions they prefer the CISI route or the CII, but you you probably have more experience with that than I do.
• 12:57
  SPEAKER_01: People think it's more comprehensive from a learning perspective.
• 13:01
  SPEAKER_01: More well recognized.
• 13:02
  SPEAKER_01: So it's easier for someone to say, I prefer you go on the CII route because I've got it.
• 13:06
  SPEAKER_01: But also as well, it's big to do with chartered.
• 13:09
  SPEAKER_01: So if you're doing the CIS, if you're doing the CII route, okay, then you can a firm can become chartered as a firm.
• 13:16
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 13:17
  SPEAKER_01: If you do L IBF, for example, they can, but they're they're working on that at the moment.
• 13:22
  SPEAKER_01: So what they want is as many people who are CII working towards their quotes chartered.
• 13:25
  SPEAKER_01: So then when they get so many up to chartered, then the firm can be chartered.
• 13:29
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah, that that makes tons of sense.
• 13:31
  SPEAKER_03: And that's like chartered accountants and uh and that's like one of the reasons, really.
• 13:35
  SPEAKER_01: And the CISI, you're absolutely spot on previously, it's very much geared towards investment.
• 13:40
  SPEAKER_01: So you see a lot of people who are like investment advisors or investment managers, they tend to go down that CSI route, um CSI route, C S C I S I route.
• 13:49
  SPEAKER_03: A lot of Celpful, isn't it?
• 13:52
  SPEAKER_01: So, and this is classic, you know, and this is and this is what we hear, and this is what we see.
• 13:56
  SPEAKER_01: So I feel for people who are starting out trying to understand what financial qualifications they should take to become a financial planner.
• 14:03
  SPEAKER_01: Now, all three routes offer you the route into becoming a financial planner.
• 14:06
  SPEAKER_01: You can be chartered level seven with the CISI.
• 14:09
  SPEAKER_01: You're still able to give financial planning exactly the same as if you're L IBF or CII.
• 14:14
  SPEAKER_01: However, you need to look at what the route is best for you, which is why I came up with that guide that you've really liked and that you shared.
• 14:22
  SPEAKER_01: You know, the guide, and I put it in the comment section of this podcast.
• 14:25
  SPEAKER_01: You know, if you go down the CI route, these are the qualifications that you need to do.
• 14:29
  SPEAKER_01: But also, this is the cost involved, and this is what you know, and this is what each module is about.
• 14:34
  SPEAKER_01: So amalgamating that information into one I think is incredibly important within financial planning in the early stages, trying to be able to find content that just gives you a clear overview, a comparison, instead of having to go from one site to another, to another, to another, because it's difficult, isn't it, to find it?
• 14:50
  SPEAKER_01: You go down a rabbit hole.
• 14:51
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, well, on behalf of everyone, I would say say thanks for doing that massive job, Sam.
• 14:56
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, that's uh the most comprehensive guide I have seen and wish I'd seen back then, because also it would uh it would highlight to anyone who's interested.
• 15:06
  SPEAKER_03: Well, they they can the budget on finances, uh, because I've heard of many people who's who's effectively self-funded the entire thing in order to get into the profession.
• 15:17
  SPEAKER_03: And then, as you say, when they identify which framework suits them, well, they could they can start budgeting and and have a good conversation with a recruiter such as yourself.
• 15:26
  SPEAKER_01: Planning ahead.
• 15:27
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah, planning ahead.
• 15:29
  SPEAKER_01: Planning ahead.
• 15:30
  SPEAKER_01: You know, you but what I think was really good for you as well, and there's a bit of it, and and this is something you can pass on when you start speaking to trainees, etc., is that you doing your doing a qualification, okay, it doesn't matter what it is, any kind of introductory qualification, whether or not you start your R01 or whatever, it's it's beneficial when you're trying to get in with your first company.
• 15:51
  SPEAKER_01: Because if you go to that company, you say, Look, I off my own back, I've done some studying and I've passed a qualification, you've experienced this.
• 15:58
  SPEAKER_01: They obviously look at that and go, Well, okay, he's obviously got a gravitas to want to learn.
• 16:02
  SPEAKER_01: So fantastic.
• 16:04
  SPEAKER_01: Let's let's bring him in.
• 16:06
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, go on.
• 16:08
  SPEAKER_03: No, go on.
• 16:09
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, um, there was that the differentiation, uh, because when I came into the firm, because of the alarming numbers of um advisors going to retire and the average age of uh advisors in the UK, they are desperate for fresh blood, but obviously they are very conscious of um you know lack of experience.
• 16:30
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, so anything you can do to give you know highlight your commitment, I think it's more to do with commitment than anything.
• 16:37
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, uh, because there are uh high numbers of of people who who effectively um try it for a year and then they kind of fall off the bandwagon because uh it's it's not easy for obligations, it's definitely uh uh doable because many people do it every every year, but uh it does take a level of commitment to get through some of the different aspects of it can be a bit of a dry read, uh still necessary, but um yeah, kind of going on a bit of a ramble there.
• 17:08
  SPEAKER_01: No, no, no, no, you're spot on.
• 17:09
  SPEAKER_01: I think you know that you just sort of reinforce what my my point was.
• 17:12
  SPEAKER_01: It was the fact that you know having that qualification, having something in place shows a commitment that you want to learn.
• 17:16
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, um, and it also gives you an idea of what's involved because there is a lot of study involved, you know, it's not easy, and you're right.
• 17:23
  SPEAKER_01: And I think there's a there's an element that people have to understand, isn't it, when they get into financial planning that it's not, you know, some people you hear these stories of people passing them in three to five months, seven months, but more often than not, those people are are literally full-time studying.
• 17:35
  SPEAKER_03: Um yeah, but uh it's not necessarily a bad thing.
• 17:38
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, I've heard uh I'm starting to see a lot of negativity online from from the uh from the profession that uh it highlights those students who really power through exams, and I must admit it's it's everyone's different, you know.
• 17:54
  SPEAKER_03: Someone may take five years, that's fine.
• 17:56
  SPEAKER_03: But if others want to do it in five months, then you know, kudos to them.
• 18:01
  SPEAKER_03: I find that that uh you know that that people manage to do it quickly doesn't necessarily mean that they don't know the stuff.
• 18:09
  SPEAKER_03: Um, but also that's why I added in um I put out our LinkedIn post, uh, and I tagged your podcast as well, with a lot of um soft skills training throughout the podcasts, and um because I love just learning about it, and it's incredible how much around the financial planning profession you can you can actually delve into and the soft skills.
• 18:32
  SPEAKER_03: Um, so I think um, yeah, getting the qualification done quickly is not necessarily a bad thing, but doing it on the job learning and adding in the soft skills, it can only be good, really.
• 18:42
  SPEAKER_01: I think getting a qualification getting a qualification in financial planning doesn't make you a financial planner anyway.
• 18:47
  SPEAKER_01: So, you know, it doesn't mean that you are just because you've got a financial advisor qualification, doesn't it's just a badge, isn't it?
• 18:53
  SPEAKER_01: To say, look, I've passed, I've done the regulatory requirements to be able to give financial planning advice.
• 18:57
  SPEAKER_01: And as you said, what then comes is the soft skill training.
• 19:00
  SPEAKER_01: You know, what makes a good financial planner, the relationship building.
• 19:02
  SPEAKER_01: You've obviously got a win business.
• 19:04
  SPEAKER_01: You've got to sit down with clients, you need some experience of doing that.
• 19:06
  SPEAKER_01: It's on the job experience.
• 19:07
  SPEAKER_01: I don't think people should be punished for or or or chastised for passing an exam quickly.
• 19:11
  SPEAKER_01: They've just got the capability to study and the willingness to learn quickly and get it done.
• 19:16
  SPEAKER_01: Um and therefore, as well, it works on the other side.
• 19:19
  SPEAKER_01: Just because you've got chartered doesn't mean you're in a you're a financial planner.
• 19:21
  SPEAKER_01: You've got to learn the soft skill stuff.
• 19:23
  SPEAKER_01: So go out there and get stuck into it.
• 19:24
  SPEAKER_01: So I think um people just have a people just have an opinion and they just like to share their opinion because they feel like they would need to put somebody down to make them feel feel better.
• 19:33
  SPEAKER_01: And I've seen that so much in the 12 years.
• 19:35
  SPEAKER_01: You know, it's like when people slag off St.
• 19:37
  SPEAKER_01: James's place, it's like they're an amazing company who've done really good things, like and and they're a contributor to the profession.
• 19:44
  SPEAKER_01: Why do you have to why do you feel the need to have to be lit of them at every opportunity?
• 19:48
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, if anything, I just try to uh uh well held people up really, and and uh that's partly what I'm doing at the moment, as you mentioned with a bit LinkedIn, is that I've reach out to a lot of new entrants to try to and have actually lined up individual phone calls to try to coach them through to understand the situation.
• 20:05
  SPEAKER_03: And what I'm uh also doing is uh planning some Zoom calls to show the actual tools we use, yeah.
• 20:13
  SPEAKER_03: So sort of as you mentioned earlier, with a whole um breaking down what the actual job roles are.
• 20:19
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 20:19
  SPEAKER_03: So so you have okay, so you do the qualifications, etc., but there's so many different tools you use in the profession, which, for example, in job descriptions, it's all listed in there.
• 20:29
  SPEAKER_03: Really?
• 20:30
  SPEAKER_03: How do you actually use it?
• 20:31
  SPEAKER_03: For example, cash flow modeling sounds fantastic.
• 20:35
  SPEAKER_03: What does it mean?
• 20:35
  SPEAKER_03: What does it look like?
• 20:37
  SPEAKER_00: I like that, yeah.
• 20:38
  SPEAKER_03: I and and you have uh so many different names of it.
• 20:42
  SPEAKER_03: So this is the kind of person I'm like when I first started, I did a lot of research to find out, you know, when they said on the job description, for example, going a bit of a ramble, but no, no, you're not getting there.
• 20:53
  SPEAKER_03: But so when they say um be confident with uh with platform trading, yeah.
• 20:59
  SPEAKER_03: Now what does that mean?
• 21:00
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah so then so then researched it and found out there there's about 19 platforms, tech technology platforms in the UK.
• 21:08
  SPEAKER_03: So IFAs can use them all.
• 21:09
  SPEAKER_03: Obviously, network devices have the specifics.
• 21:12
  SPEAKER_03: You have then um you have cash flow modeling tools, so you have buoyant, cash calc, uh, and various others.
• 21:20
  SPEAKER_03: So they're different kind of they utilize differently, and then you have customer relationship management tools, so Intelliflow and all of these, but that's that's kind of what I've uh I uh aim to do is like when I see all these job descriptions, is then telling new entrants of candidates.
• 21:38
  SPEAKER_03: There's nothing stopping them from going to the website, YouTube, having it what I'll call from the army eyes on, get some exposure to it, because everybody going into the interview, they can say, Well, I've not actually used the software, but I've watched and kind of have you know touched and felt it, or let's say if they let me know.
• 21:56
  SPEAKER_01: I've done some research, I've done some research and I understand the fundamentals of what.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_01: they're there for and what they do.
• 22:01
  SPEAKER_03: Exactly.
• 22:01
  SPEAKER_01: They're going like, well, what does that mean?
• 22:03
  SPEAKER_01: And it's interesting because Hannah mentioned like when she went into her interview, they were talking about um letters of authority.
• 22:09
  SPEAKER_01: And she'd never done a letter of authority, so she had no idea what it was and she couldn't even say what it was.
• 22:13
  SPEAKER_01: And um that's a really great great example.
• 22:15
  SPEAKER_01: And I think what you're doing there is you're jargon busting.
• 22:17
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 22:18
  SPEAKER_01: And that's it, you're jargon busting because financial services it's full of jargon.
• 22:21
  unknown: Yeah.
• 22:22
  SPEAKER_03: You know speaking of letters of authority, just a bit uh pitch there, I just uh um reposted an article I did in 2019 because when I first started as an administrator I had this exact same problem.
• 22:33
  SPEAKER_03: What is a letter of authority?
• 22:35
  SPEAKER_03: And I felt that was such a stupid question.
• 22:37
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 22:37
  SPEAKER_03: So after that uh first role I did I then sat down thrashed out a an article letters of authority seeding scheme all jargon what does it mean brought in an article and recently I just sent it to a couple of connections on LinkedIn and said oh this has actually helped me massively and and uh they're about to start a new role as a power planner.
• 22:58
  SPEAKER_01: So very good I like I really like this perhaps you and I could do something together.
• 23:02
  SPEAKER_01: We could do an article together and like a jargon jargon busting article and get that released through because I've got so obviously so many connections and that reach would do that really really well absolute app to do that yeah build like yeah and and you know I'll I'll get it all costed up and everything and we'll put something together and we'll create this jargon busting content because off the back of that as well is a video as you rightfully said and I think YouTube is is one of those the most underutilised tools within financial planning.
• 23:27
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm starting to want to start to I'm starting to build content that I'm going to put out on YouTube.
• 23:31
  SPEAKER_01: So all these videos are on YouTube but I want to and that would come in how to prepare for your first interview within financial planning.
• 23:38
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah things you should be talking about or understanding before you go in.
• 23:42
  SPEAKER_01: And I think that's a really good bit of subject matter.
• 23:45
  SPEAKER_01: In fact actually you and I need to put some time aside where we can talk in a bit more detail about some of the things that you experienced because you've probably got a a whole headful of content that would help people and um and I've got the time and I've got the time and money to to do it.
• 24:01
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah yeah brilliant that sounds fantastic and we can do that that'd be really good.
• 24:05
  SPEAKER_01: When you um so let's just go back to your kind of again you know you left the army okay yeah um and you went across and you trainee wealth advisor so you got a job for six months that didn't work out then you picked up this role at is it Nigel Grice Associates Limited yes yeah yeah and they are an appointed representative of open work aren't they that that's correct yeah okay so just to go back because lots of people listening to this have probably heard of some of the academies or maybe not even heard of some of the academies you've got St.
• 24:31
  SPEAKER_01: James's Place you've got Quilter but you've got the Open Work Academy open work being a financial net a financial advice network underneath the financial advice network is multiple financial planning companies mortgage companies stuff like that but what they're doing is they're saying look we've got an advisor school here we can get people trained up to become qualified um financial advisors and then we can place them into um one of the appointed representative firms of open work it's actually works slightly different with their model because what open work is doing is you have to have a role a job within a practice and then that practice may decide to then send you onto the academy.
• 25:15
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 25:15
  SPEAKER_01: So um so I I believe what uh SJP is doing is effectively you can go through the academy but you've then become self-employed in many instances whereas open work they don't really have that model you can't unless well you can go self-employment route but it's more like I did I had a job here here first starting an admin role and then I got placed onto the academy they train me up take well they don't really take me much time away from the practice learn on the job get qualified and then now I'm just kind of a graduate of the academy and what then open work do for those companies that are are taking that approach to hiring and building up their practices is that they will um sort of help fund those qualifications to make it easier.
• 26:02
  SPEAKER_01: So actually someone listening to this might want to go right straight to open work find out what practices are sitting underneath the open work network and say to them look I'm looking to become a financial planner I'd love to come and work for your firm.
• 26:12
  SPEAKER_01: I know that open work have got an academy perhaps that's a this is a great way for me to come and join you and help grow your business.
• 26:18
  SPEAKER_01: So that's a kind of use your initiative club type approach trying to find a job isn't it?
• 26:23
  SPEAKER_03: Absolutely one thing I I uh started recommending to a lot of people that I've do phone calls with is that um the first using the approach I did so when I realized that's this is what I would like to do would like to get into the profession it's just the old school tech uh pick up Google Maps search up every single financial planning firm in your kind of immediate area and literally door knocking.
• 26:46
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah because in this day and age obviously COVID can't do that but in this day and age there's not that many people anymore who pick up the phone make direct contact saying you know show who you are and you'd like to get into the profession is more people just search on job websites and they are unindated anyway.
• 27:03
  SPEAKER_01: But if you can sort of go directly to a company uh rather than through someone it's perfect and and network especially especially as early and I always say to people I always say look you know because I get approached I run a recruitment company we've been around for 12 years okay with a successful recruitment company within the financial planning space.
• 27:18
  SPEAKER_01: Now when someone comes to me and they're a train and they haven't got any experience whatsoever it's very difficult for us to place them because a client won't pay us any money for somebody that hasn't got experience.
• 27:26
  SPEAKER_01: So I always say to them look do what I would do and this is what I would do exactly what you said I would bring Google's maps up and I'd have a look around that local area and I'd say who can what companies could I go and work for in a specific distance to where I could travel.
• 27:39
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah and I'd make a list of those companies then what I'd do is I'd look on the list of those companies I might go to the FCA register and find out who the director of that company is.
• 27:47
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah I would go on I go onto LinkedIn and then I would add every single one of those people to my LinkedIn profile.
• 27:53
  SPEAKER_01: Not to mention I'd probably add to see whether or not they've got any talent managers, HR managers, anybody else within that business I'd start adding their financial planners and their power planners and administrators because I'm going to start to learn about what it is they're doing as a profession.
• 28:05
  SPEAKER_01: Once I've built that research and I've done it all guess what I'm then going to do I'm gonna send a message on LinkedIn to people that I think would be brilliant as an introduction.
• 28:13
  SPEAKER_01: So I might say you're a financial advisor I really want to become a financial advisor.
• 28:17
  SPEAKER_01: Could you introduce me to somebody within the business is there something you can do to help me secondly what I'd be doing is sending an email I'd follow up with an email cover letter of the reasons why I want to become a financial advisor and what I've done so far in my research.
• 28:30
  SPEAKER_01: And finally as you would say I would literally with COVID obviously out the way go and knock on the door and go and have a look and I mean that is the perfect approach to marketing yourself out without any experience.
• 28:44
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah spot on Sam okay I couldn't agree more that's uh that was even more in depth than than I did back when I tried to get into the profession but uh yeah I I'll I'll be going with that approach.
• 28:55
  SPEAKER_01: I guarantee you if anybody's listening to this right now it will get you results yeah but it would also get you the respect of the people you're approaching because you are using your initiative to do it nothing worse than someone who says I want to be a financial planner and I said but what have you done so far and looking nothing.
• 29:10
  SPEAKER_03: So is that you want me to also one thing I mentioned to a candidate uh I think last week was not only is it a beneficial shows uh you being proactive but also the firms will start thinking well if I don't take this person on and they're being so full of initiative guess what the competitor somewhere in the same town will pick them up so that kind of all fear of loss yeah fear of loss because if you're active then they will be proactive in the business as well not just to get get in there.
• 29:43
  SPEAKER_01: 100% yeah absolutely I think that works an absolute dream and um like I say marketing yourself is is the best way forward.
• 29:51
  SPEAKER_01: Now let's talk a little bit about your journey then when you got into um uh Nigel Grice and associates then okay so you went in there with a bit of qualification under your belt and you then um went through the training for the CII qualifications through the open through the open work academy.
• 30:08
  SPEAKER_01: So first off how long did it take you to get to level four qualification?
• 30:12
  SPEAKER_03: So that took I think roughly about 18 months but that was due to COVID and everything kind of closing down.
• 30:19
  SPEAKER_03: Sure.
• 30:20
  SPEAKER_03: But uh the ideal kind of pathway is it would take 12 months and effectively what they do is you have roughly about two months to complete uh per exam and then you go uh um you attend a a sort of a workshop I think every once a month or once every six weeks ish yeah where you meet all the other delegates and then it's it's face-to-face tuition which massively helps and and and reduces your learning curve yeah um but obviously you still need to put in the effort uh prior to the workshop because the workshops are used as consolidation of the knowledge yeah as a and and clarifying as opposed to teaching you from from scratch.
• 31:01
  SPEAKER_03: Okay yeah and um and and it's really helpful then because you you're on the same journey with about 20 other people roughly depending on the size of the of the class.
• 31:10
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah um and then effectively becomes kind of friends of life I would say um it's a similar kind of good feeling as uh my you know when I used to be in the army because there's still people I'm in touch with there.
• 31:22
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah uh so you and then you can help each other once you're qualified.
• 31:28
  SPEAKER_03: So still now on WhatsApp I've got a great group there people I can just sort of chat to if I wonder about something.
• 31:35
  SPEAKER_03: And then you know we can just exchange ideas and uh and support each other in that way.
• 31:40
  SPEAKER_03: So you built a little community there, haven't you?
• 31:42
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah yeah I'm a massive believer of community building.
• 31:45
  SPEAKER_01: Okay so you're like you like my well we talked about my idea for the financial planner life um yeah excited to to see how that develops.
• 31:53
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah it's anybody that I've sort of I'm not gonna go into detail on the podcast today about it because I don't particularly want to share too much around it but I've I have shared with you because I know your passion around trying to attract new people to the profession and trying to make um the career progression within financial planning better and easier and clearer.
• 32:10
  SPEAKER_01: So I know you sound like um what I'm saying is a you sounds to me that you think the idea I've got is really good and it is community based because the community allows people to learn off of each other.
• 32:20
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah um and different people help different people at different stages and that's what it's all about.
• 32:24
  SPEAKER_01: It's like finding that tribe isn't it of people that can help you.
• 32:27
  SPEAKER_03: And on that note people can whoever's listening to the podcast or YouTube they feel free to connect with me on LinkedIn if you're a new entrance.
• 32:37
  SPEAKER_03: I'm very happy to spend a bit of time with you um to identify if this is for you and if it is for you the small questions no no questions a stupid question everyone kind of needs that mentor uh to to begin with yeah and and and go through anything they may need uh because I'm in the process of setting up a LinkedIn group as well to sort of uh to to to get some recruiters and advisors together to just sort of share the knowledge best practice and etc nothing to the scale of what what you got going on Sam but it's kind of just more grassroots level uh uh push people in the right direction and and if it and enable them to actually uh have the confidence to to to land that that first role in the profession.
• 33:23
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah all things start small mate all things start small and what you're doing is the right thing to do and it will only grow and get bigger.
• 33:29
  SPEAKER_01: So no I've seen what you've been doing in respect of sharing content and helping newbies out.
• 33:34
  SPEAKER_01: I mean recently you've done a one-on-one with somebody as well haven't you where you actually went on Zoom and you and you talked to them about um what did you well you tell us what did you talk to you so so I actually um because I don't have a formal structure to it yet for Zoom training so what I did is I brought up uh your uh power planner um the um article yeah and I started going through gonna say typical job descriptions yeah and I said well that's all good and well if you're kind of in the professional rally then you know sort of read between the lines what does that mean.
• 34:06
  SPEAKER_03: But for this guy uh I was trained uh training with I literally then started talking about each element so preparing client files for someone for us to be fully aware of that that means but then I explained to them to him you have different management systems, CRMs, uh and then you update the client objectives, uh the investment portfolios, you know, and go into the nitty-gritty detail of what does it actually mean.
• 34:32
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 34:33
  SPEAKER_03: And that that's kind of level I'm I'm getting at so not necessarily uh beneficial for too many sort of experienced power planners because they're way beyond that level but unless you know you don't know.
• 34:45
  SPEAKER_01: No well you're exactly that you're you're you what you're doing there is you're being of service to somebody that's not really got a great deal of experience and needs some help in the early stages.
• 34:52
  SPEAKER_01: You're not trying to tell a power planner how to do what to do their job because they already know how to do it.
• 34:56
  SPEAKER_01: What you're trying to do is educate somebody who's got no experience around what a power planner does but not just what they do but what does each term mean as well?
• 35:04
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah you know because you mentioned earlier jargon busting jargon busting and that's and that's key um simple psycholinguistics you know keeping things nice and simple that somebody can understand and relate to um those are the key things and I think you and I can definitely do some stuff around that so that's that's amazing that's really cool.
• 35:20
  SPEAKER_03: And on the back of all of this then of course I can start building my own client bank because that's what um being a financial advisor now being uh yeah uh sort of fresh into it although I have a bit of experience now yeah um it's amazing to to be on this podcast and then to to help other people but also hopefully uh will attract some people wanting to work with me um as a financial advisor.
• 35:42
  SPEAKER_01: That's exactly right and this is what is part this is all part of your journey like we talked about this before didn't we like you you you're also somebody who's noticing social media as being a way to raise your profile and you've been doing that within it you know showing that you've got a keen interest in your profession helping others and you're sharing content and you're starting to raise your profile but you know this podcast for you as well is about experiencing what it's like to be on video what it's like to be interviewed and this will only help you build confidence to be able to go on other podcasts and then you might start talking on podcasts that are specifically targeting your type of niche audience of clients that you would like to work with uh it might be an accountancy one it might be a business one or whatever and they want you to come in and do some presenting on it or talk about what it is you do as a profession and why people should use you.
• 36:25
  SPEAKER_01: So these are the these are the things which help you become a better financial planner and better anybody really better in their job.
• 36:31
  SPEAKER_01: I only reason I do this is because I went on a podcast and talked about my career.
• 36:35
  SPEAKER_03: That's amazing and it spiraled on yeah and that's it spark it sparked it on for me.
• 36:40
  SPEAKER_01: So if you don't do it you don't you won't grow and and that's exactly what you're doing today is that confidence building and that's what I love about it.
• 36:47
  SPEAKER_03: Now when you went into Nigel Grice and Associates okay so you started as an IFA administrator into power planning and now you're training financial advice is that right yeah sort of I mean specifics but because it's an appointed representative is technically not an IFA because it's not independent it's part of working network but yes admin power plan and now advisor um so but still it's a it's a it's a smaller firm yes I still cover those roles so I do client meetings but also I do the admin part of it.
• 37:17
  SPEAKER_03: So like uh um the previous podcast I did uh with that lady who who who's gone through all process I I watched some of it and and I can't I agree with her in the sense that now I'm able to do everything uh but in a larger practice let's say it can be beneficial to just be the advisor not do the admin part but at least you have the skill sets of whatever you make on from the initial roles you're doing then at least you can be a one man band if you choose to because you know ever every every part of the way or the whole process.
• 37:50
  SPEAKER_01: I think as well you know what the job is from start to finish.
• 37:54
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 37:55
  SPEAKER_01: So if you go straight into financial planning I think if you didn't understand the work that's required to get date you know the the to get the information in from product providers for example then you might have unrealistic expectations on the business.
• 38:09
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah um and you might be giving up real expectations to clients for example.
• 38:13
  SPEAKER_03: And it is actually surprising how uh when I first started I didn't realize the the the time scales we're looking at for example if you're looking at uh moving someone's pension to your firm uh client's pension you can be looking at two months whereas you know it's not uh go down to the shop and buy something on the counter situation it it it takes time and these product providers they they can be slow and that's something I'm keen to also to cover you know in a in a Zoom uh session with with more kind of administrators who who want to learn more is is kind of managing client expectations and what is a good service what does good look like yeah um yeah yeah absolutely I I agree on that that's that's certainly managing expectations I'm I'm terrible for managing my own personal expectations so I set too high expectations on what I should be getting and what I should be achieving and um I get all negged out if I don't meet my expectations did you have sort of unrealistic expectations at all when you first started out in financial planning I think so being um being learning a profession in a different language is is it's been difficult in the sense that there are now I'm now dealing with terminology and a role which I don't have the Norwegian words for I wouldn't be able to explain explicitly in Norwegian what I do now right because of all the jargon in English.
• 39:32
  SPEAKER_03: I understand it but I can't sort of translate it which is a bizarre feeling.
• 39:37
  SPEAKER_03: That's a hell of a learning curve that is yes it it was and also uh one of the major obstacles I've found is I find I'm I'm better face to face yeah um because obviously um English is not my first language uh although we uh we brought up it in Norway you know taught in schools and such yeah business writing is not really my strongest point no uh so I prefer more of the whole kind of uh client discussions uh showing stuff on buoyan and and and and and stuff over Zoom uh because I'm not necessarily the best in in in in timing it out over an email not saying that means I'm bad at it no it's just uh uh the advisor I've worked on Argile he's incredible he's very meticulous in in all all his writing and that's just it is an art and a skill and hence why you know having a team of good uh admins and power plants can really elevate you know um the narrative in the suitability report for example I think as well I think uh what you raised a good point there because some people who are dyslexic for example and I've I've spoken to a financial planner who had really you know he was he um he was dyslexic and he had real difficulty writing and and everything like that you know um and I think Zoom meetings are perfect because you can just press record can't you so you can take a recording and give it to somebody and someone can then type that up.
• 41:03
  SPEAKER_01: So if you're a financial planner and you're like right I don't particularly like the administration side I'm terrible at it might be that your but your English is really bad or whatever.
• 41:10
  SPEAKER_01: You can take that recording and give it to somebody as long as you're asking the key questions and key points and someone can someone can type that fact find up for you.
• 41:16
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah it's quite a useful tool actually um uh zoom meetings and I've done it I've had meetings with people and said look send it to somebody say can you just write that up for me into like an article because it's I I can I can write and you know I've got no problem with writing but it just takes me time it takes me and I'm and I'm not you know I'm not a natural I'm not a naturally gifted um writer you know well seems like good articles you put out well I use I do use other people to help me with the articles yeah no I might that that's yeah I can massive anti of play to your strengths I mean uh there's there's uh there's for the longest time uh I think in in school stuff you're always taught to to elevate elevate your weaknesses yeah but why don't just double down on your strengths you know yes you can you can finally try to try to fine tune your weaknesses but find what you're good at and then just you know zone in on that 100% so with with financial planning for example if if a if a para planner finds that you know they it's the technical expertise they're good at uh as opposed to I don't know let's say um client facing me teams yeah uh well just double down on you know the technical expertise become the best you can be at that and yeah for for starters they'll enjoy the role more yeah and um and well and they're doing amazing client service.
• 42:36
  SPEAKER_01: Let's talk about the army then because um financial services and financial planning have always have always wanted people to come from the army and join financial planning firms.
• 42:46
  SPEAKER_01: Why do you think that is I think uh it's to do with um the community of people I mean financial services is it's all about people and the army thrives on people from different backgrounds uh cultures uh um education levels um so you kind of get that sort of you know well as the similarities are definitely there uh and also what I've noticed is that um within financial uh planning especially there's a lot of processes involved you know everything is regulatory needs to be documented and the same thing in the army that there's a structure in place for absolutely everything so if you if you can follow the recipe then you can kind of sort of do the job in financial services as well um obviously with a bit of creativity in the sense that uh you're dealing with people and people can be unpredictable but as long as there's that transferable skill set um so yeah so the discipline so the discipline involved with working in the army and and obviously there is discipline you have to follow process and protocol that is easily transferable costs into financial services and there's loads of compliance there's loads of process that needs to be followed and obviously it's serious a bit like in the army if you don't follow Process or protocol is a chance you might blow your buddies up.
• 44:02
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so and it's the same within financial services.
• 44:05
  SPEAKER_01: If you don't follow process and protocol, there's a chance that you can actually go to prison for for misinformation, misadvice, or your firm could go down.
• 44:14
  SPEAKER_01: So that kind of structure than process, I can understand that, why that's transferable from the army to financial planning, actually.
• 44:20
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, so so that that's helped me, uh, me, and the fact that there's some clear milestones and goals, especially if you yeah, if you go through the qualification, you know, it's it's a set kind of procedure how to do things.
• 44:31
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 44:32
  SPEAKER_03: Um, and there's a lot of external training out there.
• 44:35
  SPEAKER_03: Um, and and there's a massive uh community in the financial services from from the forces.
• 44:42
  SPEAKER_03: So across Army, uh REF and Navy, uh, so I've connected with lots of them on LinkedIn, which is fantastic because then you kind of still keep keep in touch with uh that that green side of things.
• 44:54
  SPEAKER_01: Um yeah, because there's a massive community within within um within the uh armed forces, isn't there?
• 44:59
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 44:59
  SPEAKER_03: So that's one of the things I'm doing dealing with is is trying to bridge that gap.
• 45:03
  SPEAKER_03: So with open work, uh I joined with them for virtual careers fair.
• 45:07
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 45:08
  SPEAKER_03: So basically, those who are in the process of leading the forces, looking at what type of roles they would like to get into.
• 45:16
  SPEAKER_03: So uh I was part of the panel to sort of then um give a presentation of what open work uh is all about, what the academy is all about, to then attract talent from the armed forces.
• 45:26
  SPEAKER_03: So that's another core.
• 45:28
  SPEAKER_01: Do you tend to find that um you might not know this, but but I'll ask a question anyway.
• 45:34
  SPEAKER_01: So if someone's coming from the armed forces, do you tend to find that people who have actually had experience of frontline um uh warfare um would be suitable for say financial planning?
• 45:48
  SPEAKER_01: This is where my probably my brain doesn't quite, you know, because when you were in the army, you were doing like administration, weren't you?
• 45:54
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah, well, some of it, yeah.
• 45:56
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so there's a load of there's loads of jobs within the army that aren't actually on the front line facing type stuff, isn't there?
• 46:04
  SPEAKER_01: For sure.
• 46:05
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 46:05
  SPEAKER_01: Do they do you ex do they have as much experience within our the army um of because you get a lot of because there's a lot of people that come out of the army and then really struggle to re um reintroduce themselves into society and they find it difficult to get jobs, and some people have post-traumatic stress syndrome syndrome, um, and some people just find it very difficult because the army's a the army's a specific way, and the the the civilized world is civilized, the civvy world is yeah.
• 46:32
  SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna get shot here, aren't I?
• 46:34
  SPEAKER_01: Literally, but the the civvy world is very different, isn't it?
• 46:37
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 46:37
  SPEAKER_03: So have you when you were working with open work on that um careers fair with the army, did you come across anything like that where people were just struggling to actually get into work and um uh I've cut uh well we didn't delve into those details, but I know that there's uh for example in the city of London, there's many um uh ex-infantry uh soldiers and officers who works in in investment banking, etc.
• 46:59
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, and and um they seem all to transition quite quite well.
• 47:04
  SPEAKER_03: Um, I think it's due down to again structure.
• 47:07
  SPEAKER_03: Um, I mean it's more the transferable skills as opposed to being a a frontline soldier, yeah.
• 47:14
  SPEAKER_03: Um it's more rather than focusing on the actual daily tasks and actions, it's more the the kind of mindset behind it.
• 47:22
  SPEAKER_03: Okay, uh, in terms of the the the grit you can pull yourself through, for example, and and resilience.
• 47:28
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 47:29
  SPEAKER_03: Um, because I found that myself transitioning, it was um if I if I did it all over again now and know exactly the steps I would take to make things easier, right?
• 47:39
  SPEAKER_03: But for example, the resilience part of it was massive.
• 47:42
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, if I um um yeah, it was difficult to get into the this profession, um, but sort of got stuck to it, if that makes sense, kind of uh interesting because what it needed to take.
• 47:54
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you're like a trailblazer, so but at the same time, you're not just going like, I'm just gonna I'm just gonna push my way through to become a financial planner.
• 48:01
  SPEAKER_01: You're actually kind of saying, like, I want to document my journey, I want to document the process that I went down, and I want to be able to pass that knowledge on to other people to make that route easier for them to follow.
• 48:09
  SPEAKER_01: I really admire that because it's not loads of people that do that.
• 48:12
  SPEAKER_01: So we're definitely going to do some stuff together myself around how we can um position some of that content to make sure it's it's right, you know, because um I'm coming at it from a person who runs a recruitment agency within financial planning for the last 12 years, but you've you've you've blazed that trail.
• 48:28
  SPEAKER_01: So I think coming together, we'll be able to put something together that'd be really lovely for people to follow.
• 48:33
  SPEAKER_03: That would be amazing.
• 48:34
  SPEAKER_01: All right, cool.
• 48:35
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so talk to me just a little bit about because obviously you've you've done your IFA administration, go into power planning, all right.
• 48:40
  SPEAKER_01: Now you you're 18 months, you've got yourself level four qualification.
• 48:44
  SPEAKER_01: Now you're now your your firm have obviously got some form of personal development plan in place that have that's got you stepping up to becoming a financial planner.
• 48:51
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 48:52
  SPEAKER_01: How different is the trainee financial planner role in comparison to like administration power planning?
• 48:58
  SPEAKER_01: How different is it?
• 49:00
  SPEAKER_03: I would I dare say it is it's quite different because rather than being reactive to what's uh being uh put in front of you, sort of, you know, where the actions from post meetings, you know, letters to write, you become a lot more proactive because then it becomes uh what are you going to talk about in a client meeting?
• 49:21
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, and then a lot more of the soft skills training kicks in.
• 49:24
  SPEAKER_03: So all the podcasts I've I've I've previously listed in the article that I put out, um, you know, illustrates more of what is the client thinking of, what are their worries?
• 49:34
  SPEAKER_03: Because that affects you and really drives the conversation.
• 49:37
  SPEAKER_03: Because as you said, you may have a lot of knowledge, you know, technical knowledge, but it's it's about the client, it's not about you as an advisor.
• 49:45
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, because you you're there to help them, and in order to help them, you need to understand what they're worried about and the core issues they're coming with.
• 49:54
  SPEAKER_03: Um, so conversation skills and and and listening skills I've I found is is you know, kind of all the skills gets almost flipped on his head as a power planner.
• 50:04
  SPEAKER_03: It's all about the technicalities, it's all about the the producing the documents, uh producing the analysis.
• 50:11
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 50:11
  SPEAKER_03: Whereas uh in a meeting, the more they talk and the more you listen, almost the better the meeting outcome will be.
• 50:19
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, perfect.
• 50:20
  SPEAKER_01: So being a power planner administrative does complement that because you kind of have a good idea of the processes that you've got to go through and the key information that you need to gather from that client.
• 50:28
  SPEAKER_01: But what's really important is that all of a sudden, and absolutely I love that, because one one is a one is very much uh a gathering of information, making sure you've got everything in place in the processes are there.
• 50:38
  SPEAKER_01: The other is actually human interaction, isn't it?
• 50:40
  SPEAKER_01: It's like, you know, what's what's worrying this person?
• 50:43
  SPEAKER_01: What can I unearth?
• 50:44
  SPEAKER_01: What can I what question can I ask that's going to make him become emotive and give me the information that I require?
• 50:49
  SPEAKER_01: How can I build this relationship with him so he doesn't go and use another financial planner?
• 50:53
  SPEAKER_01: You know, what is this guy guy's goals and achievements?
• 50:56
  SPEAKER_01: You know, what are goals and um aspirations for for his life?
• 50:59
  SPEAKER_01: You know, does he really believe what he thinks it is?
• 51:03
  SPEAKER_01: You know, it's about challenging somebody in a way that isn't aggressive as well, isn't it?
• 51:09
  SPEAKER_01: When you do a consultative approach, it's about and you're so right, like and I've never been a financial planner, but talking to people is it's universal, right?
• 51:17
  SPEAKER_01: Trying to get information out of somebody.
• 51:19
  SPEAKER_01: Good effective questioning and emotive questioning works every single time.
• 51:24
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you know, what would you what what would you do if you were white, you know, what would you do if you weren't able to pay the bills?
• 51:30
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, it's it's those hard questions.
• 51:33
  SPEAKER_03: Um and I dare say a bit of the transferable skills from the armies and um not necessarily specifically for the army, I'm aware that many others may have these things, but that's kind of the comparison I can make is uh having that courage to ask those questions because so many would feel perhaps uncomfortable of putting emotional pressure in a meeting.
• 51:56
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, but as a financial planner, it's kind of imperative that those questions are asked to see whether or not, you know, well to to find out where where the priorities lie.
• 52:07
  SPEAKER_03: Because as you said, how would you feel if you you know if if your significant other uh passes away?
• 52:13
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 52:13
  SPEAKER_03: Uh of course, upset for most.
• 52:17
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, but um, you know, financially, because after all it's a financial meeting, you know, do you have the can you provide for the children if that happens?
• 52:25
  SPEAKER_03: Um, and that's um that transition of being comfortable, being uncomfortable, yeah, is is a transition in itself.
• 52:33
  SPEAKER_01: The questions that nobody really wants to ask.
• 52:35
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 52:36
  SPEAKER_01: And how do you it's then how you do it's how you deliver it, you know, it's how you deliver it.
• 52:40
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and there's a definite skill to that, and it doesn't work every time.
• 52:44
  SPEAKER_01: Sometimes you you know it's trial and error.
• 52:45
  SPEAKER_01: You might ask a question in the complete wrong way and think, why did I ask that?
• 52:48
  SPEAKER_01: But it's always it's always leads on to something else.
• 52:51
  SPEAKER_01: You always end up with a with a conversation flowing.
• 52:54
  SPEAKER_01: And I like what you said there about courage, because if you don't step up to it and give it a go, yeah, you'll never know and you'll never build experience.
• 53:01
  SPEAKER_03: Well, it's a bit like this podcast, unless you sort of you will never uh get the confidence by by reading about it, or or you can prepare yourself endlessly, yeah.
• 53:12
  SPEAKER_03: But unless you actually do it, uh you won't get the confidence to do it.
• 53:16
  SPEAKER_03: Confidence comes by doing.
• 53:18
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, absolutely.
• 53:19
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, cool.
• 53:21
  SPEAKER_01: What does the future hold for you then?
• 53:23
  SPEAKER_01: What's the next year looking like?
• 53:25
  SPEAKER_03: Hopefully bring uh bring more clients uh uh on on the into the firm, looking after clients, developing myself.
• 53:33
  SPEAKER_03: Um ideally, I I look to go charted eventually.
• 53:36
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah um but yeah, so if anyone's listening to this and uh and they would like some uh advice, then you can find me in Oxford.
• 53:44
  SPEAKER_03: So that's um and also I look to uh perhaps um do more uh informal training over Zoom, help others, yeah uh and and uh as you mentioned earlier, uh do some work with you, uh and sort of bring awareness to this and quite excited um in terms of don't really know what the next 12 months um can offer, you know.
• 54:06
  SPEAKER_03: COVID is still uh rife.
• 54:09
  SPEAKER_03: Um but yeah, just the word excited, really.
• 54:13
  SPEAKER_01: So what advice would you give somebody if somebody's struggling a little bit at the moment, right?
• 54:17
  SPEAKER_01: And they are doing their qualifications and they're thinking, oh God, this is really hard.
• 54:21
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know if this is the career for me.
• 54:23
  SPEAKER_01: Going through the process yourself, can becoming level four qualified over 18 months and feeling those ups and downs.
• 54:29
  SPEAKER_01: What advice would you give somebody just to you know to help them see the light at the end of the tunnel?
• 54:36
  SPEAKER_03: Speak to other advisors, and you will probably find that the feelings you're feeling or the subjects you're finding difficult, uh, you're not alone.
• 54:45
  SPEAKER_03: Um reach out and network with other people, um, and uh network with like-minded you know, other students, uh, because sometimes that hurdle can be just because you don't understand a particular aspect or find it difficult, but um you'll you'll more often than not find that you're not alone in it.
• 55:05
  SPEAKER_03: So um it's it can be hard, but definitely just reach out to people and you'll be surprised at uh how strangers are willing to help.
• 55:14
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, I still remember um trying to break into profession, and I through friends or family, I had uh got the uh phone number for an advisor in London.
• 55:25
  SPEAKER_03: He gave me an hour of his time, um, and through that hour I realised I wanted to become an advisor, not necessarily a paraphrum direct.
• 55:33
  SPEAKER_03: And that was someone I've never met and never spoken to since an hour of his time and really solidified my pathway.
• 55:41
  SPEAKER_03: So don't be afraid, just put yourself out there.
• 55:44
  SPEAKER_03: What's the worst that can happen?
• 55:46
  SPEAKER_03: I love that saying.
• 55:48
  SPEAKER_03: Nine times out of ten, there is a good outcome or a learning experience from it.
• 55:53
  SPEAKER_01: And hearing that story about the chap in London you've never met before who's reached out, you know, and helped you, and that helped you at a pivotal part in your career of making the decision of becoming a financial planner.
• 56:02
  SPEAKER_01: I can see now why you want to then give back some help to others who are going through the same process as you.
• 56:07
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 56:08
  SPEAKER_03: And also I give a lot of credit to um, I'm going to name drop him, Andrew White, because he he he's a part of uh um uh a Vets team at Barclays, and uh he's helped so many people from the armed forces to resettle, whether that's in banking or other areas, he's a very well-connected guy.
• 56:27
  SPEAKER_03: And I still remember this gesture he did for me.
• 56:30
  SPEAKER_03: He uh I met him at a networking event in Colchester.
• 56:34
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, really got on with him.
• 56:36
  SPEAKER_03: He was uh, I believe, an ex uh he was used to be a sergeant in infantry, I think.
• 56:41
  SPEAKER_03: And uh he was that card and he then asked me, Where's the business cards?
• 56:45
  SPEAKER_03: And I said, I don't have any.
• 56:47
  SPEAKER_03: And he said, You come to network meeting and you don't have a business card.
• 56:50
  SPEAKER_03: I said, What do I put on it?
• 56:51
  SPEAKER_03: Just your name and your number and email, that's all you need.
• 56:54
  SPEAKER_03: So the the the following when I met him next time, he uh he I met up with him in London and he had you know gone out of his way to get some printed up for me and gave it to me and said, Here you are, here's the business card.
• 57:07
  SPEAKER_03: And I, you know, I said, Wow, that was so kind.
• 57:09
  SPEAKER_03: What do you want for it?
• 57:10
  SPEAKER_03: No, no, no, you know, passing forward um in terms of uh it's my pleasure.
• 57:15
  SPEAKER_03: Uh I'd I'd love to see you succeed.
• 57:18
  SPEAKER_03: Uh so I lot of credit to him.
• 57:20
  SPEAKER_01: So you're okay, fantastic.
• 57:22
  SPEAKER_01: So he said pay it forward, and that's again something that you're really keen to do, is to help others around you get ahead and pass that knowledge on.
• 57:30
  SPEAKER_01: Brilliant.
• 57:30
  SPEAKER_01: I love that story.
• 57:31
  SPEAKER_01: That was great.
• 57:32
  SPEAKER_01: Uh Benjamin, thank you so much for your time today.
• 57:34
  SPEAKER_01: Thanks for sharing your journey so far.
• 57:35
  SPEAKER_01: Thanks for the fact that you know you're coming on the podcast because you want to help other people.
• 57:39
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 57:39
  SPEAKER_01: If anyone's listening to this podcast, connect with Benjamin on LinkedIn.
• 57:43
  SPEAKER_01: He absolutely shares some great content and he's very knowledgeable, and he will help you in your career.
• 57:48
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm gonna be working with him in the future.
• 57:50
  SPEAKER_01: We're gonna be putting some content together, so look out for that as well.
• 57:53
  SPEAKER_03: Cheers, Sam.
• 57:54
  SPEAKER_03: Thanks so much for having me on.
• 57:55
  SPEAKER_01: Nice one, Benjamin.