Hoxton Life

From Private Banking to Paraplanning in Dubai: Andrianna Rawlings on Career Growth at Hoxton Wealth

• Hoxton Wealth

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In this episode of Hoxton Life, Andrianna Rawlings, Paraplanner at Hoxton Wealth, shares her personal career journey, speaking on the critical skills and lessons that have helped her develop in the world of international financial planning. Touching on the importance of continuous professional development (CPD) and the vital role of technology, Andrianna’s insights offer valuable takeaways for anyone looking to grow within the financial planning profession. She emphasises how staying adaptable and keeping up with changing regulations across multiple jurisdictions has shaped her approach to global client management.

Andrianna also shares her passion for building strong client relationships, focusing on understanding her clients’ personal goals and going beyond standard financial advice. Her transition from private banking to paraplanning taught her about the level of expertise required to effectively deliver cross-border financial planning, particularly in a market as dynamic as Dubai. Andrianna explains how embracing tools like the Hoxton Wealth app has enhanced her ability to serve international clients efficiently, while maintaining high standards of trust and transparency. She also acknowledges how mentorship has been one of the key drivers behind her development and success at Hoxton Wealth, guiding her along the Hoxton pathway to becoming a financial planner.

Tune in and gain unique insight into the challenges and opportunities in paraplanning on a global scale, as well as practical advice on how to balance career growth with a fulfilling lifestyle, especially for those considering a move into international markets. Andrianna’s story is a compelling look at how the right blend of skills, mentorship, and client care can drive long-term success in the financial planning profession.

Ready to start your international financial planning career?

Hoxton Wealth is looking for ambitious individuals ready to take their careers to the next level. Whether you're interested in international financial planning, compliance, client servicing, or marketing roles within the financial sector, we offer unparalleled opportunities for growth and success.

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Speaker 1:

But I do really, really love my job.

Speaker 2:

Lovely, so you get to go over to Australia very jet-setter.

Speaker 1:

One of the amazing opportunities that you get with Hoxton the opportunity to be able to go and see clients all around the world. I think is really important. Now there's a pathway option for advisors which supports you, guides you. There's training, which I think is amazing to see.

Speaker 2:

A single swim.

Speaker 1:

Oh yeah, definitely.

Speaker 2:

it's like do it yourself so what do you get up to at the weekend?

Speaker 1:

There's a great group and I've met an amazing group of girls at work, but there are so many opportunities to go out and meet other people, pilates groups, ladies' days bunches.

Speaker 2:

You're living the dream.

Speaker 1:

But I do really, really love my job.

Speaker 2:

Perfect.

Speaker 1:

I would do silly to move away from someone like her. Like I'm really happy in my job and very proud of the job I do and I feel that's hard for some people to say I'm winning really.

Speaker 2:

Annie, thank you for joining me on the Hoxton Life. How are you?

Speaker 1:

I'm good. How are you?

Speaker 2:

Very good, thank you.

Speaker 1:

Thanks for having me here.

Speaker 2:

You're welcome. What do you think of the view?

Speaker 1:

it's insane, absolutely amazing.

Speaker 2:

I don't think I've been this high up actually it's kind of like you're in the living room as well, did you say? Is this somebody's house?

Speaker 1:

yeah, it is giving like. I mean I like I said I would sleep here. It's a nice view. Yeah, get an airbed, yeah perfect.

Speaker 2:

That's not a bad job, is it? Podcast studio stroke air, stroke airbed Airbnb.

Speaker 1:

That would be perfect. You'd rent it yeah.

Speaker 2:

Fabulous Well listen. Thank you so much for coming on the podcast today. The Hoxton Life podcast is all about those that work in Hoxton wealth in the international financial planning space. You know I'm just somebody who not really knew a great deal about the international financial planning space even though I worked in recruitment for 16 years. I'm hyper focused really on the UK. But you're living the dream yes, absolutely amazing.

Speaker 1:

Really lucky that I live in Dubai um work for Hoxton Wealth as well, um so yeah, having a good time, right, great stuff.

Speaker 2:

So just tell us a little bit about what you're doing at Hoxton Wealth then. What's your job title and what do you do?

Speaker 1:

So I'm a power planner. I work directly with a senior advisor for Hoxton and I essentially look after the client book, write reports, manage diaries.

Speaker 2:

Bit of everything, then A little bit of everything. Who's the advisor you're working with?

Speaker 1:

I work for Michaela Van De Peer.

Speaker 2:

Oh fantastic, how long have you worked?

Speaker 1:

with her Two and a half years now and what do you think of her? Insane Like? I'm very fortunate. I have an amazing, not just manager but mentor and friend, so I'm very fortunate.

Speaker 2:

Oh, that's brilliant. So just tell us a little bit about Michaela then.

Speaker 1:

So Michaela's done financial planning for the last 16, 17 years in the GCC, so all over from qatar to abu dhabi to here, um, so she's got years of experience, um, and she's very knowledgeable. She is also very personable, um, and where I'm not maybe the biggest, where I don't maybe have the right experience, like in the international space, she's the best person to work alongside because she's so experienced the international space is huge, right.

Speaker 2:

We're a multi-jurisdiction organization, right. Six different jurisdictions across the world, all different qualifications. Right, there's a lot to take in and there's a lot to learn. It's not just one you know country, like the UK, for example, so it's okay to not know everything and I guess having a good, strong mentor who's patient with you is a real benefit to you, right oh, definitely, patient is one of her many qualities, but I think that's an important one to have when I'm new to the whole industry.

Speaker 1:

Although I came from finance, I didn't have this experience, and it's very different, like you, to working with just UK clients. You have to understand people from all over, which is nice.

Speaker 2:

What did you do when you were in the UK then? Because you said you didn't come from financial planning, for instance.

Speaker 1:

So I worked in NatWest, so I was a private banking manager for NatWest and I didn't necessarily deal with advice pieces. I would more service the clients. Um, it wasn't. This is what you need to do. This is, these are the options that the bank has and that's it, whereas here I've had to understand that you need to really listen to the client's needs and make a plan for them, which is a lot more difficult fantastic.

Speaker 2:

when you, when you joined Hoxton, then what did you actually join as? Because you didn't join as a power planner, did you?

Speaker 1:

No, so I actually started as a business development manager, where I obviously managed client from the very start. From there I then was a PA and went into supporting another partner, and then I got the opportunity to be a power planner.

Speaker 2:

Fantastic and qualifications wise. Then. Are you studying towards any qualifications at the moment?

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I'm level four, uk level four qualified now with CISI and I'm currently training to do my SISEC and my series 65 for US.

Speaker 2:

Fantastic. For those that don't know, Series 65 and SISEC tell us a little bit about what those qualifications are and what it allows you to do.

Speaker 1:

So SISEC is to allow me to advise in Europe to all European clients, and then the Series 65 allows me to advise American clients, whether they be in the US or living overseas.

Speaker 2:

Fantastic. And how far along are you in that journey then?

Speaker 1:

So I've literally just started. So the started revising and understanding the process.

Speaker 2:

Great stuff. So the role you're doing at the moment as a power planner the more I talk to the power planners here at Hoxton Wealth, it's very much a relationship focused role, right?

Speaker 1:

Tell us a little bit about the extra responsibilities when it comes to the client side then yeah, so normal power planning would would just be report writing, really, and creating the financial plan alongside an advisor, whereas with hoxton wealth, they definitely want you to have more exposure. Um to looking after clients. So I would ensure that clients are being reviewed. I would support with fact finds and risk profile questionnaires. I would help with market commentary, for example, so ensuring that clients are up to date each month on what's going on in the world, as well as understanding investments and the client's portfolio, just necessarily helping do the reviews.

Speaker 2:

And keeping in contact on a regular basis, making friends out of the clients as well oh, definitely so.

Speaker 1:

Um, we're actually going over to australia in a couple of weeks, um, for some seminars that hoxton wealth are hosting, and we have so many clients over there who have become good friends that will be able to go around for dinners, um, and have coffee catch-ups and some drinks, which would be really nice lovely.

Speaker 2:

So you, so you get to go over to Australia Very jet-setter.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, one of the amazing opportunities that you get with Hoxton is the many locations that we've got to be able to work internationally. So, although Dubai is an insane hub and an amazing place to live and work, the opportunity to be able to go and see clients all around the world I think is really important and important to a client as well. And see clients all around the world, I think is really important and important to a client as well, because they move around, they're they're expats themselves, which is nice to have something in common when did you join Hoxton?

Speaker 2:

uh three and a half years ago so you've been here a little while then. So have you seen some big changes since the business has grown.

Speaker 1:

I've seen a lot of changes. The the business is is thriving. So it started off a lot smaller and not as many clients that we were looking after, not as many, maybe, advisors and business development managers the team as a whole has grown. The company has grown. We're definitely more known in the international space now as well, and we've rebranded, which is so nice to see when, like you're watching it grow and yeah, we've we've definitely grown and so when I joined the business, there wasn't a pathway or an opportunity for us to maybe grow as quickly, whereas now there's a pathway option for advisors and for people like myself that say, who's a paraplanner and may potentially want to be an advisor, we've now got a pathway course which supports you, guides you, there's training, which we never had before and I think and not many companies do actually have um, which I think is amazing to see I think the international space has always kind of been single swim oh yeah, definitely.

Speaker 2:

It's like do it yourself do it yourself, get on with it. If you can make it happen, fantastic. If you can't get on the plane, yeah home, um. But the one thing I have noticed as well with hoxton wealth when I looked under the bonnet, and one of the reasons why I joined was the supportive culture here. How have you found that culture within the business and the people within it? What's it like?

Speaker 1:

absolutely amazing and I think everybody in the company would say the same thing. Like Hoxton has an amazing culture, community culture. We get on so well in from any aspect, from whichever background you're from. We are a really good group and a good team. It's very hard sometimes in international advisory because you are kind of on do it on your own, whereas in hoxton you have someone to lean on, you have a buddy system. Um, for some people you have people to lean on. Like, although I work for michaela, I can go to any of the advisors and say, look, I need your help with this sort of advice. Can you, can you give me five minutes of your time? And no, no one ever says no. They're more than happy to sit down five minutes of their time.

Speaker 2:

Oh, that's really good to hear. So, living in Dubai three and a half years, what's that been like.

Speaker 1:

The best three and a half years. Yeah, it's gone really, really quick. I can't actually believe how fast it has gone. I've made the most amazing friends, got an amazing house, got a great job.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, it's definitely been the best move I've I've ever done so, as a female out here in Dubai, what's the social life?

Speaker 1:

social life is brilliant. Um, you have so many opportunities to go out and meet people when you join here. So I mean, I'm very lucky that in Hoxton there is a great culture like there's a great group and I've met an amazing group of girls at work. But there are so many opportunities to go out and meet other people pilates, groups, ladies days, brunches, pop-up shops for like clothes and stuff like you want to sell your clothes. There's things to go and do like every single day cheese and wine nights. Uh, it really is open to all opportunities fantastic.

Speaker 2:

So you started as a bdm, moved into like a pa, and then moved into power planning. Um, what's next for you then? Where do you feel like your future is going to go? At Hoxton Wealth?

Speaker 1:

I definitely think I'm going to stay doing my role for a bit longer and if it was to change into advising, I would do it still with Michaela. She is an amazing mentor and I feel like I would be silly to move away from someone like her who's very proud of her work, as am I, and the support that I get from her is like no other. So it would I would I see myself working with her and maybe potentially mini advising under her, but I do really really love my job and, like I'm really happy in my job, I'm very proud of the job I do, and I feel that's hard for some people to say so.

Speaker 2:

To say that I'm happy is I'm winning really a lot of people come out to Dubai chasing money. Is money your motivator when you're out here, or what's the kind of what motivates you, though, because you seem very happy?

Speaker 1:

I'm not yeah, I'm not driven by money at all, like. I'm not that sort of person. I never have been. I just, um, I want to be proud where I work, I want to be proud of what I do and I literally, like I said, I want to be happy. I think for me to be in a position where I know I can still grow and the possibility of me progressing and growing is there. I'm not being like put into a box and, just as I say, to say I'm happy with what I do is, yeah, amazing sometimes in some companies people can feel under pressure to push for quicker.

Speaker 2:

Do you ever get that kind of pressure from hoxton at all?

Speaker 1:

no, and maybe some people who have like individually feel like that. That's because they're chasing a quick fix, but not within the company. Um short-term gain, long-term no short-term pain, long term gain. That's it exactly um, but yeah, I definitely think like short-term sacrifices, long-term gain. I think that's why people move here. I don't think moving to a new country and starting again is a quick fix. I think it's a really big fix if, if you do so, I do think people are patient with. I certainly am patient with knowing what's to come.

Speaker 2:

But it's nice to know as well that Hoxton are patient with you and that they do provide you with a clear pathway, training, development, and that you found a great mentor as well in Michaela. I think mentorship is so, so important. It's one of the things that is massively lacking within the financial planning profession. It gets talked about so much in the UK that we need these mentors right to bring on the next generation of financial planners. Hoxton the average age of an advisor in Hoxton is 37 years old. The average age of an advisor in the UK is 55. So we're we are a young company essentially. You know, and I think that's a real positive do you get that energy in there? Is there a? Is there a a high energy like a like? It feels like a young, vibrant, innovative company definitely, um.

Speaker 1:

Everyone is full of energy, everyone's excited. No one is planning on retirement next year. We're all in a very similar position, which I think is nice. Working um for the bank in the UK, the. It was such a different age caliber. You, the people I was working with, were the advisors, who are 55 and above and had been in the bank since they were 16. Like nobody changed their jobs back then and it was difficult for me who was I was always trying to. I was trying to get as high as I could in that company, um, because I knew that I was better than being a cashier, for example, nothing wrong with it. I just knew in myself that that was what I wanted, whereas when I came to hoxton, there, everyone was similar ages, wanted similar things, um, but weren't rushing to do anything, which is nice okay cool.

Speaker 2:

So you felt empowered for people around you, people who are supportive. Yeah, there's a clear-cut career pathway here for you. You can take it at your own pace. Do you get time to study that kind of stuff?

Speaker 1:

yeah, I'm very lucky that um, I have michaela again, um, who gives me the opportunity to sit and study like she wants me to, to upskill myself and to better myself, um, educate myself. So I've always been given, like when I started, when I was doing my level four. She'd be like have an hour in the morning, do your studying and take what time you need, do your exams at the time of the day that suits you. So, yeah, oh, fantastic always supported me.

Speaker 1:

Brilliant, so do your exams at the time of the day that suits you.

Speaker 2:

So yeah, oh, fantastic, always supported me Brilliant. So when you look at the business and you look at the wider team around you, what excites you the most about the future and where you might take your career?

Speaker 1:

I'm excited for the growth of the company. I think there's so much more potential, our international footprint so the opportunities to open more offices or to even go and visit the offices that we've got around the world, I think is really exciting. Um, for myself, I, as I say, I'm very happy doing what I do, but making sure that I'm educated, getting the qualifications because it is becoming a higher regulated industry in all countries, which it wasn't necessarily so ensuring I'm up to date with all of my exams is definitely where I see myself in the next few years great stuff.

Speaker 2:

So getting stuck into the CPDs, that kind of stuff always.

Speaker 1:

I mean CPD is continuous. We do that every single day and no one knows everything. So I think it's important to always learn, watch videos, do training, ask for help, so yeah.

Speaker 2:

Fantastic, and do you see yourself being a financial planner?

Speaker 1:

one day. I absolutely love client servicing, like I love rapport building, I love chatting, I love finding out about people. I find people really interesting. I like what you do. Interviewing Like that's essentially what a fact find is. Like I absolutely love finding out about people and that I can see myself doing. Definitely, I obviously need to have a lot more experience before I feel confident enough to be in the international financial planning space, because it isn't as one-sided as the UK, for example. There are so many products and services available to clients. I want to make sure that I understand everything before I maybe stepped into that role.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, again, you, you know, with a power planner, you'd often have power planners that are client facing, or you'd have power planners that would really be just report writing, as you said, like sort of sat in the back. They're given a workload and they get on with it and they don't really ever go into client meetings. I think when you get the chance to go into those client meetings and start to interact with the client in a different way, like you are essentially like a relationship manager, right, right, you're their go-to person. Michaela can be quite busy. She could be here, there and everywhere trying to generate new business. First meetings, but it's your job really to keep those clients happy, keep them in the right place and every time you're just building that relationship with them further. So I love the way the power planners here are encouraged and, if not, it's like it is part of the role to be a client relationship manager. Definitely, and it's such an important piece of the puzzle.

Speaker 2:

Um, financial planners are happy, uh, because they've got somebody good and qualified and experienced and nice looking after their clients. That keeps them happy, frees them up to go and see some other people. But you get to understand them a little bit further and the more work you do with them, the more you learn and therefore, the more confidence you gain. Right, and I love the fact that you're doing these different qualifications and you're getting stuck into them because you want to see right.

Speaker 2:

Okay, international space like Dubai is so transient, right, people coming in and out. They've got pensions here, pensions there. They've lived here, they've lived there the opportunities from you know the 401ks and IRA rollovers those typical types of things when no one's really touching it. There's such a huge opportunity in that expat space. So, getting qualified properly, working for a company that is a fee-based, regulated firm that have those licenses in those multiple jurisdictions, it's, it's the right thing to do, um, and I think you're taking it at the right pace. You're not going too quickly, yeah, and then one day, when the time is right, you're taking it at the right pace.

Speaker 2:

You're not going too quickly. And then one day, when the time is right, you're going to become that financial planner. But the thing is you're all easing to it, right?

Speaker 1:

I still think. I completely agree and I still think, even doing what I do although I'm not necessarily the financial planner, like you said, I am the first point of contact for a lot of our clients. Because Michaela is extremely busy. Yeah, um qualified to be able to say to a client oh, you need to withdraw, I can help you with that. Yeah, because I don't then need to go and bother michaela with the bits and pieces that she doesn't have time to do. Yeah, but she does still have to do a lot of that still, because I I'm not in the position where I am as qualified as she can to do those bits. So I that's where I I think I'm not rushing to be a financial planner because there is still so much that I need to do as a power planner or I don't know client servicing within her team that I can learn from.

Speaker 2:

Are you leaning into the app at all?

Speaker 1:

Oh, every day. Yeah, so a lot of my clients that I would work with, where they are existing clients will give me a call oh, I just need evaluation and I'll pass them straight over to the app. The wealth flow which allows them to have a look at what they could achieve in retirement, is really good. It's a really key tool and very useful for what I do, especially where I'm not advising the client on anything. I'm just supporting them with any questions and queries that they have. If Michaela's not available for maybe a week or two, um, so, yeah, it's a great tool yeah, fantastic.

Speaker 2:

I love the energy and the effort they're putting into it, the money they're putting into it to develop it further. I mean an international free app that helps people manage all their assets in one place and do wealth flow, which is their version of cash flow forecasting. But we're not allowed to say cash flow forecasting.

Speaker 1:

I think it's not allowed to say cash flow forecasting.

Speaker 2:

I think it's really, really powerful. For everyone to have that in their pocket is brilliant.

Speaker 1:

Oh yeah.

Speaker 2:

In the international space. And obviously it ties also in, doesn't it, with Matrix, which is our own homegrown CRM system that does cover all those multi-jurisdictions. So if a client on there moves from one country to another, we can easily manage that from an administrative perspective, from a report writing perspective. It's all there in one place. It's homegrown, we've built it. We're not taking one off the shelf and having to bodge it. And it feeds in beautifully, doesn't it to the app when?

Speaker 2:

I see the app work with that. It's just wonderful. It's like a really kind of succinct way of doing for you for essentially client relationship management.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, definitely, completely agree. It really helps where we have a lot of clients who don't stay in one place they may be working in Australia, but only for a short term and aren't going to retire there and, as well as like having all of the licenses that we've got, being able to move a client seamlessly from Australia back to the UK and they can track everything on the app so they can see that the money isn't just disappearing, it's there and it's moving over onto our own uk license. They love that. They love that it's hoxton through and through and we have that continuity throughout yeah, which is good, perfect.

Speaker 2:

What do you think of the brand launch? Do you think that's good?

Speaker 1:

I love it it. I love the colour. Yeah, it's definitely more modern. It's not the typical blue that associate with like the same old finance. It's fun Wrapping the colour today. You're wrapping it. Yeah, I love the launch. I think it's really good.

Speaker 2:

If any women are listening to this podcast now, which I'm sure they will, okay. There's a distinct lack of women within the financial planning profession. There's a distinct lack of women in the international space, especially in Dubai. How would you sell coming over to Dubai and maybe continuing their career within financial planning? But in the international space, here in Dubai?

Speaker 1:

as a woman, it is obviously very overwhelming sometimes to do a lot on your own, but the one thing about coming to Dubai is there is a lot of women in the same position. There are so many women who have moved here on their own, who are looking for a career or not necessarily pushing a career. They just want to have a good lifestyle that you can have all of that here. You can have the busy work-life balance, you can have the good gym lifestyle, you can meet really good friends and the biggest selling point for me is the safety of it.

Speaker 1:

I live in Croydon in London and walking home at midnight is just an ogre situation like you just wouldn't like. You've got your key in your hand and you're running down the road to get to your door. You don't have that here. So be able to be over to at midnight, be able to, I know, go for a walk or run, because obviously the summer's hot, you gotta go out so late. Um, to be able to go and do that and not worry about my safety is a huge, huge thing. In the uk one of us girls would always say right, if one of us leaves, we all leave, whereas here loads of my friends just leave a brunch and I know they've got home safe, because there's just none of that issue here.

Speaker 1:

So the biggest selling point for me would be the fact that you can live a free, safe life, which is unfortunate you can't do that in other parts of the world. But secondly, you really can have whatever you want here. As I say, if you want to have a career, you can have a career. If you don't, that's fine career. You can have a career. If you don't, that's fine. You can also have that. And I myself don't push for like a money, hungry every day, work 15 hour days like career. That's not for me. I'm proud of people that do that, but I love the fact that I can go to work and I can go home and have a good work-life balance lovely.

Speaker 2:

So what do you get up to at the weekends then? What's your thing?

Speaker 1:

um, probably see the girls a lot. I have a dog as well, so love walking the dog. Um, I have a lot of friends with children as well out here, which is really nice. A bit of family life. So sunday roasts are still very normal here, um, and you don't have your mum and dad, your grandparents, your siblings to be able to just pop around and see. So your friends do become your family here. So we spend a lot of time with each other, which is really nice, and I think you form really good relationships that way, because you do become so important to each other well, seeing as your relationship manager in the business stroke power planner, I think you'd probably be pretty good at that.

Speaker 2:

I can understand why. Listen, annie. Thank you so much for sharing your um hoxton life with us today. It's been really interesting and I'm sure anybody listening to this. If they're thinking about the international space and maybe pursuing a career out here, you should hopefully have inspired them to take the chance I really hope so.

Speaker 1:

Thank you so much for having me. It's been amazing, thanks you're welcome.