Hoxton Life

Lifestyle Planning, Court of Protection & Farming Clients - A Financial Planner’s Unique Journey

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The Financial Planner Who Leads with Purpose - Featuring Teresa Dunning, Hoxton Wealth

In this episode of Hoxton Life, I sit down with Teresa Dunning, Financial Planning Director at Hoxton Wealth, to talk about what it truly means to build a career around impact - not just numbers.

Teresa has carved out a unique path in the financial planning profession, specialising in two powerful niches:

  • Supporting farming families with succession and inheritance tax planning
  • Advising families affected by clinical negligence and personal injury, through court of protection and lifetime care planning

She shares how her journey started in retail banking, how she became Chartered, and why she made the decision to join Hoxton Wealth in 2024.

We discuss:

  • What it’s like working within Hoxton Wealth’s intrapreneurial adviser model
  • Why professional connections have been the foundation of Teresa’s success
  • How she launched a seminar for the agricultural community—backed by Hoxton
  • The emotional depth of working with vulnerable families through legal processes
  • Her plans to mentor the next generation of financial planners

Teresa’s story is one of purpose, proactivity, and personal growth. It’s also a clear look at what’s possible when advisers are given the space, tools, and support to build something of their own.

Whether you’re an aspiring financial planner or a seasoned IFA looking for a new way forward, this episode will leave you inspired.

🎥 Watch the ⁠docu-story and more episodes on YouTube: Search “Hoxton Life”

🎙️ Or listen now on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.     

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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Curious about our career opportunities? Visit our website to explore open positions and learn more about joining the Hoxton Wealth team. Your journey in international financial planning starts here!

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Speaker 1:

You've got solicitors, you've got accountants, and obviously that community then supports farming in general.

Speaker 2:

I saw the opportunity arise with the post-tax budget. The agricultural community were not so happy about that, so what started off quite small is now rolled out into something quite big.

Speaker 1:

I got wind of it, Jumped on the phone to you and was like right, let's create a documentary around it. Why did you come to Hoxton Wealth? What was your reason?

Speaker 2:

Jonathan Jay played a huge part in that Everyone thinks they can run their own business.

Speaker 1:

But actually when you do, it takes you away from the things you love the most.

Speaker 2:

So I'm involved with some families where their children have real brain injuries and would never recover from them. These legalities take years and years, and years for this money to come to fruition.

Speaker 1:

So where did that come from with you? Was it natural? Did you have a network to begin with?

Speaker 2:

Some of these claims come in at five million plus. If you go into it thinking it's all just about the money and the fees, you're not going to go very far.

Speaker 1:

Teresa, thanks for joining me today on the Hoxton Life podcast. We're obviously in the Liverpool office, this brand new office for Hoxton Wealth, so thanks for joining me today, and I'm really obviously excited to be here, because I'm getting to spend some time with you this week on some very creative endeavours. We're going to be creating a documentary about farming over this week, so, first things first, though, let's kick into a podcast and find out a little bit about you, your journey. First, though, let's kick into a podcast and find out a little bit about you, your journey and, um, what it's like working for hoxton, and let's hopefully inspire a few listeners. So theresa, first off, just tell us how you actually got into the financial planning profession. I think that'd be quite an interesting idea of a yeah sorry, that'd be quite interesting.

Speaker 2:

Okay, it all started in the retail banking sector. I was a branch manager at the time. I got approached by a regional manager who said I think you'd be good at financial advising and I was kind of going I don't know if I would be A little bit more persuasion. He said let's take you on, let's get you on the academy and let's get you through some exams. So that's where the journey started and that was way back when with the Halifax about 15 years ago, which does seem a long time ago now, but time just flies. And he was right.

Speaker 2:

It was something I enjoyed, something I really threw myself into and learned that from, you know, the perspective of retail banking. I think I really got into the role when I left the Halifax after something like 10 years of service with them, which is, you know, a good period of time with them, and I moved into Quilter Private Client Advisors and I had a great seven years with them which exposed me a lot more to independent financial planning. It's somewhere I became chartered as well and it gave me the opportunity to start working with what we call professional connections and that's kind of where it springboarded me into organic growth clients, not just through acquisition. But for me going out there and working with solicitors and accountants and getting some lovely referrals from them.

Speaker 1:

And that's where the journey began of being a financial planner. We hear it a lot is that not everybody's got within them the ability to go out and generate business or professional connections. So where did that come from with you? Was it natural? Did you have a network to begin with, and how did how did you approach that?

Speaker 2:

it came as an opportunity really. Um, through quilters, as in a company which was a solicitor's firm, wanted to look at the opportunities of joint venture. I was selected to go and work with them for six to twelve months to see whether we could make that work, have some synergy, refer to each other. It did work, um, although we didn't go down the route of a joint venture they, they called it. So I was kind of going, oh gosh, where does this leave me? But I've got some real good, good connections now that I can still work with, so we continued to do so. So, even though the joint venture didn't come to fruition, it worked for us and we continued the relationship and referring clients.

Speaker 1:

How long does it take from meeting somebody who is a professional connection to actually writing your first piece of business through a referral? How long does that actually take realistically?

Speaker 2:

It did take between six to 12 months and it's not always the nicest piece of business. It's usually like a test case let's see what she can do with this or how can she turn this around, and then it's on the back of that where the financial plan is put together and the outcome is that the client's happy and you build that trust. But I would say, you know, I'm still working with one of those connections still from the joint venture opportunity and I'm still working with him now. So six, seven years later, we still have that trusted relationship where we refer clients.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, fantastic. So there's always a working process with any kind of professional introducer. It's a relationship.

Speaker 1:

You've got to nurture that relationship and over the years you start to develop it. But it does take between six to 12 months to even think about getting that first piece of business on. It's not quick, it's not transactional. I think a lot of people do get put off when they are asked to go out and build professional because they're not getting an instant bit of an instant lead coming back in right and you can find yourself up against lots of other firms as well when you're looking for business, because they can take their pick.

Speaker 2:

They don't just want to choose. They don't naturally just choose you because you're there. It's usually around the right client for the right advisor and then from that you you will see that the best business is written on the back of it, because it's not just about writing the business, it's about having that continued relationship with that client, you know, for the next 10, 10 years or so.

Speaker 1:

So it isn't just about winning the business with the professional connection, it's knowing that you can help to grow that business but also look after the client and they are the right client for you yeah, perfect, and often you know you think about an accountant, you think about a solicitor and you think that's, that's all you need to know, but actually they're dealing with clients themselves that have specific needs or might come from a specific background. Yeah, I mean, you yourself, through your professional connection network, have opened up opportunities within the farming community or the agricultural professional connections, right. So we'll go on to that in a little bit more detail in a sec, right, but let's just take a joke. I just want to sort of. You've obviously had extensive experience from bank assurance into independent advice, private clients, professional introducers. Now you're here at Hoxton, you're at Hoxton Wealth and we absolutely love you here. You've hit the floor running and and you're having a, you know some real success.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, why though? Why? Why did you come to hoxton wealth? What was your reason?

Speaker 2:

I was feeling a little bit hindered at my last role, um, because I had my own business within the business, so to speak, and I really do enjoy the new business part of the job. Um reviews are really important in annual reviews and touch basing the existing clients. But you've also got to grow. You've got to continue growing your business. So I felt that I'd got to a point where I wasn't going to be able to do that anymore. So I'd look for a new suitor, so to speak, and Jonathan Jay played a huge part in that and he said you know, we're going to grow one of the best financial planning firms in the UK, so and that was going to be called Hoxton Wealth.

Speaker 2:

I didn't know a lot about Hoxton at the time, so I did some research and then, when I found out it was multinational, we got Chris Bull behind it. There was a lot on LinkedIn, social media, and the more I found out about Hoxton, I thought this is something quite unique. He wants me to come along. He wants me to carry on growing my business and pursuing my professional connections and not want to hold me back, hold me back. So it was just an opportunity I felt I couldn't refuse.

Speaker 1:

You worked for someone previously. You were employed. It seems to me that you also have an entrepreneurial mindset. Did you feel that? The environment that Jonathan started to talk to you about? Did you feel that sense of entrepreneur? Did you feel like, oh, hang about, this is somewhere I could grow?

Speaker 2:

yeah, definitely, because he's always supported me in the decision making, even though some of them may. For example, I saw the opportunity arise with the post-tax budget agricultural relief. I saw how the agricultural community were not so happy about that. But then, through my other connections, a call to action was Teresa, can you come and help me? So what started off quite small I'm going out, maybe talking to some farmers locally about some of the options they may have and succession planning discussions is now rolled out into something quite big which is now a and which we're hosting for around 60 people. So from me doing a brief to going to jonathan with that brief, we've now turned something that was just an idea into a reality and that's happened very quickly over the last few months.

Speaker 1:

I love that you know, because that's exactly how I think as well. I think when I, one of the big pulls towards coming to hoxton well, for me was that growth mindset yeah, it felt like a company that was up for pushing forward and would take your ideas soon. Yeah, prime example, you've got a strong network of agricultural professionals. With a problem you had a solution. Perhaps on your own thinking and own ability were unable to take it to the level that you visualized for it to be so in your head. Oh well, imagine we did an event, imagine if we did this, imagine if we did that and we get them all together and you took that idea to jonathan and he ran with it, yeah, and he encouraged you, yeah, and he enthused you to get going and say, right, we'll put a plan together and come back to me. And it was interesting because then, obviously I got wind of it, jumped on the phone to you and was like right, let's create this idea, let's create a documentary around you know, let's, let's bring the camera crew down, let's create a documentary about it. Let's, let's, let's um, recall exactly what we're doing. So we can also use that to help other agricultural communities across the UK Because obviously, people buy with their eyes a lot.

Speaker 1:

Can we create a YouTube video? Can we do a podcast around it? Can we use it as part of our marketing? Can we use it to get behind you, to raise your profile, become the key person of influence, if you like, within that agricultural community. It's interesting and it's infectious. Somebody has an idea and you're around, surrounded by people that love ideas and that can push things forward and have the abilities to do it. You can really catapult something. You really take something that little bit further, and that's why we're here today, isn't it? You know, that's why we're here. So tell us a little bit about the agricultural community. Then tell us a little bit about your network within it and what some of our plans are this week well, it started off with lindsey beaston.

Speaker 2:

He works at afford bond um, a cultural accountant, and his expertise is just looking after farmers and and it came about that on his referrals to me that I started to kind of build up a client bank of farmers within the community. And it was from the call to action from a lovely lady called Amy Cooper who looks after who land manages for the farmers that her clients were coming to her for help.

Speaker 2:

She got on the phone to me and said Teresa, I've got all my clients coming to me saying post-budget you know tax regimes and especially agricultural relief, succession planning what can I do? Can you help me? And she was like I can't help you, but I think I know a lady who can. So she came to me and said what can we do? I then in turn got in touch with Lindsay Beeston. That then snowballed into talking to one of my solicitor friends, of which now that snowballed through to Mark Rutan, who's our tax and legal advisor. So all in all, the support network came together very quickly to want to help me so that we can best give the best advice and guidance to this community that really need our help and that's what I loved as well, because when I spoke to you, it did what you weren't coming from, a place of almost selfishness, of what you wanted out of it.

Speaker 1:

You actually wanted to create a supportive community of experts that could help somebody at whatever stage they are yeah within their business, um, and I love that.

Speaker 1:

You know, and you can lean into some of the experts that we've got here at hoxton wealth, but it's also a brilliant way for you to network yourself with other professionals. So you've got solicitors, you've got accountants, um you've got all sorts of individual people within that community, and obviously that community then supports farming in general, which is something you're obviously quite passionate about yeah, I I find that they are a niche themselves, but there's such close-knit community that look after each other, um, but at the end of the day, they are business owners.

Speaker 2:

They, they are business owners that are just trying to survive, make some money for themselves and their family, but hold on to something that's really important to them, which is their land yeah the thing that they probably passed through generations and they want a succession plan and they want to obviously preserve as much as they can.

Speaker 2:

So it's those families that I want to reach out to and help. Yeah, um, because it's the basics of having their will in place, making sure their business structure is correct and then looking on a business point of view and having these right people in place, such as an accountant, such as a solicitor, and then myself as a financial planner. You know I can't help them to put their business structure in place, but I can help with their personal assets and their business assets and then look at ways to help to mitigate this inheritance tax bill for them perfect, so not just agricultural clients you deal with no no, you know, what we want to make sure is you're not some super huge person purely dealing with people, um, you know, in the agricultural side of things.

Speaker 1:

So what other clients do you work with? Who else do you help?

Speaker 2:

I work with core detection cases. I'm now working with Gareth Williams from Pricely to Gorn. He has been a big part of my journey as a financial planner. He was part of the joint venture that I mentioned earlier as an introducer back then and we've remained in touch and formed this relationship over a long period of time, which is a trusted relationship between our clients. I refer clients to him and vice versa, and we've always done a really good job for them.

Speaker 1:

Court of protection is very interesting work. Yes, it is, but not many people know. It's very like a niche, isn't it? Yeah, you are dealing with solicitors and it like a niche, isn't it? Yeah, you are dealing with solicitors, um, and it's things like clinical negligence, yeah. Personal injury, yeah, pre and post court right, why don't you just give us a brief explanation of of what's involved and what part you actually play and why?

Speaker 2:

okay.

Speaker 2:

So what will have happened, which is unfortunate, is that the claimant was either had a really bad accident which isn't their fault, or I've had some through medical negligence, through birth.

Speaker 2:

So I'm involved with some families where their children have real brain injuries and would never recover from them. So these legalities take years and years and years for this money to come to fruition. And then, when the money is available and the actual lump sum has been agreed by the courts, deputies are appointed, and that's usually through a firm of which Gareth is head of court protection at Price Later Gorn, and I have to go and do what's called a beauty parade. I have to come up with a proposal based on the scenario on the claimant and put together the best financial plan I think will, which would be best for them, not just now but for the future. So, um, there's there's me and others that would go with a proposal, and then, um, it's up to the deputy to then make the decision of who they think is best to appoint so you're presenting a financial plan based on expert opinion of what that individual would need to if they're like happy yeah or happier, more comfortable, yeah, for a predicted period of time.

Speaker 1:

Um, because once I suppose that proposal has actually been accepted within the court, that's it right. Yeah, so you're such an important part to play in the future, not just the individual who perhaps needs to be supported, but I assume the families are involved, as well, yeah, they are, and I like the families to be involved.

Speaker 2:

Whilst I can work with the deputy on a one-to-one, I always hold my annual reviews with the family. I think it's really important to understand their circumstances, because you don't always get that on a piece of paper or from an expenditure detail from the caseworker or from the deputy and I think you just get a better understanding of their circumstance at that time or what they're moving into. So I do have a claimant. He's now ready to go to college, so we're now looking at local authority funding. So it's another stage in his life that I'm going to have to cater for. Yeah.

Speaker 2:

So, you know, that's when lifestyle planning and cash flow planning comes into play, because the easiest part in all this is setting up the structures. You know, know. But then the real work starts as they start living their lives and these different events come to play, or you've got to be able to cater for them it's going to be a quite a highly emotional, um, stressful um scenario, obviously for for the families to go through.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, it is especially for, say, for their mothers, who have been their main carer and their child is no longer a child, he's becoming a young adult and they have to kind of say to themselves is it right that I'm the full-time carer now? It's time for me to let that go now and bring somebody in and be the main carer. So for them to make that decision is a really, really tough decision at that stage for them. Um so, but then in another way, it's a bit like when you've got children yourself and they hit different stages and life stages. At some point you know we have to let go, um, even when you know we may not want to. Yeah, so it is lovely to see them go through these life stages, although their circumstances is very different and quite unique um to them in the family and it isn't a transactional piece of work no, no so how much of your time is taken up doing work like that, is it?

Speaker 2:

I'm working on a case now and, um, they're not quick turnarounds. They take months to come through because you've got to understand the case itself. You've got to understand the case itself. You've got to understand their needs, expenditure needs, the circumstances. There's a huge amount of different factors to take into consideration, but I work very closely with the caseworker to make sure we can get as accurate as we can from the forefront.

Speaker 1:

When you mentioned about the beauty parade part. I suppose it's at that point that they engage yeah and it's not like I'm gonna do six months or 12 months work and not get paid for it no they've agreed with you at that point in time that you are the person, you are the financial yeah so that's quite a nice way to work as well. And then you're linked in with all these other different professional connections and therefore your professional connections grow. Other opportunities start to flow towards you.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, it's lovely because now I work with about three different deputies in the same firm because of the work I did with the first deputy and that's kind of snowballed through. So, yeah, it's a great place to be in right now.

Speaker 1:

If someone's listening to this right now, though, and they were thinking about doing something quite similar working in core protection clinical negligence perhaps, perhaps, pi. Is there a certain qualification or requirement to be considered for it?

Speaker 2:

I would say you would want to be at least charted at a charted level and also, you know, I found that having the long-term care qualification at charted level has helped me to understand. You know, that aspect of planning and also especially around trusts, is really important. So you want your level six in tax, trust and compliance and that's under the LIBF route and I think that's really helped me. There is there is other qualifications you can do. You can move into the step qualification as well and that's probably something that I will move into. But I would say certainly over these last few years, each case I've had, I feel that I've either learned something new or developed and just become a lot more confident around it love it.

Speaker 1:

You are very business development focused, though yeah, I cannot. Some people really hate that they don't quite fearful um, we have a distinct lack of females within the financial planning profession. So when you go to these beauty parades, you're out there at these networking events. Yeah, does that intimidate you that there's less females, or do you get fired up by that?

Speaker 2:

It used to in the beginning, but now I don't even think about it. I just think about what have I got that I can bring to the table? I know my proposal's really good, so I feel it's a chance for me to showcase what I can do, and I've built this knowledge over a period of time now, so I suppose I'm at a stage now where I feel a lot more confident than I did maybe five years ago. So how does that?

Speaker 1:

work in respect of, like, charging fees or assets under management. Yeah, that kind of model. Is it similar to just working with a private client or is it different?

Speaker 2:

no, they are high net worth um. Some of these claims come in at five million plus. So I feel I'm in a very good place to grow um a business, the assets under management, quite easily, um. But if you go into it thinking it's all just about the money and the fees, you're not going to go very far. It's about the client claimant, it's about the family, it's about relationships, it's about working with the solicitors and doing a really good job, because it's your reputation at the end of the day, and the company's reputation that you've got to um. Well, you've got to shine, haven't you?

Speaker 1:

do you continue working with the individual families as well?

Speaker 2:

um, yes, but I've always attend my meetings with the solicitor or the deputy because they're the first point of call for them well.

Speaker 1:

Thanks very much for the insight and the clinical negligence and bi psych. There's. Not many people do it now. Um, it's such a niche opportunity. I've had a few people on my Financial Planner Life podcast talk about it. So whenever I come across somebody I always quite tend to raise it because it's interesting and it just kind of also shows us that there are these different areas where a financial planner can add value. When you scratch the surface and you go a little bit deeper, and more often than not when you go through professional connections like solicitors or accountants, it sort of opens up a different world to you. Yeah, it opens up a different world of clients or a different world of opportunities. But, as you alluded to, you know, it's about turning up, it's about having expertise, it's about asking questions and it's about building those relationships to open those doors. They don't just land on you no, you're very driven by business development.

Speaker 1:

You're very driven by the hunt would you say yeah. Yeah, how does that fit in here at Hoxton?

Speaker 2:

Okay, my vision is that I will continue to develop these key areas and I hope to get to a position where there's other advisors coming through the academy, new to role, where I can share my expertise and the business and start to pass that down, almost like succession planning. I'm not going to be able to go on forever, but if I can share some of the experiences and the understanding and the things I've learned with others, then in turn that will make them better and more experienced in that kind of segment Because, like you've said, in court of protection a lot of advisors wouldn't know where to start. But if I've already got that grounding and those connections, then I can help them if that's something that they think is of interest to develop and come through.

Speaker 1:

Lovely.

Speaker 2:

So I'm hoping at some point I will have my own team, my own Haxton team of where we will flourish in these areas, whether it be in the farming community, whether it be. Another area that I'm moving into is Liverpool Ladies Network. Also, I love the core protection work that I do as well.

Speaker 1:

You could do this yourself. Yeah. You could leave and set your own business out, go directly authorized. You sound like a very entrepreneurial individual. Um, why don't you do that? Why? Or you know what is it about hoxton that keeps you here? It makes you feel like that you can be an entrepreneur within a environment such as hoxton. You know? I'm keen to understand that.

Speaker 2:

It's the support network that I have around me. It's through the marketing, it's through the other advisors that I work with, but it's that security so I can go off and do what I'd like to do, knowing that I've still got the security of a network behind me and the support that I need. So, even though I have all these great ideas, I can still go and pursue them, knowing nine times out of ten they're going to work. But if they don't work, I've still got my support network behind me.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, um, and they're always there to guide me and so guidance and encouragement to actually push for yeah, Be confident in the idea that you have and did you find throughout your career. Maybe that's never been there.

Speaker 2:

I don't think I would have ever had the courage, probably, to get myself out there and do what I'm doing now. So, yes, I've been given the opportunity and, two, I've been given some great support in order to be able to make this a reality.

Speaker 1:

Love it. Financial planning, predominantly lifestyle planning quite a big buzzword and we love it here at Hoxton Wealth. Let's just talk about some of the clients that are out there, or potential clients, and why really they should actually seek financial planning. What do you think? Why is financial planning at the moment really so important and why is it so underutilized?

Speaker 2:

I think people's perceptions of financial planning is still about stocks and shares and investments and different kind of vehicles they can get in to make things more tax efficient, but they're not quite sure of them, 're a bit wary of them. And then the fees and the charges and the persona of what an advisor may look like or come across. I think that's kind of old style financial planning and I think we're into a new wave of financial planning now which is masses of lifestyle planning and cash flow planning and the tools that we've got now to make a family's or an individual's dream become a reality. Because the biggest question out there is when can I retire, when should I retire? And probably there's too many people who work for too long when they didn't need to but they didn't know when to stop. And we as financial planners can help them understand when they can do that. When they can, you know, go and take that big holiday and when do they wind up the business? Is the time now or do we leave another five years time? And that was too late, anything that's kind of a life event. We can demonstrate to them whether that can happen now or whether it needs to happen in two or three years time. So it just gives them a bit more reassurance about the decisions they're making with their money and making sure they enjoy their money at the same time, because there's no point in having all this money um set aside if they're never going to use it in the way that they've always wanted to.

Speaker 1:

I put it, I put a financial plan in quite recently it is 44 years old. I didn't have a financial plan. I actually sat down with bobby. Uh, so, hota, because I love, I love her approach to visualization and I'm a very visual person. I'm not a numbers man, um, in fact, when someone starts talking to me about money, I can switch off it. Just it's really hard for me to it's hard for me to um connect with it yeah but I can connect with a dream I can connect with an idea, the future of what I wanted to look like.

Speaker 1:

So we kind of started talking about what does the future look like, sam? What is it you actually want? Um, and I was working with a coach as well at the time and I had this vision as me being like on the beach in southeast asia with a coffee shop and this networking coffee shop. But I'm financially secure. I didn't need this extravagant life, but I wanted to. I wanted to do what I want do travel, to work if I wanted to, and to continue to connect with people. So we kind of played on that and we looked at it and it was like, well, when do you think you can do it? And I was like, well, when would you like to do it? You know, I didn't know, I didn't understand.

Speaker 1:

I didn't know when I could or how much I needed, or anything like that, so we started with the plan. Plan first. We started with the sorry, the visualization of what my future looked like, where I think it could go.

Speaker 1:

And then we moved into what I had. So what assets have I got? How much did I earn and what are my current outgoings? How much have I already got in savings? Would I like to potentially do what I thought was right? And then we worked backwards. And the working backwards part, it worked really well because all of a sudden the numbers started to get a bit more interesting. Yeah.

Speaker 1:

Because I could actually achieve what it is I wanted to do. And by her going away and then crunching the numbers and coming back to me and saying that was possible, it was like, wow, I've never had that. It's always been kind of like a vision or a dream, like a dream. Yeah. Instead of it being a dream.

Speaker 1:

It became a plan. And it became not just a plan, it became a realistic plan, which then fired me up and gave me confidence that I could achieve what it was I wanted to achieve, which, in my head, then made me, made me realize, okay, well, I could lock in a little bit more on what I'm currently doing, or I knew where I needed to push myself in certain areas how much more money I need to put away over here, or what would I do with my uk property, or can I buy in dubai is that a good idea, all that kind of stuff. So I like that element um and I think a lot of people probably out there, similar to me, entrepreneurial um might prefer that lifestyle financial planning part wouldn't they bucket lists.

Speaker 1:

Let's talk about the things you want to. You want to, yeah, and then we'll sort the numbers out. Yeah, see if we can get it for you. And I guess people like me were surprised, will be surprised, right that they can achieve a retirement. I hate the word retirement. If I'm completely honest with you, I think retirement is a isn't really a word that I kind of look at it as are you ready to start living your life? Yeah, when are you ready to start living your?

Speaker 1:

life or a chapter of yeah, when are you ready to start living your life? Or a chapter of your life yeah, yeah, you're the phase. Yeah, a phase.

Speaker 2:

A stage, a life event? Yeah, are these words, and you wouldn't want to miss that, would you? No, and it's sad that people do. People can hold themselves back because they don't know when the time is right.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, exactly that, exactly that, because they haven't got the plan in place. And then you're kind of running on this crazy autopilot mode, which then makes you feel really super duper anxious because you haven't got something anchored to, and that's what happened to me and like now I understand the value of planning and it's like, ah, for me karma, I've got somebody it's that word you've just used volume yeah it's the individual seeing the value in their financial planner and, and I think, that's where we add the most value.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, and that's the bit that we like to talk about, and we're going to be talking about more of them as the business grows, as we take on more financial planners and we lean more into that. Lifestyle is what is the value beyond numbers. You know how does it make you feel, how much freedom are you going to feel when a plan is put into place. What does that actually look like? How does it feel, how's it going to affect you, your family, your future, your well-being?

Speaker 1:

because when you've got a good plan in place, you don't feel so stressed? No well, I hope not. Anyway, I'm still quite a stressed out type person. I get very anxious about everything really, because I'm kind of I have a million and one ideas. So I wish I could stop that, because I feel like I'd probably be a lot calmer. But that's just the way I'm wired, I think. So tell us a little bit about the future then. What have you got planned?

Speaker 2:

for me personally or from my career point of view. Let's go for both, okay, um, for the career point of view, my plan is to continue building, growing, supporting Jonathan through Liverpool, possibly looking at another hub in the Northwest, which would be really exciting for me personally, and to hopefully build another team, which would be great. This year I've got a trip to Thailand, um planned with my boys family. They're reaching the teenage age now and we've gone past like playing table tennis and European, so I want to get out there, have a bit of culture, some experiences with them, because I think at my life stage now it's that time for me to do that with the boys, just making a few more memories. So I'm really excited about that this year.

Speaker 2:

The future for me is a really good future with Hoxton. Yes, I'll probably sell my part of the business at some point, but again, it's when that time will be right or when it feels right. So I've probably got a five-year plan. But before joining Hoxton I probably didn't have that vision, didn't have that plan, didn't feel as supported as I do now, where I feel a lot more confident in what that future is going to hold for me and it could be really exciting, as in I could end up spending six months abroad and six months in the UK. It's opened up all these opportunities for me that no other company's been able to do Love that I love Thailand.

Speaker 1:

By the way, I've traveled all around Southeast Asia. You're going to love it and the boys are going to love it as well, there was something you said about a capital event, so you're probably going to sell some of your clients, right? Yeah, Now we do offer that within our system here at Hoxton. It's quite unique the ability to come in and actually work for somebody but still build a capital value with the clients that you bring to the table. Was that quite an enticing and interesting space?

Speaker 2:

100%. 100% Because I had the opportunity to either go alone, like you mentioned, or still work within a support network and have a team around me. And that's what was really attractive, because I've had the best of both worlds. I've got the support network and have a team around me, and that's what was really attractive, because I've had the best of both worlds. I've got the support network and I can continue growing my business in the manner that I want to, and that is so important because I can grow it in the areas that are important to me, that I can empathize with, I can show my expertise in, and there isn't a lot of companies would let you do that at all. Like, how many companies do you know would let you go and run a farming seminar or an agricultural seminar? There isn't many, but you know everyone's behind me, everyone's excited about it and I'm sure it's going to be an amazing event. So Hoxton themselves have got so many opportunities for that individual. If you are entrepreneurial, then I don't think that's any other place you want to be.

Speaker 1:

Love it. So you're in control of your destiny.

Speaker 2:

Definitely.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, you feel you're in control of your destiny, but you've got the stabilizers on, you've got the people around you sort of holding you and you can lean into them, which allows you then to think less about all the extra pressures of running your own business, because there's tons of companies that right.

Speaker 1:

Everyone thinks they can run their own business but actually when you do it, it takes you away from the things you love the most, whereas in an environment like this, which I call an intrapreneurial right, you can lean into that support system.

Speaker 1:

You can get quick responses really, really quickly. You can get somebody supporting you very quickly, like putting on an event or whatever, which allows you to then push forward. But at the same time, you reap the benefits with that, because the bigger your business is underneath hoxton right, the more capital event that you can have in the future. So you're not held back, no, you're encouraged to push forward. I love it and obviously somebody like you, working with professional connections and the capacity that you have done and the fantastic business that you have built already you we won't get into detail and share, but it's substantial yeah, you would know you're in the right place. So, teresa, thanks so much for sharing your journey so far, your journey at Hoxton wealth as well, really, really looking forward to getting stuck into that farming seminar this week and the little mini documentary that we're going to be.