How We’re Developing the Next Generation of Financial Advisers | with Matthew Morgan

Most people underestimate what it takes to build a career in financial planning.

It’s not just about passing exams or learning technical knowledge.

In this episode, Matt Morgan sits down with Jacob Hall to share his journey from trading into financial planning, and what he’s learned from advising, leading teams, and now developing the next generation of advisers.

We get into the reality of how careers in this industry are actually built, including:

• The transition from trading into financial planning, and where he found the most fulfilment
• What the pathway into advice really looks like, and why prospecting is the hardest skill to master
• Why discipline and consistency matter more than short-term motivation
• How Hoxton is developing the next generation of advisers, and what makes that opportunity different

It’s a practical, honest look at progression in financial planning - and what it really takes to succeed over the long term.

Watch the full episode on YouTube, or listen on all audio platforms.

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Transcript

Why The Pathway Matters

SPEAKER_01 0:00

I think what we've created now, you know, is the best pathway that we've had. It will get better. Joining me today is Matt Morgan, who is one of our global advice managers. I mean the journey to get to Dubai has been it's been incredible. We've got between 25 and 35 people that within the next three to four years will be fully qualified financial planners. Some of them will be 24 years old, 23 years old, and it's just just insane.

SPEAKER_00 0:25

There were certainly times where I thought, gosh, what have I done here? But it goes back to that, no, no, this was this was the goal, discipline is more what what will get things done. You can learn the skills required to build great client relationships is yeah, it's absolutely amazing. And you can have all of that relatively young. And we'll keep taking feedback and doing it, and you've been a massive part of that. Then you've got such a long career ahead of you to do to do some amazing things.

SPEAKER_01 0:53

Welcome to another episode of Hoxton Life. I'm Jacob Hall. I'm the global director of the International Advice, and joining me today is Matt Morgan, who is one of our global advice managers. Um, Matt joined the business earlier this year after a long process of recruitment where we were looking for somebody to come in and support me, Chris, and the rest of the team with the development of our trainee wealth managers and our pathway advisors. And I think Matt obviously had been a successful advisor in his own right in the UK and then had moved into management, which I'll let him tell you a little bit more about uh in a moment. And today we're really going to run through Matt's transition across, why he joined Hoxton, um, and what our V our vision really and what the company's vision is for the next generation of advisors that we're we're both working very, very closely with. So on that note, Matt, over to you if you want to give a bit of an introduction about yourself, um, your journey so far and and and how you got into into this role.

SPEAKER_00 1:49

Thanks, Jake. Great to be here. Thanks for having me. Uh yeah, I mean the journey to get to Dubai has been it's been incredible. Uh, and completely by chance along the way, because I was never set out to come and live in Dubai, live in the Middle East. Uh, it was just we felt that me and my family, my wife, my son, felt that it was time to go and try something different, go and have a go at something else. And Hoxton came along and the opportunity sounded you know right up my street. And having the experience from managing in the UK, advising in the UK, I definitely felt like there was a lot that I could bring to the table at Hoxton. And yeah, so far, obviously being here six months now, it's been yeah, it's been incredible.

SPEAKER_01 2:27

So, yeah, I mean, six months feels gotta feel longer than that, to be sure. I mean, we'll talk a bit more about the journey to Dubai in a minute, because that was obviously a thing. But just going backwards before that, so I'm right in saying you started off actually in trading, correct, not in financial planning.

SPEAKER_00 2:41

No, 100%. So I when I was growing up, I my my dad's a chartered accountant, so I always had a keen interest in finance, uh, definitely influenced by him, my my career path to date. And when I was going into university, it was when the financial crash was happening, so it was very kind of front and center, financial markets, all that sort of stuff. And I really was drawn to how markets operated, trading, stock prices, indices, etc. Uh, and that was sort of built into by my degree uh and just felt that yeah, this is something that I really want to go and do. And by chance, there was a trading desk, a proprietary trading firm in Swansea, where I went to university. It was actually the largest trading floor in the UK outside of London, which was incredible, you know, considering it was the career path I wanted to follow anyway. Uh, to have that available on my doorstep was was awesome. And managed to secure a place on their on their grad scheme. And yeah, it was a sort of definite ambition fulfilled, uh, but driven mostly by the timing, you know, and what was going on in the world. That was why I wanted to get into it. So started in trading, and yeah, I've got I've kind of gone from there. So from Swansea originally, went to Union Swansea. No, massive homebird. Yeah. So uh yeah, obviously, we'll get into my my journey and how I've ended up in the Middle East in a bit. But yeah, definite homebird, lived at home with mum and dad, didn't want to leave, uh, and didn't really want to go anywhere. You know, once I came out of university, I was like, no, no, I'm I'm cool in Swansea, I'm happy here, I'm settled here. Uh, and yeah, to have the opportunity to do that sort of career path in Swansea, I'd say is pretty unheard of. Uh, but very, very fortunate that I got the chance to do it.

SPEAKER_01 4:18

Okay, so trading obviously same print same in industry, I suppose is what you talk about from the financial point of view. Yes. How do you move from trading to financial planning?

SPEAKER_00 4:28

Yeah, I mean that the the trading career, you know, this I sort of felt that there wasn't it, didn't have a huge amount of longevity in it for me, and I knew that I wanted to be more I wanted to be more kind of teamwork-led, whereas trading is very much individual and kind of it's all about kind of what you're doing and how you're controlling things. And I I realized that my my skill sets were lent more to uh helping and supporting individuals. So when I was at the trading firm, I became a manager after 12 months, and I really felt that that's where I was starting to thrive. That's where I was starting to do and feel like I was achieving professionally. Not that I I mean, not that I wasn't as a as a trader, but I really felt that working in a team environment, helping and supporting individuals was what I wanted to do. That came to an end. Uh, and didn't really know what I wanted to do. I knew I wanted to stay in finance, and I didn't set out to go into financial planning. But when I started to look and think around well, the skill sets that I've got in terms of help support being there for individuals, I kind of thought thought financial advice could be the path that I want to go down. And that's why I went away, did my so I had a bit of a sort of a career break. Uh, went away, did the level four diploma back in the UK and managed to yeah, secure a what was a trainee role then. And it's kind of yeah, flown from there.

SPEAKER_01 5:45

And how long were you advising clients? So you advised clients for a number of years, I believe you did your charter status.

The Player Coach Management Style

SPEAKER_00 5:49

Yeah, yeah. So I'm a chartered financial planner through the CII. Uh I was advising clients, gosh, for I was at Evelyn Partners for seven and a half, nearly eight years, and I was advising clients the entire time that I was there. And and that was awesome. And it was great because I like having variation in my role. So it was awesome for me to be. I was a manager at Evelyn Partners, and I was also a financial planner, so it was great to have that player coach role because I could sort of be in the trenches with everybody, understanding, you know, the challenges that each financial planner faces on a daily basis when they're working with clients, etc., problem solving. So I I could help and support them because I was doing it myself, but then I was also really kind of content doing the leadership stuff and thinking about well, if I was sat there in my team, if I if I was wanting to be led, what would I really want? And that's kind of uh that's quite kind of what I tried to instill across the board when I was managing at Evelyn.

SPEAKER_01 6:39

And then from Evelyn, was it Evelyn to Hoxton?

SPEAKER_00 6:42

Or was it no, it was Evelyn to Succession Wealth. So Succession was uh you know, very similar to to Evelyn, you know, one of the largest uh financial advisories in the UK, but that wasn't a client-facing role. I went in to really lead their planner training department, and whilst that was training and development is a skill set of mine, you know, focusing on that in isolation, I quickly realized it wasn't for me, and I really liked being closer to the planner, I really like working with planners on a day-to-day basis and helping them do that problem solving, helping them with client scenarios and really thinking about the ways in which we can develop financial planners on a day-to-day basis, whereas the role at succession was more focused, higher level, um, centralized training programmes, whereas what I wanted to do was be closer to the planners. So that's why the journey at succession, yeah, it wasn't really for me.

Why Hoxton And What Stood Out

SPEAKER_01 7:35

Yeah, I mean, listen, it's um it's clear. I mean, I work closely with you, and I see you working with a lot of the junior guys and and the senior guys as well, you know, and you know, having that one-on-one relationship is definitely a strength. We spoke about this before because I get more enjoyment out of seeing somebody else, you know, close a bit of business they're working on, or fix a problem for a client, or come to that moment where they go, Oh my god, I know what I'm doing now, than I do of actually doing anything myself. And yeah, you know, you're quite similar, which obviously is why we're why we're both in management and working closely together, which is good. Um, so that leads me on. So obviously, why Hoxton? I know we touched on it very, very briefly at the beginning, but it'd be good to hear, you know, you you you obviously you know you were settled in the UK, you wanted the opportunity to move abroad. What made you choose Hoxton? I know that Sam was influential because obviously Sam uh who did the podcasts. Um, but what what was the deciding factors that that made you yeah?

SPEAKER_00 8:26

International fight, you know, international financial planning has always interested me uh in terms of how does it operate overseas, how does it work, is it the same, is it different, and learning about different products, different structures, different client scenarios, that's always interested me. But having the the opportunity to find the right firm, I always thought was was challenging. Uh and uh yeah, never really felt like no, that's the right one for me, etc. And then Hoxton came along, and Sam was definitely influential in it because I knew Sam from my time at Evelyn when we were growing teams at Evelyn, recruiting at Evelyn, Sam's recruitment business as he as he had it then was massively influential in finding the right candidates for us. So I knew Sam from that previous life, and when he came to Hoxton, Hoxton Life was launched, etc. I followed with a keen eye to understand, okay, what's what's all this about? Uh and the the reason why I chose Hoxton was, yeah, partly influenced by Sam. But then when I started to talk to yourself and Chris and others, and I started to do my own research on Hoxton, I realized how actually UK-centric it is in terms of how we work, our culture, what we're trying to achieve, how we go about doing financial planning. I thought, yeah, that's that's me. That's what aligns to what I think financial planning is about. I'm not saying other firms in in this region or or other international firms don't align to that, but I really felt that through the conversations, through what I could could find myself, that this was definitely the place that I wanted to come.

Energy Collaboration And Direct Advice

SPEAKER_01 9:47

Yeah, and I mean hopefully that's still. So that that leads me on to the next question because obviously why Hoxton was what you learned before you came on board, right? When you came on board, and and this is always something that's really important to me because I was one of the people that spoke to you on the journey. You know, the last thing I wanted to do is turn up and go, hang on, this is completely different. I mean, what's what was the first impression and what's been the lasting impression since then?

SPEAKER_00 10:08

Definitely the energy. You know, when I walked into that office on the first day, it it was yeah, it just fit different. And it reminded me actually of when I was, yeah, when I was working in trading, the energy that was on the floor, as I would call it. You know, the the the environment back in the UK is definitely a little bit more quiet, a little bit more subtle, a little bit more um, yeah, just just more mundane, I would probably say. When I walked into that office on the first day, I was like, gosh, wow, everybody was everybody was buzzing, it was busy, it was noisy in a good way. Uh, and that's definitely been my last impression throughout is how energetic everybody is to to do well in their own right, but also do well by their clients. You know, it's great when I'm sitting down with pathway advisors, training wealth managers, senior advisors, when they're saying, I've got this scenario, I've got this, I've got that. What do you think? What do you think I can do? Do you think this is a good idea? You know, that is yeah, that's what you want. You want people to be collaborating, and that's yeah, the the energy and the collaboration is probably the thing that I've connected with the most throughout my time here.

SPEAKER_01 11:09

And was it um it's obviously different to the UK in the sense that we are a bit more progressive in the way that we, you know, we're we're out there. But apart from that, has it been stark differences or I wouldn't say it's stark differences.

Sport Discipline And Self Reflection

SPEAKER_00 11:23

I think the the the what I like about Hoxton is the process that we follow and and how it's very it's very much led by the financial planner, and the financial planner has a directness about them in terms of you know, when you're engaging with clients, this is why it's important, this is why you've got to do this. And I'm not saying that doesn't exist in the UK, but I've noticed it more here. Certainly recognised it in myself when I've sort of sat down with with different planners and they've explained their process to me. I've gone, gosh, that's that's upfront, that's direct. But in a really, really good way, I kind of thought when I was planning back in the UK, I might have been a little bit softer and and sort of let the client lead it more. Uh, whereas, you know, here it's no, no, this is why it's important for you. So it's not trying to be pushy, it's not trying to get them to do something that isn't in their best interest, it's just trying to create that urgency with with clients as to you need to do this now and here's why. I think that's probably the biggest difference I've noticed.

SPEAKER_01 12:19

Good. Okay. Yeah, so before we go into the pathway programme, we're gonna talk about that all day. To get to know a bit more about you. So, I mean, I obviously know you because I because I work closely with you, but you know, quite into sports, I'd say you're quite a disciplined person. Um, tell us a little bit more about your sporting journeys. I think you've played and done all sorts by the sounds of it.

SPEAKER_00 12:39

Yeah, I mean, growing up, I there was I think the only sport I didn't play was cricket. Uh, other than that, everything, you know, played at school, football, tennis, golf, swimming, everything you can everything you can think of. Uh, and when I was when I was growing up, I really enjoyed sport, really liked kind of just getting involved in in absolutely anything. And then I narrowed it down to focus on you know, golf was the sport that I really wanted to play. And it was kind of twofold. It's a sport that my dad played, so I kind of followed, you know, him, and and and that's what his keen interest still is. Uh, and also my friendship group, when we were sort of starting out in comprehensive school, they were also keen golfers. So it was great that we had a close bunch of people that after school would go, would go and play golf. And I've played, yeah, still still continue to play golf to this day. Uh, but I've done and tried different things throughout the journey. So I had a period where I got into triathlon. I felt that golf wasn't really the sort of thing that was was lighting my fire for a period of time, and I wanted to just try something completely different. So I went down the road and and and started to get into triathlon. So, yeah, sport is definitely a passion of mine, and I think everything that it instills in me kind of spills over into work as well.

SPEAKER_01 13:47

Yeah, but from from my understanding as well, though you're when you do something, can I've seen this in work, you want to do it the best you possibly can. And and you did say to me the other day you've enjoyed the range more than social golf.

SPEAKER_00 14:00

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I wouldn't say I'm a social golfer. I can't uh yeah, I can't stand just going off and playing 18 holes with it with a bunch of friends and not really playing for anything. It just doesn't excite me. It doesn't excite me at all. So when I'm if I'm not playing in a competition, I'd rather go to rather go to the range, get the camera out, video it, and just strive to get better. And it doesn't always it doesn't always come out, you know. It might be a bad brain session and it might just be, you know, gosh, that didn't work. But then I'll always go away and I'll analyze, right, okay, what was it about that that I didn't do correctly? I'll always go go away and reflect on you know the practice that I've had, whether it's good or bad, etc. And it's the same when you're playing in the sport, you know, I'll always end it and think, right, okay, what could I have done differently? Um, and I think that's that that that's a massive thing for me, is being able to self-reflect. Uh, and that's something that I think is mostly important, whatever you do. Yeah. You know, have having that, you know, a lot of people sometimes don't have the time or don't take the time to go and you know and self-reflect on what could I have done differently when you have a chance to cool off and reflect look back on whatever it might be. Um, yeah, I think that's that's important, which is why I really like the range because it's yeah, you get the camera out and you can really see what you're doing.

SPEAKER_01 15:09

Links through to what we do is we sit down, we watch back calls. We sit down, we you know, you and I are going off site next week because when we're in the office, we get peppered by a prelizo going out with day outside and look at what's gone well this quarter and what we need to do for the next quarter. Yeah. You know, that's that that's where that sport and discipline and you know we discipline is a word and and and core values and all these things we talk about, but you can see it and and you can see it in you, and you see it in the junior advisors, the guys coming through, how important that is for them.

SPEAKER_00 15:35

Yeah, yeah, discipline is massive. I mean motivation will come and go, and discipline is what what will get things done, whether it's in sport, whether it's in work, and and having the ability to set yourself a plan, set standards. This is this is who I want to be and this is what I'm striving to achieve. And look, you're not gonna you're not gonna achieve everything you know in one day. There will be days where my output isn't maybe what you would like it to be or Chris, whomever it would be, but it's what I had on that day. I gave a hundred percent effort and it's the discipline to give a hundred percent every single day. I think that's that's a non-negotiable behaviour for everyone. It's hard to do, it's easy to sit here and say it is hard to do, but it's having the ability to hold yourself accountable. Uh and discipline is whether it's in training in the gym, whether it's in work, whether it's just in general life, and it can be the small things, you know, the discipline to get up and make the bed, or the discipline to get up and empty the dishwasher from the night before, you know, it's getting those small tasks done. Because if you don't if you don't do the small things, yeah, those little things slip, that can creep into um you know the larger parts of the things that are you know more important.

The Reality Of Moving To Dubai

SPEAKER_01 16:42

Yeah, no, agreed, agreed. So uh you took the role in I think in the year and then you came over, moved over in March.

SPEAKER_00 16:50

Yeah, so third of March is when I started, so just over the six-month mark now. Uh the transition has been it's been interesting to say the least. You know, moving over, uh moving over wife, uh, son, two dogs. The two dogs were definitely the hardest to get over here. And it's unfortunate that they will never realise the sacrifices that you know we made for our for our dogs. We've chosen our community for them. They've you know came over in a sort of different style to to me and my wife. And um, yeah, they've been the hardest part of the whole transition, to be honest with you. And we've had a few bumps along the way as well in in finding the right place to live, etc. But I think everybody probably goes through that. Um, but we're here now. We've kind of feel like we've done it in terms of the transition, and now we can go off and and kind of enjoy it.

SPEAKER_01 17:35

You also you think about it like this so like it wasn't easy, you couldn't get the dogs over in a normal way, so yeah. I was bringing a bit of a special way, which was we won't go too much detail. It was an expensive flight, let's put it that way. Yeah, um, you got found your house, and then there was a problem with the you remember we turned the water on, you had a huge leak, and then it was like it was like one thing after other. I remember you coming to the office and I was going, yeah, these these small things happen. And the next week we'd sit down, and I was like saying to Chris, I was like, I think he might leave. Like he's literally like this has happened and that has happened, and thing, but it seems like now seems pretty settled.

SPEAKER_00 18:08

Yeah, I mean, don't get me wrong, there were certainly times where I thought, gosh, what what have I done here? But it goes back to that, no, no, this was this was the goal. The goal was to come out here, have a go, try a new way of life, and definitely not been easy, but it's no, that this is this is what it is, and these are the setbacks that people have, and you just gotta you just gotta crack on. I mean, leaving was never something that that has ever crossed my mind. And it yeah, I mean, having the amount of water leaks we've had has been, I guess, yeah, and and obviously with my wife and son back at home and she's ringing me, texting me, and and all that sort of stuff, and it's been yeah, it's been it's definitely been challenging, but we've learned a lot along the way. We've made a lot of mistakes in terms of transition, so you know, whenever anybody is thinking about doing it, I I I'll definitely be a good reference point of what not to do. Uh, but uh yeah, it's it's been awesome. Uh it's been awesome so far.

SPEAKER_01 18:59

But you also, you know, you came over just before the summer, you've been through all of that, got settled, got the dogs here now, and it and you haven't even really experienced the great weather yet. You know, it's only just starting to cool off a little bit now, and you've got the whole, and this is you know, in the summer, even I think, oh, that's a bit much. Whereas actually the next six months is it's it's unbelievable.

SPEAKER_00 19:18

No, definitely. I think you know, we knew when we were when we were coming, so when this was all sort of agreed back in sort of Jan and February, and we knew that we were coming in March, we knew that it would be, gosh, we're going into the summertime, it's gonna be, it's it's gonna be hard going, and it has been, and I I think what you realise is you know, everywhere's so well prepared for the hot weather here. You know, you get into your your Econd house, you go to your Econd mall or supermarket, wherever it is, and it just yeah, everything's sort of made easy for you here. Uh, and now we kind of feel that okay, we've set ourselves up, we've got our house, family are settled, wife is Gemma is really, really enjoying, uh really, really enjoying to buy, and now we're just really excited for the for the good times to come.

Prospecting First In The Pathway

SPEAKER_01 19:59

Yeah, and you know, it does take a little bit for anyone moving over, it does take a little bit to get used to it and get into it right, so it's not easy. So, obviously, talk about talking about what you come over to do, I really want to get into that a bit more. So, something I've always struggled to find somebody that's as passionate about the the pathway that we've created as I am, you know. I I think it's such an important part of what we do longer term, and with uh such a shortage of young professionals moving into financial planning, and I think it's one of the best roles in the world, in my opinion. Like you build up your own asset, you build up your own business, you can do it anywhere in the world. But getting people from starting to being qualified financial planners is pretty tough, yeah. Like, especially when the hardest part of it is prospecting. Yep. And you know, I'm not scared to say that if you can't prospect, you're gonna really struggle with your financial planner. You've come in, you've grabbed hold of it, you've put a hell of a lot more structure around it. Um, you know, one thing I would say now we have a really structured programme, you focus on on taking those guys through. What's your view of the pathway we've created and what's your plan for it over the next 12 to 18 months?

SPEAKER_00 21:07

I think what's been created here is such an unbelievable opportunity for anybody who wants to get into the financial planning industry. And the reason why I think that is because of the way that yourself and Chris and the team have structured it is that as you've said, prospecting is the hardest element of this job, financial planning, being able to prospect effectively is a skill in of itself, and having that right at the forefront of the trainee wealth manager program, you know, the first one, two, three years is all around the skills, the skills you need to develop to be a great prospector, to create great client conversations, to dig under the bonnet, to be curious. That's the hardest part of the financial planning job. So giving these trainees when they come in the opportunity to do that almost from day one. I mean, they go through a phase sort of plan where their activity ramps up, but to have the opportunity to have real life client interaction as early as they do, I think is absolutely. Absolutely incredible. And then there is no better way. I know you agree with this, there is no better way to learn something like this than to just go out there and do it, to have a go. Um, and to be able to put into practice what you might learn, you know, in the boardroom when we're going through sessions. There's only so far you can take that. Getting these guys out there on the phone and giving them the freedom to, you know, prospect in their own right, you know, to come up with different strategies, to think about different things that might uh that might work, I think is um is really, really powerful.

Mentorship Structure And Training Rhythm

SPEAKER_01 22:27

Pathway programme. So where we're up to the back programme talking about prospecting and how important that is, yeah. And and what we're gonna do from there. Obviously, where do you see us going with that? You've built a really key structure. I mean, the structure you've you've put in place now, they've got training on a regular basis. That what I thought was really cool that you brought in was the pathway planners working with the trainee wealth managers and and that relationship thing really helped. I mean, what's your view for it over the next 12 months and what we can do with the guys that we've currently got?

SPEAKER_00 22:54

Yeah, I think that you know, getting the the people, the pathway advisors working with the trainee wealth managers, I think was a key step because they are fresh off the journey that the trainees are on. So it's you know, they they can that nobody's more relatable to to those guys than the than the pathway advisors. So having them involved, training them, helping and supporting them, I thought was was massively important. And we can see that it's working in terms of you know the output it's producing on both sides. You know, the fact that the the pathway advisors are putting effort and energy into the trainees and in return they're getting some activity from them as well. Yeah, I think is um I think is amazing. But looking ahead, I think what we really need to do is continue to evolve the structure of it, continue to wrap around you know, a much more organized training and development program that we can almost create off the shelf and have it set up so that there is regular sales training, regular process training, and and regular mentorship. I think those three things are are the key for what we need to drive forward as we um as we continue to evolve the program and recruit more people into it, hopefully.

Traits That Predict Success

SPEAKER_01 23:59

And then flicking onto that. So when we are recruiting more people into it, I hate to just go out and choose the same people all the time. But what what what traits do those people need if they want to succeed in our pathway? I mean, that's not to say in financial planning because everyone's different. Yep. But at the moment, the way that we run it, what what what what do you need to have to come in and do well in the program?

SPEAKER_00 24:21

I think that the the biggest thing you need, and if if you've got a mindset of I just want to do well and I want to get better and I'm gonna give it everything I've got, that you will succeed on our pathway program. Uh, because you look at the ones, you take the the the four the four new guys that have come in, you know, all of them are, you know, I would say they're very disciplined, they're very their work ethic is is incredible and they're very much they're very much led by asking for support. They'll always come and ask questions, they'll always come and ask us how do we get better, how do we improve. And I think if you've got that, if you've got that about you coming into our pathway programme, you will just succeed uh because of the support network that's around you, with myself, you, Chris, senior management, but also the team that they're going into, being able to ask questions to those guys is um yeah, is something that on a day-to-day basis wrapped around you is massively important. So anyone coming in, I would say if you've got a mindset of I want to I want to do well, I've got a passion for this industry, I've got a passion to help people, uh, you will you will succeed with with what we're building here.

A Seamless Step Up Into Advice

SPEAKER_01 25:23

Yeah, I suppose okay. Well, you've recently had one of the guys step from being the the trainee wealth manager to more the prospecting into the advice side. That's probably been the most seamless uh transition of role I've ever seen, I'd say. Um what's your view on that? Because you've worked in the UK where people have gone through and gone into the advice. I mean, that that to me was I felt like that was a success and it showed our programme was working. I mean, what was your feeling about that?

SPEAKER_00 25:50

Yeah, 100%. I mean, I I wasn't I I didn't know what I didn't know at that point in time. So obviously, I knew you know I knew that Tom was stepping up, uh, and I was I was as curious as anybody to see how it went. But what I've learned since is is how how disciplined he is in terms of his his his planning. And he would have started planning for this probably 12 months before. So he had everything in place to know that when I go into that role, I'm I'm ready to go. And it's not a you know, Friday, Friday afternoon I'm on the trainee programme, Monday morning I'm starting as an advisor. The planning for how you hit the ground running as a uh as an advisor is done. I would say probably 12 months before you you set a date, you set a target, and that's and that's how you go about doing it. And I definitely think that's something that that's something that Tom did because when I sat down with him uh when I knew that he was stepping up, you know, he presented me his business plan, he presented me exactly what he thought the first 12 months were going to look like. So he'd really given it some thought. Uh and wow, okay, you you yeah, you've been planning for this for a while. So I think um, yeah, that transition has been seamless, but it's really because of how how much he's put into the step-up. You know, he's really looked at it um for a period of time, and you you watch him now, and he's you know, he's busy, he's he's interacting with clients really well, he's doing a good job for them, and yeah, I mean a lot of that is down to him and how he prepared for it.

SPEAKER_01 27:09

Yeah, 100%. I think something that the the next generation, I mean, we have people, I think we have 25 at different stages in that training wealth manager programme, ranging from the age of 18 years old right the way through to 28, 29 years old, and and different stages, different amounts of qualifications. But I think they all need to take a leaf out of Tom's book, and we'll probably get Tom to do a session on that, actually, because that that for me the plan does work sometimes, you know, and and this is I'd say where we are right now with the Hoxton journey, so the the pathway, the training wealth management pathway, probably the best we've been. I mean, we're we're working to make it better, and it's only going to go from there. Um, but I definitely think that's um that there's learnings to be taken from that.

Non Negotiables And Behaviour Standards

SPEAKER_00 27:51

I think the the the key thing as well is that you know, we we as managers obviously we're here to help and support and to to give them absolutely everything to succeed, but we can't care more than them. No no no nobody can care about you know your success more than you. And I think when I when I look at Tom, he he definitely sort of uh epitomizes that is that no nobody cares more than him about how successful he is, as the same for you know a lot of the other advisors in the office. So I definitely think that that mindset of you know nobody should care more about my success than me is yeah, is is massively important and something that any any person who's aspiring to go into this this profession, you know, you've got to come into it with with the mindset of this is this is my little business, this is all for me. Uh, but it's also with that passion that you know I just want to I want to do well by people and I want to help them succeed. You know, those two things are yeah, key.

SPEAKER_01 28:45

Yeah, I think you know, and we recently changed things. So obviously as as a company we we we look at data and we look at you know the amount of meetings generated, the amount of meeting sat, business took on. But what we've really started to put in with the junior guys is behaviours, and you know, you you you've instilled that and how important those behaviours are. Tell me, I mean, I'm conscious of time, so I haven't got hours, but but but tell me a little bit more about the importance of those behaviours and why why why we've instilled that in you.

SPEAKER_00 29:10

Yeah, definitely. And I I I call them behaviours, but they're also non-negotiables at the same time. You know, you you you have to for any kind of high performing team, you have to have a set of standards, and you've and and it's our job to to hold people to those standards and to hold them to account. So, you know, bringing that in and making everybody putting everybody on the same page and saying, you know, these are the standards that we expect of you. Let's make everybody very clear. We're all on the same page, we all agree with them. I think that's the most important part is that we're not telling anybody what to do, we're just saying this is what we think good looks like, uh, and and this is how we think it should be run. We've all agreed, and that's that's now the contract, for one of a better phrase, between us and them. That's how we um you know we manage them to those behaviours and behaviors, how you discipline yourself, as we talked about, and how you carry yourself throughout your career, are they will often lead to to good results.

Linking Tech With Human Support

SPEAKER_01 30:02

Yeah. One thing that you speak to me a lot about is and and we we are using it as a big part of things our technology. Yes. You know, you you you definitely have bought into the app and the and what it does. I mean, um you I'm right saying you were doing something with applications in succession.

SPEAKER_00 30:19

So this was at Evelyn Pop. So yeah, Evelyn has um an its own sort of execution-only platform called Best Invest. And I was very, very fortunate. And I think this was this was probably a turning point in my career when I was asked to get involved uh in the project to rebrand, revamp Best Invest. You know, that that opportunity and that that journey that I went on was was awesome. You know, getting to work with some you know very senior people in at Evelyn, seeing how they operate, seeing how they work, and and being involved in the the research and analysis and and adding in the human element to Best Invest, I thought was was was incredible. And it's really, yeah, it's really made me passionate about how we can use our app, which is amazing. Uh, how we can use that to help and support clients. They can use it in their own right, of course. Yeah, but it's also a really, really great tool that we can sort of check in with people that we're using, we can check in with them, we can support them, they can speak to an advisor, they've always got someone there to help them because people don't know what they don't know. And if this isn't your profession, it's very difficult to look at you know our Wealthflow app and know exactly is that telling me what I want to tell me or am I interpreting it the right way. So us being able to link human support to the great application that we have, yeah, very, very passionate about that. I think it's a massive, massive opportunity for everyone that's out there to use it, and also a massive opportunity for us to empower people through the way in which our advisors work.

Imposter Syndrome And Settling In

SPEAKER_01 31:44

Excellent. And just before we move on to the final part, so there was something that you mentioned before about the office, the busyness and the rush around it. I mean, and I always say, you know, we're we are a highly driven company. You know, we we have our three core values, which are no ego, growth, mindset, and hard work, which anybody that attributes to generally does well. And what you said before is the programme go from there. How moving into that company from the UK and coming in, how how was your integration with the rest of the team? Was it you know the the senior management, the the planners that you started working with, and also the other planners in the business? How did that go?

SPEAKER_00 32:19

Yeah, I mean it wasn't it wasn't easy. I definitely had imposter syndrome when I first when I first walked through the door. Obviously, you know, coming from coming from the UK, you know, done you know had a variety of different roles back in the UK and worked for you know two of the largest, uh, two of the largest organizations in the UK. But again, coming into different country, different way of working, you know, that was the energy and the passion that that that that hit me was gosh, this is infectious. It was also on the other side of the coin, you know, everybody was expecting something from me straight away. I felt, and I was oh gosh, I don't have all the answers right now. I need to I need to have some time to to bed in and settle down because you know, we work with clients in the US, EU, Australia, Asia, etc. And that's you know, that was all brand new to me. So, you know, settling in, I felt, and I'm definitely my own most critic, it definitely felt it took me longer than I was expecting it took me. Uh and it's only really now, and I'm not saying I know everything, but it's only really now do I feel okay, cool, I've got this, I understand how we operate, I understand how we interact across the different jurisdictions. So it's been it's been challenging to kind of uh yeah, shake that feeling of, gosh yeah, I'm not sure I belong here, because sometimes think my style is a bit of a clash in terms of how I operate, how I work, uh, but I think in a good way, and that's something that I've reflected on in that sometimes if you think a bit differently, it's not a bad thing. Um, so it's been yeah, it's been tricky, but I definitely feel I've broken the back of it now, being six months in.

Recruiting The Next Cohort

SPEAKER_01 33:44

Well, the planners that you're working with have responded very well to the the and you know, we don't know what we don't know. And I think one of the big things that you and I have discussed is you do things in a slightly different way to how I do it, and that's great. Because actually, you're working with some of the advisors I work with, I'm working with some of the advisors you work with, and taking the best of both and putting it together. And you know, something that we talk about is we we try and make it so everybody helps everyone. That no-ego thing is something that's quite important, and you know, hopefully that's happening across the board. I think we see it on a daily basis. So we're now going to start recruiting for our next cohort of so these would be the guys starting off at the very, very beginning, uh so training wealth managers. So there'll be things going out for that. I'm hope we're hoping to bring six more of those in next year. And basically, that means that we've got between 25 and 35 people that within the next three to four years will be fully qualified financial planners. Yeah. I mean, that's incredible when you think about it. I mean, some of them will be 24 years old, 23 years old, and it's just just insane.

SPEAKER_00 34:41

Yeah, no, and I think that's why this opportunity is so unique. Again, you know, coming coming from the UK, you know, you don't it's unheard of really for somebody to be 24 years old, qualified, building their own client book, the transition journey, you know, back at home is is just slightly different. And I'm not saying it's it it it's wrong or whatever, but the opportunity that we provide for real life interaction as early as we do is is is amazing. So thinking of you know the nexics that are coming in, I mean, you know, it's it comes straight out of university, go on this apprenticeship, you know, where you can learn you can learn the skills required to build great client relationships is is yeah, it's absolutely amazing. And you can have all of that relatively young, and then you've got such a long career ahead of you to do to do some amazing things. I think it's just brilliant.

Patience The Journey And The Close

SPEAKER_01 35:30

The hardest part I find with that is you know, we've had people starting 19 years old that are fully qualified by 21 and they want to be an advisor at 22, and it's trying to also balance the I mean not that not that there's anything wrong with that, because at the end of the day, age is just a number. Yeah, but everyone wants to move fast. Oh, and that you know the challenge we have because these guys are quite driven, they do want to do well, and it's trying to put the brakes on these guys is quite which is which is a really nice problem to have.

SPEAKER_00 35:53

It's great to be able to try and you know, it's a it's a lovely place to be. We're trying to hold someone back from from where they want to go rather than trying to get somebody to to go. But patience is something that I've definitely learned throughout the course of my journey in financial planning. So when I look back at you know, some of the younger trainees that we've got now, I definitely recognize some of the traits in them that I felt I had. And it's about right, okay, how can I take from my experience and really kind of reflect on where they are, knowing how I felt, you know, what would I, how would I like to have been guided at that point in time? And I think patience is and focusing on the journey, not the destination, is massively important because success does not happen overnight, even though when you're young, you feel, oh yeah, I could go do that, I can go do this. It doesn't, it doesn't happen that way, unfortunately. So having the discipline which we've spoken about to focus on yeah, the journey that you're on and know where the destination is, that's absolutely fine. But all the different steps that you've got to go on, um, I think are I think is is crucial to anybody's success.

SPEAKER_01 36:55

Funny, I I look back now and I look at the quality of the guys that we brought in for the last cohort, and I compare them to myself at 25. I mean, and I never worked in a financial background. I mean, I was absolutely useless on the telephone. Um yeah, just and I purely got through it through hard work, and that's where that discipline and hard work. I mean, I literally had to work harder than most people have ever worked to get through it. Actually, I was a bit lucky because my wife had a good job over here and she supported me as well in the early days. But I think what we've created now, you know, it's the best pathway that we've had. It will get better, you know, um, and and we'll keep taking feedback and doing it, and you've been a massive part of that. I've really enjoyed the first six months working together, I think it's gone really, really well. I'm looking forward to seeing where we can take it over the next 12 months, and yeah, we'll probably catch up on a podcast again in six months' time and and talk a bit more about how we've done. But Matt, thanks very much for coming on today. It's been great to hear more about you as a person and also about what we're doing with the structure. Um, and look forward to seeing where we go for the rest of the year.

SPEAKER_00 37:51

Awesome. Thanks for having me.