Dont Shoot The Messenger

A Day in the Life of a £250 millon Fianacial Adviser

• Chris Ball • Season 1 • Episode 12

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What does a day really look like for a financial advisor managing £250 million in assets?

In this episode of Don’t Shoot the Messenger, Chris Ball (CEO of Hoxton Wealth) is joined by Jonathan Jay (JJ), Head of UK Operations of Hoxton Wealth, for a behind-the-scenes look at the daily structure, mindset, and systems it takes to build and manage a quarter-billion-pound book of business.

From early morning routines and prospecting strategies…

To team structures, client relationships, time management, and emotional resilience, Chris and JJ break down the real day-to-day life of top-tier advisers.

Whether you're a new planner, a seasoned pro, or someone curious about the profession, this episode gives you a raw and practical insight into:
- What advisers actually do all day
- How to balance new business vs existing clients
- Why routine and preparation are critical
- Building the right team around you
- When to scale, delegate, and invest in support
- What they wish more advisers understood
- The mindset behind staying sharp and constantly learning

If you want to see what life in Hoxton Wealth is like, please visit: / @hoxtonlife

For more information on Hoxton Wealth careers, please https://www.careers-page.com/hoxtonwealth.com

For my videos by Chris, please visit his Youtube: ⁨@ChrisBallHoxton⁩

SPEAKER_01:

We're gonna give you a day in the life of a quarter billion pound assets under management financial advisor.

SPEAKER_00:

I like to do the same thing every single day with back it up.

SPEAKER_01:

But you know, helping clients plan, invest, protect, retire, transfer wealth. You have to find what works for you 100%.

SPEAKER_00:

You shouldn't be just doing something because someone else does it. One of the things I see advisors struggle with, uh, we speak to a lot of advisors that um that uh are growing their own books and they're self-employed and that sort of thing, is identifying the right moment to bring someone into your team. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

I was probably at my peak, uh spending 60 to 70% on new business. Um, you need to have a really strong relationship, not just a transactional relationship. Yeah. So so many people were busy fools, and what I mean by that is they focused on the tasks that don't uh generate the revenue, or they're trying to be control freaks and they try and manage absolutely everything themselves. So, welcome back to Don't Shoot the Messenger with myself, Chris Ball, and again today I'm lucky enough to be joined by Jonathan J, who heads up our UK business. Um, and we've got an interesting one, and this is one someone actually asked us uh to do, believe it or not, which is a day in the life of a financial advisor. And not only are we going to give you that, we're gonna give you a day in the life of a quarter billion pound assets under management financial advisor, and what that actually looks like, and what financial advisors actually do all day. Hopefully, it gives you a really good insight into what we've been doing uh and what we do. Um, so today JJ and I, like I said, are going to pull back the curtain on what a day really looks like as you know, two advisors managing uh 250 million pounds each. So uh as I kind of said, I'll let JJ introduce himself in uh in a minute, but I run obviously Hoxton uh wealth. Uh I'm the CEO of the group operations. We manage three over three billion dollars uh of assets, but I personally built up a book uh along the way of 250 million pounds, flip-flopping in between dollar and pounds uh of assets. Uh, and it took me about five years uh to do so. Uh obviously having some great clients and some great support from my team. Um, but you know, it's not just me saying this is someone who sits on the other side of the fence, actually in the shoes as well. And JJ, I know you've got great experience as well.

SPEAKER_00:

Yes. Yes, uh, thank you. So I'm Jonathan J. Uh my Hoxton name is JJ. And um, yeah, very excited to uh to share some some of uh our experiences, uh talk about things like routines, client meetings, marketing yourself, the qualifications, and the things that people don't tell you uh about what it takes to uh to grow a big book uh and to be successful as a financial advisor. Awesome. So let's get to it.

SPEAKER_01:

So what financial advisors really do all day? Um so you know what does first off, let's just start off by defining what actually a financial advisor does.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. This is good actually, because uh it's a good place to start, because this is something I talk to our advisors about. Yeah. Uh and your elevator pitch. Yeah. Because a lot of advisors I find are not very good at actually saying what we do. Um, and for me, my elevator pitch is um as a financial planner, we help clients to find ways to make uh use of their personal finances as a tool to live out the home street dreams and aspirations. Yeah. That is that uh in a nutshell, that is what we do.

SPEAKER_01:

Encapsulates it very, very well within uh within within one sentence, isn't it? And it's super like it's it's mad how many people don't actually know how to explain what they do very well. Like you're asking the card, well, I can't do a bit of investments and tax planning for clients, and there's probably you've just lost someone already, you know, there's just like whatever. Um, but you know, helping clients plan, invest, protect, retire, transfer wealth, these are all the good things that a financial planner will will do, for sure.

SPEAKER_00:

For sure. I think uh I think a lot of advisors use the technical stuff as a crutch and they've got to immediately show that they've got technical knowledge. Yeah, gonna do that in 30 seconds. Um, just really neatly highlight what you do is super important.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, definitely. And you know, it's not that we're just number crunches, a big part of the job is obviously helping people make decisions, sometimes emotional ones about their money. And actually always, yeah, and always that's actually for me, that's actually when you really know that you have helped the client. So you haven't necessarily helped them with a you know, just transferring them from one thing into another. Um, actually, what you when you when I get the most satisfaction out of the job as a advisor is when actually I've sat down and helped someone plan uh and really got into what's important to them and and can understand how that that shapes it out. Yeah, for sure.

SPEAKER_00:

And you see those light bulb moments with a kind of um when you you can sense when you truly had an impact. That's why we do it. That's why you should do it. Um if you lead with that, you'll be super successful.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, definitely. So let's start off with the day then. So obviously uh from night turns into day, uh we obviously have have the morning. So, you know, how would do you have a morning routine? Or how do you normally start your day?

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, I definitely have a morning routine. I have to because I've got two kids now. Um and I've always had a morning routine. I'm very um I like to do the same thing every single day when we get up. Um so I would typically get up at half five in the morning. Um and um get myself get myself up and straight away. Uh for me personally, into emails. I like to um clearly as we've been in, we've got uh businesses around the world, we've got offices around the world. I get I hear uh when I've been in the UK, I hear from you and the team very early in the morning. So I like to just get up and make sure that there's no nasties uh and that I know what to expect of the day uh and review my diary as well and understand exactly what to expect of that day uh before I do anything. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, it's interesting, isn't it? Because it's from what you said there, like cray, you know what I found actually is that most successful financial planners actually crave routine. Yeah. And they and they all have their own strict routines that they normally stick to, and they're quite disciplined in in their approach. Um, you know, my my morning routine normally is I'll wake up. Um, I do have three children as well, um, but thankfully I normally wake up before they've got up as well. Uh, I find that's like the calm part of my day for sure. I normally wake up uh about 4am now. I'll sit and flick through uh uh the stories uh overnight on um on uh the news stories on uh on my iPhone, catching up on what Arsenal have done, uh catching up on anything else interested, business or whatever's been done. Um and yeah, and then and then I'll start to ease into my day. The next thing I do is cut into my bathroom, um make myself start getting ready for the gym. So I'd only have my clothes like laid out the night before that I'm gonna wear to the gym and also my work clothes, so when I come up, I don't have to turn the light on and wake my wife up, who will uh no doubt give me grease, and probably rightly so. Uh and then I go down and I I'll typically do a workout in my uh in my gym that I have in my house. Uh and by gym I mean it's my dungeon, it's got uh it's in my garage, it's got uh my running machine, it's got my weights, it's got my uh bench press, it's got all the other bits and pieces that I that I enjoy using. Um and I give myself time to get into the day, like those first bits. I actually normally watch a podcast as well when I'm doing it, or a YouTube video. Um watch a lot of US uh investing uh videos at the moment. Uh I still like the Diary of the CEO, I still like Tim Ferris, I still like um what's the other one called? Uh Jake Humphreys one. Um, and I find that kind of starts to get me in tune with you know what's going on. Obviously, I do I'm you know I'm not gonna hold my hands up straight. I normally check my WhatsApps as well. I'm not one of these people, I'm not gonna look at my phone or whatever, you know. I want to know what's going on or whatever's happened. And obviously, with the UK and US being further ahead, it's actually uh actually you know good to you know good to have a little flick through and get going. And then from there, you know, I I do enjoy taking my kids to school. Um so I take my uh oldest two, they have sports that start early in the UAE. They got we leave their house at 20 past six. Wow. Um they've got they'll be in for 6.45 with uh their before school sports starting at 7. And that's a nice bit of the day with them. And then if I drop them off at that time, I can normally be in work for seven and then we're cracking on. But same routine pretty much every day.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, for sure. Yeah, for sure. It's interesting though, isn't it? That because uh still the same routine but done slightly differently, yeah, which is important as as we go through this that you have to find what works for you a hundred percent.

SPEAKER_01:

You shouldn't be just doing something because someone else does it. Yeah, I found that as well, like it's you've got to do what works well for you. And there's bits actually, one thing I forgot in uh adding that is I do a bit of reading um as well because I I like learning something in the morning and it kind of gets my brain going and stuff like that. And it's I was meditating at one point and then I found I just wasn't really into it, it wasn't really working for me, but it helped uh quite a lot the time with focus. So I think you've got to try different bits as well, and I also you know, every uh every now and again it won't happen, yeah, for sure. And it's not there for throwing you off your day as well, yeah, exactly, or just like not letting it completely ruin your day because he didn't get up and he didn't do manage to do the workout or whatever it is.

SPEAKER_00:

But I do find that exercise first thing in the morning gets me like in the in the rhythm and and moving for the rest of the day water and you know, yeah, yeah, which is yeah, for me personally, I um I struggle not to just get straight into emails and stuff and and get straight into understanding what my day is gonna look like and the things I've got to do. Yeah. Um if I I I get a bit of anxiety if I wait an hour or two or try and do something first thing in the morning, because until I've got that really clear picture of what my day's gonna look like, I I struggle a bit. So I had that's the first thing I have to do.

SPEAKER_01:

So so obviously structure then is is key for you. Yes. You know, like what are the you know, what are the big buckets of the job? What are the things that you know how you structure your day then when you're in the office?

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, um, so this is something that I haven't always got right for sure. Um but uh I try and introduce it whenever it falls off or reintroduce it whenever it falls off, is making sure first thing in the office, having time carved out that's not disturbed by other people, that you can answer your emails, get through um your emails and start your day properly. Um if you can clear the clear your emails and clear any um quick win tasks first thing in the morning, you're off to a winner. So I I believe in getting your day off to a good start. Uh I can't remember the the name of the um the naval commander or whatever from uh the speech. Yes, about making your bed first thing in the morning. Um but I I do believe that if you can get your day off to the right start, tick a few of those items off, get your emails done, and be super protective over that time, particularly when you're you're leading people. Which if you are looking after a big book, you're gonna be leading people, which will come on to. Um but making sure you you get off to a positive start and get stuff done first thing in the morning. 100%.

SPEAKER_01:

That's the first key thing for me. Yeah, it's getting those things ticked off, isn't it? For sure. I think when I so when I was looking after clients and taking on new clients uh more so, I would always start by clearing off uh the night's emails. So get in and I had a roundup of the emails that were sent to me typically about 6 30 uh pm when my PA would leave and call the end of days. It would have all the emails that I needed responded to uh that that would be in there, and then I would just start going through them and getting them done. Some people actually interestingly say it's you shouldn't start with your emails, but for me, I quite like just clearing them off and getting them done. Um and you know, I think that next it's you know you've got to put things into buckets, but I have uh when I'm going through the when I'm going through the emails at the start, I have what's called a five-minute wall. If it's gonna take me longer than five minutes, I schedule in time to do it. If it's gonna if it's five minutes or less, I'll just do it there and then. Sure. Um because then it doesn't distract me from getting through what what I want to do. But that quick win early in the morning, having a clean inbox that's filtered out from the night before, it's like brief, you know, and having a scam for if anything else is as important has come in. I would then meet with my team. Um, so we'd have a team catch-up, so we'd I know I get in the office about seven, it'd take me about an hour to do my emails, get sorted, and then about half eight, have a meet with a team and we'd discuss the day ahead, who's doing what, what needs to get done, what the critical tasks, and start to make that to-do list. Sure. Like I'd still do it now. I have like five tasks that I need to get done. So I put five tasks in my diary on Microsoft Plano works really well that I know I need to get done to get me closer towards my goals. So my goals previously was I wanted to build a book of over 200 million. What did I have to do? The second thing that I would also encourage people is not to get stuck in the detail. So so many people are busy fools, and what I mean by that is they focus on the tasks that don't uh generate the revenue, or they're trying to be control freaks and they try and manage absolutely everything themselves, separate into what are called pound and penny tasks. Pound tasks are the tasks that only you can do and that add the revenue and that add the value to your clients, the penny tasks are what other people in your team uh you've employed them to do to enable you to do more pound tasks. Sure. Um, and I think the bigger you get, like people sit I hate it when people talk about investing in their team and they see it as a cost. Well, this is gonna cost me more, it's not. Yeah, if you're doing this properly, it's gonna free you up to be able to actually it's an investment for you to be able to go and take on more with your removes those glass ceilings.

SPEAKER_00:

100%. So if you uh so you have your team catch up, uh one of the things I think is important if you're growing a book of that size, what does your team look like?

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. So my team looked like I had uh my PA. Um in the end I actually had three. Um so two admins, one for new business, uh, one for new business, one for it existing clients, uh, and uh another one for personal stuff. Um I had two business development managers who were going out and speaking to new people for me. One would be focused on um one would be focused on more uh cold out outreach and one would be focused on inbound uh outreach to me. I I found that the two people could never be good at both. They were either really good at cold outreach, and which meant they're normally quite not aggressive, but they're good at getting in front of people. And then the warmer, you know, leads coming to us that you know these were things that needed more nurturing. Um, and then I had three uh at the end paraplanners underneath me to help me service my uh clients and provide, you know, like if you've people don't want to wait three weeks for a response, they want to get a response pretty quickly. Um, and I found that having those people there that were able to assist me, one was tasked with new business and two were tasked with the existing uh book um to help me provide answers to those queries uh and to give value to the clients, you know, really enabled me to focus on the the the top of the funnel bit and actual client interaction and meetings. Sure.

SPEAKER_00:

One of the things I see advisors struggle with, uh we speak to a lot of advisors that um that uh are growing their own books and they're self-employed and that sort of thing, uh, is identifying the right moment to bring someone into your team. Yeah, how do you manage that?

SPEAKER_01:

Um I think you know, and I would always say, you know, like sometimes people look at it and they do do it a bit too early. Um but also I it does take time to train good people up as well. I think you can't like no one comes in and is great straight away, or very rarely. So, you know, I'd say there's normally six months before you need it is probably good because then when you need it, they're already there and you're not having to fight fires because others what you find is is that if you haven't bought that person in, something else will drop. That'll either be your new business that you're bringing in, or it'll be the service that you're providing to your existing clients. So, you know, that it them either one of them dropping off is is is is not great. Um I I don't think it's number of clients, I just think it's how because you could have uh you could have 20 clients of 10 million each who you have to be very uh on on the ball with and getting back to super quick, or you could have 200 clients with 100,000 each, um, you know, who you would probably do more of an annual review and things like that. So it just depends upon what kind of path and what level of service that you're doing uh and and you're gearing up to. But I generally find the higher ticket stuff, you're gonna need more people around you because they expect that wide glove service. What about you?

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, I think it's um it's tough because, like you say, you mentioned cost and having to make an investment and that sort of thing, which which is tough. But um the me growing a book at InvestTech was a lot easier because having that conversation, but I have to create a business case to the yesness as to why I need more support. Yeah. Um, but you can't you categorically cannot do it on your own. No, you have to have a team around you, you have to have power planning and admin support and different um different levels of support around you to m because as you get bigger, your time's gonna get squeezed more and more. Uh, and the areas that have made you successful, you're gonna lose time with that. So you need to make sure that you constantly free up time to do the things that have made you successful a lot.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, it's interesting, isn't it? Because in the UK, the business development manager side is not uh doesn't exist. A lot of people don't have it in their business, whereas internationally we know we have to have it. Sure. Um, and obviously, but that's what we train people up uh uh initially, is it's it's definitely something that I would encourage people to uh people to do. Um what you know kind of breakdown of your time when you were an advisor, doing what activities roughly what it would be. And this is it, and the reason why I ask is because I was listening to a podcast the other day, and they reckon actually of an advisor's time they're only spending 25% of their time actually advising. Which is crazy, isn't it?

SPEAKER_00:

Bonkers. And that's why the team aspect i is super important. Um, I think it's this changes depending on where you are in the journey. If you're at the beginning of your journey, 100% of your time should be on new clients, yeah, pretty much, or or the things that aid new clients, so things like marketing and brand your personal brand and that sort of thing, and being being visible um and building up introducer networks and that sort of thing. You should be spending the maximum amount of time finding new that dial changes as you get bigger because you also have an existing book of clients you need service. Yeah. I think um once you get to sort of a hundred million plus, I've I've actually put that around 40 to 50 percent of my time should be on existing clients. Yeah, because I'm very big on service and um not just contacting clients when you have a review or when you need to. It's actually the way you build a proper relationship where a client will pick up the phone to you uh and you become their main point of contact for anything they need professionally, um, you need to have a really strong relationship, not just a transactional relationship. Yeah. So once you get um a hundred million plus, I think that's that's the sort of level you need to be at. But you always need to have I've actually put 30%, uh 20% of my time uh on new, yeah. Uh but in addition to that, 10% on marketing and things like that as well. Yeah. So you need to be spending a good chunk of your day still, if you have ambitions to grow bigger and beyond that, um, you need to sp always have time for new. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, definitely. You you can never uh stop prospecting as uh I forget the guy's name now. Um but uh you know he's uh what is the guy's name though? I think he recognized you recommended me the books. Um Paul Alsa No, there's another guy. I'll find out and I'll put it in there, I'll put it in the description. Um but um the day you stop prospecting your business starts to to fold. So it has to has to be an important part, but you still you definitely do have to focus on delivering that white guy of treatment unless and I say this unless your business model is that you are the front advisor, you bring people in and you build a servicing team around you that go on and service those clients. There's nothing wrong with that either. And I actually think as long as you are you're up front to the clients about that, like you know, look, I'm speaking to you now, da-da-da. You know, I'll still be here to oversee, but actually these are the people that are going to be servicing you. There's actually nothing wrong with that. No, and I think playing to your strengths is important for sure.

SPEAKER_00:

And a client actually, I think there's a lot of um there's a lot of positive that comes from uh the team approach to a client. I think um a client likes the idea of uh if you go to a legal practice, you'll have uh paralegals and other other people assisting the the lawyer that's working with you, and that team approach works really well, I think. Um, but also what I was gonna say with the existing part is that is not um taking you away necessarily from new, agreed, because there's plenty of opportunity with existing clients. So whether you are involved in doing that and finding those opportunities, or you have a really good servicing team who can spot those opportunities, that is really important as well. You can't neglect that.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, agreed. And there's also kind of seasonal things as well, isn't there, that goes along as well. So you've obviously got like tax year end, that's always fun. Um, as as we know, summer might be a bit slower as people go away. Although, interestingly, uh for us as a business, it's actually been our biggest uh three months during July and August, uh progressively bigger, uh, which has been really interesting.

SPEAKER_00:

Um it's a challenge of thinking on that as well, isn't it? It's uh if you believe that a period of the year is going to be quieter, you'll you'll approach it as if it's quieter. 100%. Try try and do more.

SPEAKER_01:

It's all in people's heads. Yes. Like it I cannot say that enough. Like what you believe becomes true. For sure. So you really need to, as Margaret Thatcher says, you really need to manage your thoughts. Yeah. Um because if you're not, you know, like then you then you start to believe your own bullshit, basically. For sure. Um but it's uh false emotions appear in real, isn't it? It's like you you hid yourself into thinking it. But look, there's definitely times when things are different, and you know, I would say look, tax year end is much more about you know speaking to existing clients for me and making sure that all of that stuff was done and in and off, and we utilized the allowances that we could, and we you know, we were kind of moving on. Um, and then you know, maybe I spent more time business developing over the summer, uh, if some of my clients were away uh and focused on that. So definitely periods of time, but I think you know, as a general rule of of thumb, I was probably at my peak, uh spending 60 to 70 percent on new business. And I had my team working with me to help me manage my new clients because I realised that's what I was strong at, yeah, and that's the value that I could bring. Um, I had a great team around me that were actually much better at servicing the clients and providing the the value to them. Of course, the clients still wanted to talk to me and know I was there, but the actual work and the admin process and everything was being delivered by then. So it's different horses for different courses, and and you need to basically build it up for you know whatever um whatever suits you best and play to your strengths. For sure. 100%. What are the unexpected parts of the job then? So, you know, things people wouldn't think uh advisors actually do as part of their day-to-day role.

SPEAKER_00:

We actually work and don't just sit at lunch and um which is uh which is important we don't just uh we don't just walk around golf courses as well. There is uh look, I think the things that people underestimate or or don't quite grasp is the level of emotional uh energy that's needed for it. Yeah. So counselling, dealing with death for your clients, uh, or their family members, or they go through divorce, and you know the the trickier conversations and the conversation like it's not just about winning business, it's that you're gonna take your clients if you if you look after your clients properly, you're actually gonna take them on a uh on a real journey through their life. Uh and there are gonna be moments where it's really tough. Um, and that can be emotionally uh due to personal reasons, or it can be financial as well. If you wake up, uh I can assure you, if you wake up and markets have dropped 20-30%, brace yourself for a tricky day.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, it's not gonna be easy, is it? It's being that emotional anchor, definitely. I you know, I kind of also found that actually parts of the job we talked about it earlier, marketing. I actually spent a lot of my time researching and looking at different marketing at uh channels, honing my skills on that, um, and and spent a disproportionate amount of my time, way more than I ever thought I would as a financial advisor trying to get good at that because I knew that that was the was the route into into clients. I think you know, it's kind of like a lot of these uh things we called it intrapreneurial um before, but it you know it's as a you operating within a you're operating your own business within a business, um, and obviously within the frameworks of the the top business kind of govern uh for a lot of people, a lot of financial planners, you need to be you need to do you do need to be good at a multitude of different skills. You need to be good at HR, you have to be good at managing people, you need to be good at bringing people on. You will lose good people unless you offer them opportunity, you know, much the same as most of us. If if you were sold, you can only ever do this and you will always be stuck there. You're gonna lose interest pretty bloody quickly. Yeah, for sure. I know I would, so you have to be able to offer those opportunities. And actually, what I find is a lot of advisors don't like that part and really aren't interested in it. So they need help with with with that with that part too. But the the management side was definitely an unexpected part of the job as well.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, for sure. And um definitely not everyone is good at it. And I think if you genuinely if you are not good at it, try and find ways to be good at it, learn how you can be good. If it's something you don't believe you can upskill in, um, whether it is management, maybe you need uh a sort of practice manager or you need someone within your team. Hire in, hell, yeah. So bring in resource that can help you cover the cover your own cracks.

SPEAKER_01:

So what makes a good team then? Like to around you, like what actually like who is integral to your team? We spoke about it. Uh you know, I I actually gave you the outline of my my team and what I had, but actually what makes each of those positions good? So what makes an admin good, what makes uh a power planner good, uh, what makes uh business development manager good? Across all three, for me, one of the key traits was organization and how quick they react. Yeah, so if they were slow and were taking it wouldn't fit with my my pace, for sure. So they had to be quick and they had to be a and they had to want to move it and get back things quick, but also organization is a big thing as well because the bigger your team, e one person not being organized within that team or not following the the processes that you've all set completely stuffs it for sure.

SPEAKER_00:

And that that you just mentioned that word process. Um you have to find people that are able to follow a process because you need to determine what the process looks like for you and how you work, and then the team needs to be able to slot into that, otherwise it'll be too disjointed and it and it just won't work. Yeah. Um, you need to be very clear as to what your expectations are, how what time people need to get stuff done in, how what style and manner they need to get stuff in. Um, and you need to make sure that you bring people in that fit that mold. If you're a super technical person uh that leans more into the technical with a client, you need to make sure you've got a really technical power planner. If you're a sales-focused, uh growth-focused advisor that needs a power planner that we need power planners that are technical, of course, but you might need a power planner that can operate at a certain pace. Yeah. Um, so it's about just defining what your process is, defining how you want to work and what your expectations are, and making sure that the team are aligned with that.

SPEAKER_01:

I think building out documents like that is like building out a document. I mean, we do it for most roles now, and like this is this is what is expected of you. And the whole purpose of that is is like you should not everyone is right for you to work with, and it is you're like working super close with each other, so you need to be have a have a relationship. And where we've implemented that in roles, I found a big uplift in the quality because it scares off the people that look at it and go, This isn't me. They don't want to work like that. For sure. So therefore, it's much better to know up front for you and for them that that that it that it's not that it's not going to. And it also means they don't like end up leaving their job somewhere else. To come and work with you and you know all the rest stuff. So it does cut it does uh it does uh you know cause uh or uh save you from having a lot of headaches uh late later down the line. But you know, for me it's super important to have a great team around you because you will never ever ever be able to hit the heights of you know hundreds of millions of assets, even billions, uh some of the guys in the US manage without having a uh you know a shit hot team around you and you know, and and that are able to to help you. Um there's kind of a phrase which is you know, your your your network can help multiply your business uh you know faster than any any single marketing tactic. Your network is your net worth. Yeah, 100%. It's so so true, isn't it? So existing clients versus new clients, balancing it. We've kind of touched on it a bit. What's the right split?

SPEAKER_00:

Uh in terms of time or in terms of what your book looks like? Whatever. Um time, let's say.

SPEAKER_01:

Let's go for time, because we're doing a day in.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. I think I think no matter what and how big your book grows, you need to always look for new because it there is no I don't believe in limitation. Uh you we talked about quarters of a billion, why can't it be a billion? Why can't but you need to you need to find a structure where you can start to delegate tasks out to br if we talk about the team structure, you have associate advisors within your team that can look after clients and then you can focus on taking on more. You need to constantly I think I would set a limit on never letting your time on new drop below 20% of your day. You have to have time every single day for new. Yeah. Um, and you need to figure out what what your best approach is to find in new. Um for me, it was always professional connections working with uh other professionals. Um, but you need to figure out what it is and be laser focused on that 100%.

SPEAKER_01:

Focus and energy equals results. Correct. Um what I what I think on that is is that I don't think there's a right split. I I I think it's up to you in terms of what advisor that you want to be. Um naturally, if you're more new client focused, then you should do that. I I think also what I don't like is people holding on to clients just for the sake of holding them on. I don't think that gives, you know, just for the sake of just having them there, like you're never ever going to give them the best value and the best service that you can. So for the client's sake, it's actually better off for you to move them along to someone that will. And we've all been there. Like as your career progresses, with whatever you do, you don't very rarely do you hold on to that same subset of clients the whole way through. And actually, where we've bought businesses and we've seen that happen, the guys that have been with them the longest are the guys that need the most advice. For sure. Because it's it's just they got into some weird patter, which is probably turn up, have a few biscuits, have a cup of tea, talk about how they're you know, how their week's gone or what's gone on in their life, and then they move on. So like that that's not what a financial planner should be doing and the and the value that they should be delivering. And as and as an advisor, you want to grow and you wanna, you know, you wanna, you know, you will continue to help people with bigger problems typically and more sometimes you plateau and that's the that's the area that you like hitting, and then maybe then you do just focus on the small subset. But I think holding on to clients for that sake of it is is not right.

SPEAKER_00:

No, I agree. Um, you need to make sure that that level of service and care and attention and even having that uh having a different set of eyes, whether as a power planner or an associate advisor or whatever in your team is is useful. Yeah, definitely, definitely.

SPEAKER_01:

Uh qualifications, growth, and continuous learning. How much your day was spent on that? I mean, a m a lot of yours when you started your business because you was doing your CFP. Yes.

SPEAKER_00:

Um look, I I constantly did exams for the first eight years of uh being in the profession. Um, so I spent lots and lots of time. It depends on what stage you're at, but I think regardless, even if you're as highly qualified as you possibly can be, you need to still make sure you're learning or or if anyone learn new things, developing. Uh and you have to, if you're in the UK, you have to do 35 hours of CPD. 35 hours of CPD is not a lot. It's three hours a month. Yeah. It's um so that's that's not particularly aspirational, but it's things like making sure you're keeping um keeping an eye on current affairs and what's happening in the world and what's impacting uh client portfolios. Even if you are a passive, uh have a bias towards passive, you still need to know what's going on in the world to be able to articulate what's impacting a client's portfolio. You need to be really on top of that. You need to and you need to, I think what's also important with that is having an opinion. So you to create a dialogue with a client, you need to have an opinion. You need to you need to know um you'll get you'll get some sophisticated clients are pretty well informed. You're gonna struggle with them if you're not. Yeah. Uh so I think that's important.

SPEAKER_01:

I think we need to dispel this myth as well that like passive just means you put them in and forget about it and never ever look at it.

SPEAKER_00:

That's oh, we'll never ever talk about it. No. Well, we've talked about emotional and behavioural stuff. That that all feeds into that. So you need to be able to sort of um zoo help a client zoom out and and also uh sort of temper them as well. Um, so I think that's important, but look, legislation changes all the time. Yeah, you can't you cannot suggest to me that you know everything and you know what's to come and you're fully up to date with absolutely everything all the time because there's what we do is pretty complex. The axe structures and how you do things is pretty complex. You need to constantly be refreshing your what you do, definitely 100%.

SPEAKER_01:

One of the questions that I constantly um I constantly ask people in in no matter what job they apply for, is what have you done recently to push yourself outside of qualifications um and learn more? Yeah. And if they aren't telling me that they've done something, I they will lower down in my uh like they will be lower down in my estimates. If someone has been out their way to go on a course, they've been out their way to you know go on, you know, something that is not necessarily to do with just what their profession is, I think that makes you so much more rounded person. And it shows the type of person that you are that you want to be pushed, you want to learn, you want to grow. And you know, with our you know, kind of three um, you know, three values as a business, it's super, super important.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, for sure. So for you, um uh slightly differently to me, you you grew a 250 million pound book as well as running a big business. Uh for anyone that's uh suggests they don't have the time to personally develop um how how much time have you committed over the last few years in particular?

SPEAKER_01:

Loads, I mean I go to Coursey, I read every day. That's one thing I do every single day. I read, um, I try and read at least 20 pages of of books, I read books on investing, I read books on sales, I read books on marketing, I read books on people that interest me, biographies. Um I find that that is a great way. Like I've I said I I I've said it before. A book is someone's life work suppressed into three to four hundred pages. For sure. Like, what like it and generally they've normally been pretty successful for you to read it. So, like, why why would why would you not? So, books is a good one. The second one is I I go on course, actually, I went on uh Alex Hormosy. I don't know if you've ever seen him. So he is uh he owns a company called acquisitions.com, and if you see him, he walks around in a tank top, he's got this big beard and like a hat, very American. Yeah, you probably have seen him. Um I actually flew out to LA, uh to LA to Las Vegas to the headquarters, um uh had meetings with them and their team and and uh went on a course there. Uh I've been out three times. I think I'm due to go back out again soon. Um and I learned so much about marketing and so much about business outside of what we do that you know it was just it was super valuable. But I I crave new things. I've got a future proof next week. Yeah, I'm not going to I'm not going to go and tell people about myself. I'm going to find out what everyone else is doing. Yeah. Because I'm super interested, and that's you know, it's a way to learn. So yeah, I I think doing those things, and I think people make excuses, but you cannot grow and continue to get better if you're not, you know, taking uh correct taking those things in. How about you?

SPEAKER_00:

Um I've uh I always commit time like uh dangerous telling you this. I've signed up to another exam. Have you oh god uh series 60. Oh, I did. You know, actually Faye told me that. Did she? Yes, she's like she said you were looking and said you were looking for it because I was asking her when she was gonna do it. What a snitch. Um yeah, so like again, um I want to not even necessarily that I'm gonna write a load of US business, but when I if I'm in a business that is global and we do business, uh US business, I want to be able to understand uh if the stuff's been talking about, if I can support people, uh all that sort of I want to be able to uh and also not um not being qualified when others are, don't like it. So uh yeah, uh competition coming out in you, mate. Yes, I will be doing that at some stage. So you've got like you say, you've got to um if you ever feel comfortable, you're in a bad spot, 100%. You have to be in discomfort.

SPEAKER_01:

You are not um you are not uh uh you are not taking it seriously. Correct. I mean look, even as quarter of a billion uh pound advisors and planners were still studying, still taking exams and still learning. It's just part of the role, it's just what you've got to do, isn't it? You know, it's super, super key. Um so I think we've covered a lot there. Now we're getting to the end of our day. Yeah. What is the end of the day uh look like for you? Do you have like a a lot of people have like almost like a wind down routine that they have at the end of their day, dude? Do you have anything? I'm terrible for this. Uh I don't wind down.

SPEAKER_00:

No, I um just go to bed. I don't even go to bed. Yeah. Um no, I like it's actually the most important part of my day, I think. Um the beginning and the end sets sets everything. So for me, it's reflecting and uh uh looking at the day, reflecting on the things that have gone well and not gone so well is important, but also getting ready for the next day. Yeah, don't appro don't just wake up in the morning to take on the day. Wake up in the morning with what to expect, what your diary looks like, um making sure that everything's ready. You talk about having your gym kit ready uh the night before, like have having everything ready for a strong start gets you off to a winner.

SPEAKER_01:

So that that is super important for me. 100%. For me, it's um it's making sure I get enough sleep. I found when uh years when I was not getting enough sleep, I was nowhere, I wasn't making anywhere near the right decisions. I was snappy, it's irritable. Um, I forget the same when I'm hungry as well. Uh and maybe it's just me in general, but um I I definitely need sleep. So I need to make sure that I get seven hours like that. That's that's good. Um if I don't, I don't I don't operate as well as I as as well as I can. Um obviously want to see my wife and my kids as well, and make sure that you know I'm I spend time with them. That is difficult though if you have late calls and everything else like that. I don't really have a set routine though. Like I know some people like they have like this whole window thing, which I would love to implement, but I just find the start of the day I can control, the end of the day I don't. But I think you know what you said was really true, which is like prepping for the next day makes a big difference. Um like laying out your gym kit, laying out your work clothes, making it so you don't have to think in the morning, you don't find those excuses not to do it. Is you know, like if I put out my gym clothes and I walk into the bathroom and I've not gone to the gym in the morning, I mean you've let yourself down.

SPEAKER_00:

Well, you can you can comment on this. Um I obviously report into you, and we have lots of meetings. There's very few, uh hopefully never meetings that you that I turn up and there's there's no prep being done, or I don't know what we need to cover it or whatever. And that's really important for me. I don't want to let myself down, I don't want to let other people down. So don't get up in the morning and go, oh no, I didn't realise that I had that in my diary.

SPEAKER_01:

That's terrible. Or getting five minutes before and going, Oh, I don't even know what we're meeting about. Exactly. You know, that that is that is not a good meeting, is it? You know, and and it's and it's super key. But that prep work, it's that's end of the week, isn't it? Yeah. So I don't know about you, but on a Sunday, I normally spend five to six hours on the Sunday preparing for the Monday. So all my emails will be cleared, all of my uh managers uh uh videos that they send me will be watched. Um when I was advising, it would be going through and understanding what you know what I've got on that week, making sure that my diary was in there, making sure that my team knew what they had to get ready. Like it would, you know, it was Sunday is the day, because then on Monday you're not starting your week going, oh you know, that overwhelm feeling. Um but you know, I think everyone, everyone's different, but I think the the kind of common theme that's running here is using the end of your day to prepare for the next sets you off to a good foot.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, agreed. I do exactly the same on a Sunday evening. Uh get myself ready for the week. Very protective over uh Saturdays and and a lot of the day on a Sunday because I spend, like you, lots of time away from family and the kids. Um so I make sure I give them that time and I'm fully present and then uh worst present as I possibly can be. Uh and then uh I make sure I get ready for the week on a Sunday evening.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, 100%. And then yeah, I think it's you you start without that overwhelm. Like there's a lot of you know, a lot of people that kind of get up 15 minutes before they've got to wake up, running round, but that started the night before. They were probably up a bit too late watching TV, they probably didn't have a bit of a a set routine in that that they had, and they start off on the back foot. Um, and that's not a good way to start your day, missing your alarm, running around like a headless chicken. It means that you uh you know, it means that you're not getting off on the right foot. And actually, what normally happens is you just piss off everyone around you as well. Yeah. Um so you just can't show up properly. No, you can't, can you? Um, but yeah, well look, I I hope that I hope that sheds some light for people on what it is actually like as an advisor and the kind of things that we were looking at. Uh, and if you are kind of just bumbling along, um, you know, it shows that a financial planner is part planner, part coach, part entrepreneur, part counsellor. Um, and hoping that it gives you know advice to aspiring advisors who really want to level up. Um, you know, it's not just about money, it's about people, trust, and consistency. And, you know, that's what a day in the life of a quarter of billion pound advisor or advisors, planners uh look like looks like. So I hope you enjoyed it. If you did, please like and subscribe. Uh please put any comments in as well of anything that you want us to cover or any questions you've got, it'd be great to hear from you. And have a great day. Thanks very much.