Financial Planner Life Podcast
Welcome to The Financial Planner Life Podcast. We cover an intimate and honest account of what it’s really like to work in the financial planning profession.
Our guests share their stories of success, failures, and learnings, as well as what to expect from a career in the financial planning profession! We host guests at various stages in their careers, as well as multiple roles, to ensure that our audience has a variety each week.
Financial planners, business owners, paraplanners, and back-office staff all have their own stories to share, and The Financial Planner Life podcast serves as a platform for them to discuss their personal and professional journeys. The podcast covers a multitude of topics, from mindset and motivation, health and wellbeing, all the way to diversity and inclusion.
We approach each episode with the idea that it will educate and spark a conversation within the industry on topics that may not be openly discussed. If you're considering a career as a financial adviser or are curious about learning more about this exciting sector, we encourage you to give the podcast a listen.
The Host: Sam Oakes is the host of The Financial Planner Life Podcast. since 2008 Sam has been supporting leading national and global financial planning firms in finding the best talent, he was the director of Recruit UK, a 7 figure turnover financial planning recruitment company that he successfully exited in 2024, Sam then worked as the Head of Creative for Hoxton Wealth in Dubai, building out podcasts, YouTube and social content for this fast growing fee based international financial planning firm before leaving Hoxton Wealth in 2025 to focus purely on financial planner life podcast and the financial planner life creative studio helping product/service providers and financial planning firms build podcasts and video content into their social marketing strategies.
Sam Oakes has always had a passion for financial services, starting as a trainer for a leading product provider in the UK, and he has been in the industry for over 20 years.
He sees himself as a partner to the financial planning profession and wants to contribute useful resources, such as this podcast, to educate those who are further seeking advice and help about how to push their careers forward in this amazing profession.
Please reach out to sam oakes directly on sam@financialplannerlife.com if you would like to be a guest on this podcast or build a strategic advertising partnership. We welcome product and service providers that want to promote their product, services or tech to financial planners as well as companies who want to attract talent (recruitment ) to their financial planning company.
Episodes
300 episodes
Jeanne Mpondo Asked a Room of Women Who Invests. Not One Hand Went Up...
Jeanne Mpondo asked a room full of women in London whether anybody there was investing in anything. Not one hand went up. She then asked who owned their home or held a pension, and hands went up all over the room.Jeanne Mpondo is a St. J...
.png)
She Spent 10 Years in Law Before Taking a HUGE Pay Cut To Become a Financial Planner
Towards the end of her ten years in law, Imogen worked out that fifteen hour days for three and a half months would get her to the billable hours she needed for her bonus. She did it, hit the number, and then handed in her notice.
.png)
From Financial Planning Degree To Head Of Advice In Dubai
Rebecca Ellis became a Chartered Fellow in her early twenties, but becoming a financial adviser wasn’t her immediate next step.Today, she is Head of Advice at Titan Wealth International in Dubai, with experience spanning technical fi...
.png)
From IFA Network To Directly Authorised - One Financial Solutions Next Chapter!
After 13 years inside a financial advice network, Wayne Griffith and One Financial Solutions have become directly authorised by the FCA.But what does it really take to become a directly authorised financial advice firm? How long does FCA...
.jpg)
The Investment Clock: What Financial Advisers Need to Know About Market Cycles | Trevor Greetham & Robin Ellis
Trevor Greetham, Head of Multi-Asset at Royal London Asset Management, still measures market timing with a clock face borrowed from a 1930s newspaper. The idea dates back to a reference Trevor found from the London Evening Standard,...
This CPD Strategy is Like “Netflix For Financial Advisers?!” | Redmill Advance
Think about it like Netflix, but for CPD. That's how David Tait, of Redmill Advance, describes the platform he's built for financial advisers, back on this week’s episode to talk through it. Rather than static articles followed by a...
.jpg)
You Can Build A Brilliant Financial Adviser Career Without Going Self-Employed
Laura Fordham's (Financial Adviser at Titan Wealth) route into financial planning wasn't planned. She spent her first year handling the job entirely alone, while her client bank was still small. She lays out exactly what that year looked like i...
.jpg)
From Level 4 To Chartered Financial Planner - Is It Worth It?
Lewis Prosser has spent years myth-busting what it takes to go chartered. He is joined this week by David Tait of Redmill Advance.Lewis runs the St. James's Place programme supporting advisers from Level 4 through to Chartered status, an...
Why Financial Advisers Shouldn’t Sign Long-Term AI Contracts - Hardy Michel From Marloo
Hardy Michel is the founder of Marloo, an AI tool for financial advisers, and one of the most unusual things you'll hear him say as a tech founder, is that he'd rather you didn't sign a long-term contract for AI - even though it works against h...
.jpg)
How A Mortgage Adviser Built A Predictable Income As A Financial Planner
Natalie Cheesman, Partner at St. James's Place, joins Sam Oakes to talk about how she built a financial planning practice to £6 million in funds under management in 18 months, without ever fully stepping away from the mortgage business she'd ru...
.jpg)
How a Financial Advice Podcast Beat £1 Million in Google Ads for recruitment | New Leaf Distribution
Dan Hobbs, CEO at New Leaf Distribution, joins Sam Oakes to talk about what building their own podcast has delivered for an IFA Network. He's joined by his father, Founder & Chairman of New Leaf Distribution, Mark Hobbs, whose own scepticis...
.jpg)
ADHD and Neurodiversity Exam Support for Financial Planning from Redmill Advance & Neurosparks
Dan Armitage (CEO of Neuro Sparks) and David Tait (Founder of Redmill Advance,) joins Sam Oakes to talk about supporting neurodivergent individuals in financial planning. Dan spent a decade as a regulated financial adviser, as well as a bank ma...
.jpg)
How UK Planners Can Advise Clients With US Assets
Matthew Samuel, UK Chartered Financial Planner and SEC Regulated Financial Planner at Titan Wealth International, has built a career across both the UK and the international market, specialising in advising clients with US connections and US as...
.jpg)
I Switched From Investment Managment to Financial Planning £0 - £40m AUM in 3 years!
What does it take to leave a secure career, become self-employed and build a financial planning business managing close to £40 million in just three years?In this episode of the Financial Planner Life podcast, Sam Oakes speaks with Sama...
.jpg)
How the UK's Youngest Financial Adviser Built a £10 Million AUM Business Before 24 | Romany Youell
Romany Youell, Founder of The Finance Woman, qualified as the UK's youngest ever financial adviser at 18 after dropping out of college at 16. By 24 she had built a £10 million financial planning business. But the journey between those two momen...
.jpg)
Aycan Richards on Building and Exiting a Financial Planning Career in the Middle East | Titan Wealth
Aycan Richards, Chartered Financial Planner at Titan Wealth, spent 13 years building a financial planning career across Qatar and Dubai before making the decision to sell her business and hand her clients over to Titan Wealth.In this epi...
.jpg)
How Financial Advisers Are Booking 3 to 5 Client Appointments a Week on LinkedIn | Louis Adkins
Most financial advisers already know they should be more active on LinkedIn. What they don't know is why what they're doing isn't working.Free LinkedIn Webinar - book here - http://w...
LIBF Level 4 Qualification Deep Dive | John Somerville & David Tait
Why 30 to 39 Is the Best Age to Become a Financial Adviser Is 30 too old to start a career in financial planning?A lot of people would say yes. The reality is the opposite.The 30 to 39 age group is the fastest growing ...
.jpg)
Mother and Daughter Financial Planners: Building a £100M AUM Partner Practice! Adele and Victoria Cable
What's the best age to become a financial planner?Adele Cable changed career at 53, convinced she was nearly on the ‘scrapheap’. Victoria Cable started at 23, convinced nobody would trust someone her age with their finances. Together the...
The Care Conversation Financial Planners Are Missing with Stephanie Leung of KareHero
Care costs up to £100,000 a year. 1 in 4 people in the UK sell their home to pay for it. And most financial planners are having the conversation far too late.Click here for the KareHero Website ...
International Career Advice from a Number 1 Financial Planner at Titan Wealth
Should UK financial planners be looking at the international advice market? Andreas Hollas has spent 13 years in Dubai building expertise that has no textbook, and the career it's given him is unlike anything available in the UK.In this ...
39% of people don't trust financial planners, take 'Adviser Advantage' test for free! | Chris Larkin, BigRock
Take the Adviser Advantage test here! 👈Only 39% of UK adults trust financial services. For a profession built entirely on trust, that num...
Training to Become a Financial Planner - Exams, Client Meetings & Building in Public
Hannah Wooldridge isn't only the person keeping Financial Planner Life running behind the scenes. She's also training to become a financial planner, and sharing every step of the journey in real time.In this episode, Sam sits down with H...
How Tim Brienza Built a £50M Client Base Through Financial Planning
For most financial planners, the point of entry into the industry is either from an adjacent field or by working up from admin through paraplanning roles.But not Tim. His route stands out as unconventional, but it's far from hindering hi...