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 now works as the Head of Creative for Hoxton wealth, building out podcasts, YouTube and social content for this fast growing fee based international financial planning firm.
Sam 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 industry 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.
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Financial Planner Life Podcast
So, you want to be a self-employed IFA? Watch this first!
If you’re a newly Level 4 Diploma qualified financial adviser with or without CAS status, an experienced financial planner wanting to run your own practice, or a mortgage broker looking to expand into financial planning, this episode of the Financial Planner Life podcast is a must-listen.
This week, host Sam Oakes speaks with Mark Hobbs, founder of New Leaf Distribution - an IFA network that supports advisers at every stage of their career. From helping mortgage brokers future-proof their income by transitioning into IFA, to supporting financial planners ready to launch their practice, and guiding newly qualified advisers without CAS into successful self-employment, New Leaf is redefining what a supportive network looks like.
With over 60% of New Leaf’s 108 financial advisers coming from a mortgage background, many have seen huge success in year one, some building six-figure incomes by adding financial planning services alongside mortgages. This approach helps advisers not only boost revenue but also safeguard their careers against the rise of AI in mortgage processing.
We’re also proud to produce The New Leaf Podcast — over 30 testimonials from members sharing the highs and lows of self-employment, and how New Leaf’s hands-on, family-first culture has supported them every step of the way.
Whether you’re curious about becoming self-employed, scaling your advice business, or making the leap from mortgages to IFA, you’ll hear real-world success stories, practical advice, and why so many advisers choose to call New Leaf home.
Links & Resources:
🔗 Connect with Sam Oakes: LinkedIn | 📧 sam@financialplannerlife.com
🔗 Learn more about New Leaf Distribution: Website
🎙 Listen to The New Leaf Podcast on Spotify and Apple Podcasts
📺 Subscribe on YouTube
Be sure to follow Financial Planner life on YouTube for extra content about career development within Financial Planning.
Reach out to Sam@financialplannerlife.com in regards to sponsorship, partnerships, videography or podcast production.
Want to appear on the Financial Planner Life podcast? drop Sam a message.
We're here with you with the New Leaf podcast. It's just been massively inspiring, but it's also just reaffirming why you are so good as a network and why you are different.
Speaker 2:We're very different as a network, and I think we're different for one reason we're family.
Speaker 1:Dan Hobbs is now the CEO of the business. January this year he stepped up to the mark. How difficult was that? So you're saying there's up to the mark? How difficult was that? So you're saying there's up to 13 people from your own personal blood family, I think. So yeah, it might be more, but it's certainly not less.
Speaker 2:They said what's your goal for the future? And everyone was going I want a Ferrari, I want this, I want that. And I said I want my son to be with me in business. And everybody laughed. I said it's what? That's a dream come true. I'm generally the first person to visit someone who's sick. I'm a pastor, so I'm a person who really does have genuine care for people.
Speaker 1:Whenever I speak to somebody and they've come in, whether it's through an academy, it's usually year one, year two, year, three. They start seeing the rewards.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you can see rewards much more quickly than that, and we'll help people to see rewards in their first year much more quickly than that and will help people to see rewards in their first year.
Speaker 2:One of the things I really picked up on on that was the fact that nearly 50% of your business is women. Yeah, it is, yeah it's a powerful thing and we're very proud of that, we're very pleased. And she asked her the question why do you think that is? And she said because it's safe. So you go into a family environment as an advisor. You don't say I'm going to going to talk about insurance. You say what risk are you willing to take with your home, with your family?
Speaker 1:So, mark, thank you so much for joining me today on the Financial Planner Life podcast. How are you Thanks for having me.
Speaker 2:I'm great. Thank you All great.
Speaker 1:Mate, it's been an amazing day so far. We're here with you with the New Leaf podcast and we're proud to be, uh, producing this podcast for you and for me, being behind the scenes listening to some of the stories about the people that have joined new leaf, it's just been massively inspiring. But it's also just reaffirming why you are so good as a network and why you are different.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah we're very different as a network and I think we're different for one reason. We're very different as a network and I think we're different for one reason we're family, and I don't think anyone can say that really in the world of networks maybe one other, but we're truly family. I think we've got 12 or 13 family members in the business and it's been really important to us to help nurture those family members and then extend that to our AR members who are now having family businesses likewise. So more and more family businesses are growing because of our mentality, I think.
Speaker 1:So you're saying there's up to 13 people from your own personal blood family. I think so. Yeah, it may be more, but it's certainly a lot less.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, my sister's been with me from day one, bless her. She never really was an administrator and she became. She's now the office director, she's the fd. Yeah, um, she learned that job all the way through from us being a zero business to being a 23 25 million pound turnover business. Um, we've never borrowed any money and I put it down to my sister, she's so careful, um, she has great integrity and she cares about the business immensely. I think think she controls the element really well. But that's my sister, bless her. She was a care worker and I said look, sis, do you want to come on board, Because my PA won't come from Croydon? And we set up in Southend in Essex Sheila, who was my PA for many years in the American Life Days. She just wouldn't come. So I had her for so many years and I thought let's give my sister a go and see what happens. And she's run the business financially for all of these years, even till right this day, and she's 63 years old. Bless her. I love it.
Speaker 1:And obviously your son. Yeah, dan Hobbs is now the CEO of the business. January this year he stepped up to the mark. How difficult was that Like for you as the father, the son, in the business was the father, the son in the business.
Speaker 2:Was he challenging you every day? No, not really. I mean dan. Dan is, uh, one of my most beautiful human beings. Um, he's very humble, he, he cares deeply about new leaf and he's done so because he joined us from university.
Speaker 2:So when kings uh learned his business, got his business degree there and he joined the business and I wasn't sure about it, it was, it was a goal for me. I remember being on a course years ago and I was about 25 years old and Dan was just born. I was 24 when Dan was born, been married 40 years and, uh, they said what's your goal for the future? And everybody was going I want a Ferrari, I want this, I want that. And I said I want my son to be with me in business. And everybody laughed. I said it's what I want, that's what I want. It's happened and that's a dream. That's a dream come true. But I think a dad and son relationship. It's really tricky for the son, especially if the dad has been driving the business forward and as the son grows in competence and knowledge and know-how, like dan has, it's really difficult for the dad to step back. So I've mentally stepped back and allowed my son to grow, and I think that's really important. It's a message I give to any father in some business. The dad at some point has got to trust his boy or his girl, his daughter, to get along in the business. And Dan has just moved this business forward immensely. I don't even know what this is a podcast, you know. I know a thing about it, but nothing. I would have never done this. So Dan's moving the business forward to another trajectory.
Speaker 2:My daughter's in the business. I must say she's my PA and she's wonderful PA because she cares so much as well. She worries about how many appointments I've got during the day. So I'm very blessed because I've got both my son and my daughter really close to me every single day. It's wonderful.
Speaker 2:But Dan, yeah, just saying about Dan, he's got such a strong personality. He's he's he's not an emotive person in any sense of the way. He's very strong in his business emphasis, he's very clear, he's very concise about what he wants and what he wants to do with the business going forward. And I'm lucky I can just let him run with it now and he's given me a job, which is great because I'm doing all the recruitment and I'm doing all the growth and the coaching in the business. I'm free from all the noise. He's allowed me to be free from all the compliance and the noise, the day-to-day complaints you know the stuff that happens on a daily basis in a big business like this.
Speaker 2:Dan has taken that away from me and he said what do you want to do, dad? And I said I'd love to do the growth and he said let's go. Uh, so I think I'm, I'm in a really wonderful position now. In my last, you know, years in in in business generally, um, I I was definitely conflicted, uh, because I've always said I'm 60 now and I always said I will never work past 60. You've got to be a failure if you have to work past 60 and now I I can't. I don't know. I've got this lovely job where I just recruit people and enjoy being, you know, meeting different people every day and bringing them into this wonderful family which is new leaf distribution well, I love it.
Speaker 1:well, look, financial planner life is all about careers of those that work within the financial planning profession. Whether they're employed financial planners, self-employed, they go on to run their own business power planners, administrators. We've had it all on the podcast. It's all about sharing the journey, the ups, the downs, the reality, any complaints that might come through, any of the stuff that might pull your hair out when you're running your own business right and essentially that's what a network is right, and the network's there to sit in between the advisor running the firm and FCA and making sure everything's running smoothly to get rid of those Gabriel reports, all the things
Speaker 1:that you would have to do if you were directly authorised. So let's just talk a little bit about the value you add and what New Leaf would actually add to a financial planner, whether they're currently self-employed or they're employed thinking about going self-employed. Let's talk about the benefits that you offer and some of the success that you've seen from people stepping into the world of New Leaf and getting that support from you as a network.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's a really good question and I think what differentiates us is one thing we develop people. We don't just develop them in business, we develop their thinking. So we change management people, we help them change, manage their lives. So first and foremost, yes, they're in financial services, but by default they're in business. So what I first do with people is we say you've got to make money. The bottom line is, you've got to make money, you've got to be profitable. So what is your niche? What is your goal? Who do you want to serve? So what is your why in business?
Speaker 2:And as long as we can drag that out of people, because a lot of people turn up and they just start business and they don't really know why they're doing it, unless you know why you're going to do something like this, you've got to go through so much negativity, so much failure. I always say 90% of your life in business is failure and 10% is joy. And if you're not willing to go through the really difficult drudgery on a daily basis, forever of that 90% of negativity and failure and disappointment, you'll never be a multimillionaire. You'll never be a multimillionaire. You'll never be a millionaire because you can't possibly take it. You have to accept the fact that it's going to be really challenging.
Speaker 2:So when people join New Leaf, we don't spend a lot of time on regulation or compliance. That's a given. That's a given. That's just the foundation block. What we spend loads of time is what is your thinking? How can we change your mentality? How can we move to a positive position? How can we change your mentality? How can we move to a positive position? How can we take the three ingredients of success and build your activity, knowledge, grow your know-how and your experience? We'll do that with you. But how do we inspire you to action? Because there's three ingredients to success activity, knowledge, know-how and inspiration to action. That's it. You can find someone with the biggest motivation in the world. They're hungry, they're buzzing, they want success, for whatever reason, and they'll be more successful than the person who's most learned.
Speaker 1:Okay, one of the first ones. You said there was activity knowledge.
Speaker 2:Activity knowledge. This comes from W Clement Stone, the success system that never fails, if you like. I have two Bibles. I have the Bible of my life, which is Jesus Christ, and the Holy Bible, my life, which is jesus christ, and the holy bible, and I have the bible of business, which is the success system that never fails, by w clement stone. Are they both on the shelf next to each other? No, not really. The bible is on its own, the holy bible sits on its own, but the uh, the success system sits with my library.
Speaker 1:Well, talk to me about the success system then. If someone hasn't read the book, is it something you've implemented into? Yeah, it's my blueprint. I've heard about the blueprint. Yeah, tell us about us, about this blueprint.
Speaker 2:Well, the business I built. I built a number of businesses, but this book has been the central piece of all my business life. So there are seven essentials in the book. There's seven essentials of management and there's seven essentials of sales in the book. And one of the things that always resonated with me in the book. It says tiny hinges, swing massive doors. I like that. Now think about that for a minute. We're all tiny hinges, but we can swing massive doors. We can do incredible things.
Speaker 2:New Leaf have never borrowed money. We've grown this business from zero to the turnover it is now, which is multi-millions. It's taken us a long time because we've done it organically, but we give 10% of our profits to good charities. We support those. That's why we call new leaf distribution, because we distribute wealth. We believe in that. But I don't believe you can do that until you're successful. Don't try and do give until you're successful. You have to work extremely hard to build the momentum. First of all. Once the momentum's going, you have to keep it going. Um, so I think everything for its season.
Speaker 1:Uh, that's, that's the important part so let's say, yeah, I mean you do. You do a lot for new people coming into the profession. We do, yeah. So new people coming in and they're going in self-employed, yeah. Yeah, that's what you are. You're a network that supports people on a self-employed basis. Yeah, you give people that flexibility, that freedom to be able to go out and control their earnings, live the life that they want to live, which is pretty much what people want, right? It's a bit of a fantasy that you know. Being self-employed means you're free to do what you want. In reality, you're probably working more hours than you would be if you're employed a lot of the time. It's tough in the very, very beginning. Yeah, but how do you get those people that have never actually worked within financial planning before, for instance? How do you get them?
Speaker 1:up and running and going out there and actually winning that business, Because those first couple of years now they're the toughest. Whenever I speak to somebody and they've come in, whether it's through an academy, it's usually year one, year two, year three they start seeing the rewards of their work.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you can see rules much more quickly than that, and we'll help people to see rewards in their first year. So I would expect a hundred thousand in the first year. I would expect it. If you tell people I expect 40,000 in the first year, they'll do 40,000. If you tell people I expect a hundred thousand in the first year, they'll probably do it. But there are only certain types of people that will do this. So there's there's, there's three things I would say I look for when I recruit someone in, and I will tell people not to do it as well. So there are certain types of people that should be entrepreneurs.
Speaker 2:It's a new. It's a new saying. I love it, but I like it and there's many, many millionaires who are entrepreneurs, and to be an entrepreneur is very different, different and very difficult and very challenging. Um, and the first thing you've got to do is tell your family I'm going on a journey and you've got to sit with your wife, you've got to sit with your children. You're going to say we are going to have to suffer for a bit and there's going to be a point at which we're going to become very. We got married when I was 19. She was 20 years old and she's a person that says to me if that's right for you, let's do it. And every single time I've gone into new ventures I check in, I make sure she's ready for the cost, the price, and that's time. The big one is time.
Speaker 2:When I set up New Leaf, I was working seven days a week for seven years, to put that in perspective. So every single weekend I was training people on financial services, and all during the week I was running a business at a rate of knots. But what a great seven years. Loved it, absolutely loved it. But to get to your point, which is the right people, they have to have character. So when I look at someone, I look at their past and I ask them certain questions about a character. So character is very important in terms of integrity. So you're going to look at someone and see, do they have honesty, integrity, um, and and a certain belief level in themselves?
Speaker 2:The the second thing I think is really important is capacity. So having the capacity to learn is so important. If you don't have that capacity to be an open book, to be a sponge, I'm still a sponge. I'm growing massively all the time in my new role. I'm learning how to do it better. I'm reading, I'm trying to study all the time, I'm learning from great people and I've got a coach. I mean Andy Tailby is my coach, I'm his coach. This is. This is a really lovely thing that we've had for many, many years. We help each other. Everybody needs a coach, by the way, a coach they can really trust, someone who can tell you when you're doing things wrong and tell you when you're doing things right. So the capacity to learn.
Speaker 2:But the biggest thing for me is I look at someone and say have you you got the capacity to fail? Have you got the capacity to fall? Because you're going to fall, you're going to fail. And as business gets bigger, crikey, there's loads of stumbling blocks, there's loads of challenges because people come after you. So that's another story for, I think, another day.
Speaker 2:The capacity to grow and the capacity to learn new things is the key thing for me, and then that leads to attitude. So if someone's got a positive mental attitude, it will exude from them. They have the face of it. So, someone who is miserable, you see the miserable face, you see it. They can't change it and they don't glow. They don't have this lovely light. You see people like Sam Chalice, who we talked about today. You'll see her glow. You'll see that motivational pride. That's beautiful. That's what we're after. So I'm after character, capacity and attitude when I sit with someone and I'm really pushing for the attitude first, and then we can work on the other stuff. Integrity is just part of you or not? And you can also see that from history.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I love it. And just talking about Samantha Chalice, I think what a fantastic episode to be on the sidelines watching today. And if anyone's listening to this podcast right now, you need to go over and listen to the New Leaf podcast and watch Samantha Chalice's episode, Because I mean, she went from a 30K turnover to over 300,000 in three years with over 30 million under management. What?
Speaker 1:a fantastic story, so go and listen to that and find out her journey. One of things I really picked up on, though, on that, was the fact that nearly 50 your business is women.
Speaker 2:Yeah it is. Yeah, it's a powerful thing and we're very proud of that. We're very pleased, um, and she's. I asked her the question why do you think that is? And she said because it's safe yeah, there we go it's family, it's we.
Speaker 2:We love it because we know we're safe here and I I think that's really important for me. I love that and I think financial advisors who are women have an advantage over the men because they have that bedside manner. They understand the finances of the house because they generally run the house. And you know, it's an old school image, but the new image is that there'll be great planners and there's more and more coming through. I'm really fed up of going into rooms full of people like me old men with gray hair. I really want to go into rooms full of vibrancy, young people growing in the business, and we're seeing that in New Leaf and I think we're the only real academy that doesn't charge to join. You know there's no entry fee. Your entry fee is your attitude. That's what we're about attitude.
Speaker 1:That's what we're about. Well, let's talk about that. Then you said the word academy. There's plenty of academies that are out there.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, there are. They say they are.
Speaker 1:They say they are Okay so let's hear about you, your vision and what you do in respect of the New Leaf Academy. What are you offering people? A lifelong academy. A lifelong academy. I like it.
Speaker 2:You'd have to pay to join and you have to come. You have to, and your hard work and your graft. People say about grit and determination and all of that, but there's no such thing as balance. I'm really sorry to tell everybody out there that they love this idea of balance. There is no such thing. You're either in or you're out. You've got to be fully in, with your family behind you and supporting you, and maybe in the future there might be some time for some balance. But who wants balance? Who wants damn balance? There might be some time for some balance, but who wants balance? Who wants damn balance? I don't want balance.
Speaker 2:I love working. I love it. I'm a grafter. I love working through and seeing the successes. Interviewing Samantha today, it's just beautiful to see that growth and we've got hundreds of people like that who've come from absolutely nothing and are now multimillionaires. Look at Joel White. Joel White runs the biggest AR in New Leaf history. He, joel White, runs the biggest AR in New Leaf history. He's so far ahead of everybody else. Why? Because he listens, he learns, he's absorbed everything. He's only been with New Leaf six years 1.7 million turnover and he's only been with us six years, five or six years.
Speaker 1:And he would have the opportunity to go directly authorised if he wanted to. But he's not, so why do you think that is?
Speaker 2:We've had loads of discussions with him about that, loads of discussions with him about that, and he has been conflicted about it quite often. And we've sat many times over the last two years in particular not him so much, but his directors thinking they'll make more money if they're directly authorized. And we just had a meeting, dan and I, with the team there and they've just had the realization that even if they saved a few pennies here and there, they're not going to get the support network around them that will take them to the next level. So I think DA, would I go DA now? I tell you, no, I was part of a network. So when I was an AR back in the day, I was with a network that sold and I loved being with that network because all I had to worry about was sales and I had 100 advisors. In a year I went from zero to a hundred advisors, new Leaf and that AR was sold really without my knowledge. So I ended up with a new principal. So I immediately went DA. But I always say this if I had been part of that network now, I'd never left. I love the support, I love that safety net and if you've got a really good principal who really cares about you. I would stay with them.
Speaker 2:Why would you go DA and put your house on the line? Because, don't forget, you are personally liable at every level. If you go directly authorized, you've got PI, but you've still got personal liability, whereas when you're with a network, such as New Leaf Distribution, we have all that liability. We take all of that stress away and all that risk away. Your house is safe. That's the biggest differentiator between being da and being an ar, without doubt, but having that comfort blanket around you. I get what you're saying. You've got the fca staff. You've got the gabriel reports, you've got all the compliance to deal with the regulation supervision, but it's not that it's. Have you got a team around you that's going to nurture you, understand what you want, help you reach your goals and absolutely love it when you do so.
Speaker 1:Let's just talk about new advisors, then, because we're a distinct lack of advisors coming into the profession. You have been waxing lyrical on linkedin about mortgage and protection advisors and about the opportunity that you can provide mortgage and protection advisors if they to be the cross across to to new leaf and started looking at financial planning. Yeah, has that come to fruition? What's your experience of that so far?
Speaker 2:yeah, it's massively successful. So we won't take anyone now who's just a mortgage broker with no aspiration to be an ifa. So if I meet a mortgage business turning over a million a year and I ask the question, the first question I ask is are you looking to have an IFA practice, a wealth and pensions practice? If they say no, I say we're not the network for you, we're a growth network, we're a development network. We want you to be here in 20 years time.
Speaker 2:I don't believe the mortgage advisor will last with the AI. I just don't believe it will last. I don't either, and I think it's going to happen in one year, two years, very quickly. I hope I'm wrong, because we've got a beautiful group of mortgage advisors, but that sort of feeling that I've had for a long time has made me paranoid. So what I've done is made sure that we can convert them to an IFA status as quickly as possible, because anything where you can coach and develop someone's thinking will last. So a financial planner who's got to take a set of goals from one place to another to reach the end point of someone's journey is always going to be required. But a mortgage transaction can easily be replicated by AI. So I think there's a big danger there for the future. I think advisors should seriously think about joining New Leaf Distribution to become financial advisors in the wealth and pension sector. And what a success we've had. We've got 108 financial advisors and over 60% have come from being mortgage brokers.
Speaker 1:That's fantastic. So let's just talk about that transition from mortgage broking into IFA. Is there a timeline that you've seen? Have you seen successful practices transition quicker than others that maybe just quite can't let go of the mortgage advice?
Speaker 2:So the key thing is you've got to give up your mortgage license. So if you're going to become a financial planner, you have got to give up your mortgage license. You've got to do it. So you've got to do it at the right time. So the best way to do this is to build a multi-advisor mortgage business and then actually have an IFA within that practice whether it's yourself or whether it's somebody else and then you can escalate the lead generation from the mortgage business into the financial planning side, and that works unbelievably well. We've got so many examples of it Over 50 examples I could give you of advisors that have graduated absolutely well from that status of mortgage advisor. We've also had those mortgage advisors who become financial planners who don't let go of their mortgage license and they constantly struggle to change.
Speaker 2:They become glorified mortgage advisors, really. So my message to all of our members is if you're going to do it, you've got to do it properly. You've got to give up that mortgage license and become a financial planner, Because there's a lot to learn, there's a lot to give in that side of the business.
Speaker 1:Do you tend to find that it's individuals, or do you find it's businesses that are joining you?
Speaker 2:That's a really good question. So most networks are one man bands or one woman bands, so you've got literally 1.5 advisors per ar. We are very different. We're still, I think, 1.7 or something, but our goal is very different. So what we do now is restrict the number of ar. So we have 175 ars currently and as we bring a new ar in, we look at the bottom producing ars and ask the questions why is it so low? How can we change that? Put a business plan in place. If nothing changes, we give them three options one, they can join our academy business, uh. Two, they can join an ar business. Or three, they can, they can move on to somewhere else. And and that's working for us because the average business is growing in in both numbers of advisors and also productivity. So if you go to the normal network, what's a normal network? I want a thousand ars, okay, and they're all producing 20 grand, okay. Well, we don't want that. We want 175 ars who are producing high volumes, high quality, with a voluminous amount of advisors and multi-advisor practices with all the genres within it.
Speaker 2:Every, every permission area is covered, except for db transfers. Every permission area is covered. We cover things like uh, health care. So the nhs is struggling. It's a beautiful thing, but it's struggling right now and people need to look at that and say, okay, how can I change that? Well, I can take pmi, and our health care side is really important to our members. Our will writing side is really important to our members as well. But let me tell you, the foundation of financial advice is protection, and it's really undermined, and it's something that Dan Hobbs is really leading the way with. He's going to build an amazing insurance opportunity for our advisors.
Speaker 2:We don't do loaded premiums, by the way. Don't join a network that has loaded premiums folks Never. And there are a lot of big networks that have loaded premiums, and what I mean by that is the clients are paying 12 to 15% more on the same day, at the same time as our advisors giving advice on that same policy. So to get a higher level of commission, the networks will load the premiums and what that means is the client is paying for that. Thank you very much. Paying for that, thank you very much. Don't get me wrong. All protection commissions are loaded to some degree. It's called IFA loading to allow for commission to be paid. But these networks are doing loaded on loaded and they're getting 280% of the annual premium value, for example, whereas we get around 210 because we're not charging the client for it.
Speaker 2:So I think it's really important if you're choosing a network the foundation of financial advice being protection you need the best protection deal that's available, and we're one of the networks that have the best protection deal available, and that's so important. And the one thing I'm noticing with our members we've got such longevity with our members. We've got members that have been with us for 24 years. We're seeing a lot of deaths. We're seeing a lot of deaths. We're seeing a lot of funerals. We're seeing our advisors going to these funerals and being thanked profusely for what they've done. So the the attention to detail on protection now with our advisors is changing um where. Where it was perhaps about selling uh and getting some commission, now it's about advising, and desperately advising people to get cover, which is right for them. So Dan Hobbs is taking this network to a place where insurance is going to be paramount in our business in the future.
Speaker 1:Well, it's the foundation of financial planning, isn't it? At the end of the day, it's insurance. You know what happens in the event of a death or an illness. What would happen to you or your family Then it's like well, what are you going to do when you retire? Do you have enough?
Speaker 2:what you're going to do when you retire.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you've got enough money, yeah, and then the rest is investment right it's funny because a lot of them are chasing the investment first and don't even care about the foundations of financial planning. Yeah, it's really interesting because I produced a podcast called Just Covered by Legal in General. Okay, so we sit there and it's just. You know, every time we go there it's listening to advisors talking about the power and the stories that they share about how they've helped families in those really tragic events, and then they take those stories and they tell them to their clients. They're not afraid to have a conversation.
Speaker 1:I think some people might be a little bit afraid to have those uncomfortable conversations or maybe they've been pushed towards the investment side, like that's the AUM model AUM model Whereas actually protection is a great foundation of actually getting you off the ground as well. And I see that I suppose the mortgage advisors coming across, they obviously understand protection because hopefully they might have been selling protection as well. They're coming in and it's just a nice transition. I always think with new people coming into the profession it's like just focus on protection. There's nothing wrong with that. There's some really good business to be had in it and it's going to get you into those clients a little bit deeper.
Speaker 2:But it has to be sold and that's the challenge with it. People don't like selling anymore and the regulator don't like disturbance techniques. But I want to save some lives here, right? So how do I do that? I do need to talk about what risk are you willing to take. So you go into a family environment as an advisor. You don't say I'm going to talk about insurance. You say what risk are you willing to take with your home? You don't say I'm going to talk about insurance.
Speaker 1:You say what?
Speaker 2:risk are you willing to take with your home, with your family?
Speaker 2:And they say well, I don't want to take any risk, but you're totally exposed right now. Do you know that? And they say what do you mean? So if you were to die tomorrow or your partner was to die tomorrow, it leaves you in a perilous position. Do you want us to look at this gap? Yeah, and people go. Yeah. So it's a different approach to selling in and it's a passion approach.
Speaker 2:And for me, I learned it when I was in american life. So I was a door-to-door salesman, american life, when I was very, very young, I was in my 20 and, uh, I made a lot of money, it was fantastic. But that one year there was a postal strike and this changed my life completely. And it was these moments, these clicks that happen, that change your life. You, you've got to appreciate them. And I remember my manager. He said to me you've got to go to Croydon and pick up a load of checks and deliver them. I said no, but I want to sell. I want to be out selling today. I've got to feed my family. He said, mark, you're going to have to go and get them. We've all got to do it. We've got to go say you're going to a family that's lost someone no training anyway knocked on this door and this lady answered. I said are you, mrs? Uh, so and so. And she said I am. She looked distraught. I said I've come from american life. She'll come in, come in. I had a check for about 80 000 pounds in those days. There's a lot of money, and it was a suicide. He jumped off the local uh car park and I'll never forget this. She said sit down, I'll get a cup of tea and she started hoovering around me. She got the hoover out and started hoovering around me like cleaning the place up. It was a really strange moment in my life, but I realized that what this check was doing for her was saving her. It was saving her family. It meant they could stay in their home. It meant their children go to the same schools. It meant so much.
Speaker 2:At that moment I became this ferocious animal of a salesman because I just kept her in my mind. Everywhere I went. I wouldn't let people off. I wouldn't let them think about it. I push people and close people really hard. I used to sell 15 policies every single week and that could still be done today.
Speaker 2:People could go out and actually find clients if you said um, there's a guy called Ahmed, if he, if he's listening. I love you, zafar. He was one of my top advisors in the history of my life and and Zafar said to this this other advisor who couldn't make sales, he said I'll show you how to make sales. And he stood out east, outside East Croydon station and he said he had Anyone want life assurance, anyone want life assurance. They did it all day. They made two sales and you can do that today.
Speaker 2:You know, like COBS does allow you to cold call for insurance. Really, I'm not saying it works. It would do if you're willing to do it. But of course we want to work with introducers, of course we want to build relationships, of course we want to go networking and we want to find the best ways to get sales and give advice. But it's that simple. Everybody knows someone, everybody has a group of people they can speak to and they can start with insurance or wills, whatever they want to do.
Speaker 2:So with New Leaf you're going to get that different approach and I just want to quickly go back to new people. It doesn't mean new people have got to be young into the industry. What about the old guys and girls we're taking on? I'm just staying on a 70 year old. He just sold his business and he doesn't want to retire. When I met him energetic, motivated, hungry, and I said you do know you're going on a journey which is difficult, and he said what do you mean? I said, well, you're 70, and when you're giving advice on pensions and investments, you're not going to be there when they retire. And he says, yeah, but I bring so much knowledge and experience and I'll get a succession plan in place. Wonderful. So don't be afraid.
Speaker 2:If you're 50, 60, 70, our oldest advisor is 80. He's been with us for 15 years. Um, he left us and went to St James's place and he soon came back. Let me tell you I'm not going to get get into that, but he came back home and he had to pay to get out and come back to us. Remember meeting him at the costa and he said don't say it. I told you so, but you know, keith harvey, he's a wonderful proponent for us. He's a wonderful person we can look up to and say he's 80 and he's still writing lots of business, highly motivated funds under management and so on. So don't, when I say new people, I mean young people.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean everybody because, everybody can start a new business yeah, with new leaf 100.
Speaker 1:No, absolutely. And I think that you know the the career switches are the most interesting ones, when people get to a point in their career where they're thinking like maybe they've done really well, they've earned some good money, maybe they're bored. You know some people, some people like do a career for like 20 years, from 20 years old, and they're thinking you know, I've had enough and 40 years old.
Speaker 1:They're thinking they want to do something different yeah, it's really interesting because obviously I did 16 years in recruitment, yeah, and the amount of experience you actually look you gain in recruitment is insane, say I had somebody come on the cash recently from st james's place really really cool guy who's actually at my golf day recently, which is really good fun.
Speaker 1:Um, yeah, top recruiter moved into financial planning. He's absolutely killing it. Yeah, absolutely killing it, because the amount of skills that you have being in a 360 role whether it's clients, candidates, marketing, sales, persistence, prospecting everything that you have is completely and utterly transferable. When you start to then look at the fact that you can build a recurring income model, it's exciting. It's interesting. I sit here, I talk to financial planners all the day, all the time, and the amount of times I've sat there going like, why don't you build a financial advice business?
Speaker 1:I don't particularly want to be a financial advisor, but I'd definitely build a financial advice business yeah yeah, yeah, I know enough people. Yeah, 100%. I think we had a conversation about that, didn't we? I spoke to you. What was really interesting as well, and what kind of flicked a switch for me was there isn't anybody out there, really, that can transition somebody across very early on in their career, even without cast status, straight into an IFA position, and New Leaf can do that right.
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely. But as I say and I don't knock any network, don't get me wrong I respect SJP in particular, to be honest.
Speaker 1:I do as well. To be honest, they to be honest, I do as well.
Speaker 2:To be honest, they're a foot C100 business, for goodness sake, and they come from the old days, like me, of being direct sales force. I totally respect what they've done. There's a lot of collaboration in our industry and I think that's wonderful. So what Dan Hobbs does? He goes out and he works with the different networks and they really know each other really well and they love Dan, to be honest. Dan, to be honest. But what's happening is they're referring people to us because I don't know if they reflect on it and say they'll get a good home and then perhaps we'll steal them back later maybe that's what's happening, but I think them up and it could happen and good luck if it does, because people have got to go to their right home, but we are.
Speaker 2:I think we're now the home known as the home of the new advisor. Whatever age, whatever genre, we're the home of the new advisor because we absolutely take people from zero to competent and beyond and long-term competence within every framework of the business. So, whilst I respect the other networks, I really love what we do and I think we're very, very different. So we are the network that knows your name and that's not just the tagline. I think me and dan know pretty much everybody in terms of their family. Uh, not, of course, we know them and their name, but I think we know their families and we know the background story to everybody and we you know, over the years we've when we say we give to charity, we've also given a lot to our own advisors.
Speaker 2:We've supported our advisors through great difficulty. I'm generally the first person to visit someone who's sick. I'm a pastor, so I'm a person who really does have genuine care for people. It's just something in me. I don't know what it is, I don't know where it's come from, but I really love people. I really care for people. I can switch on that as well, though. If someone's not respectful or doesn't have that same care towards us, we get that as well, but they're not going to work with us for long.
Speaker 2:On the IFA side, we've had about one lever in the last, I think what? Five years One lever, whereas the turnover for networks is phenomenal. So I think the IFA side for us is the future. Bringing new people is beautiful to see what we find the most successful people are people who've been in business before, so been in business before, had some kind of business, nothing to do with FS, but they've had the acumen. They know the struggle when you first start. So when they come in, their expectations are I'm going to struggle, it's going to be a challenge, but after that struggle I'm gonna. It's gonna be a challenge, but after that I know I'm gonna get wealthy. So yeah, for me it's very exciting future bringing these new people into the industry you're out there.
Speaker 1:You're talking to people all the time. What are the biggest challenges that you're hearing from financial planners at the moment? What's the biggest grumbles, what's the biggest worries?
Speaker 2:I'm not getting anything, nothing from our members, honestly.
Speaker 1:That's why your members if you're going out and you're speaking to because you do recruitment right. You speak to financial planners that are outside of your membership.
Speaker 2:Yeah, what are their biggest challenges? What are their gripes?
Speaker 1:Yeah, what are their gripes or their challenges? What are they telling you? Overcompliance, is it?
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's mostly overcompliance and it's also the big brother thing and it's also the thing about they and they're rude to them, they're obnoxious to them, and that's the main story. So let's flip that. I did a preach on Sunday about the servant Jesus washing the feet of his disciples. I've got to remember now Matthew 13, verse 1 to 17. And if I've got that wrong I apologize.
Speaker 2:I'm glad you remember that I know my Bible really well, the thing about Jesus washing the feet of his disciples. Don't forget. Judas is sitting there, so Judas sits on the left-hand side. All of his disciples are watching Jesus wash the feet. It starts with Peter and he washes all of their feet and he says to them you must wash each other's feet. And you've got John on the right-hand side who's conciliatory. You've got the other disciples heading their hands that Jesus, god on earth, is actually washing our feet. And you've got Judas unstrapping his sandal. Yeah, you wash my feet. It's a completely beautiful picture. Actually, you'll see that in the Tate Gallery, the picture of it.
Speaker 1:Is it Itself?
Speaker 2:yeah, the washing of the feet. You see it in my house as well. It's in my hallway, Not the original A 55-quid version printed and put in a frame. But my point here is we have to serve, we have to give and we have to serve and we have to respect the fact that those people trust us. We are definitely not a network that believe that you owe us. We're a network because we're people that know we owe you. Without you, we don't have a business, Without you we don't have a future. But equally, without us it's the same thing for them.
Speaker 2:It's a joint venture, and I think that is the absolute difference and that's what I love about New Leaf is we love our members. I know it's a cliche, but it's true. It's actually. You can believe it or not, I don't care, You'll experience it. So when you join us, you'll experience the love and you'll experience the care and the attention to detail. Sometimes we have off days. You know it's not a perfect world and we're not perfect people, but this is our passion to look after our people and to serve them. And that picture of Jesus washing the feet of his disciples depicts okay, it's a bit much, but it depicts New Leaf mentality which is to serve. I love that.
Speaker 1:I think, on that note, that's where we'll leave, it Okay, well, thank you for interviewing me today.
Speaker 2:I really appreciate it. I never get to talk about myself All my beautiful business Mate.
Speaker 1:You are definitely my beautiful son exactly. You're 100 passionate about the business. I think that love does come across considerably clearly. The advisors that you have in your member member group are your family and you are serving them. They are your customers and you're looking after them. And by the sounds of it, because you do believe on about this a lot on linkedin you're not ever going to sell. Is that right?
Speaker 2:never, uh, damn right no, I'm never going to sell. But Is that right? Never, dan might. No, I'm never going to sell, but obviously I'm going to gift my shares at some point, yeah, so to my kids. And my future plan is one day at a time. Sweet Jesus, I love it, literally one day at a time, if I can say quickly I love the interview with the head of Gucci.
Speaker 2:And she's a senior. And uh, they said. They said, when are you going to retire? She said I'm sick of people asking me that question. You know to the point that I always say to them today he's got enough problems of his own without me worrying about tomorrow. So it's like one day at a time. Um, there may be a point where I say, you know, I've, I've had it, um, but at the moment I'm loving it, it I'm supporting my son.
Speaker 2:I've got this beautiful executive team. So imagine this, imagine this quickly you've got four boys who join you from either college, school or university. So sam wallace, university, straight into new leaf. Dan hobbs, university, straight into new leaf. Uh, ted, ted. Uh, josh, straight out college to new leaf. And brad, who is my nephew, straight out of college to New Leaf. And Brad, who is my nephew, straight out of school to New Leaf. And now look at these people Dan Hobbs, ceo, ted, operations director, josh sorry, I call him Ted because he's lovely and cuddly. Sam Wallace, managing director. And Brad Kenworthy, the youngest Compliance Director in the UK. Those four boys are all in their 30s Daniel is 36, sam is 36, brad is 32, and Ted is 31. That is the future of New Leaf. Don't worry about looking at this old geezer. That is the future of New Leaf and that's what I feel very strongly about. To have a succession plan is very important for all of the people listening. They've got to have that longevity in mind Perfect.
