Investment Banker to Self Employed IFA - Caroline Laudren

In this episode of the Financial Planner Life Podcast, Sam Oakes speaks with Caroline Laudren-Quillet, who transitioned from investment banking at Deutsche Bank to becoming a self-employed IFA and financial planner.

Just two years into her financial planning career, Caroline has built £14 million assets under management, while balancing family life and designing a career with genuine flexibility.

Caroline shares her full journey from investment banking to financial planning, including how she qualified, why she chose the self-employed IFA route, and how she evaluated different firms before joining a directly authorised financial planning firm.

We also dive into the practical realities of becoming a financial adviser in the UK. This includes how much money you need saved before going self-employed, how adviser revenue splits work, and what support new financial planners should look for when joining a firm.

Caroline also explains how she generated clients in her first two years as an IFA through Unbiased leads, networking groups, accountant referrals, and financial wellbeing workshops.

If you are exploring a career change into financial planning, thinking about becoming a financial planner or financial adviser, or weighing up the self-employed IFA route, this episode is packed with practical insights.

What we cover:

• Moving from investment banking to IFA
•  Completing financial planning qualifications (Level 4)
•  Choosing between IFA academies vs smaller financial planning firms
•  The realities of becoming a self-employed financial adviser
•  How much savings you need before going self-employed
•  How financial advisers are paid and how fee splits work
•  Building your client bank from scratch
•  Lead generation for financial planners
•  Networking, referrals and LinkedIn for advisers
•  Why financial planning offers purpose and flexibility

This episode of Financial Planner Life is essential listening for anyone considering a career as a financial adviser, financial planner, or self-employed IFA.

00:00 - Ex-Deutsche Bank Investment Banking to IFA: self-employed start + £14m AUM

 01:23 - Mindset check: “It’s Friday” + starting your Financial Adviser journey

 02:34 - Why she left Investment Banking: COVID, redundancy, pregnancy, Plan B

 03:56 - Finding the UK Financial Planning route: Sam’s videos + where to begin

 05:27 - Lifestyle + family: why becoming a Self-Employed IFA fit her life

 06:58 - Choosing a small firm: Directly Authorised IFA vs bigger routes

 11:01 - Big bank to small Financial Planning firm: freedom, purpose, building a team

 15:27 - Comparing firms: Quilter/SJP academy vs smaller IFA setup

 17:20 - Going self-employed as a financial adviser: the 9–12 month savings rule

 21:34 - What support should look like: paraplanners, mentoring, case checking

Financial Planner Life is sponsored by Redmill Advance

Whether you're starting out, already qualified, or building a training academy, Redmill Advance delivers expert-led learning, exam support and CPD from Level 4 to Chartered.

✅ Trusted by top UK firms

👉 www.redmilladvance.com/fpl

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.

Transcript

Caroline’s Journey In Brief

Sam Oakes 0:00

And today's guest on the Financial Planner Life podcast is Caroline Laudren Quillett. She is an ex-investment banker for Deutsche Bank. And now she's working as a self-employed IFA. She's been doing that for two years. She's built 14 million under management. And today she shares how she got into the profession, how she approached different firms of different sizes, and how she decided on going self-employed. She talks about the amount of money you need really to go self-employed, how to qualify and do your due diligence on the right firm to join. Why she chose a smaller, directly authorized firm over some of the larger academy routes, and also she goes into great detail how she generated business within her first two years. That's networking events, that's lead generation, that's using things like LinkedIn. It's an absolutely fantastic conversation. A very vast difference from investment banking to IFA and the types of clients that she works with. You're gonna love this episode. So Caroline, thank you so much for joining me today on the Financial Planner Life Podcast. How are you?

SPEAKER_01 1:23

I'm very well, thank you very much. It's Friday.

Sam Oakes 1:26

It is Friday, and I feel really good today. How are you out of ten out of interest?

SPEAKER_01 1:30

I'm 10. I'm 10 today. I had a good night's sleep. You're 10. Doesn't happen every day stream in my house. And I had a good morning, good week, good month, good start of the year, and now we are talking, which is lovely.

Why Leave Banking For Advice

Sam Oakes 1:42

Fantastic. And we had the I had the pleasure of talking to you yesterday as well, where we do, I always do a pre-podcast chat. So anyone's listening, right? It's an opportunity for me to meet the guest and to basically formulate a podcast episode, right? Talk about your journey. But what I love about that is I get to understand the person um before they come on the podcast when the pressure of performing is on you, right? And it was lovely to hear about your journey into financial planning from investment banking at Deutsche Bank. Yeah. You've eventually gone on the route to now becoming a self-employed IFA, and that was the entry point that you made into the profession. So let's just start there, right? Deutsche Bank, investment manager, yeah. Yeah. Moving into self-employed IFA. First off, why did you do that? And how did you do that?

SPEAKER_01 2:32

So when COVID happened quite a few years now ago, um, it was quite an eye-opener of the fact that although I did love my job, very demanding, uh, probably never enough, I needed a plan B. And this is when I decided that at some point during COVID, I knew I was going to be uh to become an IFA. Always wanted to be an IFA, to be fair. Since then I started my journey. DB took a decision for me uh at some point almost two and a half, three years ago, where they made my ultimate redundant in Birmingham. And um I asked them to move to London where they offered me a job. I was also pregnant at that time, and I thought, well, I've got a plan now. So before actually even going on maternity leave, I decided to start my uh journey, passing my exams, uh, which I continue during my first year uh of pregnancy. I had a second baby quite quickly. My aim was to never come back to London. Uh I I am a Midlands lady, although I'm French, but I don't need to be a big city, although I've done Paris and New York before. So I had a plan and I knew IFA would be would give me freedom and flexibility of what I wanted, but also other things that we're going to talk about.

Sam Oakes 3:45

Fantastic. So, how did you hear about the world of financial planning, working as a financial planner? What got you interested in a career?

Finding The Right Firm

SPEAKER_01 3:54

So it's really funny. So, first you have to know that my mom was a financial advisor in France. She has a she had her own company that she sold quite a few years ago, but she never ever said, Oh, you should come around, you should try. Never. Never even mentioned. To be fair, I was really early on in investment banking, and then more or less I left, I stayed there. Um, and when I asked her, oh, I'm thinking to do this, she was like, Were you sure? It's quite a big change. I guess she was talking more money-wise, but also, you know, going from employer to self-employed, all those things. And then I found videos from you, Sam, which is I think really funny that now we are actually chatting. And I don't know how many videos I watched, but probably at least I would say 50 or 40 some of them. And you are the one, because it was a new sector for me, you know, I I knew everything from the French perspective, but here doing IFA in the UK, I didn't even know where to start. And you are the one who taught me what exam I needed to do, the how it works, network, uh, completely independent, self-employed, employed. And actually, that's how it started with all your YouTube videos. And then I did my I did what I do, I research. I met some people took their time to either meet me face to face, when I say people, IFA, uh, also on the phone. And I also went to some events where I could actually network and see what's out there. That's when I was more or less uh with either one baby or pregnant. And that's how I took the decision that I realized that's that's what is gonna happen and how I do I get there. It's all the little steps.

Sam Oakes 5:26

I love that, and I absolutely love to hear that the financial plan of life has had an impact on somebody's career. And it's it's brilliant actually, because it the amount of women as well that we've attracted to the profession through the Financial Plan of Life podcast, women watching women as well. In in and you've already inspired Hannah. So Hannah, who works for me, who's going on her qualification and financial planet journey, and then we're going to share that on the financial plan of life. I mean, she was spoken to by somebody that she knows who kind of almost said, Oh, it's it's gonna probably be too hard for you to do this. And she met you at a networking event and you were like, go for it. You know, it's it's it's it's not too hard, and you can definitely do this. Get stuck into the qualifications and push forward. And you gave her that motivation that she needed to hear from somebody else. And I think hearing it from a female that's gone through the process is super important. You know, she's seen it, she's heard it from you directly, and I think it gives her the confidence, which is why it's so important on the podcast that we have a lot of women sharing their journey, how they've gone through it, how different it might be up against, say, a guy, for example. I mean, you yourself, you've got two kids, right? You've got a busy life. I know what it is. I've got one child, God knows where it must be like with two. And, you know, now you're running your own IFA business. And I want to get into that side of it as well. Like, how sort of how much is running your own IFA practice self-employed, because you are self-employed, how has that impacted your actual life and your family life and your lifestyle?

SPEAKER_01 6:57

So I I work for Constant Consultural Planning Limited and um I'm self-employed there. David is the director, and I probably wouldn't be there without David. And as you say, you always need someone who either show you how to do it or uh explain to you you can do it. And David has probably the biggest supporter of me joining the company. And it was probably the most easy and natural interview we had together in a coffee in New Leigh about more or less at the end of the chat, is like, I would love you to work with us. And I was like, Oh, are you finding me a job? And he's like, Yeah, yeah, I'm there, I'm not ready. Um But today I'm almost there since two years, and this has if I pick, if I call him today, he will pick up the phone and help me on anything I need. And what I thought was really hard to understand when you don't have someone who, if you don't know the background, is how does that actually work? How do you actually make money? How do you find your clients? What's the admin of it? You know, I've been in investment banking, so all the regulations, the CPDs that we have in financial advice, but I had more or less compliance uh things to do as well. This is easy. I saw the the hardest part was how do I build a book, a client book? How do I make money when actually my network, I don't have family, my husband is also friends, so we don't have the family side of it. My network is more or less everybody in investment banking, and you would expect them to have their all their things sorted. So I've never actually requested anything from my network. And I've got my friends who are actually quite diversified, and I knew that would at some point uh help. And I learned quickly, and that's one of the questions I asked to David when we met, is how do I how do I bring clients? And then he gave me so many tips. And I think you know what you were talking about, Hannah. If your you I think each uh each other's limits are your own limits. So if you if someone actually tells you that you can push those limits, they don't is they don't need to be that close to you. They actually they can be far and everything is possible. It just helps. I am I am quite a confident person, but it doesn't mean that I don't doubt. But when I have doubt, I do know who to ask. And I think sometimes when I I I've gone to some universities um in Boston, actually in Gloucester, to talk to the financial uh um years about financial planning, also a bit of investment banking. And all I could feel after that, the thank you, it was a the empower of their room of like, we can get there, we can do that as well. And I think that's what it matters.

Self-Employed Money Realities

Sam Oakes 9:24

Love it. And that's people sharing their journeys and being very honest about it, is one of the best talent attraction tools for any kind of profession. You know, it's it's it's the people within the profession, within the businesses, talking about the job that they actually do that inspires those to take that step. As a job advert, a little kind of video or whatever doesn't do anything. You know, the realities of of actually of actually making that leap into a new career, whether you're just at university and you're thinking about the career for the rest of your life, or you're sitting in a career or a profession that no longer serves you and you want to try something different. Maybe you want to change your lifestyle a little bit and work around your family and all of those typical types of things. And when you hear other people doing it and being successful and finding that balance and fulfillment and purpose, it does instill that confidence in you that you can do it too. And that's that's brilliant. And and I I love that you're doing that because it's what I do, and there is a hugely positive impact that comes from it, um, which is really, really good. So uh investment banking, you were successful in it, and uh, you know, you were doing well, great career framework, you can earn really good money. I don't have to ask though, at first, like what why move from investment banking then, Deutsche Bank, great company, into IFA? And then what I want you to talk about is the IFA you're working for, it's not, you know, a massive organization. Okay, we know that the financial planning industry in the UK is a bit of a cottage industry, lots of small little businesses, right? But you're working for quite a small organization. So from Deutsche Bank, a massive organization, into a small IFA, what you know, why as well? Why do you do that?

Support, Processes And Paraplanning

SPEAKER_01 11:00

I mean, it's like any uh cases I sit now with clients, it's it's all about personal choices. And you know, some people love living in London, some people love working from because that was that was my life from 6.45 to 6 p.m. And you know what is great. But I also knew that um, as you said, I'm a mother, they are four and a half, four years old and two and a half, they're young. They don't say stay young long. And I also I think I was a bit tired of being one person in such a big entity and and working hard while sometimes it's never enough. I had a great manager in in Dutch Bank. So all the teams there, and that's where I stayed that long, by the way. I had an amazing job and an amazing role with Dutch Bank, and it was great because we built something from scratch uh to something quite big. Um and I loved it. Uh but you know, when COVID happened, for example, I realized that some people work from home. I've never worked from home. I had I was used to put my dishwasher at 9 p.m. when I would come back from riding my horse at 7 p.m. I would never have the time to do my grocery shopping, like maybe quickly get something at some point. You don't you I was stuck at my desk all the time. And I was always a bit surprised that some people had kids and more or less they were looked after by their by a nanny all the time, even for the bedtime. And I just that didn't feel right to me. And I didn't want this. So I think you know, we've got one life. Life is short, life needs to be enjoyed. Um, and I don't really want to look back and think, well, all I've done is working. Because although you do need to earn money, I still need to earn money. I've got a mortgage, I've got an expensive uh hobby and all those things. If I can actually, so I don't work Wednesdays and I don't work Friday afternoon, if I actually can still work because I actually love working, but still do other bits on this side, then I think I am a winner. But again, that's my personal view. So the reason why I changed is because I wanted a family and really I wanted a different life. I didn't want, I didn't need to chase big some people's big dreams anymore because I had my own dreams and that was enough. That makes me happy. Uh, and as far as I wake up every day happy with that, it will it will I will keep doing this. When the kids grow, who knows? I might have a bigger dream, but for now I'm very happy. I'm very happy to do the stuff I do on Wednesdays. And after all, you know, Consequential Planning Limited is it's a small entity, and uh we manage around uh a bit more than 80 million. We grew 30 million last year, and that's what I've done. I have to say, I've always been part of teams. Even when I was in New York, I helped to create a Society General to create a debt from zero to nothing, and Dodge Bank the same. And consequential, I was very excited to join a smaller company where there were opportunities when the support that from David, but also my colleagues was there. That's all I needed, support. But when I met him, he was as solid as some of those bigger companies I've been. You know, I've been in dealing with big banks, big clients, I've been to presentations, I've done all of that. And he came with solid stuff like the compliance, the centralized investment proposition he had, the compliance process he was doing, how everything worked together and all those that for me, even if he was not that big at that time, I knew it was going to be solid enough for me to build whatever I wanted with him. And I see this as a teamwork because um he cares, you know, he will listen to our feedback as an employee. He wants to, he wants us to be happy, he does he has no expectation of the numbers, we don't have any KPIs or anything. Um he wants things to be compliant, which I think is really important in this world. Sadly, I think I phase from a really long time had a bad reputation and it's changing. And I think that was the main reason. So obviously, I did speak to Quilter and I did speak to St. James Place, lovely people. And it felt really comfortable to walk uh through that door and just say, Yeah, I'm coming in, because there are the companies that I've been with for the past 15 years. It was actually a lot more uncomfortable to go to Consequential to start with, where the parking is small, there is a small office and all of that. And I don't even have to go to the office. This is my also one uh my office, my house. But it felt right. It felt like the right people, the the right uh choice, and you know what, looking back, there is so much more years ahead that I'm I'm quite happy.

Sam Oakes 15:25

Good. I was gonna talk about that because a lot of people kind of um they get confused about how they enter the profession, how they get into it. So people become qualified and then they struggle to get a job, for example. They don't know whether to go employed, self-employed. We understand why you've taken the self-employed route, but there is a risk associated with that. Now, you did your due diligence by the sounds of it. So Quilter, St. James's Place, they have great advisor schools, great academies. You know, they take people through the process and you can go and run your own business. Um, a lot of the time, well, within that, sorry, you do your qualifications through the academy. There's a small amount of money that they pay you, and off you go and help you build a partner practice, right? But you did your due diligence, you looked around, spoke to how many different types of firms did you speak to before you ended up settling?

Fees, Splits And Owning Clients

SPEAKER_01 16:07

Um big ones like this, just two, because after oh no, three, uh three, after locally I spoke to two bigger ones and constant control, and then I realized that I I understand the market, I understood the market, and actually I knew what I needed. I you can still sometimes you can keep looking, but when you're when I've met actually David, he was more or less in the middle of um everything I was doing. And I I came out of that meeting thinking, wow, I that was great, I love it. But I just needed to close the loop for me for my research, do what I think was right. He waited for me for three weeks until I text him, like, I'm glad to join. So I did do all those things and I looked at the academy. Let's, if we keep um in mind my background, the fact that I've been in investment banking for more or less 15 years, I do have a little advantage than someone who is a hairdresser, product manager, or who doesn't have that background. So when I started to look at the exams, one of my friends is an IFA in um in the south of Birmingham. He said to me, You'll be fine. You should try to do it on your own. And one of the tips I will say is that if you are actually able, if you already have the background, coming into the market with already your level four, i.e. certify, to start, it doesn't mean you are ready to be an advisor, but at least to have those level four, it's a big bonus. So that's the first thing. Yes, it means I personally self-finance myself for all these exams. I mean, I'm okay. It's one thing already to start to finance. Um, but when I was applying to the jobs I had, I always already had the interviews. It was never an issue because they didn't have to wait for me. I was not a burden straight away at the beginning. Academy-wise, so it felt like it was not right for me because it was wasting my time in a selfish way. I didn't really like how some of those academies are built with the fees and how you repay them. I'm also going to be honest about this, that didn't suit me. And um, when you go self-employed, obviously employed, it's more or less, you get the income, you depends on your bonus, you know, everything needs to be clear. But when you become self-employed, I would you need a bit of backup from your savings because money doesn't flow the first month at all. And actually, what we don't uh people don't realize when they start is the ongoing that helps, you know, to have this amount every month they build. It doesn't need to happen in three months or six months. It takes at least, I would say, nine months to really build. So today I'm in such a different situation than I was one year ago. You know, I'm comfortable, I live. But the first, I would say nine months, you are kind of looking at the end of the month, is that how much I'm gonna get paid? And I I didn't have to worry because of the savings I had, about the investment I've made in the past, that helped me. But it's true that when you're going through that route, you just need to be prepared. You know that for nine months, even if you do the right thing, it's gonna be a bit tough.

unknown 19:02

Okay.

Sam Oakes 19:02

So what we're saying here, look, you know, you know, investment banker, successful investment banker, build desks, um, stepping across into self-employment, okay, as a financial advisor. What's the amount of time that you would advise somebody, bearing in mind your background is financial services, how much time would you advise somebody? How much money in the, not how much money in the bank, but how many months should they should they cover themselves for before money really will start to come on in and hopefully match the level of outgoings that you have?

SPEAKER_01 19:34

And at least nine months. Nine months of whatever they need every month uh minimum. And I think if you can do one year as great like this, you don't have to stress about it. Because once the ongoing comes, you know, it's all about the lifestyle people need. I know how much I need per month. So if I need three, four grand per month, then I need to get there every month. So there is no there's no other world for me. Um but if someone has a lifestyle of two grand, then it's a bit more easier. But if someone has a 10 grand lifestyle, then that's even harder. It's like, you know, this client case we do. Um so it's all about how much you need. But yeah, I would say at least yeah, a year is really safe to have it. Because if you are doing the right thing and you've got the right support, which is really important when you start, is to have the right support, people who's gonna help you. Then I do think if you have the right part, there is so much work as an IFA in this country. Because this country, compared, for example, to France, you are very much in charge of your own money in terms of investment, both the pension, you know, except the NHS, TPS, teachers, and civil servants, when you have a defined contribution pension in this country, honestly, if you don't understand, if you don't even change some of the investment, it's on you. No one is gonna look behind your back to help you. So there's a lot of work as an IFA, which also was a really exciting thing for me to, oh, I'm going into a new world, but actually, this work. And again, as a female person, as you said, it's been the same thing in investment banking. I was, there's not many female people, salesperson or a banker. They are always trying to uh recruit more, but it just there's a reason why sometimes it doesn't work, is the lack of flexibility. At some point, women are like, I'm enough. I think we are quite smart about this. Um and then um if you get the flexibility, but you realize you can actually get to an income that is not far from the investment banking after a little while, then I think people will realize that they should go that path uh without hesitation. It's just one year and a lifestyle to take, be to make some sacrifices is nothing.

Due Diligence And Interviewing Firms

Sam Oakes 21:33

Gotcha. You talked about making sure the support's in place. So if somebody's going to be going out there and doing their due diligence, maybe they're going around and interviewing at a few different places. What's the support that you had in place that's made the best impact so people can start to ask the questions when they're at interview of what type of support do you offer me? What worked for you? What do you think is most important?

SPEAKER_01 21:53

Um, so at Consequential Plan Limited, we've got two soon three paraplanners, uh, which honestly they are amazing. Some of them are helping me still with the letters to be a bit time efficient. So they do the suitability letters, help me a lot. We've got one who is really good with whatever is valuation, but also the platform. So when you start and you need to have clients on different platforms for some reason, you want someone that can also help you. We can call the providers. But really, it's internally. Like we are, except Dave, we are all self-employed. David, honestly, will give 100% of his time to help me if I need on a case. We will go through the details. And you they will, all my colleagues will always say, Oh, you know, you're gonna ask me, but I'm probably gonna give a different answer than the other guy, Adam. And I'm like, that's true, but it still helps me. So I think the support is to be sure that you've got a team that is um behind you, wants to wants you to grow, because we we are more or less in the same boat, although we are all self-employed. I find that we have a good team, uh team thinking a bunch of people. And um yeah, I think it's just to make sure that someone will pick up the phone when you need, will help you if you yeah, in any other ways. You know, there's not actually uh exactly the sort of question, is to be sure that someone is gonna be there. I did probably three, four meetings with David to start with, uh, when I was easy, it was easier his clients, so actually we're visiting new clients of mine with him. And I thought that was good because I saw him talking to clients, I saw him asking the right questions, I saw him, I learned quite a lot from it. And then really quickly, you you just you just go, you learn, you know, you make mistakes, but you explain to people that as far as you are transparent, you know, until you make something is good. But the questions, the fact find, you learn from it. What we do internally is we um check, we cross-check all our uh reports, our cases, so before we even sign up the clients. So if there's something that should be found, it it gets found.

Building AUM: Leads And Networking

Sam Oakes 23:58

Okay. So another thing I think would be good just to dive into, because when people are looking around for jobs, they're either looking at um self-employed or employed. And when it comes to self-employment, there are networks out there that you can be a part of and they deal directly with the FCA. And if you join that network, you might join them as a registered individual and you might take on their branding, or you might want to start your own business and um build your own brand, right? And you might become an appointed representative under that network. And I could have the financial planner life brand underneath New Leaf Network, for example. And it means I control my brand, I control a lot of aspects of my business, but it's a business within a business, essentially, right? So I'm employing people and and all of that kind of stuff, and I don't want to build it. Um so when you when you look at something like that, you have to take it into consideration building your own brand, building your own business, or being part of somebody else's brand business and handing that over and trusting that they've got that in order, right? But there's another thing. Another thing that people often get confused by is that they'll go and see like five different companies, let's say self-employed, but different setups. The one you're in right now is a directly authorized firm, isn't it? And you go in in there as a registered individual self-employed underneath their branding, okay? But what people get often confused by is the um way that you are remunerated as a self-employed financial planner. And often it's either you're paying away a percentage of the fee that you are generating to that firm, and that percentage that you pay away covers things that you don't have to deal with, Gabriel reports and dealing with the FCA and perhaps some admin in or power planner support, branding, website, marketing, all that kind of stuff. And then you would keep percentage of the fee for you, and they get the percentage of the fee for having you with within the business. So they might make a bit of profit on that, uh, etc. etc. So I I can can we ask? Can I you know is did you did you look at that? Was you know, how did what was your arrangement and how did you come to this? Did you think it was fair at the time? Did you did you look at options and put it up against it? What's what's your setup? How are you just it's it educates people, doesn't it?

unknown 26:13

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 26:13

Um for me, I've really wanted to be um with someone not linked to any um group or network. So is this is against personal. There's nothing wrong with network, some networks they are really good uh and or groups, you know, it's all personal. There's some people at different groups who are doing really well because at the end, sometimes clients are dealing with the advisor more than the brand. What I didn't want is any restriction on either the investments or the choices of product we had to use, and consequential fitted all those boxes. We I give back 30% of whatever I make uh to Consequential Planning Limited. So I did look at the market when it started. Some companies does do 20%, but more or less 30% is quite normal. I think some are doing um even more, but I think 30% is fair. The ones who do 20% tend to, it means that you don't really have access as much as the power planners as um you can. So they probably won't do your suitability letter, they probably won't do anything with letters of authorities need to also personality with them because I like to track them. Um so you you get less help. And at the end, it's all about time. Me, I don't have a lot of time, so I do need a bit of efficiency and help to get some maybe a first uh shot of a letter. So I just personalize it and it's done, and things get done by my partner, and she's great. Um I the I think people sometimes underestimate it, underestimate the fees that are attached to a financial advice company. The to be FCA to be FCA regulated, each of us have a license and it costs a lot of money. All the systems that we are using, the back office system, the we use cash calc for the front front office, I would say us. Um we use copilot for AI, we use a lot of things. They have they come with a they come with a cost. And actually being self-employed, you are free because you can walk away and there's no nothing be behind you. So I think that's correct normal that you give something back to a company who is actually taking the risk to take you on, putting your their branding on you and just giving. So that's what I do, 30%.

Sam Oakes 28:21

Fantastic. And that's a fact that really, like you said, is in in the marketplace, that's pretty standard 70%. It's just really the thing where people get a bit nagged out or annoyed is when they're paying away part of their fee and they feel they're not getting value from the firm or network. Um, but it sounds like you are getting that value. And that's just something people need to consider is like, okay, but if I am paying this away, what am I getting? You know, what support am I getting? Because there is a number of different companies out there that can offer, and they all offer different levels of support. So another thing to sort of bear in mind as well is contractually. So if you're sitting as a self-employed advisor underneath a directly authorized firm or a network or whatever, who owns the clients? And did you did you look at that? Did you look into that? Were you yeah, how did that work for you?

Workshops, Referrals And Reviews

SPEAKER_01 29:07

Uh for example, I believe St. James Place owns the clients, creator don't own the client for some of those big groups. Because I remember that one of the questions, consequential, uh I own my client's book and it's written on the contracts that I have with them. And although I have no plans to work out of them, I think that's quite nice someone, whoever wants to try to build their own business, their business, you know, their portfolio, uh, owns this because it's a bit hard if you decide to move and you've got nothing following you. Uh so David does it really. I think he's a really fair person. He it's your own client book, you take care of this. All he cares is that we follow the process internally. And you you're right, regarding what the support, the power plane, what they do for you. Me, you know, if I even if they are not supposed to help me on something, if I call them because I need help, because you know, has happened, kid is sick, I need them to help me to chase this, do this. They give 100% of themselves and they get the job done. You know, it's a proper teamwork, although we are self-employed. Love it. And I think that's what it is. You know, sometimes we are shy, sorry, Sam, we are shy for asking the questions when you pass an interview. And I've got a friend who is who is going through those interviews, not as in the function uh advice industry. And I said, don't forget that because of a past experience, you can ask those questions. You know, we are at an age where you know what you want. So when you meet your potential next manager, ask all those questions. There's no shame. And some of the questions we are talking about, I did ask a lady, an IFA lady, when she took the time to meet me in our office um in Birmingham, and I asked her the questions. I asked the question, how does that work with the team? How much do they how do you make money? Even her as a director of a company, how do should I what how much should I expect to make at some point? And she was so, so uh transparent. That was great. That helped me as well to she was not hiring, and to be fair, she was a bit too far from my home. Um, but it was it was really good. And I I have really appreciated that people in this industry are a bit more transparent. We don't have to hide things.

Sam Oakes 31:07

Yeah, 100%. I think it's really, really important you get variety of interviews to see variety of propositions and what they're offering, a variety of cultures as well, and leaders and how they operate their businesses, whether they're restricted, whether they're IFA, whether they have any AI stuff going in, whether they're heavily on brand, you have to kind of get a bit of variety and you have to scratch under the surface. You have to remember if you're a good quality candidate, regardless if you're brand new to the profession, if you turn up and you can articulate, I've done my qualifications myself. This is my background, this is a network that I have, these are my strengths, these are my weaknesses, this is how I'm gonna operate within my first three to six months. What are you gonna do to help get me to that stage? How can you help support me? So you should definitely interview the interviewer. Don't feel like, especially when you're self-employed, don't feel like you're being interviewed. Because there is a shortage of good quality financial advisors and there's a shortage of good quality female financial advisors. Okay, 16% of advisors in the UK are female. So it's really important that people go with a list of questions to ask, to ascertain and understand the value that business is going to give them if they join them self-employed. Because what you don't want to do is get into somewhere, start to realize things aren't quite as they seem, because all of a sudden you might spend 12 months in a business that isn't right for you, that aren't delivering or aren't giving you the things that you require. And the only way you're gonna learn that is by going to meet them or talking to people that are currently working within that business. And that's another tip that I would say. It's like, can I sit down with one of your current advisors? Can I sit down with somebody who's a success within your business so I can find out, you know, what works, what doesn't, what they like, what they don't like. And then you get a fair representation of potentially what that first 12 month is going to look like, or at least what you need to do to make it work.

Smart LinkedIn Without The Burn

SPEAKER_01 32:54

Yeah. Then some some firms, you're right, it's such a large choice of companies. Some, you know, some firms tend to focus on retirement planning only, some of them only estate planning, some of them will do mortgage. We don't do mortgages. We have mortgage uh advisors that we use, but outside of consequential. We some people want very much this product than another one, you know. Uh it's all about what freedom you want and how free you want to be and which support you're gonna get for that.

Sam Oakes 33:20

I love it. So you obviously went self-employed, pressures on you to write business, to generate clients and get the AUM so you can get the levels of recurring income that are going to allow you to live the lifestyle that you need to actually live. And as you said, that wonderful word, provide you with some freedom, right? So let's just look at what you've developed, if you don't mind, in respect of new business, um AUM within your two-year period of being a self-employed IFA.

Impact With Everyday Clients

SPEAKER_01 33:48

So I'm I'm probably reaching around 14 million now. Um, and you know, actually for some people who's gonna probably sound small, but for me, I'm quite happy. Um, so I've done this for you and I'll um you know what? David helped me because that was one of the questions, how do I start? And he helped me really very much because the first six months he gave me full access to unbiased leads that I thought was interesting. My colleagues John and Adam helped me to tell me, oh, that's a good lead or it's a bad lead. But that's how I started with six months free of unbiased leads. And you start to create actually a little portfolio from that because it's like planting a seed. I've learned a lot is once even if you talk to someone and there's nothing to do, you have planted a seed, it's going to become a tree, tree have branches, it does go further. That's one thing that he gave me. But more importantly, I quickly I've I had I used to live in Birmingham, I've moved to Worcester, I had uh quite a lot of friends in Birmingham, not as much as Worcester, but I met quite a lot, um, a decent bunch of mums because that's what I was for two years before starting. So I realized that my professional network was quite small and I had to change this. So I looked at it and I joined a couple of uh, well, I tried a couple of networking, but I really stick to one, which is called Woman Who. It's a community uh female group. Uh and that's probably the best thing I've done. So I started, went for a few months. Luckily, I was more or less the only IFA in that group. And six months after I could see the opportunity. So I became a rep and I am the rep for Wooster. So it's a you get a monthly meeting in my city, but we've got different locations. But you get marketing from that group. And it's not a huge group, you know, some other cities is for around 2,000 people. But actually, it's been amazing because every year, every month I had like leads from that. And again, a seed from one lead brings you to another, two more leads. In that group, I also got in some ways lucky, but I did ask a question. I went in, I say I will I'm an IFA and I would love to uh meet uh a solicitor and an accountant uh willing to uh maybe see if we can uh work together. And I get lucky. I did meet this accountant. Accountants that I actually do have brought my business every month. They have been really helpful. They are probably the uh biggest sponsor of also my success because they are if any clients need uh to speak to an IFA, they just send them to me. We don't have minimum assets that consequential plan limited, which I think is really important. You know, some companies will have a minimum of 150k, 250k. I also care to make an impact on people's. And because that actually that community is not full of money, you know, it's like normal people. But if you can help them anyway to get where they need to be in 10 years, then I've done probably most of the part of my job. So it's all been about connection. I'm not bad at connecting, so it has helped. Um, and that's how I have built my business. So when I started, I was probably speaking on uh five, six clients at a time, pipeline-wise. This year I am on a 22 type of 32 clients on a pipeline. Uh my list doesn't decrease because I get recommended quite a lot. And also I started to do something. I'm not shy, and that's probably another tip I will say is ask. Um, if I meet a business owner and they've got a company, I always say, Have you ever had a financial well-being uh session for your employees? You know, it's free of charge for you. I come in, I make a presentation, I give them uh education about how things were, pension, stock insurance, why it matters, all those things. But for me, it's an entry point to talk to the smallest I've done was seven people to what's coming up, 40 to 60 people. And some of them are happening next month and already have meetings because my name has been put in the system and people are booking meetings. So I've got I'm booked until for the next six weeks, more or less. And it's it's hard sometimes to get that vision when you start. And I didn't, I didn't, I couldn't see where I was going because it takes six months to start to get the recommendation coming in after you've done the work. Obviously, I've built the vouch for um reviews. We are trying to build our Google reviews as well as the company because we don't do enough of marketing. Um the once this rule is it's just come organically, actually. I haven't, in the last 12 months, I've probably bought five unbiased leads or full, and that's it.

Sam Oakes 38:06

Brilliant. So started out on Unbiased, the leads coming in helped you get going, got you into those client meetings, which then um uh snowballed later on with referrals, etc. You then moved into uh networking events where you became a rep and then started getting introduced to accountants, professional introducers, and that helped snowball a little bit, that that moved you a little bit a little bit further forward. Excellent. So one thing I didn't hear here is that you you're not on LinkedIn, you're not messaging people, you're not on Instagram, building YouTube channels. We're talking about kind of old-fashioned lead generation through lead gen sources and going in and dealing with face-to-face communities, um, networking events and professional introducers. And you'd say that that was the the the secret source to your success. Because 14 million, by the way, within the first couple of years, especially the way that you live your life, you have great life balance. I know that kids, horses, you have a great life balance, which you're very happy with, right? 14 million is not to be sniffed at. I know people who've done 14 million in their whole career, you know, it's it's it's it's really good. And it's a great point to say, look, in two years' time that you can do that, which with a level of recurring income, uh, you know, I don't know if you're on 0.75 recurring or 1% recurring.

Advice For Bankers Considering IFA

SPEAKER_01 39:23

So we are uh 0.750, and actually ongoing is optional. So actually, um a lot of, for example, the starters, the people that come start from the beginning, I don't want ongoing. I they except if they want, or sometimes it's what I call a year of coaching, they can have it. Uh, but most of them, they don't need it. You know, you set them up, let them fly. Don't you I don't think I need the fees. Doesn't mean they can't call or email, but usually they just didn't know where to start, how to invest, and all they needed is someone to help them to do this and fly. And whenever they are ready and need more help, they come back to me. But at Consequential, it's actually optional, the hungering. We don't force clients to take it. I would say most people who go to retirement, they tend to need it. Uh business owners, uh so what uh accountants have allowed me is to diversify my client base. So I've got individual individuals like you and me, but actually I've got business owners like you and me. But when you have a limited company, you can do uh a lot more different things, and you'd be surprised how many people don't know. So the education part works really well with business owners as well. And you write about uh social media. Actually, I was completely against it initially. When I started, I'm like, I'm not going against on social media. And then some videos were from a certain Sam Oaks were saying, oh, you'll be really missing out if you're not on social media. And that did trigger something. I was like, I should try. That's that's a bit silly, you know. So I honestly probably started not even a year ago to be a bit more uh consistent and actually even just be on LinkedIn. I don't do Instagram and don't do anything, YouTube, I don't do TikTok. I want to do a bit of Facebook uh because actually some places I get leads now are Facebook from my postcode Facebook group, uh, or the area booster draw which my net gets there. Um so I have every month, I would say I've got between two or three leads from social media. LinkedIn is really funny, the start to once you start to look at it or listen to what's out there. People text three months before uh actually approaching you when they start to see what you are posting, and it's true, it works. Some people who came to me have known me for such a long time, and because of one post, they are like, nah, that's it. I talk to her now. I have to do something. And this is actually has been more the lead, I would say, since September, because I've only been doing for a few months, has been better. And I guess from that, this is where I've been a bit more pushy with the company profile as well. So again, the beauty of being in a small company, you get um an opportunity to do a bit more than just uh you what you do. So I help David with the marketing. We try to do a bit more uh present in terms of LinkedIn, but also Google. Because actually, your plumber, your hairdresser, your all those people, they're not on LinkedIn, they're on Google. They will look at your Google reviews. So it's important for them to either find you or find a page like Vouch4, so they read the reviews. So once you understand how things work and how people work and are looking for an IFA, uh then you you kind of direct your marketing strategy linked to it. But yeah, actually, social media will say for someone who start, you don't have to post every day. I post once a week, but it is actually uh it takes a while to roll. And uh I saw some people talking about this recently. It it does take a while, but then it works.

Sam Oakes 42:38

Let me give some of the love. Let me just talk a little bit about LinkedIn and where I feel that there's some value to be had and how really you're right. You don't need to be on there scrolling all the time and spend your whole time on social media because it is designed to keep you there, right? And keep you looking. And and also it's about building an audience. As somebody like you who enjoys networking, right, enjoys being seen by people as a as a value add, as an educator, right? That's what you want to do. The one thing I would say to anybody with their LinkedIn is take a good look at who your connections are. If they are not somebody that you can do business with, okay, remove them. When you build your connection list, make sure that who you are adding are people that are either going to potentially be clients or who are going to introduce you to clients. Follow a simple methodology, right? 20, 10, 5, 20 connection requests a day. So you can do a hundred a week. So 20 meaningful connection requests a day, 10 meaningful engagements a day. So that's a like, a comment, right? And try to think about who's just connected. So if yesterday you did 20 connections, go to the ones you've recently connected and go and engage with their post, right? So straight away they Start to see you, hear you, and you're engaging with them, they're like, who's that person? And then they're going to go to the profile and take a look at you. So 20 connection requests, 10 meaningful engagements, not just AI slop, like actual, like, oh, I really like this post. Have you thought about this or whatever, right? And then five direct messages. If you follow that methodology sweet, you're going to grow meaningful connections and you're going to create engagement which pushes you up in the algorithms. The in LinkedIn rewards you when you do that. And if you can send 25 targeted messages, I'm confident that you're going to get two or three really good responses that are going to lead to business.

Exit Value And Career Paths

SPEAKER_01 44:38

I I've heard that personally. I've heard that, and I think it's perito. I don't even do this yet. Uh because I feel you probably do this when you, you know, when your pipeline slow down, you start to look at different ideas. I've never messaged anyone that I either barely know or know. I actually never message someone, do you need a financial advisor, for example? I've never done that. But what I do is that if I meet someone new in uh one of my networking events, you know, I think business cards still exist for a reason. Is I always, always at them on LinkedIn. And um one thing is important is as a financial advisor, actually your connection shouldn't only be financial advisors, shouldn't only be providers, because actually they're not gonna bring you any business. So you need to make sure that your connections are the ones that are outside of that financial industry. And they are the ones who's gonna be, oh, because everybody needs an IFA, but definitely not the one who have the knowledge. So you it's how to build the social media parties. If you most of the time when I network and the only IFA, or there's maybe another one, and that's good. But wherever is new, I I take the card and I add them, and I don't expect anything until one day they just they just message.

Sam Oakes 45:47

100%. If you can build 500 to 1,000 connections, but they're all the right connections, and you're sharing content that educates them how to um deliver statements, you know, the power of a financial well-being workshop for your business. So if you connect with a thousand business owners and they've all got, and you've done your research on sales navigator and it says 100 to 250 employees, that could be your your niche, that market. And then you're talking directly to them about the power of a financial workshop, the power of your employees being financially secure, understanding how their pension works, preparing for the future, protecting their families, even things like debt, how to get out of debt, all of that stuff. Anything that's gonna really empower their employees to be happier, more financially secure, and therefore turning up to work less stressed is only going to be powerful. So if you can articulate that in your social media strategy and you're connecting with business owners or HR directors, you're only ever going to be putting the things in front of them as adding them value. And that they'll be constantly going, like, my God, this person who seems to be like having such a huge impact. There's a photo of you. Oh, I'm at, you know, I'm at CJ Hole today and we're we're we're doing financial planning workshops for their estate agents. And this is what we learned today. It's just constantly just reinforcing the value that you add. And you can do that three times a week. It doesn't have to be loads. And what you're describing is a social proof element. The more someone sees you doing the value that that is adding the value to them that's going to improve their lives, the more they're going to go, I trust that person. Now they might turn away from there and do a quick Google on you. Now, this is where it's important that is there a vouch for unbiased reviews of you? Because they'll go to reviews and see, well, this person obviously is good because there's loads of reviews. But what you also want to come up with, is there any articles that are published? Is there anything within um a newspaper or a media publication that's relevant to what it is that you actually do? Is there a podcast episode? So my advice to you now is now you've broken the back of doing a podcast with me, go and see if you can get on some other podcasts as well. Because if your name's attached to podcasts, people look at that and see that as authority, as does Google and as does AI. So they'll start to see you in one, two, three, four, five different podcasts. AI will look at that and go, this person's in the media, therefore they've got authority. Build yourself a page. Who are you? What do you do? What value do you add? What is the financial planning you offer? Why do you offer it? And also, if you can, create a couple of YouTube videos just talking about the value that you add to clients. Like, why should I have an IFA or female IFA in Worcester or financial well-being workshops in Worcester with your name attached to it, the title's got you in it, and then that is the level of social proof that you need. Because if someone can search for you and find a few things about you, they trust you straight away. And that's and that's the kind of level of marketing, really, as an individual that you need to do. And like the LinkedIn stuff is a couple of hours a week, really. Well, not even for me.

SPEAKER_01 48:54

I think it probably is what needs to be put, but I I'm basic. I got my Canva stuff created by someone. I am not a Canva person. I mean I it doesn't even take me, take me an hour every two weeks because more or less I will schedule for two weeks and then I wait to have to redo it. I do know that YouTube could be a good thing, but yeah, okay, I will think about it. But yeah, it's a good idea. You're right. The only thing I would say is if you become a financial advisor, you can't you can't be too shy because uh you've got to you've got the the a job and the the knowledge that people need to hear from. And also, really, really simple. If you are female, just go out there, build your confidence. Worst case, get a coach if you need to, but you are as strong as any other financial advisor that uh are out there. It just, you know, experience helps. Um and it can it comes with time. Yeah, you have you can start slow and then it builds up, and then you are never, never actually me. It doesn't matter if it's a 600k portfolio client or 20k. I I deal with them the same way. I see them as the same person. Um, although I do know it's gonna be different behind. It's the same, they have the same uh right.

Sam Oakes 50:07

So an investment banker might be listening to this right now, right? And they're used to dealing with people, what was the average investable assets of somebody you were dealing with investment banking? So millions?

SPEAKER_01 50:16

Uh yeah, no, it's huge. Yeah, yeah. I mean, my uh I was uh on the institutional client side. So my clients were Aviva, LNG, Jupyter, like all those big as they are, it's billions, some of them.

Sam Oakes 50:27

Yeah. Okay. So someone investment banking might listen to this and think, so she's gone from that into helping like small businesses, people with less pots, maybe the you know the wealth-building stage of their life. Why? You know, you know, how that must be difficult for somebody who's been in investment banking to comprehend doing that. Is there a different level of fulfillment and purpose that that that actually brings to you as opposed to dealing people with more wealth than the average Joe?

SPEAKER_01 50:57

I do agree that some people might not understand why I've done this, although a lot have. And some people have reached out to me from Dutch Bank in the last six months to see how have I done this and I've shared everything I have. Um but yeah, the impact, oh yeah, like the impact I make on people's life today is not much stronger than I was doing before. I I was helping people to make money uh at that time, but it was such an institutional level that you don't really get that reward because you don't really get that first. They don't, I'm sorry, but actually those people I was dealing with, sometimes they don't really say thank you. You know, you're helping them, but it's never enough. When you deal with a different level and individuals or business owners, you know, I can see the impact after not long sometimes, just by doing some little twist. I'm not even talking about investment once they start to actually see why they should invest. Why does it matter when inflation is 2%, 2.5%? Uh why does it matter when you take your salary dividends and actually you're not taking pension income? How come? Like put money into your pension from your business because that's actually another stream of income and it does reduce your corporate tax. And the impact I make is huge. It's huge. And uh and sometimes, especially the last two months, I've had also um meetings where I've gone then, people thought they could retire. And realistically, you show them cash flow and you tell them, um it's gonna be a bit complicated if you retire now. Because you're gonna run out of money in 10 years, and you're you're only 63. So no, actually, it would be probably best if you can keep working around six-day pension, all those things. And you help them just to adjust bits and bobs. And the fact that if they had advice 10 years before, they wouldn't be there in the same situation. The number of people who sit off on 100k, 200k of savings and do nothing with it, and actually they're actually losing more money, it the education in this country is needed, and that's why there's a job. But yeah, I I find the most rewarding part of that job is the impact I make on people. And I see it through the thank you, the referrals, the reviews, and I you know, it comes all together, and I will keep doing this as long as I can. And um, I love the fact that we have no minimum assets. I know it's for some people they're gonna say, well, that's a waste of time. I don't think it's a waste of time. Actually, sometimes the smallest clients are the best referrals clients because they've got parents, they've got people, family, and they actually embedding someone with money. So that part is not true, but also the deserve to have that financial access. Um, something you mentioned about, you know, uh IFA. People are scared to speak to IFAs in this country. They think they need to be rich, they think that is going to be really boring. And the number of times I've I've cut something out of the meeting, like it didn't look like what we expected. You know, I've come with my Leopard jacket, or you know, I first I'm a female, I'm young, uh, I'm quite blended uh, I say things directly. Um and it got it comes across really well because, you know, at the end, if I want to do my job properly, you need to give me information. And also, I'm not trying to judge. I don't, I'm not there here. I'm here to help. And if that's how you when you become a financial advisor, that's what you want to do, is to help them, to help the clients, uh you you will be really successful.

Sam Oakes 54:15

Yeah, I love that. I love the way you well, you know, we all need a purpose, don't we? You know, when you when you build something, you need to have something of a purpose that has a positive impact that's higher than you. So for me, when I built the Financial Planel Life podcast, it was about fixing the advice gap, attracting new people to the profession, therefore there's more financial well-being out there. And for you, it's exactly that. It's working with people that probably don't have the access or um have had the access to financial education, but they're in a situation where they need it, and they're in a situation in life where you can now help them. So the positive impact of that is happy families, right? Happy families, happy lives, happy business owners. Business owners are so busy. I'm busy all the time and like I've got a financial advisor, and you know, I'm I'm difficult to deal with because of my ADHD as well. So I get so excited about things and I'm here, there, and everywhere. And having a financial advisor is patient and can help build something that is in line with my business because that motivates me. And the cash flow forecast is combining my business with my assets and everything else, is like, oh wow, brilliant. But that person had to kind of get to know me and understand it. There's nothing more grateful than a business owner when someone helps them because we wear so many hats and we're so kind of scared and prideful sometimes of asking for help that when it comes, we're like, yes, thank you so much. That was like the best advice I've ever got.

SPEAKER_01 55:35

And so I think like and you are, and it's at the bottom of your list. It's uh you are probably not looking at this as a priority, like most of the things where I tend to deal with. I'm never on a priority list, really, except when they go to retirement. But actually, everything you can do before retirement is this probably the best decision you can take. And it's funny, and also, you know, exactly what you said, you want someone who understands you or knows you at least. You have to really open up when you meet with an IFA. Your client has to be, some people have to tell you they've got their apps, some people had to tell me that actually they don't know where their business is gonna go in the next six months and we don't know how it's gonna go. Okay, we make a plan. I have no shame about showing a bad cash flow because actually knowing the real situation for that client is it can only get better. Uh, or we can make a plan. We know where what we work towards it. So I you're right. I think it's um having that relationship with someone and getting that trust. You know, I've got sometimes I get WhatsApp or text from clients who, well, she decided to buy a house uh on cash uh because she had uh quite a lot of money. So she sent me the houses she's visiting, and you just follow their their journey until they actually settle a bit more.

Sam Oakes 56:43

Love it. So let's just go to um for bankers thinking, okay, so investment bankers, that's the world that you've lived in. You've spoken to a few of them, right? So you've probably got, you know, a few people asking you lots of different questions. But for bankers considering a career change, what would you tell them about financial planning as a career?

SPEAKER_01 57:05

I think it's a really rewarded career. It's a lot more flexible than investment banking. Uh so it gives you a bit more freedom. Money-wise, um, you will be on six figures quite quickly. Uh, I'm talking about maybe two, three years maximum if you do if you do well. It could it could be probably quicker depending on who you join, to be honest. Um, there's money. I think people sometimes they struggle to see why they will uh like the risk of uh moving out of such a well-paid industry. And actually as an IFA, you still earn quite decent money at some point. Um and it just, I think the flexibility, but that's what is what's important for me, it's also making an impact.

Sam Oakes 57:45

I think one thing to also consider here as well, when you go self-employed as an IFA, you're building towards a capital event as well. Because you're building a book of business that one day you can sell. So when you exit, it's not unusual to get anywhere between three to five times recurring income when you exit the profession. Something you can't do when you're employed. Yes. So it's definitely worth bearing that in mind. If you're gonna be doing the job anyway, you've got the financials in the bank and you're confident in your ability, and you can, you can, as you say, make sure you can cover yourself the nine to twelve months, makes sense. If you can do that and you can get past that point and you can start building book, building your book, you're gonna hit your 100k earnings relatively quickly, two years as quickly, right? But everything you're building from there on, you can one day exit and sell that book.

Closing Thanks

SPEAKER_01 58:34

Yeah. And also, you're right. I don't even think about this, but you you you know, you can have so many, many phases in as an in uh as an IFA. You know, you can also write now, put uh you can be working actually uh as self-employed for another company, but nothing stops you in years to actually create your own company. You know, it's it's a lot more work and you need to do a lot more things, but some so many people do it after a while, you know, when you've built your business and your client book. There's so many exits available uh and other jobs that even me have discovered in terms of providers, you know, there's a lot of things that uh sometimes you think you know, but actually you don't.

Sam Oakes 59:11

Brilliant. Well, thank you so much for joining me today on the Financial Planet Life Podcast. I love full circle moments. So when someone comes on my podcast that originally listened to it and are now successful in the financial planning profession, and we've had an impact on that person, Caroline, I absolutely love that. So thank you for coming on. And I hope you've enjoyed being a guest on the Financial Planet Life Podcast and not just a listener.

SPEAKER_01 59:32

Honestly, thank you for the opportunity. I'm very, very happy and thank you for the time. It was lovely. And I hope it helps anyone. Thank you, Sam.

Sam Oakes 59:40

Definitely it definitely will. Thanks so much. Cheers.