Dan Armitage (CEO of Neuro Sparks) and David Tait (Founder of Redmill Advance,) joins Sam Oakes to talk about supporting neurodivergent individuals in financial planning. Dan spent a decade as a regulated financial adviser, as well as a bank manager in his early twenties, before founding Neuro Sparks with his mother three years ago. He lives with ADHD, dyslexia and dyscalculia himself, and that experience now shapes every part of how he trains other financial planners.

In this conversation, Dan explains what it was like navigating a career in financial services before he had the language for his own neurodivergence, and what changed once he understood it properly. He and David discuss why 15% of the population is neurodivergent, and why so many employers still are not equipped to identify or support that within their own teams. They also walk through Dan's own academic journey, from sitting his CII exams with a short term memory in the bottom 1% of the population, through to completing a level seven postgraduate certificate in neurodiversity at university - something he describes as the first time in his life he felt he could genuinely study.

David shares how Redmill Advance builds neurodivergent support directly into training academies of up to 500 delegates at a time, including how trainers are taught to spot when someone is struggling and quietly adjust their approach without singling anyone out. Sam also shares his own ADHD diagnosis in detail, and how it changed the way he runs Financial Planner Life, once he understood his own way of working.

Key takeaways from this episode:

• Why 15% of the population is neurodivergent and what that means for financial planning firms today
• How Dan built Neuro Sparks with his mother after a decade as a regulated financial adviser
• What it was like working in financial planning before Dan was diagnosed with ADHD, dyslexia and dyscalculia
• How Dan sat his CII exams with a bottom 1% memory 
• What employers notice, and what they don't, when it comes to how their people think
• What reasonable adjustments actually mean under the Equality Act, and where the limits of "reasonable" sit for employers
• How Redmill Advance tailors training for neurodivergent delegates inside academies of up to five hundred people
• Why Sam decided to share his own ADHD diagnosis on the podcast, and what it changed about how he runs Financial Planner Life

This is an episode for financial planning firms thinking seriously about how they support neurodivergent staff, for managers who want to spot the signs before someone reaches a crisis point, and for any financial planner who has ever wondered whether their own brain works a little differently to everyone else's.

Learn more about Neuro Sparks Business Solutions at www.neurosparksolutions.com and Redmill Advance at www.redmilladvance.com/fpl 

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 [email protected] in regards to sponsorship, partnerships, videography or podcast production. 

Want to appear on the Financial Planner Life podcast? Drop Sam a message.

Matthew Samuel, UK Chartered Financial Planner and SEC Regulated Financial Planner at Titan Wealth International, has built a career across both the UK and the international market, specialising in advising clients with US connections and US assets from his base in Dubai.

He holds his UK chartered status alongside the Series 65 qualification, which makes him a registered investment adviser under the SEC, the US regulator. That means he can advise American expats living anywhere in the world, UK pension holders based in the US, and anyone navigating assets across both jurisdictions. It is one of the most technically demanding niches in financial planning, and it is exactly where he chose to specialise.

In this episode of Financial Planner Life, Sam Oakes sits down with Matthew in Dubai to find out what that career actually looks like day to day. How he established credibility as a young adviser without years of experience behind him, and why getting your exams done early is the single best thing a young financial planner can do. How Covid changed the way international advice is delivered, making it possible to speak to clients across New York, Texas and San Francisco all in one evening without boarding a single flight. And what the One Titan philosophy actually means in practice, from following clients across borders as their lives change to having specialists in-house for almost every jurisdiction in the world.

Titan Wealth International is expanding into the US with advisers on the ground, building the infrastructure to serve clients wherever in the world they end up.

This is an episode for UK financial planners thinking about an international career, for anyone curious about what advising US-connected clients actually involves, and for anyone who wants to understand what a genuinely global financial planning business looks like.

The episode's key takeaways:

• Why Matthew combined his UK chartered status with the Series 65 to advise US-connected clients internationally
• How knowledge compensates for lack of experience in client meetings and why young advisers should prioritise their exams
• How Covid changed international financial planning delivery and what that means for advisers thinking about going global
• What a 401k is and why so many sit dormant and unreviewed for international clients
• What the IRA rollover actually means and why it matters for US clients with UK connections
• What One Titan means in practice and why a borderless financial planning business changes everything for internationally mobile clients
• Why Titan Wealth International is expanding into the US and what that means for financial planners considering an international career

If you are a UK financial planner thinking about taking your career international, this is the episode to listen to.

Learn more about Titan Wealth International at www.titanwealthinternational.com

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 [email protected] in regards to sponsorship, partnerships, videography or podcast production. 

Want to appear on the Financial Planner Life podcast? Drop Sam a message.

What does it take to leave a secure career, become self-employed and build a financial planning business managing close to £40 million in just three years?

In this episode of the Financial Planner Life podcast, Sam Oakes speaks with Samantha Wood, founder of Wood Mitchell Financial Planning and a Partner at St. James’s Place.

Samantha’s career began in the British Army, where she progressed from soldier to officer and developed the discipline, leadership and adaptability that would later shape her career in financial services.

After leaving the military, Samantha moved into investment management, completed her Chartered Wealth Manager qualifications and spent almost a decade working with high-net-worth private clients. She later made the decision to leave employment, become a self-employed financial planner and build her own business from the ground up.

Samantha shares how she started with zero clients, built trusted relationships with accountants and professional introducers, developed a niche working with business owners and grew her practice to nearly £40 million in assets under management.

The conversation also explores why financial planning is about more than investment performance. Samantha explains how strong financial planning can reduce anxiety, improve financial well-being and give clients greater confidence about their future.

This episode is essential listening for aspiring financial planners, investment managers considering a career change, military professionals exploring financial services and advisers who want to build a sustainable financial planning business.

Subscribe to Financial Planner Life for more honest conversations about careers, leadership, business growth and opportunities within financial planning and financial services.

In this episode, you will learn:

00:00 From Zero to Nearly £40m Under Management
00:40 Samantha Wood’s Financial Planning Career Story
01:40 Joining the British Army at 16
03:29 Transferable Military Skills for Financial Services
04:26 Leadership, Communication and Leading from the Front
05:33 Discipline, Well-Being and High Performance
06:34 Leaving the Military and Exploring New Careers
10:50 Breaking into Investment Management
13:11 Working with High-Net-Worth Private Clients
15:40 Why Client Relationships Matter More Than Technical Knowledge
17:27 Becoming a Chartered Wealth Manager
19:44 Investment Management vs Financial Planning
22:11 How Investment Experience Adds Value for Clients
23:54 Financial Planning, Anxiety and Financial Well-Being
27:47 Communicating with Clients During Market Volatility
32:14 Why Samantha Chose a Career in Financial Planning
34:00 Leaving Employment to Build a Financial Advice Business
35:10 Why She Chose St. James’s Place
36:44 Making the Leap into Self-Employment
39:31 Planning Your First Year as a Self-Employed Adviser
41:02 How Long Does It Take to Earn Consistent Income?
44:22 Building a Financial Planning Practice to Nearly £40m
45:43 Finding a Financial Planning Niche
47:09 Helping Business Owners Plan Beyond Their Business
48:28 Building a Referral Network with Accountants
50:13 Systems, Technology and Your First 12 Months
52:12 Taking Smart Risks and Aiming Higher
54:37 Autonomy, Family Life and Running Your Own Practice
57:50 The Reality of Being a Financial Planner and Business Owner

To find out more about Samantha's work at St. James's Place, visit www.sjp.co.uk

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 [email protected] in regards to sponsorship, partnerships, videography or podcast production. 

Want to appear on the Financial Planner Life podcast? Drop Sam a message.

Romany Youell, Founder of The Finance Woman, qualified as the UK's youngest ever financial adviser at 18 after dropping out of college at 16. By 24 she had built a £10 million financial planning business. But the journey between those two moments nearly broke her.

In this episode of Financial Planner Life, Sam Oakes sits down with Romany to hear the full story. How she grew up going to client meetings with her dad from the age of 11. How she dropped out of college at 16 and qualified as a mortgage adviser before most of her peers had finished their A-levels. How Quilter Financial Adviser School made a one-year exception to let her in early. And how, after becoming the UK's youngest financial adviser, she spent two to three years being told she would never succeed because she was a woman and nearly walked away from the profession entirely.

The turning point came at a women in business networking event she almost cancelled. Six women around a table. One conversation. And the moment she realised it was not just her who did not fit into the industry. There was a whole community of people being left out of it. She went home that night and set up The Finance Woman.

This is an episode for anyone early in their financial planning career who feels like they do not belong. For anyone who has been told they are not what the industry is looking for. And for anyone who wants to understand what it actually takes to build a financial planning business from scratch.

The episode's key takeaways:

• How Romany dropped out of college at 16 and qualified as the UK's youngest financial adviser at 18
• What it was like growing up watching her dad build a mortgage business from his bedroom
• Why Quilter Financial Adviser School made a one-year exception to let her in early
• The comments she received from other advisers about being a woman in financial planning
• Why trying to change her accent, wardrobe and language to fit in made things worse
• The networking event she nearly cancelled that changed the direction of everything
• How one conversation with six women led to The Finance Woman being born
• How she built a £10 million financial planning business before the age of 24

If you are building a financial planning career and feeling like you do not fit in, this is the episode to listen to.

If you would like to find out more about Romany's work or get in touch, visit www.thefinancewoman.co.uk

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 [email protected] in regards to sponsorship, partnerships, videography or podcast production. 

Want to appear on the Financial Planner Life podcast? Drop Sam a message.

Aycan Richards, Chartered Financial Planner at Titan Wealth, spent 13 years building a financial planning career across Qatar and Dubai before making the decision to sell her business and hand her clients over to Titan Wealth.

In this episode of Financial Planner Life, Sam Oakes sits down with Aycan to find out what that journey actually looked like. How she moved to Qatar in 2013 with a seven-year-old daughter and no existing client base. How she built trust from scratch using a referral-first approach that eventually became the foundation of a business worth selling. What it meant to be one of the few female chartered financial planners working in the international expat space. And what the emotional and practical reality of exiting a financial planning business actually looks like.

Aycan also speaks openly about the misconceptions most people have about working and living in the Middle East as a woman, and why almost every concern she had before she moved turned out to be wrong. She talks about the "One Titan" philosophy and why Titan Wealth's presence across multiple countries was a key factor in her decision to sell her book to them rather than anyone else.

This is an episode for women thinking about taking their financial planning career international, for advisers in the expat space wondering how to exit their business on their own terms, and for anyone who wants to understand what a long, respected international financial planning career actually looks like.

The episode's key takeaways:

• What it was really like to move to Qatar in 2013 as a female financial planner with a young family
• How Aycan built a client base from scratch with no existing relationships in a new market
• Why almost every preconception about working and living in the Middle East as a woman turned out to be wrong
• What it means to be a female adviser in a profession where only 16% of UK advisers are women
• Why Aycan chose Titan Wealth to take over her clients and what the transition process looks like
• What the "One Titan" philosophy means in practice for clients moving between countries
• The emotional reality of exiting a business you have spent years building
• Why women considering international financial planning should reach out to Aycan directly on LinkedIn

If you are a financial adviser thinking about going international or planning your exit, this is the episode to listen to.

Learn more about Titan Wealth at www.titanwealthinternational.com

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 [email protected] in regards to sponsorship, partnerships, videography or podcast production. 

Want to appear on the Financial Planner Life podcast? Drop Sam a message.

Most financial advisers already know they should be more active on LinkedIn. What they don't know is why what they're doing isn't working.

Free LinkedIn Webinar - book here -  http://www.leadgenfs.co.uk/fpl    

It's not the content. It's not the consistency. It's who they're connected to, what they're saying in messages, and whether they've ever stopped to define exactly who they're trying to reach. Get those three things wrong and LinkedIn produces nothing. Get them right and, as Louis Adkins puts it, consistent inputs get consistent outputs.

In this episode of Financial Planner Life, Sam Oakes sits down with Louis Adkins, Founder of LeadGenFS, who started building his LinkedIn system at 19 during his second year of university. He was studying geography, had no marketing background, and no clients. His first break came through a friend's dad. By his third year he had a waiting list of 27 clients, built entirely from LinkedIn. He graduated and went straight into the business full time.

In the last 12 months alone, LeadGenFS has worked with over 100 financial advisers, helping them generate 3 to 5 qualified appointments a week from LinkedIn. One adviser added £12 million in AUM in 12 months. Another booked 47 calls in 90 days. A third sent 20 messages, went for a shower, came back seven minutes later and had an interested reply waiting.

Louis breaks down the full system in this episode. How to niche down so your message actually lands with the right people. Why automated outreach destroys trust and gets accounts banned. How to build content that speaks to clients rather than other advisers. How to generate ideas consistently from your own conversations. And how to use direct messages to convert your audience into booked appointments without opening with a pitch.

He also covers why referrals, as good as they are, will never give you control over your own growth, and what to build instead as your primary source of new clients.

The episode's key takeaways:

• Why referrals are a bonus, not a primary strategy, and what to build alongside them
• Why 95% of financial advisers' LinkedIn connections are other advisers, not potential clients
• Why automated outreach gets accounts banned and never builds the trust needed to convert
• How to niche down so your content and messages cut through to the right people
• Why asking for business in the first message is like proposing on a first date
• The three legs of the LinkedIn system: connecting, content, and direct messaging
• How to generate consistent content ideas from your own client conversations
• The three parts of every LinkedIn post: hook, value, and action
• The message priority ladder: who to contact first and in what order
• Why LinkedIn leads convert at around 30% versus 75% for referrals, and why that still makes LinkedIn the better primary source

If you are a financial adviser who wants to stop relying on referrals and start generating clients consistently, this is the episode to listen to.

Louis has also put together a free resource for Financial Planner Life listeners: five of the best performing post templates from LeadGenFS, available athttp://www.leadgenfs.co.uk/fpl 

Want to build your personal brand and generate better client leads on LinkedIn? Sam Oakes and Louis Adkins are hosting a free webinar. 

Register here 👉 https://038a8hn1lhs.typeform.com/to/NXlbUqAI 

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 [email protected] in regards to sponsorship, partnerships, videography or podcast production. 

Want to appear on the Financial Planner Life podcast? Drop Sam a message.

Why 30 to 39 Is the Best Age to Become a Financial Adviser 

Is 30 too old to start a career in financial planning?

A lot of people would say yes. The reality is the opposite.

The 30 to 39 age group is the fastest growing cohort entering financial planning right now, up 13% according to fresh FCA data. And the average age of a financial adviser in the UK isn’t 56, like most people assume. It’s 48.

In this episode, Sam sits down with John Somerville, Director of Financial Services at the London Institute of Banking and Finance (LIBF), and David Tait, Founder and Managing Director of Redmill Advance, to dig into why this is the perfect window to start, what the LIBF Level 4 qualification actually involves, and what firms need to do right now to attract the next generation.

They also go deep on the qualification itself. How it works, how it differs from the CII and CISI, why exams can be taken at home with no booking required, and why the case study approach is changing how advisers learn and qualify.

If you’re between 30 and 39 and considering a switch into financial planning, studying for your Level 4, or trying to bring younger talent into your firm, this is the episode for you.

What we cover in this episode:

• Why the 30 to 39 age group is the fastest growing cohort entering financial planning, up 13%
• Why the average age of a financial adviser is 48, not 56, and what the FCA data actually shows
• Why fewer than 150 practicing IFAs in the UK are under the age of 25
• How the LIBF Level 4 qualification works and how it differs from the CII and CISI
• Why LIBF exams are split into two parts and can be retaken without sitting the whole paper again
• How the six-week case study replaces the traditional written exam
• What the new LIBF Chartered Member status means and who it is for
• Why not starting an academy is a missed opportunity for financial planning firms
• What AI means for the future of financial advice and why relationship management is the answer

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 [email protected] in regards to sponsorship, partnerships, videography or podcast production. 

Want to appear on the Financial Planner Life podcast? Drop Sam a message.

What's the best age to become a financial planner?

Adele Cable changed career at 53, convinced she was nearly on the ‘scrapheap’. Victoria Cable started at 23, convinced nobody would trust someone her age with their finances. Together they've built a practice worth £2.8 million in three years, and Victoria's own business is already valued at £400,000 after just a year and a half.

This week on Financial Planner Life, Sam is joined by an extraordinary mother-and-daughter duo from Advanced Wealth Management at St James's Place to share exactly how they got here, what they've learned, and why the age question that puts so many people off financial planning is completely irrelevant.

From Adele's career in corporate sales at Xerox and HP, to Victoria starting as a bag carrier watching her mum in client meetings, to becoming the top 0.01% of advisers at SJP for protection advice, this is a story about what happens when you back yourself, find the right environment, and build something that genuinely changes people's lives.

This one is for anyone who thinks they're too old, too young, or too inexperienced to make the move into financial planning.

The episode's takeaways 🔥

• Why Adele's decades of corporate sales experience turned out to be the perfect preparation for financial planning
• What the Saint James's Place Academy actually puts you through and why it's worth every minute
• How Victoria went from bag carrier to top 0.01% protection adviser in under two years
• Why starting as a professional support specialist is one of the smartest routes into the profession
• How Victoria's youngest client is one week old, plus why intergenerational planning is the biggest opportunity in advice
• Why protection is the most undervalued entry point for building deep client relationships
• How Adele built her own networking event when every existing group turned her away
• Why lived experience, divorce, career change, and financial uncertainty make you a better adviser
• What a £400,000 business valuation at 24 years old actually looks like in practice
• Why the profession needs more women and what Adele and Victoria are doing about it

Whether you're considering a career change into financial planning, already in the profession and looking for inspiration, or simply wondering what it looks like to build a family business that genuinely matters, this episode delivers.

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 [email protected] in regards to sponsorship, partnerships, videography or podcast production. 

Want to appear on the Financial Planner Life podcast? Drop Sam a message.

Care costs up to £100,000 a year. 1 in 4 people in the UK sell their home to pay for it. And most financial planners are having the conversation far too late.

Click here for the KareHero Website 

In this episode, Sam sits down with Stephanie Leung, founder and CEO of KareHero, a UK-based service helping families navigate the care system and access funding they did not know existed. Stephanie has been a carer since the age of 14. She left a C-suite career at Uber managing 20 countries across Europe, and built KareHero after her father became seriously ill during Covid. She knows this world from both sides, and she pulls no punches.

If you have clients approaching later life, this is not a niche topic. 1 in 5 people in the UK are currently caring for someone. By age 50, there is a 50% chance your client is either a carer or being cared for. This is already your clients' reality. The question is whether you are ready for it.

What we cover in this episode:

• Why care can cost up to £100,000 a year and why 1 in 4 families sell  their home to fund it
• The three types of care funding available and who qualifies for each
• Why the care conversation should happen at the IHT planning stage, not in a crisis
• How power of attorney works, what happens without it, and why it takes 8 to 10 weeks to process
• What reverse parenting is and the emotional reality of caring for a parent with dementia
• How KareHero has accessed £12.3 million in funding for families told there was nothing available
• The role financial planners can play in signposting clients before care becomes a crisis
• Why this conversation is the key to building relationships with the next generation of clients

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 [email protected] in regards to sponsorship, partnerships, videography or podcast production. 

Want to appear on the Financial Planner Life podcast? Drop Sam a message.

Should UK financial planners be looking at the international advice market? Andreas Hollas has spent 13 years in Dubai building expertise that has no textbook, and the career it's given him is unlike anything available in the UK.

In this episode of Financial Planner Life, Sam sits down with Andreas Hollas, chartered financial planner and technical advice director at Titan Wealth International, to explore what international financial planning actually looks like, the clients, the cases, the complexity, and the career opportunity most UK advisers don't even know exists.

Andreas came straight out of university into financial services, built the largest client book at HHR, and now supports 80 advisers across Titan Wealth International with the most complex cross-border cases in the business. His clients span from the Dominican Republic to the Republic of Korea. His cases have no rulebook. His answers come entirely from experience.

The result? A career at the front edge of a growing market that is desperately short of advisers genuinely equipped to serve it.

If you're a UK financial planner curious about the international space, already working overseas and wondering what's next, or simply looking for a career path that rewards deep specialisation, then this is the episode for you.

What we cover in this episode:

• What international financial planning actually means and who the clients really are
• Why cross-border advice has no textbook and why that's the entire opportunity
• How Andreas built the largest client book in his firm without being the busiest adviser
• The supply and demand gap in the international market and what it means for career progression
• What the One Titan philosophy means in practice for globally mobile clients
• The two routes into Titan Wealth International for UK advisers considering the move
• Why moving internationally doesn't mean losing your existing UK client relationships
• What the Denmark/Dubai case study reveals about what 13 years of experience actually buys you
• How Titan Wealth's Next Generation Leaders programme is developing the next generation of international advisers
• Why the international market rewards specialisation faster than almost anywhere in the UK profession

🔔 Be sure to follow Financial Planner Life on YouTube for more career insights from the financial planning profession. HIT THAT SUBSCRIBE BUTTON!

Want to appear on the Financial Planner Life podcast? Reach out to [email protected] regarding sponsorship, partnerships, videography or podcast production.

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 [email protected] in regards to sponsorship, partnerships, videography or podcast production. 

Want to appear on the Financial Planner Life podcast? Drop Sam a message.

Take the Adviser Advantage test here! 👈

Only 39% of UK adults trust financial services. 

For a profession built entirely on trust, that number should be a wake-up call.

In this episode of Financial Planner Life, Sam sits down with Chris Larkin, founder and MD of Big Rock, a consultancy that has spent 22 years helping advisory firms across the UK build better client relationships, drive organic growth, and create the kind of experiences that make clients stay, refer, and trust you with everything they have.

Chris's argument is straightforward: the financial planning profession has invested heavily in technical expertise and almost nothing in the human skills that actually determine whether a client relationship thrives. With AI now capable of replicating much of what average advisers do, the firms that differentiate on the human side will win. The ones that don't will increasingly find themselves competing with software they can't beat on price.

This is one of the most important conversations we've had on this podcast. If you're a financial planner, a firm leader, or someone considering a career in financial advice, this episode will change how you think about what the job actually is.

What we cover in this episode:

• Why 39% trust in financial services is the result of a skills gap, not a values gap
• The bookending technique top advisers use before and after every single client meeting
• Why one adviser went nine years without recommending protection and what that reveals about the profession
• How AI is making the human side of financial advice more important, not less
• What the research on trust actually says and how to apply it in a real client meeting
• Why sharing your personal "why" builds more trust than any qualification ever will
• The two currencies you need to generate consistent referrals from professional introducers
• How to build your value proposition in under 30 minutes using the Simon Sinek framework
• The Adviser Advantage diagnostic tool and how to benchmark your firm against the industry
• What a 90% improvement in profitability actually looks like when firms invest in client experience
• https://www.bigrockhq.com/adviser-advantage/  
  
  

Be sure to follow Financial Planner Life on YouTube for more career insights from the financial planning profession. 

Want to appear on the Financial Planner Life podcast? Reach out to [email protected] or [email protected] regarding sponsorship, partnerships, videography, or podcast production.

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 [email protected] in regards to sponsorship, partnerships, videography or podcast production. 

Want to appear on the Financial Planner Life podcast? Drop Sam a message.