Art & Sketches

How come August went so slowly, and now we are practically entering October? A client of mine works in retail, and the word “Christmas” is already appearing. Perhaps not so surprising because it’s only two months away. A timely reminder that in December, our outgoings increase – so take care with your budget to avoid a negative impact on your finances.

For a long time, I’ve shared the fascination many have regarding Banksy and his thought-provoking artwork. I find it even more fascinating that other artists are labelled as vandals for their artwork, whereas his artwork is preserved where possible and auctioned off for large sums. There was an art exhibition in London showcasing his work. I’m not an art fashionista; however, this was a great exhibition. Rats and Monkeys feature a lot in his work - he's trying to tell us something! I would tag him in this paragraph but his mystique is probably what makes him so popular.

Client queries this week have mainly seen clients “settle in.” After onboarding a client, there’s normally quite a bit of paperwork to get sorted and for them to get used to new technology. New queries have been surrounding old-style pension plans which are ending. It’s fascinating to learn how older plans work and the fact they can be quite restrictive compared to new modern arrangements.

An initial call with someone new potential client can be challenging and exciting. To understand how others do this call I thought to seek out someone's repuation I trust. I had a great chat with a fellow adviser Ian Dempsey DipPFS to hear how he conducts his. We also conducted a small roleplay which helped. It's uncomfortable but it's those things which will help. It’s a fine balance between listening to their needs, articulating how we can help (disclaimer: there are always many ways we can help), and adding in the regulatory segment we must deliver during a phone call. I continuously fine-tune how I conduct my calls.

A picture paints a thousand words. I want to get more creative, and a fellow adviser Guy Skinner demonstrated to me the powerful way of sketching with clients to illustrate concepts better. Before I had a chance to make a sketch I’ve been thinking about, Max Pashman, CFP® over the pond beat me to it. It’s a great illustration.

When meeting new clients, the full advice process can be cumbersome. Especially around getting information on clients’ assets through letters of authority. I had a great meeting with James McLoughlin from PensionLab, set up by Scott Phillips . They’ve created a very intuitive way of processing letters of authority with automatic chasing. If the client wants to sign via paper forms, no problem they cover this too! I’ll look into this further as it will make the client journey even better. Thanks for mentioning their name Harry Morgan within Nick Lincoln’s IFA forum.

www.thepensionlab.co.uk

This week’s session with The Verve Foundation and Hayley Rabbets took us through what it takes to run a directly authorised, regulated financial advice business (what a mouthful). Goodness me, I thoroughly recommend newer advisers to get on this course. It will open your eyes to the sheer amount of work required to have a robust centralised investment proposition, maintain a strong compliance function, be in line with GDPR, training and competence schemes, professional indemnity insurance, and capital adequacy. The sheer cost involved is surprisingly high. Why is it important to learn and understand this? It’s the appreciation of those employed roles where advisers may be earning a good salary, but an advice business stretches farther than just the advice piece. As promised, I'll get some more Vlogs sorted for those who are not a fan of reading.

By next week I will have finished Peter Rosengard's book "Talking to Strangers". It's had me in hysterics so far. What a life Peter has life. I have a fairly structured life so it was great to experience the Carpe Diem lifestyle through Peter's life. I don't think many people can get away with telling off Gordon Ramsay for the way he's presented breakfast, but Peter certainly did! Does he still have breakfast in Claridges every morning? It would be great to pop by and get the book signed.

This week I’m trialling a new concept. This concept is for you as a reader to get to know other readers of this newsletter and to perhaps facilitate some networking inside the growing community. As such, this concept will feature a reader of the newsletter at the end called My Journey: [insert your name]. If you are interested in being featured, please send me a DM.

My Journey: Andy Taylor

My journey into recruitment reminds me of that great line from the film Withnail & I ("we've come on holiday by mistake"). Most of us fall into our careers rather than choose them and that’s what happened to me.

Before recruitment I had what seemed a great career ahead of me. I was an investment manager, IMC/PCIAM qualified and well thought of (if I could keep my mouth shut).

But I hated the corporate world (damn you, mouth) and found the stock market, quite frankly, boring. I didn't care why we favoured Lloyds over HSBC. Or that we were bearish on UK equities. I wanted to read about football and cricket and history, not interest rates.

It was an early lesson that no matter how "great" the job. How well paid it could be. Or what status came with it. If it's not for you it's not for you. You'll get bored and disenfranchised and my biggest fear - caught out.

So as so often, timing and serendipity played its part and 20 years ago I moved into recruitment.

Since then I've learned a lot about myself. I come from a long line of self-employed joiners, carpenters, farmers etc. and I never thought being my own boss was for me. Well, it is. And despite credit crunches and The RDR and Covid, that remains more and more true with each passing day.

I've learned that you need to find your tribe. And if you can't, set your own one up. To not focus on the pursuit of money, rather to work with people who value you. That the hardest route is often the most enjoyable and fulfilling one. Oh and that people are wonderful and maddening and illogical and kind and that I'll never work them out.

But the biggest thing is having the best interests of other people at heart. If you can find a boss or colleague or employee like that, you’re onto a good thing.

Thank you for sharing Andy, it's great to get to know you a bit better. After all, Linkedin is to network and establish those connections through our working career's and beyond.