People often meet with a financial adviser following a big change in their life, such as divorce, retirement or bereavement.
Tough times can happen at any age, but what is interesting is how such experiences can also be the catalyst for becoming an adviser.
This was highlighted by a discussion panel at the recent St James’s Place [SJP] Academy Graduation ceremony, held at London’s Science Museum. Before 175 newly qualified advisers were each awarded their certificate, a panel of former SJP Academy graduates shared their stories of starting out in advice.
I was thinking, ‘Shall I stay where I am or go into a job that I’m passionate about, to help people, and fit it around my family?’
The panel included the founders of two SJP partner practices – Heather Hiley and James Britton – who had both built a career in the profession after difficult times in their personal life. Their stories show the value of financial advice as a fulfilling career.
The search for meaning
Heather Hiley Financial Planning founder Heather Hiley had a strong retail background, which meant she was already an experienced business owner when she joined the SJP Academy in 2022. Hiley had owned two businesses – a furniture store and a business consultancy. But these became less meaningful in the wake of losing her newborn daughter, Alice, 15 years ago.
A routine 20-week scan before birth had shown that Alice’s internal organs were growing in the wrong place. Sadly, Alice died at just seven hours old, after having a heart attack.
Hiley says people often feel lost after bereavement, not knowing what to do with themselves. Setting up a charity, the Alice Hiley Memorial Trust, helped Hiley channel her grief in a positive direction. But she also wanted to help people through her work.
I missed finance. It has so much depth to it and cycling didn’t have that for me
“I had my own business, a furniture store, but something had changed in me – it never felt the same,” she says. “I didn’t see how I was helping people.”
When that business closed for commercial reasons, Hiley went into consultancy specifically to help people. Through that work, she became interested in financial advice and started researching routes into the profession. The supportive environment of the SJP Academy felt right to her because she knew, from experience, that running one’s own business could feel lonely.
“If you go through the academy, you’re never alone. There’s always someone to point you in the right direction,” says Hiley. “The support is real, not just a label at SJP.”
A career with depth
James Britton Financial Planning founder James Britton started out in financial services as a graduate. He had reached a senior management position in marketing at Lloyds TSB when he was diagnosed with testicular cancer in 2016. Four years earlier he had lost his dad to bowel cancer. The cumulative impact of those curveballs prompted Britton to re-evaluate his career and what he wanted from life.
“When I got testicular cancer, it changed my perceptions of everything,” says Britton.
I’d read the exam text and go out for a walk. I’d do my revision while sitting on a log in the forest
He decided to take voluntary redundancy and found a job related to cycling – one of his big passions.
“But I missed finance,” he says. “Finance has so much depth to it and cycling didn’t have that for me.”
Britton returned to financial services in a product management/development role, working a four-day week in a concession to his work/life balance. As the father of two boys who were then quite young, he found this worked well.
“But it lost its shine when Covid happened,” says Britton. “I was working from home and there was little work satisfaction. I didn’t feel that what I was doing was meaningful.”
Catching up with a former colleague, who had been through the SJP Academy and explained how it worked, was eye opening.
Something had changed in me. I didn’t see how I was helping people
“I started looking into it and around the same time I was having a life-coaching session with a counsellor,” says Britton. “I was thinking, ‘Shall I stay where I am or go into a job that I’m passionate about, to help people, and fit it around my family?’”
Flexing it
The flexibility that comes with a career in financial advice starts while studying at the academy.
“I’d read the text and go out for a walk,” says Britton. “I’d do my revision while sitting on a log in the forest.”
The ability to study whenever and wherever enabled Britton to finish his first-term exams a month early. He used the extra time to explore other areas, such as mastering the financial planning software that is now essential for his business.
If you go through the academy, you’re never alone. There’s always someone to point you in the right direction
For Britton, the decision to become a financial adviser – with the flexibility to decide one’s own work/life boundaries – is not a world away from the financial planning that advisers do for clients.
“Financial advice is about how you can use your finances to make yourself happy,” he says. “It’s about life – and that’s a conversation I have with people all the time.”
Amanda Newman Smith is features writer for Money Marketing
