An academy is a good route into the advice profession for someone not coming from a financial background, according to Ben Hughes, an adviser at Doxford Financial.
Hughes, who recently graduated from the St James's Place Academy, told FT Adviser that before becoming an adviser he worked as a school teacher for several years.
He was consistently working 70-hour weeks, with his interest in advice first piqued when a family member made the move into the profession and, as a result, seemed to have a better work life balance.
Hughes knew he did not have the capacity to study to become an adviser while he was teaching and so made the decision to leave his position to start training teachers.
This route had its own struggles as Hughes stated: “At that point I still had no idea how on earth I was going to break into the sector, other than just applying for jobs.”
Soon after, Hughes’s family member moved from his employer to SJP and told him about the academy route.
“At that point I was four exams into the six that are required to get your full diploma in financial advice,” he recounted.
“I reached out to recruitment and began the enquiries and I absolutely loved what they were suggesting to me.
“It was an avenue to help me break into the industry which was, at the time, one big question that went unanswered.”
Business plan
Hughes spoke about how his time in the academy helped him to develop a robust business plan.
“On the final day of the academy, everyone presents their business plans to one another and that’s a great opportunity as it allows you to cherry pick one another’s best ideas and add to your business plan afterwards,” he explained.
“The business plan for me was very much leaning on my teaching network because I know, from being a teacher, there is information out there if you know where to look but often you don’t have the time to look.
“In terms of teachers' life admin they often don’t get a chance to do that until the summer holidays.
“Being in so many schools, I knew there was a lack of opportunity for staff to engage with their finances so my business model became ‘what if I took that opportunity to them?’.
“My business model is essentially to go into schools, sit in their office for a full day, with pre-arranged appointments with teachers, and meet them for one-to-one 30 minute meetings.
“I don’t charge the school, I don’t charge the teachers, it’s a free service that I offer to them.”
tom.dunstan@ft.com
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