“How did you get into financial services?”

“I fell into it.”

This is the most common answer we get when we ask that question. Something needs to change.

There is already a well-documented advice gap. Many people who could benefit from advice lack access, either because of cost or because they simply don’t know it exists.

This will only get worse if the number of financial advisers in the UK drops, as is predicted in the next five years.

If we don’t spark interest in the profession, the numbers will continue to dwindle as advisers leave and aren’t replaced

But why is it that so few people seek a career in the sector?

“Often, it’s just not something that’s on the radar of people at school, university or college,” says Chartered Insurance Institute (CII) career partner manager Claire Bishop.

Historically, workplace programmes were offered to school and university leavers by big accountancy firms and law firms, but advice was rarely flagged as an option. This is still the case.

Bishop also points to misconceptions: “There’s an assumption it’s all about maths. It’s not. It’s about helping people and understanding people.”

Promoting the good

“We don’t promote the good that we do as a sector enough,” adds M&G Wealth managing director Tom Hegarty. “There are countless examples where financial advisers have significantly changed lives. When asked, advisers should have a ready ‘elevator pitch’ that explains their role and its impact.”

Many people who could benefit from advice lack access, either because of cost or because they simply don’t know it exists

If we don’t spark interest in the profession, the numbers will continue to dwindle as advisers leave and aren’t replaced. Everyone in the sector agrees on the need for change.

So, the question is: how do we achieve it?

This feature takes a closer look at some of the initiatives seeking to put the advice profession on the map.

“Despite the significant gap that remains,” says Bishop, one of these pioneers, “I feel optimistic that we will make progress, little by little.”

‘We want to make sure we’re not missing out on talent’

Claire Bishop, Chartered Insurance Institute

The CII launched a new virtual work-experience programme, in partnership with Springpod, in 2023.

The first wave of experiences was focused on the insurance sector. The second wave, which launched in February this year, is for those interested in financial planning.

As part of the programme, thousands of young people aged 13 and above from schools, colleges and universities across the UK can experience working in the sector.

The scheme aims to build an understanding of the skills and characteristics needed to be successful, and help these young people make informed decisions about their future career path.

Getting out to the right audience was always going to be the hardest thing

CII career partner manager Claire Bishop says: “Work experience is great, but very often the type of experience you get is down to who a young person or their family knows. This can limit the types of careers and work experience available to them.

“The idea behind virtual work experience is that it’s a stage before actual work experience. It’s not going to be as valuable as actually working in a place for two weeks, but what it means is that they haven’t got all those limitations.”

The programme aims to give students a taste of a potential career.

“It’s opening up the profession, and careers in the profession, to a lot more people than it would have been otherwise,” says Bishop.

“That was the reasoning behind the programme.”

Equal access

The CII’s partner, Springpod, is a business that specialises in creating interactive, experiential learning programmes to provide young people with equal access to many career options.

“We knew we wanted to do something like this,” says Bishop.

We’re going to start talking to employers to see if they would like to be involved

“However, getting out to the right audience was always going to be the hardest thing because our connections are members, and they’re already in the profession. So, we wanted to work with a partner. Springpod has a very good record, and it is already established in schools.

“We used our contacts and our members to pull together the technical side of the programme, then we handed it over to Springpod to develop it for young people.”

The CII’s initial aim was to reach 1,500 students in the first year and 3,000 over the next four years. So far, 2,500 have enrolled.

It’s opening up the profession, and careers in the profession, to a lot more people than it would have been otherwise

Of those, about 44% are female — just 6 percentage points short of the 50% target. Meanwhile, 66% are from an ethnically diverse background and 22% are eligible for free school meals.

“What we want to do is not just target the same kind of people who usually go into financial services,” says Bishop. “We want to make sure we’re not missing out on talent that would otherwise have never considered us.”

She says the professional body is pleased with the number of sign-ups so far. However, the proof of success will be in the feedback, she adds, which has been “lovely” so far.

“We’re not expecting that there’ll be 3,000 financial advisers at the end of it,” says Bishop. “But we hope to put financial planning on their list of potential careers.”

The idea behind virtual work experience is that it’s a stage before actual work experience

“For next year, we’re looking to take the most engaged of the people who’ve completed the virtual work experience and offer things like careers insight days, where they can go into an office for talks and tours.

“And we’re going to start talking to employers to see if they would like to be involved.”

The CII is also looking at how it can offer students full work experience in the future.

To find out more about virtual work experience, go to springpod.com

‘Younger people see financial advice as stuffy and old-fashioned’

John Somerville, New Talent Alliance

The New Talent Alliance emerged in response to the lack of fresh talent entering the financial advice sector, which is often regarded by younger people as technical, unappealing and dominated by older professionals.

John Somerville — director of financial services at the London Institute of Banking & Finance and one of the forces behind this initiative — is clear about the problem.

It’s not just about attracting young people. It’s about promoting diversity of race and gender

“How many students leave college or university thinking, ‘I want to be a financial adviser’? We need to change perceptions and show that the industry is full of vibrant and passionate people who provide an important social good.”

Small-firm issues

But achieving this is not easy.

“Around 80% of advice firms in the UK are small businesses,” says Somerville. “For them, it’s easier to hire someone with 20 years of experience than to bring in and develop people.”

If we don’t solve the advice gap together, we’ll face serious problems in the coming years

This is partly because it can be too expensive or require too much senior-management time for a small firm to bring on trainees, and partly because “there’s the risk that, after training, a larger firm will poach the new talent”.

Some may also worry that young adults have too little life experience to advise older generations. Somerville rejects this — in his experience, they can be highly successful when given the right coaching.

The New Talent Alliance was developed with Keith Richards — who heads the Consumer Duty Alliance — over the course of 18 months. It has the following priorities: raising awareness of financial advice as a career to attract talent; recruiting and training that talent; and ultimately retaining it within the industry.

A significant part of its mission, says Somerville, is also to change preconceptions.

“It’s not just about attracting young people,” says Somerville. “It’s about promoting diversity of race and gender. If someone looks at [us] and sees only older men in suits, it’s not very appealing.”

Most young people don’t understand their own finances, let alone what a job in financial services entails

Another important factor is helping small firms support new advisers. Many new entrants to the profession leave shortly after qualifying because they have not been given enough opportunities.

Somerville stresses the need for firms to equip these new advisers with tools, marketing resources and opportunities to work with clients, which are often lacking in smaller businesses.

When asked what qualities a young person needs in order to succeed, Somerville suggests shifting the narrative to, “What can the firm do to help this person succeed?” This, he says, is vital in creating an environment where new talent can thrive.

Provision of resources

In terms of how to reach people, the alliance considered directly targeting schools and universities, but decided instead to collaborate with organisations that already had access to these establishments.

The aim, says Somerville, is to equip financial advisers with the resources needed to engage with youngsters about possible careers.

“Financial services has been on the national curriculum since 2014, yet most young people don’t understand their own finances, let alone what a job in financial services entails. The alliance is looking to bridge that gap.”

How many students leave college or university thinking, ‘I want to be a financial adviser’?

It has developed a resource library and is working on videos and podcasts to raise awareness. Although its not-for-profit nature has slowed its growth, it is nearing the launch of a website with tools to support smaller businesses.

“Collaboration is so important,” concludes Somerville. “We’ve got firms that compete with one another, like St James’s Place, Openwork and Quilter, as well as groups such as The Verve Foundation and M&G’s Academy working with us on this.

“If we don’t solve the advice gap together, we’ll face serious problems in the coming years.”

You can follow the New Talent Alliance on LinkedIn.

‘If you don’t look like a stereotypical adviser, you’re less likely to be taken seriously’

Hayley Rabbets, The Verve Foundation

The Verve Group came up with the idea for the We Are Change initiative back in 2021, with the aim of increasing new talent entering the advice profession.

The programme not only gives people the opportunity to study for their diploma and learn about the sector but also supports them in finding a role.

“The main thing we do is actively give chances to those who otherwise wouldn’t get them,” says head of The Verve Foundation Hayley Rabbets.

My dream is to get to a place where we’re no longer needed

“We take away some of the barriers people face and provide a welcoming and supportive environment that people are attracted to.”

The adviser role is difficult to get into without experience, says Rabbets, and “getting that experience in the first place is challenging”.

She adds: “Part of the reason we created a programme to support new talent through their exams was to give people half of what they needed — if they didn’t have experience, at least they had the qualifications.”

Foot in the door

However, even with a diploma it’s hard to get a foot in the door.

“I’ve known incredibly talented people who have worked in the profession for years, diploma qualified, dealing with clients but, as soon as they say they want to be an adviser, they’re turned away,” says Rabbets.

Many people would love a career in finance but they’ve had the door closed on them so many times they’re just about ready to give up

The main reason, in her view, is the time and resources it takes for advice firms, smaller ones in particular, to provide the training.

She says adviser academies are a “brilliant way of getting new advisers going” but, “just as these are the right fit for some, they’re not for others”.

The three aims of the We Are Change programme are to close the advice gap, to increase financial education and to make financial services a more diverse, inclusive place. The latter, says Rabbets, continues to be an issue for those wanting to enter the profession.

“If you don’t look like a stereotypical adviser, or come from a certain background, or if you’re perceived as ‘too young’, you’re less likely to be taken seriously. I like to think things are changing, but there’s still an element of the ‘old school’ hanging around.”

The main thing we do is actively give chances to those who otherwise wouldn’t get them

One way the programme has tried to improve diversity is by taking away all personal information for applicants and focusing solely on their answers to questions.

This, Rabbets says, “is a really great way of removing unconscious bias from the recruitment process”.

There is also a perception that people aren’t interested in a career in finance, or they don’t know about the different roles. However, Rabbets doesn’t believe this.

“There are many people I come across who would love a career in finance but they’ve had the door closed on them so many times they’re just about ready to give up,” she says.

While The Verve Foundation can’t give people experience yet, it can provide a fully funded diploma and access to workshops, as well as its network to help find a role.

Last year, with the support of Royal London and Parmenion, it launched its Adviser Incubator initiative to help those wanting to start their own advice business.

Adviser academies are a brilliant way of getting new advisers going

It is delivering money workshops for the YMCA and prison service, and has launched two women-only cohorts of the We Are Change programme to try to increase the number of women in finance.

Rabbets’ dream is to “get to a place where we’re no longer needed”.

She adds: “It’s a while away but, with support, I’m sure we can do it.”

‘When young people hear about the career benefits, they’re all ears’

Piers Johnson, Future Financial Adviser

Launched in February 2024 after 18 months of meticulous planning, Future Financial Adviser (FFA) was created to address the looming shortage of advisers.

“We’re staring down the barrel at a time when demand for these services is set to rise significantly,” explains Piers Johnson, managing director at Money Marketing and a key figure driving the initiative.

The traditional routes for training new financial advisers — through bank and life companies’ sales forces — have largely disappeared, and attracting new talent has been a persistent challenge for the profession.

But Johnson is optimistic.

“When young people hear about the career benefits, they’re all ears — and rightly so.”

If we don’t solve this capacity crunch together, we all stand to lose

Supported by three of the largest employers in the sector — M&G Wealth, Quilter and St James’s Place — alongside three specialist training firms, FFA aims to educate young people about the diverse roles in financial advice and guide them into the profession.

“This isn’t about self-interest,” Johnson emphasises. “Our partners know they have broader shoulders than many. If we don’t solve this capacity crunch together, we all stand to lose.”

Dispelling myths

One of FFA’s first goals is to dispel the myths surrounding financial advice careers.

Many people mistakenly believe the profession suits only those with strong mathematical or economics backgrounds. Johnson is quick to correct this notion.

“Yes, good numeracy and attention to detail are essential, but you don’t need to be a maths or economics whizz. The most valuable qualities are actually soft skills — listening, communication, patience and empathy.

I’d really like to see a spirit of collaboration fostered by us and others

“Oh, and hard work. You won’t get far without that!”

The potential for self-employment, building your own business and becoming an employer also makes financial advice an appealing career path for many.

Another key aim of FFA is to promote greater diversity within the profession.

“The demographic make-up and distribution of wealth in the UK are very different from what they were in the 1980s,” Johnson points out. “That’s not going to change soon. We need advisers from all walks of life to meet the needs of a more diverse client base.”

FFA is focused on spreading its message far and wide, with Johnson describing it as “a prospect-facing initiative — the shop window for the profession, the flower for the bee”.

We’re staring down the barrel at a time when demand for these services is set to rise significantly

Central to this is creating face-to-face opportunities. FFA is looking to partner with schools and higher-education institutions across the UK, engaging with careers advisers and attending job fairs to showcase the possibilities within the sector.

Raising awareness

One of the biggest challenges young people face is a lack of awareness about the opportunities available to them.

FFA was designed to tackle this by providing guidance on the various career paths and qualifications necessary to succeed in financial advice.

Creating a sense of community is central to this. FFA members can access advice and support from its partners, and plans are under way to establish a mentorship scheme to help young people navigate their early steps in the profession.

We need advisers from all walks of life to meet the needs of a more diverse client base

FFA is also committed to supporting those starting their career, with over 100 entry-level roles listed on its jobs board each month. It is fast becoming the go-to resource for anyone seeking a career in financial advice.

Ultimately, Johnson believes the key to success will be industry-wide collaboration.

“I’d really like to see a spirit of collaboration fostered by us and others. If that happens, I’m confident we’ll achieve our goals.”

FFA, says Johnson, is fully behind this vision.

For more information on Future Financial Adviser, please visit futurefinancialadviser.co.uk

Barney Wallis, 26, is in Ascot Lloyd’s adviser academy

There are barriers for young people joining the advice profession, one of the biggest being a steep learning curve. Firms are aware of the potential cost and risk of new employees, which creates a preference for experienced hires.

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The investment needed for inexperienced employees may also explain why starting salaries are relatively low compared to those of other professional careers, which could be another factor leading talent elsewhere.

The programme includes working with skilled trainers, a dedicated mentor and a talented cohort of trainees

I would advocate showcasing the wider advantages of working in financial advice, such as the ability to help clients and their families. This can also be a motivator for getting through tough exams!

But, even if you’re already working in a support role, there are still barriers to becoming an adviser, such as the lack of employed roles and structured development pathways. This is where adviser academies can help.

As someone enrolled in one, I can recommend it as a pathway into the profession. I feel fortunate that the firm I worked for was acquired by Ascot Lloyd, as I had not heard of its academy before.

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Firms are aware of the potential cost and risk of new employees, which creates a preference for experienced hires

As a larger firm, it has the resources to offer me a fully employed role, several months of full-time training and an existing client base. Given the company’s investment, the interview process was challenging but definitely worth it.

The programme includes working with skilled trainers, a dedicated mentor and a talented cohort of trainees. There’s a genuine team spirit, with everyone eager to share their learnings, and I feel lucky to be working with such great people!

Oris Ikomi is early careers engagement manager at the Personal Investment Management & Financial Advice Association.

Our industry has perception challenges, particularly with young people, who see it as slanted to white, middle-class men. This has an impact on the ability of firms to attract and retain talent.

Pimfa wants to help address this, so it has made a commitment to promote talent, inclusion, diversity and equity within the financial advice sector.

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We are inviting firms to get involved by visiting secondary schools, or hosting students at their office

To bring this to life, Pimfa launched the ‘Make it’ campaign in 2022, encouraging a diverse mix of talent from all backgrounds through free information, videos and design assets.

This has since evolved to encompass other initiatives, including Wavemaker — an employee volunteering programme offering professionals the chance to give back to the next generation through school and office visits.

The idea is to equip young talent with career advice, financial literacy and industry knowledge, with volunteers sharing their personal career journey along with insights and expertise.

We are inviting firms to get involved by visiting secondary schools, or hosting students at their office, to share their experiences and promote opportunities within their organisation.

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Young people see our industry as slanted to white, middle-class men

This allows them to demonstrate a commitment to social responsibility, while contributing to the professional development of their staff.

Pimfa is offering training on how to communicate effectively, along with resources to make sessions engaging and informative.

For more information about Wavemaker or to get involved, visit: pimfa.co.uk

This article featured in the October 2024 edition of Money Marketing. 

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