From City trader to home counties adviser

In 2014 I joined Lonsdale Services Limited and left the City - and the 11-hour working days - behind, to focus on readjusting my work/life balance to spend more time with my young family.

After graduated from university I worked in the City trading financial derivatives. For 10 years I traded futures and options, specialising in fixed income products, with a particular interest in German and American government bonds.

So the change to independent financial advice was a big one, but from my first day I was encouraged to be actively involved in the financial advice process.

I shadowed Simon Prestcote, our chartered wealth manager who works from our Lonsdale Services Barnet office. I met clients and sat in on client meetings, understanding investment decisions and providing research on equity and bond funds, shares and pension products as appropriate.

I was fortunate to be given a healthy amount of study time each week so I could take and pass the relevant financial planning exams to gain my DipPFS qualification as quickly as possible. I set myself the goal of passing one exam a month and I stuck to that schedule.

It is imperative we communicate how pension changes might affect clients

The combination of studying and on the job training really helped reinforce everything I have learnt, as well as providing a practical framework for translating financial textbooks to clients.

I also worked with many of our other advisers and visited our offices in St Albans, worked with Allan Ross in Ware, Mark Slobom in Harpenden, Neil Homer in Stafford and Deb Nolan in Leeds.

Observing different approaches to client meetings has helped me as I learned how to deal with different client requirements, and I believe I can now offer our clients a complete and relevant financial advice service.

I spent about 10 hours a week studying for the first 6 months, until I had passed the 6 ‘RO’ exams needed to gain the DipPFS. On the job financial training really helped cement the knowledge, and provided examples of how the knowledge translates to real life situations.

In summer 2015 I gained the certificate in Securities Advice and Dealing, this is of great benefit for our clients. It enables me to provide advice on corporate bonds as well as individual equities (stocks and shares), which is something that many of our clients invest in.

Individual corporate bonds can be an important part of a client’s portfolio, helping to manage future cash flow needs, and this will only become more important as long-term yields gradually rise with the expectation of future interest rate rises.

More recently I have passed the new RO8 exam, which was designed to help consolidate and test knowledge of the recent pension reforms following the pension changes announced in 2015.

The pension reforms impact on all of our clients, so it is imperative we can clearly communicate how the pension changes might affect them.

More widely, the pension changes have created an amount of confusion among pension savers (albeit while raising public awareness) and many savers are seeking pension advice. It is reassuring to know that I will be able to help people navigate the pension changes and make the most of the new pension freedoms that are available.

Lonsdale Services has a rigorous approach when it comes to monitoring their financial advisers and the financial advice they offer, and their treatment of me is no different.

All of our financial advice is randomly file checked to make sure that it is of an acceptable standard. We also have to complete a prescribed amount of Continual Professional Development (CPD) each year. At first this could appear to be a chore, but I have always enjoyed learning.

The Financial Services Industry is always evolving and new financial products are being developed. If you don’t commit to continually updating your knowledge you could find your financial advice becomes dated or, at worst, unsuitable.

The change from trading in the City has been great, and can be summarised most aptly in one word: Time. I spend much less time in the office, and subsequently more time with my family.

I also have considerably more time to make decisions at work. In my previous role I would have had a matter of seconds to make some decisions, or the opportunity would be lost.

Now I can make myself a cup of tea and have a good long think about things.