Young advisers have moved on from targeting sales as a measure of success, and have entirely different ideas of what they want to get out of their jobs and careers.
"What I want to get out of an employer is someone who cares more about people than the money," says Ben Mitson, a trainee adviser in Lumin Wealth's academy, who says he is focused on "honesty, integrity and empathy" when it comes to carrying out his future job.
"[This is] what I hold myself accountable to, which is what I'd hold my employer accountable to as well," he says.
Lauren Turner, who is client experience manager at TFP Financial Planning and is training to become a financial planner herself, says: "I want to work for a firm that's not just there to make money, it's there to actually benefit people's lives and TFP are definitely fully in the ethos of doing that."
When it comes to evaluating success, Turner says the world has moved on from meeting sales targets.
"Success to me is that I've gone on a career path where I've gone through all the different roles, and I think confidence, knowing that you're delivering the best you can be for a client and just being confident in any situation that's thrown at you, no matter what investment it is, what kind of circumstance is thrown at you, you feel completely trained and calm to be able to deal with that."
Mitson says seeing a long-term financial plan through to the end will be a sign of success for him. "I like that sense of camaraderie you have, not just with your colleagues... but also with the clients, with the people that you're working with. That's really what I'm looking for and I think that's what would be a successful future for me.
"[It] would be having a client bank that I know that I am helping and that everything is going in the right direction and has been for a long time and will continue to do so."
Carl Naudo, a Royal Marine who is embarking on a second career in financial advice, studying for his entry qualifications independently, says: "I'm pretty much going to be coming into a position where I am pretty close if not fully qualified as a level 4 financial planner but I'm conscious that I'm not that, I have no experience.
"So having an employer that can understand that that's my start point would be really beneficial to me.
"Success would just be being able to complete this journey, being able to be a financial planner, and taking that protracted over the next 10, 20 years and just sort of mastering a new craft."
To hear more about:
- why young people chose certain routes to enter advice;
- what skills they are bringing and which ones they want to acquire;
- their expectations around ongoing training;
- what they expect their role and career to look like; and
- their outlook on regulation
click on the link above.
carmen.reichman@ft.com
