My journey from Royal Marines commando to financial planner

With the option to continue my service available, I came to the conclusion that it was time for me to take the leap into a civilian world, away from the incredible organisation I have been with since I was 17-years-old. 

As I prepared to leave, it became clear that I wanted another career and not another job. Having seen other people leave the service at different stages, I knew the longer I continued in service, the harder it would be to carve out the successful career I desired.

Leaving now would provide another 20+ years to hone a craft. The problem was, what are my next steps?

During service, I had envisioned myself in financial services, and after deciding this was to become my reality I had to decide which pathway to take.

I soon realised that a financial planning role would suit my personality and professional goals.

Many colleagues had previously gone into military internships such as Barclays or JP Morgan, so I naturally started to explore these options, but I soon decided the extended commute for those jobs didn’t fit my family commitments. Besides, I felt the City banking side of financial services may limit my desire to have personal interactions with clients.

Speaking to other advisers with military backgrounds and starting to look into the R01 module, I soon realised that a financial planning role would suit my personality and professional goals.

Supporting families, maybe the military community, combined with the opportunities to grow professionally, maybe specialise in an area and become chartered, really gripped my attention. 

Journey to investing

My early years in the Royal Marines involved spending many months away from home, not being able to spend any money, which resulted in returning to a comfortable amount in the account.

Of course, like many young men, I wanted to enjoy my wealth, which included a nice car, but I also had a mum who has always taught me to save and do something useful with the capital I had gained.

This ultimately started my journey on the property ladder, something that all the ‘successful’ people in my circle had advised me to start as early as possible. This, unfortunately, led to me having all my ‘eggs in one basket’ and became extremely financially painful in the ’08 financial crisis.

I managed, somehow, to navigate through that and got to experience, first hand, the stress of being stuck in an illiquid asset, the volatility of markets, and the value of diversification.

A few years later, I picked up a book called "Your money or your life" by Vicki Robin and Joe Dominguez.

The Royal Marines gave me a chance to develop many skills that transfer to the financial planning profession. If I was to pick a stand out skill, interpersonal skills would be it.

This inspired me to read about the Fire (financial independence, retire early) community and was the start of my journey to investing, understanding risk and diversifying.

Like for so many, the birth of our daughter had made my wife and I stop and consider what we wanted in the future.

We were asking questions of ourselves such as 'do we want more children, do we need a bigger house, will she go on to university and how can we help her with that?', with the big question being, 'how do we best allocate our resources to make that happen while still having a fun time in the now, creating those valuable family memories?'.

Just some of these life experiences so far, along with those of friends and family, have made me understand the value of sound financial planning and solidified my position that a financial planner role is something that would give me a lot of personal and professional satisfaction.

Transferable skills

My time in the Royal Marines has put me in an array of situations, giving me a chance to develop many skills that transfer to the financial planning profession.

Analytical skills for problem solving, an ability to work under pressure in a calm methodical manner, passion, organisational skills and attention to detail – if I was to pick a stand out skill, interpersonal skills would be it.

I chose the CII for several reasons, firstly, it was by far the most referenced qualification when I looked at job advertisements.

Every two years we are moved to a new location, where, in the first instance, you need to make new friends, but also establish new working relationships with key stakeholders at that organisation.

I have spent a lot of time in the military training personnel, from junior members to young officers. In each scenario, I needed to adapt my methods depending on whom I was speaking to.

Being able to produce ways of explaining complex processes in a clear, concise and understandable way is something I look forward to putting into practice with my future clients.

Carving out a career path

Having decided to pursue a career in financial planning, I started to research the different qualifications I would need to study.

After speaking to many people, and scouring job adverts, I came to the conclusion that I would study the CII exams.

I chose the CII for several reasons, firstly, it was by far the most referenced qualification when I looked at job advertisements.

Secondly, by choosing the CII I left myself with more options should I apply for an academy place at SJP or M&G, for example.

During my last 10 months of service, I started to self-study R01 outside of work hours, which I passed in a few months. After passing R01, I started to look at further training opportunities. 

With many months before I could actually commit to a future employer, I thought it would be useful to seek advice from financial planners that had previously transitioned from the military.

At a recent South West event, I was made to feel incredibly welcome by a group of professionals I had never met – a wonderful introduction to the people within my future profession.

From this community, I was able to understand training assistance options. My aim is to be qualified before leaving the service, hopefully setting me up for success and securing a role. 

This led me to NextGen Planners. NextGen Planners are a fantastic fit for me, the training they have provided for R05 (and currently R02) has been extremely helpful.

Their engaging delivery of lessons, on hand advice and mock tests is invaluable. It has also provided me a community of like-minded financial planners, who support people at all stages of their careers.

At a recent South West event they held, I was made to feel incredibly welcome by a group of professionals I had never met – a wonderful introduction to the people within my future profession.

I now enter the final few months of service and my attention shifts more and more towards my next career with greater focus on potential job roles.

I have been fortunate to have had such a great career to date, proud to have worked with so many great men and women in our services.

I now look to my future and see a new path with new inspiring leaders, which brings me hope of exciting opportunities to come.  

Carl Naudo is a financial planner in training