Becoming an IFA after relocating from India, specialising in ethical investments and the power of personal branding.
Becoming an IFA is a grueling and challenging journey that takes years of hard work, persistence, and ambition to build a client base and have a sustainable lifestyle. Moving from another continent and having to adapt to a new culture, language and way of working on top of all of those things, takes a certain type of character to throw themselves into the deep end. When hosting Cleona from 2plan Wealth Management on our podcast, she shared her journey after relocating to England from Mumbai, where she worked in car sales and then in a bank. Planning to complete her MBA in England and then relocate back to Mumbai, she ended up carving out the beginnings of her career in Halifax selling home insurance and travel insurance over the phone.
“I had a lot of confidence issues, I had a hang up about my accent and the culture - I felt completely like a fish out of water”
Often we can forget the difficulties associated with relocating to a new country and adapting to the language and culture of colleagues, and in reality, there are not a lot of businesses that focus on integrating ex-pats as we are so used to our own surroundings. Research conducted by Internations found that 16% of ex-pats don’t think they will ever feel at home in the UK (globally 13%) and 28% find that local residents are unfriendly towards ex-pats (globally 19%). Maybe the stiff upper lip needs to go? Cleona explains that after starting at the bottom again in the UK and building her qualifications and becoming chartered, she began to thrive and enjoy the work she was doing. Becoming an IFA was by chance after taking a sabbatical, and it definitely wasn’t an easy ride.
“I watched a lot of Netflix. I was not always motivated, and it took a lot of courage to make phone calls to clients”
Cleona wanted to offer an ethical portfolio and partner with her clients on sustainable investing, but with that came a price. After experiencing a confidence dip once more, she explained that finding 2plan Wealth Management was the perfect business for her, as they looked after their clients very well. She found she was able to excel as an IFA there and has currently been operating with them for 6 years.
Cleona developed her niche, which was ethical investing. A lot of her clients are drawn to her because of this, as the current climate means that individuals are more cautious of whether they are putting their money into businesses that are negatively impacting the climate, or in some cases the livelihood of people or animals. Cleona highlights that they invest in things such as human rights and climate change, and long gone are the days of investing in pornography or tobacco.
She does make it clear that it is an option for her clients but doesn’t police their choices as it’s about guiding individuals into making decisions for themselves. Statistics show that from 2009-2019 the percentage of ethical investments have trebelled, and that younger people aged 18-35 are also investing. We already knew that millennials and generation Z are more critical of businesses that aren’t ethical, and it’s clear that this has impacted how they look to invest their money, too.
“What I know is when a client comes to my website they can look at my Instagram and get an idea of me”
Having a niche means it’s important to promote it, and continually grow your client base. The importance of branding and marketing in a digital age is incredibly important to differentiate yourself from others in your space, and Cleona uses multiple social media platforms to do this. Her view is that if clients can see what she is like through reading her Conscious Money Blog and interacting with her content, they will create an opinion on if they would like to partner with her, hopefully for ethical investments. She advised on the podcast for those looking to start out, to read books on marketing and find a niche to specialise in. Not only does it give her work meaning, but over 60% of her clients use her because of her specialism - amazing.
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The Financial Planner Life Podcast
The Financial Planner Life podcasts hosts guests at various stages in their career, as well as multiple roles to ensure that our audience has variety each week. Financial planners, business owners, paraplanners and back office staff all have their own story to share, and The Financial Planner Life podcast is a platform for them to talk about their personal and professional journey.
The podcast covers a multitude of topics, from mindset and motivation, health and wellbeing all the way to diversity and inclusion. We approach each episode with the idea that it is going to educate and spark a positive conversation within the industry with topics that may not be openly discussed.
This is not a recruitment podcast; however, we may talk about company culture to help promote your business.
Sam Oakes is the host of The Financial Planner Life Podcast. He currently sits as Director at Recruit UK, who since 2008 has been supporting leading national and global financial services firms in finding the best talent.
Prior to his career in recruitment, Sam has always had a passion for finance and has been in the industry for over 15 years. He sees himself as a partner to the industry and wants to contribute useful resources such as this podcast to educate those further who are seeking advice and help. if you are looking to propel your career forward within financial planning reach out directly on 07854778712 or send a message through LinkedIn.