'Lack of pathways' for aspiring advisers amplified by pandemic

Justin Bennett, 37, switched from insurance firm Gallagher's advice arm to independent wealth planners firm Murdoch Asset Management in April this year, after an option to become a Gallagher adviser fell through.

"When I was at Gallagher they were going to offer that role - I was geared up for it and worked hard and put myself in the position for when one of those roles would be available for me, but they took that away because they decided to restructure the business," he explains.

Bennett adds that he searched extensively for a job as a trainee adviser after his decision to leave Gallagher early this year, but such positions were few and far between.

"It is quite difficult. I found leaving Gallagher I was going to look for a trainee adviser role and there's not many around," he says.

He had moved from Salisbury's Chestergate Financial Planning, since acquired by Progeny, in May 2018, because of limited pathways at the Salisbury firm.

He says the pandemic would only make it harder to transition into financial advice, but the key was finding a firm that wanted to bring people through its ranks.

"I think with what's happened now, a lot of other companies might be thinking twice about expanding their businesses or providing opportunities to young or trainee advisers," he opines.

"If you are with a firm who offer the chance to make the step up, then stick with it, even if that opportunity has or will be delayed as a result of Covid-19. In my experience, there wasn't much around that suited what I was looking for in terms of support structure and a firm who wants to grow."

Bennett adds he "got lucky" with Murdoch and was very grateful to them for giving him an opportunity during such unprecedented times.

'As if I started a normal job'

While he had secured his job at Murdoch in March, Bennett says the Covid-19 pandemic made him anxious about whether he would be able to start with the firm and the terms of his contract would remain.

"That was my concern going into the job. Firstly that the job was still there for me, but [Murdoch director] Philip Hunt reassured me the job was still there, that they were going to have everything set up for me from day one," he says.

"I kept seeing news come in that companies are struggling and people are being made redundant or furloughed and every time I saw it I was panicking a bit more, but Phil was brilliant throughout whole period, he reassured me.

"The weekend before my start date my para manager delivered a whole box of equipment to my house so I could get started from home and it's been plain sailing from there. They haven't had to do anything with my pay, it's as if I started a normal job really - just that I haven't been able to go into the office."

Bennett says while it was strange not having met any of his colleagues in person, he was learning a lot about the work his new firm did.

He will continue working as a senior paraplanner until the end of lockdown, when he will join advisers in client meetings and progress to a trainee adviser role.

He has spent nine years as a paraplanner after he started working in financial services as an administrator with James Hay in his early 20s. Bennett says the more his confidence grew as a paraplanner the more he wanted to switch to advice.

"From working at James Hay, we dealt with advisers all day long. It was something that interested me but never really felt like I had the confidence to do that role. At Chestergate I thought I wanted to be a paraplanner, I was quite happy with the technical aspects, to sit behind a desk," he says.

"It wasn't until I got to Gallagher and there was a much broader client range and they advise on so any more different products, it opened my eyes a bit and I wanted to be the ones presenting the plans rather than the one putting them together, so from that moment on I decided that was where my focus lied and that was where I wanted to get to."

A spokesperson at Gallagher said the company did not comment on individual employee movements.

'Don't crystallise a loss'

Bennett adds that the most challenging aspect for advisers during the pandemic has been keeping their clients well-informed and having conversations about falling market environments early in the planning piece.

"It's vital that advisers are having those conversations with clients early on, so when I move into that role I think it will be important for me as part of those risk discussions with clients refer to these times and show data and performance and what can happen off the back of it.

"You don't really crystallise a loss until you sell, so educating clients through these times and referring back to that will really help in these discussions. I think it's best to have them early on rather than later down the line when these things happen."

His plans in the profession are to gain experience as an adviser and potentially move into a director role.

Based in Alton, Murdoch Asset Management runs £458m of assets under management for 1,690 clients.

• Tweet  
• Facebook  
• LinkedIn  
• Send to  

• Topics
• Your profession