Aycan Richards on Building and Exiting a Financial Planning Career in the Middle East | Titan Wealth

Aycan Richards, Chartered Financial Planner at Titan Wealth, spent 13 years building a financial planning career across Qatar and Dubai before making the decision to sell her business and hand her clients over to Titan Wealth.In this episode of Financial Planner Life, Sam Oakes sits down with Aycan to find out what that journey actually looked like. How she moved to Qatar in 2013 with a seven-year-old daughter and no existing client base. How she built trust from scratch using a referral-first approach that eventually became the foundation of a business worth selling. What it meant to be one of the few female chartered financial planners working in the international expat space. And what the emotional and practical reality of exiting a financial planning business actually looks like.Aycan also speaks openly about the misconceptions most people have about working and living in the Middle East as a woman, and why almost every concern she had before she moved turned out to be wrong. She talks about the "One Titan" philosophy and why Titan Wealth's presence across multiple countries was a key factor in her decision to sell her book to them rather than anyone else.This is an episode for women thinking about taking their financial planning career international, for advisers in the expat space wondering how to exit their business on their own terms, and for anyone who wants to understand what a long, respected international financial planning career actually looks like.The episode's key takeaways:What it was really like to move to Qatar in 2013 as a female financial planner with a young familyHow Aycan built a client base from scratch with no existing relationships in a new marketWhy almost every preconception about working and living in the Middle East as a woman turned out to be wrongWhat it means to be a female adviser in a profession where only 16% of UK advisers are womenWhy Aycan chose Titan Wealth to take over her clients and what the transition process looks likeWhat the "One Titan" philosophy means in practice for clients moving between countriesThe emotional reality of exiting a business you have spent years buildingWhy women considering international financial planning should reach out to Aycan directly on LinkedInIf you are a financial adviser thinking about going international or planning your exit, this is the episode to listen to.Learn more about Titan Wealth at www.titanwealthinternational.comFinancial Planner Life is sponsored by Redmill AdvanceWhether you're starting out, already qualified, or building a training academy, Redmill Advance delivers expert-led learning, exam support and CPD from Level 4 to Chartered.✅ Trusted by top UK firms👉 www.redmilladvance.com/fplBe sure to follow Financial Planner Life on YouTube for extra content about  career development within Financial Planning. Reach out to [email protected] in regards to sponsorship, partnerships, videography or podcast production. Want to appear on the Financial Planner Life podcast? Drop Sam a message.