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Financial Planner Life Podcast

by Sam Oakes

Business

Welcome to The Financial Planner Life Podcast. We cover an intimate and honest account of what it’s really like to work in the financial planning profession. Our guests share their stories of success, failures, and learnings, as well as what to expect from a career in the financial planning profession! We host guests at various stages in their careers, as well as multiple roles, to ensure that our audience has a variety each week. Financial planners, business owners, paraplanners, and back-office staff all have their own stories to share, and The Financial Planner Life podcast serves as a platform for them to discuss their personal and professional journeys. 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 will educate and spark a conversation within the industry on topics that may not be openly discussed. If you're considering a

From the show's RSS feed, refreshed Oct 30, 2026. Source feed.

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Episodes

  1. Hayleigh Griffiths on Being Young, Female and Self-Employed Before 30 in Financial Planning

    Hayleigh Griffiths on Being Young, Female and Self-Employed Before 30 in Financial Planning Most people find their way into financial planning later in life, often at the end of another career. Hayleigh Griffiths found it in her mid-twenties, after asking the adviser she was doing social media…

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  2. Self-Employed Financial Advisers Who've Bought 5 Advice Firms | Arrowe Financial

    Join The Openwork Partnership: 👉 https://fpl.partners/Openwork-MikeJane-pod How do you grow a financial advice business by buying firms from advisers who are ready to retire, and still build a succession plan for your own? In this Financial Planner Life podcast, Sam Oakes speaks with husband and...

  3. How Much Will a Trainee Financial Planner Be Paid in 2026? | Insight Associates

    How do you become a financial adviser on a salary, without the financial risk of going self-employed? Jason Howard, Founder & CEO of Insight Associates, and Greg Ryan, Performance Director at Insight Associates, join Sam Oakes on Financial Planner Life to explain how they train, pay and mentor…

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  4. The Broken Financial Advice Process: Who’s to Blame? | Derek Smith, Aberdeen Adviser

    Find out more about Aberdeen Adviser: https://fpl.partners/aberdeen-adviser Connect with Derek Smith on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/derek-smith-b687721/ Why does the financial advice process still take seven systems and seven hours? Derek Smith, Chief Product & Technology Officer at...

  5. Rose Was Offered to Buy the Financial Advice Firm She Joined at 18, She Started Her Own Instead!

    Learn more about The Openwork Partnership How do you move from employed administrator and paraplanner to self-employed financial adviser, business owner and appointed representative of The Openwork Partnership? In this Financial Planner Life podcast, Sam Oakes speaks with Rose Hawkins, founder of...

  6. Over 50% of New UK Financial Advisers Came Through This ONE Academy!

    Learn more about the St. James's Place Academy When a financial adviser retires, their clients do not retire with them. Somebody has to be ready to pick up those relationships, and the profession is not currently producing enough people to do it. Sam Oakes welcomes back Gee Foottit, who leads the...

  7. Why Up To 72% Of Your Financial Planning Client Book Costs MORE To Serve Than It EARNS. - Pillar Client Services

    An adviser told Brian McLaughlin he was about to disengage 300 clients because he simply could not service them anymore. He did not want to. He just could not see another option. Brian McLaughlin is the founder of Pillar Client Services, and he has spent 27 years in financial services, from...

  8. AI And The Future Of Paraplanning with Templi | Jack Sleator

    A paraplanner sits down on a Monday morning to write one new business suitability report and loses most of the day to it. The document runs to 40+ pages. The client takes it home after a one hour meeting and, if we are honest, reads about five of them. Sam Oakes is joined by Jack Sleator,...

  9. Natalie Malone on the Financial Services Career That Puts YOU In Front of Entire Workforces

    Almost nobody in financial services can explain what an employee benefits consultant actually does all day, which is strange for a specialism that sits inside most of the big advice firms in the UK. Sam Oakes is joined by Natalie Malone, who leads the Risk and Reward team within Titan Wealth's...

  10. Mark Rockliffe and Chris Larkin on the 70% Confidence Gap Costing Financial Planners Business

    Financial planners are sitting on a confidence problem: a 70% opportunity gap when it comes to closing, and it is costing them business they should be winning. Chris Larkin, founder of training consultancy BigRock, returns to the podcast alongside Mark Rockliffe, CEO of Pembroke Financial…

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  11. Jeanne Mpondo Asked a Room of Women Who Invests. Not One Hand Went Up...

    Jeanne Mpondo asked a room full of women in London whether anybody there was investing in anything. Not one hand went up. She then asked who owned their home or held a pension, and hands went up all over the room. Jeanne Mpondo is a St. James's Place partner running her own practice in London…

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  12. She Spent 10 Years in Law Before Taking a HUGE Pay Cut To Become a Financial Planner | Imogen Winfield

    Towards the end of her ten years in law, Imogen worked out that fifteen hour days for three and a half months would get her to the billable hours she needed for her bonus. She did it, hit the number, and then handed in her notice. Sam Oakes speaks to Imogen Winfield, Paraplanner and soon to be...

  13. From Financial Planning Degree To Head Of Advice In Dubai | Rebecca Ellis

    Rebecca Ellis became a Chartered Fellow in her early twenties, but becoming a financial adviser wasn’t her immediate next step. Today, she is Head of Advice at Titan Wealth International in Dubai, with experience spanning technical financial planning, paraplanning, international advice…

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  14. From IFA Network To Directly Authorised - One Financial Solutions Next Chapter! | Wayne Griffiths, One Financial Solutions

    After 13 years inside a financial advice network, Wayne Griffith and One Financial Solutions have become directly authorised by the FCA. But what does it really take to become a directly authorised financial advice firm? How long does FCA authorisation take, what are the risks, and when is the...

  15. The Investment Clock: What Financial Advisers Need to Know About Market Cycles | Trevor Greetham & Robin Ellis

    Trevor Greetham, Head of Multi-Asset at Royal London Asset Management, still measures market timing with a clock face borrowed from a 1930s newspaper. The idea dates back to a reference Trevor found from the London Evening Standard, a clock face marking out stages of the economic cycle…

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  16. This CPD Strategy is Like “Netflix For Financial Advisers?!” | David Tait, Redmill Advance

    Think about it like Netflix, but for CPD. That's how David Tait, of Redmill Advance, describes the platform he's built for financial advisers, back on this week’s episode to talk through it. Rather than static articles followed by a handful of multiple-choice questions, the platform's content is...

  17. You Can Build A Brilliant Financial Adviser Career Without Going Self-Employed | Laura Fordham

    Laura Fordham's (Financial Adviser at Titan Wealth) route into financial planning wasn't planned. She spent her first year handling the job entirely alone, while her client bank was still small. She lays out exactly what that year looked like in conversation with Sam Oakes this week Laura…

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  18. From Level 4 To Chartered Financial Planner - Is It Worth It? | Lewis Prosser

    Lewis Prosser has spent years myth-busting what it takes to go chartered. He is joined this week by David Tait of Redmill Advance. Lewis runs the St. James's Place programme supporting advisers from Level 4 through to Chartered status, and one of the most common myths he encounters is the...

  19. Why Financial Advisers Shouldn’t Sign Long-Term AI Contracts | Hardy Michel, Marloo

    Hardy Michel is the founder of Marloo, an AI tool for financial advisers, and one of the most unusual things you'll hear him say as a tech founder, is that he'd rather you didn't sign a long-term contract for AI - even though it works against him commercially! Spending years working behind the...

  20. How A Mortgage Adviser Built A Predictable Income As A Financial Planner | Natalie Cheesman

    Natalie Cheesman, Partner at St. James's Place, joins Sam Oakes to talk about how she built a financial planning practice to £6 million in funds under management in 18 months, without ever fully stepping away from the mortgage business she'd run for 15 years. In this episode, Natalie explains why…

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  21. How a Financial Advice Podcast Beat £1 Million in Google Ads for recruitment | New Leaf Distribution

    Dan Hobbs, CEO at New Leaf Distribution, joins Sam Oakes to talk about what building their own podcast has delivered for an IFA Network. He's joined by his father, Founder & Chairman of New Leaf Distribution, Mark Hobbs, whose own scepticism about podcasting turned around once it started...

  22. ADHD and Neurodiversity Exam Support for Financial Planning from Redmill Advance & Neurosparks

    Dan Armitage (CEO of Neuro Sparks) and David Tait (Founder of Redmill Advance,) joins Sam Oakes to talk about supporting neurodivergent individuals in financial planning. Dan spent a decade as a regulated financial adviser, as well as a bank manager in his early twenties, before founding Neuro...

  23. How UK Planners Can Advise Clients With US Assets | Matthew Samuel

    Matthew Samuel, UK Chartered Financial Planner and SEC Regulated Financial Planner at Titan Wealth International, has built a career across both the UK and the international market, specialising in advising clients with US connections and US assets from his base in Dubai. He holds his UK…

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  24. I Switched From Investment Managment to Financial Planning £0 - £40m AUM in 3 years! | Samantha Wood

    What does it take to leave a secure career, become self-employed and build a financial planning business managing close to £40 million in just three years? In this episode of the Financial Planner Life podcast, Sam Oakes speaks with Samantha Wood, founder of Wood Mitchell Financial Planning and a...

  25. How the UK's Youngest Financial Adviser Built a £10 Million AUM Business Before 24 | Romany Youell

    Romany Youell, Founder of The Finance Woman, qualified as the UK's youngest ever financial adviser at 18 after dropping out of college at 16. By 24 she had built a £10 million financial planning business. But the journey between those two moments nearly broke her. In this episode of Financial...

  26. 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...

  27. How Financial Advisers Are Booking 3 to 5 Client Appointments a Week on LinkedIn | Louis Adkins

    Most financial advisers already know they should be more active on LinkedIn. What they don't know is why what they're doing isn't working. Free LinkedIn Webinar - book here - http://www.leadgenfs.co.uk/fpl It's not the content. It's not the consistency. It's who they're connected to, what they're...

  28. LIBF Level 4 Qualification Deep Dive | John Somerville & David Tait

    Why 30 to 39 Is the Best Age to Become a Financial Adviser Is 30 too old to start a career in financial planning? A lot of people would say yes. The reality is the opposite. The 30 to 39 age group is the fastest growing cohort entering financial planning right now, up 13% according to fresh FCA...

  29. Mother and Daughter Financial Planners: Building a £100M AUM Partner Practice! | Adele Cable & Victoria Cable

    What's the best age to become a financial planner? Adele Cable changed career at 53, convinced she was nearly on the ‘scrapheap’. Victoria Cable started at 23, convinced nobody would trust someone her age with their finances. Together they've built a practice worth £2.8 million in three years…

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  30. The Care Conversation Financial Planners Are Missing | Stephanie Leung, KareHero

    Care costs up to £100,000 a year. 1 in 4 people in the UK sell their home to pay for it. And most financial planners are having the conversation far too late. Click here for the KareHero Website In this episode, Sam sits down with Stephanie Leung, founder and CEO of KareHero, a UK-based service...

  31. International Career Advice from a Number 1 Financial Planner at Titan Wealth | Andreas Hollas

    Should UK financial planners be looking at the international advice market? Andreas Hollas has spent 13 years in Dubai building expertise that has no textbook, and the career it's given him is unlike anything available in the UK. In this episode of Financial Planner Life, Sam sits down with…

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  32. 39% of people don't trust financial planners, take 'Adviser Advantage' test for free! | Chris Larkin, BigRock

    Take the Adviser Advantage test here! 👈 Only 39% of UK adults trust financial services. For a profession built entirely on trust, that number should be a wake-up call. In this episode of Financial Planner Life, Sam sits down with Chris Larkin, founder and MD of Big Rock, a consultancy that has...

  33. Training to Become a Financial Planner - Exams, Client Meetings & Building in Public | Hannah Wooldridge

    Hannah Wooldridge isn't only the person keeping Financial Planner Life running behind the scenes. She's also training to become a financial planner, and sharing every step of the journey in real time. In this episode, Sam sits down with Hannah for the second update in an ongoing series following...

  34. How Tim Brienza Built a £50M Client Base Through Financial Planning

    For most financial planners, the point of entry into the industry is either from an adjacent field or by working up from admin through paraplanning roles. But not Tim. His route stands out as unconventional, but it's far from hindering his professional success. Law school. A year in Swansea…

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  35. Financial Planners Will Lose Millions, this £10 Tech can solve the Wealth Transfer Problem! | Ben Mason, Kinvault

    75% of financial advisers lose their AUM when a client passes away. Not because of bad performance. Not because of high fees. Simply because nobody built a relationship with the next generation. Ben Mason from Kinvault did something about that. In this episode of Financial Planner Life, Sam sits...

  36. How Financial Planners and Investment Managers Serve Wealthy Families | George Davey & Matt Beddall

    Most financial planning firms have both a financial planner and an investment manager. Far fewer have a team that operates as a single unit, with a shared philosophy, clearly defined roles, and a consistent client experience regardless of who's in the room or where the client happens to be. In…

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  37. I left St James's Place for an IFA and Instantly Regretted it! | Alwyn Van Staden

    Should technical professionals go freelance immediately or start as employed advisers? Alwyn Van Staden's journey offers a fresh perspective on entering financial planning from a technical background. In this episode of Financial Planner Life, we chat to Alwyn about his strategic career path from...

  38. Are these the Best Paid Jobs and Benefits in Financial Planning? Frazer James: the best should be paid more! | James Mackay

    Frazer James aren't looking for every candidate. They're looking for A++ people. Check out the jobs and book a meeting with James Mackay today!! And if that's you, or if you’re also interested in attracting some of the industry’s best talent, then this episode was made for you. In this week’s...

  39. The Truth About Selling an International Financial Planning Business | Dan Dickinson

    What actually determines whether a financial advice firm can be successfully sold? In this episode of Financial Planner Life, we sit down with Dan Dickinson to explore the reality behind selling a business and why most advisers are thinking about exit in the wrong way. From the outside, exit…

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  40. Are These AI Agents for Financial Planners the best in 2026? | Alan Gurang

    What if financial advisers could spend 70%… or even 100% of their time with clients? Book a demo - here In this episode of Financial Planner Life, we sit down with Alan Gurung, founder of AdvisoryAI, to explore how AI is reshaping the way advice firms operate. From disconnected tech stacks and...

  41. Inside Titan Wealth: James Kaberry & Andrew Fearon on Consolidation, Private Equity and the Future of Financial Advice

    Consolidation is rapidly reshaping the financial planning profession. But what’s really driving it? And what does it actually mean for advisers, firm owners, and the future of advice businesses? In this episode of Financial Planner Life, Sam Oakes sits down with James Kaberry and Andrew Fearon,...

  42. Building a Financial Planning Career in Public: Lessons, Risks & Opportunities | Hannah Wooldridge

    What happens when you realise your relationship with money needs to change, and it ends up changing your entire life? In this episode of Financial Planner Life, Sam Oakes speaks with Hannah Wooldridge about her journey from living with £10,000 of debt without concern to becoming debt-free and...

  43. From Rugby Player to Financial Adviser: How Titan Wealth’s Sports Academy Supports Career Change | Ethan Waller

    What happens when a professional athlete’s career comes to an end… and what comes next? In this episode of Financial Planner Life, Sam Oakes sits down with Ethan Waller, a former professional rugby player turned financial planner at Titan Wealth, to explore the reality of transitioning out of…

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  44. Employed Financial Planner Academy: The Openwork & Redmill Advance Partnership | David Tait & Helen Longland

    In this episode of the Financial Planner Life Podcast, Sam Oakes is joined by Helen Longland from Openwork and David Tait from Redmill Advance to explore how advisers are really being developed in today’s profession and what it takes to build an academy that works at scale without losing quality....

  45. A Financial Adviser Built AI That Replaced His Job for £149 a Month | Max Anderson

    How can financial advisers use AI to grow their business without hiring more staff? Book Free Demo of Wealth Space - Here In this episode of Financial Planner Life, Sam Oakes sits down with Max Anderson, former financial planner and founder of Wealth Space, to explore how artificial intelligence…

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  46. Investment Banker to Self Employed IFA | Caroline Laudren

    In this episode of the Financial Planner Life Podcast, Sam Oakes speaks with Caroline Laudren-Quillet, who transitioned from investment banking at Deutsche Bank to becoming a self-employed IFA and financial planner. Just two years into her financial planning career, Caroline has built £14 million...

  47. Building An International Financial Advice Powerhouse - Titan Wealth International | Tyla Phillips & William Burrows

    The Evolution of International Financial Planning | Titan Wealth International | Dubai Careers and Global Financial Advice Opportunities International Financial Planning is evolving and Titan Wealth International is helping shape what comes next. In this episode of Financial Planner Life, Sam…

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  48. How A Paraplanner Became A Financial Planner At Titan Wealth | Azela Safri

    Thinking about a career change into financial planning? How do you become a financial adviser if you’re changing careers? In this episode of The Financial Planner Life Podcast with Titan Wealth, Azela explains the fastest practical route into the profession after moving from engineering into...

  49. Redmill Advance: Raising Standards in Financial Planning Education & Qualifications | David Tait

    In this special episode of the Financial Planner Life podcast, Sam Oakes welcomes David Tait, Managing Director and Founder of Redmill Advance, our official training and development sponsor for 2026. David shares the inspiring growth journey of Redmill Advance and how they are transforming…

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  50. 42-Year Legacy, Startup Energy: Reinventing a Family Advice Firm | Sean Standerwick

    This week on the Financial Planner Life podcast, I’m joined by Sean Standerwick, co-owner of MLP Wealth Management, a financial planning firm based on the high street in Surrey with a powerful story: a 42-year legacy that's now being run with the mindset and energy of a startup. Sean and his...

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About this show

Welcome to The Financial Planner Life Podcast. We cover an intimate and honest account of what it’s really like to work in the financial planning profession.

Our guests share their stories of success, failures, and learnings, as well as what to expect from a career in the financial planning profession! We host guests at various stages in their careers, as well as multiple roles, to ensure that our audience has a variety each week.

Financial planners, business owners, paraplanners, and back-office staff all have their own stories to share, and The Financial Planner Life podcast serves as a platform for them to discuss their personal and professional journeys. 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 will educate and spark a conversation within the industry on topics that may not be openly discussed. If you're considering a

Hosted by

Sam Oakes

Frequently asked questions

How many episodes does Financial Planner Life Podcast have?

Financial Planner Life Podcast has 309 episodes on PodParley. The most recent episode was published on November 5, 2026.

What is Financial Planner Life Podcast about?

Welcome to The Financial Planner Life Podcast. We cover an intimate and honest account of what it’s really like to work in the financial planning profession. Our guests share their stories of success, failures, and learnings, as well as what to expect from a career in the financial planning...

How often does Financial Planner Life Podcast release new episodes?

Financial Planner Life Podcast publishes weekly, based on its 309 episodes since March 2020.

Who hosts Financial Planner Life Podcast?

Financial Planner Life Podcast is created and hosted by Sam Oakes.
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