Eastcote Wealth Management have recognised the lack of new talent entering the financial planning sector – a 2016 EY survey found that just 22 per cent of financial advisors were under 40 – so it recently launched a specific Financial Planner Trainee programme.
The launch was on the back of previous more informal arrangements which brought in Andy Reynolds and Phil Jefferies.
Recent joiners to the trainee adviser scheme, sourced through a variety of means, are James Luke, Ben Brayshay, Josh Foster and Naomi Fielder. (Pictured above, l-r)
In addition, in liaison with Aston University, one of its graduates is due to arrive in September as an advice support team member but with a view to gaining the necessary experience and industry qualifications to become an IFA.
Rob Kenyon, an EWM director, said: “We took on Andy and Phil a couple of years or so ago though they weren’t part of an official trainee adviser scheme – they just showed promise, impressed us with how bright and motivated they were and how quickly they picked up the skills, not burdened with any entrenched ideas on how to be successful in the business, so we fast-tracked them to adviser status.
“But now we have a proper system in place.
“Basically we want to attract young, keen individuals that we can train to do the job in the right way.
“The vast majority of current financial advisers across the industry are 50-plus and there is a shortage of new ones coming into the business. EWM wants to be proactive in this area and are looking to attract recent graduates and part qualified para-planners onto the scheme.
“We have been working with Aston University Graduate Advantage to identify candidates and to show to graduates that financial planning is an interesting and varied career that they should look on in a similar way to the law or accountancy
“We won’t exclusively use Aston and won’t exclusively recruit graduates but it is a good source of talent and we want to build a relationship.”
Graduates should have backgrounds in finance and investments and/or investment analysis.