When you’ve been doing this job for a long time, it’s refreshing to hear the thoughts of someone new to it. One of the problems we have is that there aren’t that many, or certainly not enough, new advisers on our tail. The average age is still late-50s, older than most cabinet ministers, and the gender balance still worse, only around 15% female. Many of those up-and-coming are, however, ladies, and probably learning the same lessons as Jo, who’s featured in this article. That, yes, you need to pass all of your exams and know 100% of the technical stuff; but that 90% of what we do is people-, not numbers-related. And that’s the bit you can’t learn from an online textbook.
“Letter of authority: Why now is the right time for change”
This may sound like a non-issue from outside the world-of-financial-advice bubble. It is the bain, however, of the daily working lives of many of us, particularly of those paid by we advisers to do the dirty work of dealing with the many providers with whom we have to work.
