Resources for Financial Planners
If you want to be successful as a Financial Planner, you’re going to have to work hard and learn constantly. 👨🏫
Below I’ve curated a mixture of books, podcasts and further resources to help you on your journey. 🚀
Here are the books that had the biggest impact on me…
Links to the books via Amazon below. 👇
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Any funds from this goes straight back into ongoing costs for editing software, website and supporting this educational channel. Any funds created from this are put SOLELY into funding making more content and helping more people.
Thank you for your support. 🙌
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Show your work - Austin Kleon
One of the books that started it all for me on my content journey.
As a financial planner you have a choice on how you are going to promote yourself and your business. This is a great start on how to think differently on business and creativity.
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Anything you want - Derek Sivers
A short and easy read with insights that will stick with your throughout your career. A brilliant reframing of what it means to run a business and build the life you want.
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Oversubscribed - Daniel Priestley
Every Financial Planner should read this. It gives you a framework for how to build you profile and your business. So you as an adviser can become ‘oversubscribed.’
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The Geometry of Wealth - Brian Portnoy
A great book on how to manage the intersection of money and meaning. Useful to help frame conversations with clients about what it means to fund a meaningful life.
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Ask - Dan Solin
‘Ask’ is the anti-salesperson’s guide to selling.
It discusses a fundamental truth of human relationships, that people want to be listened to, not told and to be helped, not sold.
This book will help you think in a more intelligent way about how to approach client conversations.
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Alchemy - Rory Sutherland
Just a brilliant, fun and engaging book which will teach you more about dealing with humans than all of the study books ever did.
Prepare to have to relearn everything you know!
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The Psychology of Money - Morgan Housel
If you’re an aspiring Financial Planner and you’ve not read this book. What have you been doing!?? This is essential reading for anyone who manages people and their money. It is worth your time for the stories, the lesson and perspective. For once…. believe the hype!
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Thinking Fast and Slow - Daniel Kahneman
This book will change the way you understand your own brain and how you make decisions. How you can identify your own biases and make better decisions from this.
With better insights into how we all make decisions, you can understand how to help you clients with choices in money and life.
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Changing Gear - Jon Hall & Jan Stokes
Much is made of helping clients with the financial transition into retirement. As a Financial Planner, chances are that is a big part of your role.
There isn’t very much on how to best handle the emotional journey our clients will go through.
It can be quite a shock. From often while working to having a team of people who answer to you… to when retired not being able to get a plumber to turn up on time! This book I’ve often gifted to clients to help them frame that journey.
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Advice That Sticks - Moira Somers
This is a worthwhile read on how to structure your advice so that people follow it. At the end of the day, you can have the best recommendation in the world but if people don’t follow it then it’s pointless!
This book will teach you how to give ‘advice that sticks.’
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Happy Money - The Science of Smarter Spending - Elizabeth Dunn
Does money make you happy?
Not always, but it can do!
This book tells you how you should spend your money to improve your happiness.
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Blend Out - How Advisors Can Market Like The Greatest Brands In The World
Learning how to market yourself is an essential skill that Financial Planners need to learn. You have a choice, learn, iterate and improve at it or, lose control of your career trajectory.
Written from the American perspective but still useful for UK Planners. This book is entertaining and a great starting point. It will certainly give you something to think about.
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The 100-Year Life: Living and Working in an Age of Longevity
What ‘retirement’ is will change in the decades to come. COVID has probably already changed what this means.
This book is a well-researched understanding of what it takes to live a good life in an age of increasing longevity. Worth a read!
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How to Win Friends and Influence People - Dale Carnegie
I know, I know… it’s a bit of a cliche.
But seriously, you should revisit this book every year. It’s one of the greatest books on self-help and business for a reason and it’s as relevant as it was when it was written.
If you follow the guidance in this book, you have a very high likelihood of succeeding as a Financial Planner.
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Scripts - Nick Murray
How to say the right thing, at the right time.
Nick Murray books are pricey, but will sit on your shelves for decades.
A worthy investment for any Financial Planner’s career.
Some brilliant resources for further learning from the profession’s very best 👍
Pete’s video is very comprehensive and worth a watch!
Obviously it would be remiss of me not to include my own video on how to become a financial adviser.
The PFS run various webinars which I’ve linked to here.
It will ask you to input your CII member number if you are a member already, however it doesn’t require you to have a CII member number to gain access.
The videos on ‘PFS Power’ are from some of the very best in the profession and will give you the best understanding of how it works.
I’m a member of NextGen Planners.
A great community of planners who are very supportive. There are training modules, industry discussions etc.
You do have to pay to become a member but it can be a very worthwhile investment into your professional network.
Podcasts to listen to
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The Maven Money Podcast - No BS real talk on managing money and people from Andy Hart.
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TRAP - The Real Adviser Podcast
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The Rational Reminder Podcast - very helpful to understand the academic and technical areas around finance.
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Meaningful Money - by the man, the myth, the legend Pete Matthews.
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The Financial Planner Life Podcast - useful to understand career paths and hear the journey and perspective of other advisers.
Questions I’ve been asked from aspiring Financial Planners
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Reality check - unless you are very lucky you won’t be able to start your journey in an excellent financial planning firm. It is possible, but there aren’t very many of them out there hiring.
I didn’t start my journey working for a ‘Chartered Financial Planner Firm of the Year’ and chances are, you may also need to be realistic.
At the beginning of your journey, your career capital and worth to a business will be lower.
Be mindful that to get to the point where you pick and choose the right firm you will need to develop as a professional. Half the battle is getting started and getting experience. You don’t start as the finished article.
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Probably about 15 years to get to the top of the profession.
Only if you continually learn and get better. It can’t be 1 year of experience repeated 15 times.
I’m an obsessive and 5 years on from starting to advise clients (I did support roles prior) I am still refining and developing every day.
I’m confident that I know what I’m doing and can offer my clients an excellent service, but it’s a discipline, not a destination.
If you are willing to see this as a journey. Put your clients first and have a real desire to improve, eventually you’ll look back and be shocked with how far you’ve come.
If the thought of ‘2 years slog’ to get your R0 exams to be qualified seems a lot and you’d rather be done with it so you can start (probably giving dodgy advice at that point) perhaps advising isn’t for you.
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The exams are something you can control and for prospective employers they will love to see the initiative if you can get a few done off your own back.
If you are serious about getting into the profession you need to become a student of the industry. Understand what others are doing well and ideally be able to compare and contrast.
Don’t get me wrong, you are not going to be new to this all and also an expert but those who put in the effort stand out a mile off and are likely to get roles.
Here is what a prospective employer would love to hear at an interview:
YOU:
“I want to get started in the profession. I understand that I’ll need to learn the ropes but I’m committed and to show this I have already passed 2 R0 exams (or any other relevant professional exams) which I paid for myself.
I follow (insert various professional content creators) and these ideas are interesting and could be relevant to your business (insert ideas.)
I’ve looked at your website and your target clients and I like what you’re doing in this area. It’s different from (insert competitor) although I did like what (leading competitor’s idea if it contrasts and may add value to other firm) are doing.”
That will get their attention.
Here is another route I’d consider if I was starting:
While you’re studying, start a blog about your journey in the financial profession.
Perhaps start creating content documenting your own unique journey.
Follow the other creators and companies operating in that space.
Attend conferences and getting chatting to the business owners there. Explain about where you are on your journey. If you’re looking for a role, casually make them aware you are.
Add them on LinkedIn or perhaps other socials. Keep in touch. Comment on their posts (if you can do in a genuine way.) Make actual human connections. Politely ask at some point if they know anyone hiring.
If you do all those things (especially if you combine that with the above) you will likely increase your chance of landing a good role considerably.
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Like many starting their journey I saw getting Chartered as the ‘ultimate destination.’
I think strangely, feeling like that can be useful when you’re working the evenings and weekends to study alongside working in the profession.
The CII is seen often as more ‘academic’ but in my view their exams are more memory tests than anything.
If I had my time again I probably have done the CISI and CFP. I’m looking to the CFP going forward at some point.
No idea on the LIBF. I have no experience with them so I can’t really comment.
Make no mistake though, ANY professional exam and qualification is just a starting point. See it as a hygiene factor more than anything. So you can stand side by side with other professions and then get moving onto the more important stuff.
What makes our profession so special is about having real conversations and making a real impact on the intersection between money and life.
It’s what you learn after you get qualified which makes you a great planner.