Being a financial adviser is about providing security for the future
Journey to Adviser – Sam’s Story
It’s such a great feeling when you know you’ve really supported someone to achieve their goal. In the Journey to Adviser series, we asked some of our delegates to share their success stories and what inspired them to pursue a career as a financial adviser.
In this episode, Sam shares his story. Having previously had a successful professional golfing career, now with a young family he had decided it was time for a change this is when he made the decision to start his journey to becoming a financial adviser.
Tell us about your journey, what made you decide to pursue a career as a Financial Adviser?
I was a golf professional for eight years. I was a golf professional for eight years. I really enjoyed the kind of coaching element, the 1 to 1 kind of face to face of dealing with people and I fancied a new career change what with a young family. And I wanted to do something different, really and the opportunity came up. I never worked in finance before and I was, my God, how am I going to do this. And yet here I am now, 14 months later.
So I’ve did a degree a good few years ago and going back to the whole study process again and into something that’s completely new for me was difficult. So yeah, it was one of those things, my God, Am I going to this? But it was fine. Once I got the first exam out of the way I got a lot more confidence.
Tell us about your learning experience. How did you find the Redmill platform and materials? Did you find the weekly structure helpful.
Genuinely, I found it (Redmill platform) really useful. The thing I liked was the ability to track the stuff I had done. When I had initially done R01, I just had the textbook and I really struggled, just trying to sit there and cram knowledge like a page, Using the platform was just so different. Having like a bit of a breakup of videos, short study guides the kind of things where you can do like smaller tests and things. I found it so useful.
I didn’t use any other training material. I did the trial on an app where you could get questions but I literally solely use the Redmill platform through my whole academy.
So yeah, I thought it was really good, going back to the whole process of retraining. I think gave me a bit more structure, whereas I think when I did R01 previously, I was just literally cramming out of a textbook and wasn’t sure where I was, what I missed or what I was up to speed on, it was a bit of a mess. Whereas, this was more structured, I could follow it, with R01, I really struggled, I failed a couple of times and then after that, I was fine.
What other support did you get from Redmill?
On the (Redmill) platform. I also liked that I had a point of contact as well because before I was just on my own thinking, my God, what am I doing? We had zoom sessions where we would do training and sometimes like a few hours later or a couple of days later, you know, something will just kind of jog in your memory and you could to ask somebody about it. Somebody that’s had experience and has been through the process before and then training with lots of other people who have passed or failed. It’s quite nice to know that you’re not asking a question they’ve not heard before.
Would you recommend using Redmill? If so, why?
So, I’ve been kind of approached on LinkedIn a few times because I think of the people as kind of similar to where I had started and where I am now. People that maybe want to kind of move into the St James’s Place Academy or another company, and they’ve asked me, you know, what training material have I used through my kind of exam process.
I’ve said I only use Redmill. From where I was from R01 (on my own) to finishing my other exams. I could speak highly of it. So yeah, from my experience, I’m a bit of a Redmill advocate
What’s your plans for the future? What’s the next step?
I’ve kind of already had the conversation with my employer about, you know, looking forward to sort of chartered doing the advanced exams, which scares me a little bit because I know how hard the other exams were. But actually, I do know where to go now if I want to do some of the exams and get study guides and things. It’s not so much a case of just get a massive textbook thinking, my God, where do I start? At least I know if I look on the platform. Things are structured which breaks it down. For me, it’s not so daunting, but I think definitely Chartered is the next kind of thing for me, going on that road.
[End of Interview]
Starting your journey to becoming a financial adviser?
We are experts in preparing you for CII and CISI exams, and we support you through your learning journey every step of the way.
Learn more about our study support here: https://redmilladvance.com/courses/
Finding a rewarding career is one of the most important things you will ever do
Join the Future Financial Adviser Community: https://www.futurefinancialadviser.co.uk/
Future Financial Adviser is a community where young people can access career advice and learn about opportunities within the financial advice profession. If you are already in the profession, we can help you find the right roles and progress your career.
