In this insightful interview, Claire Limon shares her journey from aspiring mounted police officer to managing director of 2Plan Wealth. She discusses leadership, gender diversity, work-life balance, and strategies to attract more women into financial advising.
Summary
In this insightful interview, Claire Limon shares her journey from aspiring mounted police officer to managing director of 2 Plan Wealth. She discusses leadership, gender diversity, work-life balance, and strategies to attract more women into financial advising.
Key topics
Claire's career transition from fashion retail to finance
Leadership and team management strategies
Gender bias and diversity in financial services
Work-life balance and mental health management
Mentorship's role in career development
Sound bites
"Women often doubt their abilities more than men."
"More female advisors could increase trust in finance."
"Find a mentor and believe in your potential."
Chapters
00:00 Introduction to Claire Lyman's Journey
03:04 Transition from Fashion to Financial Services
05:59 Leadership Challenges and Growth
09:11 Mentorship and Support in Career Development
11:47 Navigating Gender Bias in Financial Services
14:52 The Importance of Communication and Team Dynamics
17:54 Balancing Gender Representation in Leadership
20:55 Confidence and Imposter Syndrome in Women
23:54 Navigating Work-Life Balance: A Personal Journey
26:53 Supporting Team Members: Communication and Understanding
30:39 The Evolution of Workplace Flexibility
33:20 Trust and Accessibility in Financial Advice
36:12 The Gender Gap in Financial Services
38:24 Attracting Women to Financial Advisory Roles
41:54 Encouraging Young Women: Advice for Future Advisors
The Priority Lane (Lawrence Dornsey): Welcome to the priority lane podcast, the show where we discover how to work smarter, not harder. I'm your host today, Lawrence Dornsey, and this is the second part of our women in business series. And I'm delighted to welcome Claire Limon to the show. Claire had aspirations of being mounted police many years ago. However, the fashion side of things...
Claire Limon: I know.
The Priority Lane: ...didn't take her fancy, boots she wasn't too keen on, which predominantly led her into a part-time development program with a high street retailer, which then led on to going into financial advice. So she's here with me now. So please, hi and welcome to Claire. How are you today?
Claire Limon: Thank you, Lawrence. Yes, I'm really good today. Thank you. It's blue sky up here in Leeds in the office. There's a buzz about the team, so all is good.
The Priority Lane: Good, good. I just wanted to go back to the mounted police thing I've just mentioned, because I know when we spoke the other week, that kind of was a fantastic side swipe from me. Tell me about the mounted police. Where was the interest in that? I'm fascinated.
Claire Limon: So I always loved horses. We had horses growing up, my sister and I. So riding was a big part of our lives. And so the fact that I could combine a career that I was going to earn some money with, with horse riding and looking after horses, felt perfect at the time. So yes, I always had that in my head that that's what I was going to do.
Claire Limon: Until then, when I did get into more research around it, I found out that actually at the time, and I don't know whether it's still the case, you had to be on the beat as a police officer for two years before you could actually go and apply to be in the Mounted Police. And at the time, the thought of two years on the beat just was not really something I wanted to do.
Claire Limon: And the bill program was quite a big thing on TV at the time. And I remember the opening scenes of the bill and there was a lady walking on there with these horrendous black shoes. So apologies if people wear those, but I just thought, gosh, I can't see myself wearing those. So that killed the police career. Yeah. So.
The Priority Lane: Ha!
The Priority Lane: Amazing. So that image of the Bill's shoes led you into a development program at Next, was that correct?
Claire Limon: It was, yeah. at the time again, this was the middle 880s and I was shopping in next. They were kind of the height of their success and I used to shop at the local store and I got to know the manager there and she was chatting to me one day and said, you know, when you finish your A levels, you could join our development program. And so.
Claire Limon: that again really appealed because I like NextClose. I thought well this is great I can go and learn some skills on their development programme and be paid for it. You got uniform in the form of NextClose so that was even better. So I thought this seems to tick a lot of boxes and at the time there are a lot of people I was at school with who were talking about people coming out of university and not managing to get jobs and I was really worried I was going to build up all this debt and then not get a job at the end of it.
Claire Limon: So much to my father's disgust, I scrapped my university place and went to work for Next on their graduate, well it wasn't graduate but it was their management development programme so it was really exciting, it was very good.
The Priority Lane: Thank
The Priority Lane: So that says to me that you clearly had a focus there to get a job and start earning money. Would you say that's fair?
Claire Limon: It is, yeah. I wanted to be able to pay my way and I wanted, I felt like I'd done a lot of education by the time the end of A levels had come and I wasn't really ready to do another three years in university, especially if I...
The Priority Lane: One, sorry Claire, just hold one sec. Hold one sec.
The Priority Lane: you
Claire Limon: did again.
The Priority Lane: Okay, hang on one sec. Yeah, you did. That's okay, because they will edit that. Okay, so go back to... Where were we? You didn't want...
Claire Limon: So I was talking about not going to university and I was happy to go to university and to grow the debt if I thought I'd got a clear role outlined at the end of it. And I didn't and a lot of people working out of university with this debt and no job and were having to take really junior roles that then didn't help them to pay off the debt either. So I just thought, actually, if I can get some of the development and earn money at the same time.
The Priority Lane: That's right.
The Priority Lane: Okay.
Claire Limon: in an area where I know I really liked the clothes so I'd be happily a sponsor of it at the time then that's what I do so I did.
The Priority Lane: Sure. That's fashion over function, effectively. But that's great. But so, as you said, too much to your father's chagrin that you opted out of doing another three years of study. that must have taken quite a lot of, I suppose, self-determination, confidence to say, you know, to your dad, I'm not
Claire Limon: That's right, it was, yes.
The Priority Lane: I don't want to do this. I want to go out and earn some money. I mean that drive, that something that comes naturally to you or was it given to you by your folks?
Claire Limon: suspect it's a combination of the two but I know I've got it. I've always felt like I want to push forward so whatever I've done I've always had my eyes on something ahead of that, where that was leading, what I could achieve in that. I always said I don't do maintenance, I don't want to get to a point where I'm cruising in anything. I want to be able to move on and build something or
Claire Limon: something or correct something that's wrong and when I feel I've done that then if that isn't any longer there then I want to move on to something else and so that was definitely there at the time. It was a hard conversation with dad and I wouldn't choose to have that regularly but what that did make me do when I started at Next I signed up to do a management degree with the Open University and I did that in the same town as I worked in the Next store.
Claire Limon: So that actually worked really well because I ended up combining everything then. So the only thing I feel I probably missed out on a little bit was university life. But my early career in Next was a real fun one as well. So I don't think I missed out too much.
The Priority Lane: That's no, doesn't sound like it. The fact that you obviously you combined going to get a job, earning some money, obviously learning that independence that you clearly, you clearly have. And then also doing study, you know, part time at, simultaneously. mean, I know there's lots of lots of people who've done that, but that's, you know, that still requires a, you know, a real level of dedication. you know, certainly hats off to you there. Now,
The Priority Lane: In your current role as managing director of 2 Plan Wealth, effectively are leading a business that supports over 760 financial advisors. that correct? So that's a huge position to be in control of and supporting that number of firms. So my question to you is, I know that I believe you did work for
Claire Limon: It is?
The Priority Lane: Halifax for a while. that right? So really, I'm trying to find out how did your foray start into the financial advisor sector?
Claire Limon: So I stayed at Next for a few years and then they went through some cutback processes and their performance wasn't doing as well. And so I started thinking, is this my through life career? Do I want to stay in retail and fashion retail particularly? And I put a few feelers out and the other retailers at the time just didn't seem.
Claire Limon: as good as my time at Next had been. And I just thought, actually, Next were at the top of their game and massively widely respected at the time I was there. And I didn't think there was anything that could rival that really. So thought, well, actually, what is it I'm doing? And I started to think about what was it I really liked about what I did and what were the core skills that I wanted to develop and the environment I wanted to be in. And I kind of wrote myself a list of like, don't like.
Claire Limon: and then started thinking about roles that had most of what I liked. And actually I came up with then becoming a financial advisor because I thought, well, it's a selling role. And I think most of the roles that all of us are doing each day is selling really, if we boil it down, whether we're selling ourselves or a product or whatever else. So I thought, well, it's sales, it's with people.
Claire Limon: I was always very clear that I wanted to earn money and I had aspirations for a nice car and a house and all of these things. I knew I'd got to fund that somehow. So thought, well, why not be in finance? That sounds an obvious thing to do. So yeah, when I boiled all this down, I left Next and joined the Halifax in the same town as a financial advisor. And I actually then I loved being a financial advisor. Absolutely loved it.
The Priority Lane: you
The Priority Lane: Okay.
Claire Limon: I really felt like I was changing people's lives for the better and protecting them from unforeseeable harm. So I really felt good about what I did as a job and really enjoyed it. And then when they approached me after a couple of years to manage a team, again, I had another decision, which was, I carry on solo or do I lead a team?
Claire Limon: And actually I went for leading the team because I thought that was going to be the route forward for my career. But actually that was the first time that I thought, gosh, this is a lot harder. It's a lot harder influencing and motivating other people to be like you'd like them to be when they're not you. And different things make them tick and different things matter to them and their aspirations aren't the same as yours. So that was quite difficult at first.
Claire Limon: But I persevered and yeah, I worked out in the end.
The Priority Lane: How would you?
The Priority Lane: It certainly did. to be offered a team leader role effectively after just a couple of years is already a huge testament. my question to you and all those elements you've just mentioned, that shows a huge awareness that you have to know that or appreciate that the team, whilst managing it, might
Claire Limon: Mm-hmm.
The Priority Lane: on a day to day might be one thing. It's understanding, like you said, that their aspirations are different. They're not you. They don't have perhaps the same drive, focus, motivation that you have when you get up. So how did you overcome those little challenges? What is your leadership style?
Claire Limon: Thanks.
Claire Limon: So I've been really lucky because I think there's certain attributes that to be a good people leader you need and some of those I really enjoy and if it's a core skill that you've got already then it's a lot easier and then there's other things you just learn through reading and self-development etc. So at the time in the Halifax I got a lot of support because I did realise at that point that managing yourself and what you do in your own discipline and
Claire Limon: goals etc is a lot easier than managing and leading others and you know so I did a number of courses about what kind of leader do I want to be and what's important to me and what's effective leadership styles etc and I did a lot of reading myself as well and eventually I worked out that there were two things I thought were really key. One is about people and how you connect with people and that's everything from
Claire Limon: you know, the mentoring, the support, the development to getting to know them a bit, trusting them, working as a team, all of those things. And the other is, so the people I realised were my biggest asset always in every team I've been in. And the other is communication. The better you communicate with your team, the better you're going to be as a team. Because if you're all on the same page and you're only going to get there if you communicate well.
Claire Limon: then you're going to achieve things better together. And those two things I've carried all the way through my career. And there's other things around it, but I still believe those two things, certainly in the roles I've had and have ever wanted, have been hugely important. And I think I've just tried to develop those as best I can.
The Priority Lane: Okay, and have you at during that period where you've obviously you kind of did research into, you know, how what leadership, you know, skills you need, which, you know, where are your strengths, weaknesses, etc. Did you have any mentors at all that helped you with that, you know, that progression?
Claire Limon: a number of mentors but there's a few as you'd probably expect to really stand out. my time in the Halifax I did something like 16 years in total. went through Halifax acquiring Leeds Permanent, then Halifax joining up with Bank of Scotland to become HBOS and then I left just as Lloyds Banking Group acquired HBOS. But I did 16 years in total, half of that was in financial services and wealth management and I did
The Priority Lane: Hmm.
The Priority Lane: That's right.
Claire Limon: restricted and independent financial advice. And then I moved into the general insurance arena, which was around car, home and pet insurance. And I did various roles for seven years in that business on their exec team by then and learned an awful lot. And there's been a few people. So there's one person at the Halifax who I held in really high regard who
The Priority Lane: Okay.
Claire Limon: was the person I could call and say, I'm not sure that I'm right on this, what do you think? And who would give me guidance and meet me for a coffee? And it's the people who really care about your future and are strong enough to give you the advice that gives you that confidence to push on and to find a way. So he definitely helped me. And in fact, actually, he then took me from the Halifax to work with him at Countrywide Property Services Group.
Claire Limon: where he then became CEO and then chairman and then IPO'd the group and then left and did a number of other business ventures. And I still talk to him, he's still a mentor in my life. And then again, I've had the same in OpenWork. So, you know, one individual who I find hugely inspirational is very supportive of females in business. And as always,
The Priority Lane: Mm.
Claire Limon: I felt being a real support to me but my family as well. you know, always ask about how we all are and it's not all just about work. But again, will give me really clear guidance on what I need to do better or differently or, you know, when I've got questions about options, it'll help guide me. So I think it's really important to have that role. But it has to be somebody, A, that you can trust and B, you can relate to.
Claire Limon: And I don't think it's easy to find those, to be honest.
The Priority Lane: No, was going to say that, you know, particularly we know that, you know, business or particularly financial services industry is heavily male dominated. So it's great to hear that the two mentors who've really, you know, showed a human element towards you and, you know, supported you and given you guidance are, you know, male. I think that's great. Are there any female?
Claire Limon: Yeah.
The Priority Lane: leaders in the industry that have given you or provided you with guidance.
Claire Limon: A number, a number of them. So I think the male ones are because they were in more senior positions than me and so they could help guide me as I was developing my career from that perspective, you what could be my next role and what might that look like and what would I need to do to be a strong contender for it, et cetera. The female mentors have been really wide and in completely different roles. So I'll network with people who
Claire Limon: I think I can help or who I think can support me. that's wide ranging. It can be technical knowledge, it can be industry knowledge, it can be product knowledge, it can be one of many things. And there isn't any one person that would say they do all that for me. I think there's different people that I now have got to know over the years that I'll call on or I'll link up with.
Claire Limon: think what you work out and I'm sure this is the same in other industries but in financial services there's a lot of the same names now so a lot of people you know that have been around for a number of years like I have and so whenever you're going to different you know events or summits or conferences then you bump into these people and and that's really nice because then you're sharing learnings aren't you so that all helps I think.
The Priority Lane: Listen, that sounds great that you're kind of able to pick the best advice from a wide array of like a talent pool effectively. So you must be immensely happy and lucky and proud to be able to do that. Have you experienced with obviously the male female side of things, you in throughout your career, have you ever experienced the gender bias?
Claire Limon: Mm-hmm.
Claire Limon: Yeah.
The Priority Lane: where it's obviously been more heavily weighted towards the masculine side of things. Have you ever encountered that?
Claire Limon: I mean, I think I'd be wrong to say there isn't, you know, a bias of men in the financial services industry because there is and certainly when I was an advisor there were very few and all the way through my career very few females in similar roles to myself. But I don't, I didn't find personally anything that I could see that was blocking them. So I've always believed, I don't believe I'm...
Claire Limon: you know, the same as a man can be in the job. I think I'm an applicant for a job just like they are and they will bring something different as a man to what I will as a woman. But I think collectively they complement each other and where you've got a mixed team with, you know, gender mix across and my leadership team here is absolutely like that now. I think that's a really good balance because you find some skills in females that are more prevalent and the same in males and that works really well.
Claire Limon: So I almost get a bit frustrated that women let this hold them back and I'm sure there's instances where they are being held back so I'm not saying it's always a female who should do more but I'm sure there's a lot more who could be a lot more confident in what they're doing and have the belief that they can achieve in a male-dominated industry because they can. I'm proof of the fact that you can so and it's not just me we've got a number of female leaders.
The Priority Lane: Thank
The Priority Lane: show.
The Priority Lane: No.
Claire Limon: in Open Work now, our board has a good view on our exec team.
The Priority Lane: I was going to ask you what do you feel are the strongest traits or differences between the male and female counterparts in business, but you have hit the nail on the head. know last week when I spoke to Jen Toon Davenport, she was mentioning the nurture and support side of things, which we all know is predominantly a female trait as opposed to...
Claire Limon: Thank you.
The Priority Lane: the male one. I mean, you clearly demonstrate that also. I also believe 100 % that women are far better at communication than men, to be honest. And obviously, women are far more capable at multitasking numerous things at simultaneously where men generally it's sole focus.
Claire Limon: Yeah.
The Priority Lane: But you mentioned your current leadership team is awash with that mix. Was that something that you were determined to certainly implement throughout your career when you got to certainly an imagining director level? Is that something that you were really keen to implement to get that balance?
Claire Limon: When I went out for the roles, I wanted the best person for the role. So I didn't go out thinking I want a male for this role or a female for this role. Equally, if I'd have filled all the roles and they'd have all been male or all female, I'd have been a bit disappointed. So I would have tried to mix that up, I think. But ultimately, it does boil down to the best person for the role. But like you just described, what I have found is if I...
Claire Limon: So the number of female conferences that we've done, and we've done one every year since I've been here, and I've generally hosted those. And the biggest topics for females are around imposter syndrome and that confidence piece and believing, you know, that they can't do something. Whereas a male tends to think they can before they would ever think they can't. So they put their hand up and a woman would be like, no, I can't because I don't know enough or I'm not sure I can do it.
The Priority Lane: Yep.
Claire Limon: So I definitely see that difference and that does come up regularly. And then the one that I do see as well that is really interesting is the females do seem to be a lot more empathetic. And as a financial advisor, having that empathy can be really powerful. So I think, again, they bring something.
The Priority Lane: Yeah.
Claire Limon: different and that's no different in the leadership team. The females do communicate regularly, they are the ones that bring people together, that nurturing piece definitely is there and I do think it brings that balance where they complement each other. I don't think one is right and one is wrong, I think it's together, it's just more effective.
The Priority Lane: Okay, no, I do agree with you completely that, you know, that the imposter syndrome, I was going to ask you about that. But you've clearly answered that question. The other side of things that I wanted to ask was the mental health challenges for, you know, women in business, particularly, you know, senior leadership roles that you, you know, that you manage, versus, you know, the home, you know, the home life too, we've all
Claire Limon: Yes.
The Priority Lane: heard work-life balance is a home balance is a difficult one to juggle. And I just wanted to know how you kind of manage your work-home scenario and if you've ever faced or felt sort of any mental health pressure doing that.
Claire Limon: Mm-hmm.
Claire Limon: It's a great question. It's one I've kind of pondered on a lot of the time because I always have listened to people saying you should have you know like a 60-40 or whatever you know work life and I've always thought it just never works like that. It is impractical to try and manage it like that. So I've always believed that it's life and part of it is at work and part of it is not at work and you can't just draw a line between the two in my mind. I'm not saying that works for everybody but for me.
Claire Limon: I take work into my home life and I bring my home life into work. So I'll talk about work, I'll make them feel part of what I do and that way they're more understanding and supportive of what I'm doing. Equally, I know I need to give them time and I'll do that too, but I'll have the same conversations at work so that work understand that I need this right now to do something with my family.
Claire Limon: So I've always thought it's one and the same and at times you'll have pressure to do things in your personal life that you need and want to do and at times you'll have the same in work and the only time, it hasn't given me mental health issues but I've felt tense sometimes when they've imploded. So if something is big happening at work and I really want to be involved and do something about it, fix it, whatever it might be.
Claire Limon: and equally there's something going on at home and it is harder when you've got young children definitely so I do acknowledge that. Then that can be quite stressful and that's where you need a support network around you and I was really lucky I had my mum and dad quite close to me and my mum was really good with my children.
The Priority Lane: So.
Claire Limon: So actually that really helped me whenever I was stuck or needed to be away or my mum would step in and help and I think that's really important. So if you haven't got that in a family or a close friend or I can imagine it's really hard at times. But it's never been too hard for me to push on and it's, you know, now I do feel like my family are really proud of what I do and want to support me doing it and I don't think they'd see it any other way. So I don't have any regrets from it at all.
The Priority Lane: So having that experience and obviously witnessing that support network that you clearly had, which is great. How would you approach, let's say, one of the advisors under your umbrella if they have a specific heavy pressure from home?
Claire Limon: Please.
The Priority Lane: side of things. Now that you have that experience and you kind of know what it feels like, how would you approach somebody if they came to you and said, Claire, listen, I've got this. How would you approach, would you give them as much support and I suppose space as possible? How would you deal with that?
Claire Limon: Thanks.
Claire Limon: So yeah, I think that is all part of the communication piece. So I think the first part is, and the most difficult part is, that people feel they can come to you with those things. Because the worst thing that happens is if they feel they can't, in my mind. Because you're not stopping it happening. They're going to feel like that, whether they tell you or not. And if they don't tell you and you can't do anything about it, then well, then that's exactly it. You can't do anything about it. So they're not getting the help then.
Claire Limon: So certainly for my team or the advisors, I would always encourage them to come to me or somebody in the team. And they do, a lot of advisors call me directly and that I think keeps me grounded and I like the fact that they do that. And so if they came with a personal challenge like that, then yes, we would, we have group wide support with, you know, lines that you can call for support and.
Claire Limon: mental health challenges or bereavement helplines, that kind of thing, so a number of helplines. And again, we're a community, so we would offer as much help as we could. We can give help around the advice they're giving, we can help with their clients, we can help with locum support. There's any number of things we can do. It's just being aware of what the challenge is and then discussing what you can do to support them. And I've seen a number go through, a number of experiences, we all do.
Claire Limon: You know, it's amazing as you get to know people, you listen to their life and the ups and downs that they all have throughout it. And nobody hasn't had something in my experience. So it's just being there and being proportionate in your help, but making it personal and being approachable. I think they're the most important things. Cause some people just want you to know, but don't want you to do anything. You need to agree that with them. That's kind of the contract with them, isn't it?
The Priority Lane: Mm.
Claire Limon: I do think it's more prevalent and I am seeing a lot more of it. That's tough, but I do think there's lot of pressure on a lot of people at the minute, aren't there? Life is generally not easy at the minute with everything that's going on.
The Priority Lane: But that's it.
The Priority Lane: It is difficult. you would, I mean, the fact you adopt that, I suppose, open door policy, I think, you know, from perhaps employee side of things, they may sometimes have a fear factor of, you know, potentially knocking on the door of, you know, the boss and saying, listen, I need to be home two days next week or whatever it is for fear of reprisal because, you know, I've been in business
The Priority Lane: for 30 odd years and I remember companies I worked for that were, you have to be in the office five days a week. You weren't given that sort of space to potentially have that time that you need. How do you think that's really progressed hugely since your first days in business? Because it must have been the same that was pretty stringent.
Claire Limon: It was the same. It was very rigid. And I don't ever remember having time off sick or working from home or any of that. I was in the store or the bank, you know, wherever I was working full time and that was it. And I was in on a Saturday too, so was kind of six days a week. And no, it is very different now. I think Covid changed everything and re-based everybody's working patterns.
The Priority Lane: Yeah.
The Priority Lane: Right, exactly.
Claire Limon: And actually now it is a careful balance of meeting the needs of what people need for their home life and personal life with the needs of the business. And I think that's a bit of compromises, it's give and take. So we don't expect everybody to be in every day in the office. Ideally, I'd like people in two to three days a week. But you know, if one week they can't and the next week they can, then absolutely fine. And if somebody's really suffering, then we'll...
The Priority Lane: productivity.
Claire Limon: support them in any way we can, whether that's they're in no days this week. I always think that that gains a respect and a trust if you can help them when they need it and then they're far more likely to be on your page and supporting you after that and then you've got a really good connection haven't you with them and they'll come to you with other things you know not so problems ideas and it's just a lot more fulfilling.
Claire Limon: People are people, aren't they? You can't treat them like machines. We don't work like that, do we? So, I mean, I like sitting with the team. I'll plonk myself out in the office in amongst everybody and I like listening to all the chats and I like thinking I can help with different things, whether it's the home life or work life. That's all part of it.
The Priority Lane: No, no, and I, I said.
The Priority Lane: So that, know, clearly I was going to say, can you imagine, you know, taking the office environment that we remember from all those years ago, which was, as you said, rigid, I said, very stringent and trying to implement that now, I would imagine the productivity would just nosedive exponentially.
Claire Limon: Mm. Mm.
Claire Limon: No.
Claire Limon: Yeah, yeah, you just you would get people just walking out and I you know I understand it when you've got people coming even you know in the office in Leeds here I mean lovely office. I drove in this morning I don't normally drive in, took me an hour and a half to drive in which is ridiculous because it's 25 miles or something like that. Usually I come by train it's 30 minutes but it costs me 12 pound on the train you know if you can save what would have been three hours coming in and going home or the
Claire Limon: 12 pounds or whatever for the train by working at home for the day and it means you can walk your dog or you can pick your little boy or girl up from nursery or drop them off or whatever then I can see that balance how it's difficult to work out best but equally if you're not in the office and you're working at home then I think you miss out on a lot, a lot more than you can really quantify. So the relationship building, the feeling of being belonging to something, the culture it drives, the...
Claire Limon: the chats at the water cooler, you know, all of those kind of things, you don't get those at home. So it's kind of a trade off, isn't it? You want the best of both.
The Priority Lane: Yep.
The Priority Lane: Sure, no, I agree. Now, I've got a couple of things that I've noted down here that are just kind of stats for the financial services industry. And one is that, you know, it's approximately 8.6 % of the UK population received professional financial advice on investments, pensions or retirement planning in the last year. Now that seems to me extremely low.
Claire Limon: Okay.
Claire Limon: Mm-hmm.
The Priority Lane: Why is that?
Claire Limon: It's a really good question. think there's a couple of reasons. think one, it's generally not a trusted industry. So I think people will wonder whether they're going to get the right advice. And so they just don't touch it. I think another is they probably feel they've got to have a lot of money to get advice. Whereas actually that is not the case. The earlier...
Claire Limon: you start in your career taking that advice, then the better off you're going to be later on in your career. And it's not just about growing wealth, it's about all the other areas. How are you going to fund your house purchase? It's about borrowing, it's about protection for yourself, for covering your income, for your family. So I think there's a bit of an ignorance around what it is and I don't want to be made to look stupid, so I'm not going to ask.
The Priority Lane: Okay.
Claire Limon: And then there is a lack of financial advisors. It's not easy to access it. It's a relationship business. It's a relationship process. So unless you know somebody, how are you going to access it? You know, there are some digital tools now, but they're nothing like as effective or well-progressed as they are in other industries. So there's a gap. There's a big gap and it's getting bigger.
The Priority Lane: Right. Well, that trust point that you just made. I've been boring, as I've said in previous podcasts, everyone in the last 30 years with the following kind of saying that I have is people are the source, technology is the tool. In other words, people come first. Technology can obviously help, but we developed it. And in mentioning that trust, so with only like not even 9 % of the UK population
Claire Limon: Yeah. Yeah.
The Priority Lane: actually seeking or getting financial advice because as you said the trust issue, you know, they're not sure. I feel perhaps if there were more female advisors that might go up because you know, I think sometimes people might consider they might they're being sold to or they could be being duped if it's a man. How do you feel about that? Do you think that women perhaps may carry
The Priority Lane: a more trustworthy persona in financial services?
Claire Limon: I wouldn't like to say that because I don't know is I haven't got any evidence to support that. But what I would say is I know that the transfer of wealth over the forthcoming years is moving more to women than men. And if you are a middle aged female wanting some financial advice, would you be more likely to go to a man or a woman like you? I think you'd probably more likely go to a woman like you.
Claire Limon: I think that's that connection, whether I wouldn't necessarily badge it as trust, but I think there's a connection there that, you know, it's that empathy and things that we talked about before. So I think that transfer of wealth that is in the main inherited wealth, you know, those females probably won't have an advisor and they need one. So I think that gives an opportunity and
The Priority Lane: Sure.
Claire Limon: I always feel quite saddened by the fact that there aren't more females wanting to come into this industry because I've just had the best career and loved it and met some incredible people and I feel like I've made a difference to a lot of people's lives so why would they not want to? So I just wish people, more people, females in particular would look at it.
The Priority Lane: Okay, because out of the 35 and a half thousand IFAs, I think in the UK, the average age of those advisors is 58. And 18 % are women, which and only 5.7 % I think are below the age of 30. So there is a huge discrepancy, massive, massive, massive gap in your capacity as
Claire Limon: Thank
The Priority Lane: managing director at 2 Plan, have you or do you put on, I suppose, road shows or something to effectively give that advice, give that information so that there is no fear factor? Effectively, do you put up hold, I don't know, open days where you can attract and try and generate some sort of exposure to the industry? Have you ever done that?
Claire Limon: We do a lot of different things. So we're lucky in that within the group we've got our own university effectively. It's a business school we call it. So the Open Work Business School. And within there we've got a variety of different programmes for how you can develop yourself. And so we do a lot of work around, know, we find women will come in, they'll come in in administrative roles and they'll come in.
Claire Limon: as an office manager role etc and they'll feel quite comfortable with that but they won't think about going on to giving advice because they probably think they can't do it. It's that imposter syndrome piece again. So we have an awful lot of support there around how to help to take exams, why it's good for them, mentoring, guidance, support, people who are running their own firms as females and we've got a number of really successful ones. So we do a lot out of that business school.
The Priority Lane: Okay, sure, yeah.
Claire Limon: And then we do a lot of things around UK wide, both with all of our people across the Open World Partnership, but also then connecting with people who we find quite a lot of entrants come from teachers or from the military when they're coming out of the military and they want to change a career or professional sports, quite a few come into the industry from there. So we hook up with a lot of those.
Claire Limon: I think the key personally, I think the key is we need to find a way of making it more attractive for people as they're leaving school, going into university to have it on the radar then, because I don't hear many people saying, I'm training to be a financial advisor, I'm going to university, then I'm going to be a financial advisor. It's almost like an unspoken job.
The Priority Lane: Yeah.
Claire Limon: And I just don't really know why because it doesn't deserve that reputation, I don't think.
The Priority Lane: No, that was my point. How can you raise that, get those percentages, get those percentages up, get that exposure to the industry? And it must be, you need to start from an earlier age to focus on that. So, because that's
Claire Limon: You
Claire Limon: Yeah.
Claire Limon: Yeah.
Claire Limon: Yeah, it is.
Claire Limon: And it's an education, you know, it's an education about them and their own finance and their own, you know, wealth management, et cetera. So it's an education for them. But I think collectively as an industry, we all need to do this. It's not just OpenWork, it's everybody, you know, there's some really big names, St. James Plays, Quilter, et cetera. We need to work together to educate people younger. And then when they're in school, hopefully then...
The Priority Lane: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Claire Limon: they'll find a hook and think, this is actually really interesting. I find it really interesting. So go and find out more and then it starts there, doesn't it? My reason for going to Next was because I was buying their clothes. It just needs a hook. So don't put the shoes in, the black shoes.
The Priority Lane: Yeah, correct. It does.
The Priority Lane: So in terms of a hook that leads me onto just a couple of closing things, how would you now, what hook, what piece of advice would you give, you know, whether young men, young women, let's focus on the female side of it to get that percentage up. What piece of advice or hook would you now offer, you know, young women to come into the industry?
Claire Limon: I would say don't assume, so come and find out and there's lots of places to find out. There isn't just one role, there's a plethora of different roles and don't be put off by the sales word because the number of conversations I have around that I don't want to be a salesperson. In every day you're selling something, you just don't realise you're doing it.
Claire Limon: Don't think about it as just sales. Advice is quite different to sales, I think. So I'd say come and find out for a start. Ask some questions and find out because there's a wide range of different roles you could take. I would say have confidence in yourself and don't be put off by the fact that you might see more males than females. I don't see that as an issue. It never has been for me, so don't let it be for you. And I would say find.
Claire Limon: Find a mentor, find somebody that is doing it now that can give you some guidance. And there's plenty of those people around that can kind of give you a view of what it's really like and what to focus on and what not. Don't just think of tomorrow, think of three years on, five years on, seven years on. Where do you see yourself then? And think about what it is you really want to do that you enjoy doing.
Claire Limon: Because the other thing I learned is you can't be brilliant at everything. You're going to lean on certain things that are skills you've got that you find easy or easier. So don't try and be as brilliant at everything across the piece. You can't focus on being really good at the things you are really good at and then bring in people to work with or in your team around you that bring the other skills.
The Priority Lane: Well, listen, Claire, it's been an absolute revelation. Thank you so much for joining me. My name is Lawrence Daunsey. I'm host of Priority Lane podcasts and that was my chat with Claire Limon, managing director of Two Plan Wealth. So if you've got any questions or you've got any comments, please get in touch with me and I will forward them on to Claire and we'll do what we can to support in the meantime.
The Priority Lane: Thank you very much again to Claire and we'll speak soon.
Claire Limon: Thank you, Laurence, really enjoyed it.
The Priority Lane: Cheerio.