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It’s been a few weeks since the 24 Hour Global Commute and now that some time has passed, we can loom back to really appreciate the time that we spent meeting people from the financial planning community from all over the world.
The concept was developed from the breakfast show that we launched at the beginning of lockdown, the Morning Commute, a magazine show for financial planners with news, features and chat about financial planning blended with focus on skills, wellbeing, fitness and even some hobbies. All produced and presented by people from the financial planning community.
As lockdown began to draw to a close, we wanted to give the show a fitting send off and given that there are twenty-four 08:30s in every day as the earth rotates, it seemed like a good idea to take the show global and run a 24 hour charity telethon.
The UK financial planning community came together with planners from the Europe, Ghana, Canada, USA, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Dubai and South Africa. It’s hard to pick out all of the highlights from a whole day of content but here are some of the teams favourite thoughts from the show:
On finding the motivation to achieving super human things…
I looked up this world record and this guy had lifted 475,000 kg in 24 hours and I started doing the maths and thought, I am going to have a pop at this. The reason I started CF Warriors was to show these kids exactly what is possible despite having a terminal disease. There is no cure but exercise for me has been very much like a cure – Josh Llewellyn, UK 🇬🇧
On being deliberate…
If you don’t decide that you want to become financially independent, financial challenges are likely to become the default. You don’t need super income to become financially independent. What you need is steady income with a financial plan. – Paul Mante, Ghana 🇬🇭
On scaling a business…
I believe that the first question we all need to ask is do I really want to scale? In scaling your business you scale your responsibility. Everyone talks about scale as if it is the golden rule but you should ask why do I want to do that. If you decide to face that, there are ways to do it but we need to play the game of decades, not the game of years – Andre Noveas, Brazil 🇧🇷
On creating a more inclusive society…
You bring your full self to where you work, all of your beliefs and values and they show up. So maybe each person should audit their stance on humanity and human capital because human capital translates to financial capital. Your role is to ensure that there are equitable chances for people to be compensated daily for what they bring to the table. It is too easy to stay in your comfort zone. If you are comfortable, something is wrong – Lazetta Rainey Braxton, USA 🇺🇸
On the future of financial planning…
The future financial planner needs to be able to offer real differentiation and added value to their clients to separate themselves from what technology can do. We know that AI is rapidly advancing and it has already surpassed the traditional value proposition for financial advisers. The future value proposition really lies in the human touch – Carey List, Canada 🇨🇦
On fishing where the fish are…
I had always traditionally served anyone who walked through the door but I looked around my community and realised there were an awful lot of retirees and a lot like the local fishermen would do, they would go fishing where the fish were. You have got to have a market to be able to go at, there is no point in saying you only want to serve engineers working in the airforce if there isn’t an airforce base next to you. – Justin King, UK 🇬🇧
On balancing your health and money…
So many people spend their health to gain wealth and then have to spend their wealth to regain their health. – Rita Cheng, USA 🇺🇸
On mental wellbeing during lockdown…
If we show vulnerability as a daily practice we become bulletproof. One of the biggest anxiety triggers is change and that is the one thing the world is going through right now. Unless we show the world our true selves, how does the world expect to engage with us – Nick Elston, UK 🇬🇧
On why it is important to understand a client’s money beliefs…
Most people know they should do the basics, save for the future and not spend more than they make…so why aren’t they doing it? It’s 100% psychological – Dr Brad Klontz, USA 🇺🇸
On becoming a profession…
Medicine as a profession is about 120 years old. Before that it was really just snake oil salesmen. It took about 70 years to create a profession. So I would liken that to financial planning. We are so early in the process of financial planning becoming a profession. With the commoditisation of investment advice we will see more people looking for financial planners who are real problem solvers. We are going to help our clients deal with big situations so that they have piece of mind around their finances – Carolyn McClanahan MD, USA 🇺🇸
On the death of George Floyd and “it could have been me”…
When you are climbing and finding success as an African American, you start to find this ideology of exceptionalism, meaning the feeling of, this could never happen to me. I felt like I had to write it could have been me, because it does happen to me too. We are all human, this is a human issue and together, if we approach it that way, we can definitely make change in our world – Dasarte Yarnway, USA 🇺🇸
On action to improve female financial resilience…
Research shows that compared with men, women are far less (financially) resilient at all stages of their lives. The Insuring Women’s Futures project created a manifesto for change and encouraged companies to commit to making two important pledges around financial inclusion and flexible working and companies who sign up to this pledge commit to making changes that will have the effect of improving women’s financial lives. Thirty six companies in the financial services space have signed up to this pledge – Melissa Collect, UK 🇬🇧
On completing fact finds…
It’s probably more of an art than a science. It’s teasing out the answers within the questionnaire to really understand what the client’s objectives are, what’s worked for them in the past, what hasn’t. I like clients to try to expand on how they have answered questions to really understand what they are trying to achieve – Paul Sewell, New Zealand 🇳🇿
On the lessons you can learn from being an MP…
Good legislation is important. If the framework is wrong you can cause a lot of harm. So you should spend the time to consult and get good legislation. It is also important to empower others to give them the skills to improve their lives – Katrina Shanks, New Zealand 🇳🇿
On millennials…
I think advisers still think that millennials are really young but in the next five years millennials are going to make up 75% of the workforce so they are not a small demographic and they are not super young. So we need to start putting together strategies that solve their problems. Their biggest problems are money management. I feel that if you can articulate and solve their problems they are very easy to have as clients long term – Adele Martin, Australia 🇦🇺
On applying the Kinder method to uncover client’s goals…
Most of the time clients come out with simple and beautiful statements such as, “I want to have an authentic relationship with my daughter, because it has broken down.” It’s sometimes the simpler stuff that makes client think, “You know what, I have attended to that now so now I am living my authentic life and doing the things I want to do.” It’s a re-discovery of who they really are – Justin King, UK 🇬🇧
On solving problems with technology…
One of the tools I find to be really good is one called Krisp. Everyone’s working at home and there can be a lot of background noise but Krisp is really good at blocking out surrounding noise. I can go to a cafe and have a zoom call using Krisp and it is really clear for the audience – Adrian Patty, Australia 🇦🇺
On communicating your emotional intention…
Information doesn’t have any emotional resonance. You need to be thinking not only what do I want my audience to know but also what do I want them to feel. As a planner having a Skype or Zoom call, what do you want your client to feel at the end of the call? Do you want them to feel reassured, do you want them to feel excited, do you want them to feel challenged? Really keying into the emotional intention is going to change the temperature of the conversation. Ask, “What do I want people to know? What do I want them to feel? And finally, what do I want them to do?” – Dominic Colenso, UK 🇬🇧
On improving professional standards internationally…
A small minority will always distort the landscape for the majority of people who are hard working, diligent and aim to do the best thing for their clients. In countries where we believe that financial planning is strong and markets have moved on significantly such as the UK for example, we do still have some trust issues. The sector recognises this and one of the roles we are trying to perform in some countries is to unite the profession because only then can you start to influence the level of change and improve trust. Individuals build trust with their clients but what they often don’t recognise is that other people’s clients don’t trust them. You can build trust on an individual basis but our challenge in various parts of the world is that there are some perception issues that need to be addressed – Keith Richards, UK 🇬🇧
On the development of financial planning regulations globally…
Once one jurisdiction leads the way and shows that financial planning is happening, the regulators follow each other so that is what I think will happen around the world. It (regulation) will go the route of financial advice, to financial planning and then perhaps to financial coaching – Andrew Talbot, Singapore 🇸🇬
On advice for your younger self…
The first thing is to really understand your why because this is what keeps you going in the eye of the storm. I would also tell myself to let go of everything my senior is telling me to do because it has worked for the last three decades. You have to be really observant and find out what people really want and consistently put yourself in the shoes of the client – Kevin Neoh, Malaysia 🇲🇾
On growing up as a minority…
Something I realised in my late teens was the pressure of growing up as a minority. I grew up in a predominantly white town and there were only two families of colour in a town of twenty thousand people so everybody new who we were and I always felt that I and my brothers had to behave and that is something that I carry around with me now. I feel that I am representing a whole culture and there is a slight sense of anxiety about that – Rohan Sivajoti, UK 🇬🇧
On getting more meaning from your money in your retirement…
It (retirement) is a time in your life when you get to live your unfulfilled dreams in your own time and on your own terms. That is why you do financial planning. I help clients go back and understand their relationship with money and we work on a new story to understand how money can serve them rather than money being their master – Kim Potgieter, South Africa 🇿🇦
On the lessons you can learn from being an Olympic Champion…
The number one thing I learned was the idea of perseverance. When you get kicked in the face, you have to show up the next day. What you are doing by continuing to show up is building character but also building discipline and putting a foundation in place to be able to succeed at whatever it is you are doing – Lauren Williams, USA 🇺🇸
The 24 Hour Global Commute has raised over £5000 for the Stroke Association and CF Warriors and we would like to pay thank the 160 speakers and presenters who took part in the event and our wider conference week and for everyone who donated to the charities.