The financial advice industry needs to continue its recruitment drive to bolster the number of depleting advisers in the UK.
One way of doing this is attracting second careerists to the sector.
Many firms are now looking at sportspeople to make the move to financial advice.
John Paul, principal at St James’s Place (SJP) partner firm John Paul Wealth Management, was previously a golfer before his transitions as an adviser though the SJP academy.
Transition
“My career in golf started off on the playing golf side of things with tournaments,” Paul said. “The dream was to be playing on Sky Sports every week. That quickly evolved into more of a blend between playing golf and coaching to finance the playing side of things.
“There’s a lot of crossovers between running your business and professional sports, in the sense that it’s very much down to the work that you put in.
“The harder you work, the more you get out at the end. I always knew that if I wasn’t going to play golf for a living, running my own business was something that would suit me, because I can control it myself.
“In terms of why financial services, before I was a professional golfer, I studied economics and finance at university. I always had an interest in the sector. Then, there was a client of mine I was giving golf lessons to who was a partner with SJP.
“He made the introduction. I didn’t really take it seriously first, and then did a bit research and found that it could have been a really good way of moving forward.”
Finance background
Many sportspeople do not necessarily have a background in finance. But John’s economics and finance degree made him very suitable to financial advice.
But this isn’t necessarily the same for everyone.
John added: “It definitely did help having the degree. But that being said, the academy process is very good. Not everyone in professional golf would be suited to making the career change I have, but I think it’s not the be all and end all to have that financial background.
“The academy process is really good. The training is second to none. They treat, regardless of whether you’ve come from a financial services background or something else, everyone the same.
“For me the skills that being a professional sport forces upon you; the hard work, dedication, working under pressure, you can’t really learn that, but the financial education side of things that can be taught.
“I think it was helpful to have the degree, but I don’t think it was crucial.”
Skills
It is a very big jump from sports to financial advice.
But there are many skills that stars have from their first profession to help them in their second career.
Paul said: “On the surface, you can’t really think of two different things with professional sport and financial advice, but certainly from the running your own business side of things, there’s so many crossovers. I think the biggest one for me is if you’ve been in professional sport, you’ve probably experienced some sort of pressure at some stage. To perform under pressure is quite difficult.
“There’s a lot of that in running your business as well. But also knowing that when you do have a bad day on the golf course, it’s about not letting that get to you too much because that will then lead to further bad performances. And running your business is like that, you’re going to have days where you get out of bed, and it’s easy and everything you do just turns to gold. But then there’s other days where you work as hard as you can, and everything’s bad.
“Golf is a sport where the margins are so small, between perfection and absolute nightmare that you just got to take it on the chin and say today is not my day.” If you desire to bet on golfers, you can bet on sites like star casino belgium.
“Golf is also a very individual sport. It’s completely up to you with the shots you’re going to hit and how often you’re going to work. The more you put in, the more you get out of it. With this business especially, it’s exactly the same. I think those two qualities really coexist.”
Negative relationship between sports and finance
In June 2021, SJP joined the Professional Golfers Association’s (PGA) partnership programme as a principal partner. As part of the four-year agreement, PGA members will be able to access financial planning advice 365 days a year from a locally-based SJP adviser.
Paul said that there are a lot of golfers that could do with financial advice.
He added: “There’s a huge disparity across professional golf. Everyone sees golfers like Rory McIlroy and Tiger Woods, these superstars earning thousands a week in sponsorship alone before they have even played golf. There’s probably only 200 people worldwide who make a really good living from golf, there are far more that have lost their shirts trying to make it.
“There are hundreds of thousands who turn professional and try and do it. In my experience, a lot of the guys who are on the fringes of the top levels of golf, their finances are shot because they’ve put everything we’ve got into it. They have racked up credit card debt trying to cling on to the dream. The playing side of it is extremely brutal. But that’s part and parcel of trying to make it. You’ve got it spend the money to try and get there.
“For a long time, football has had a negative affiliation with money with a disproportionate amount of ex professionals going bankrupt less than 5 years after finishing playing football professionally.
“I have some friends who play professional football and luckily, this is slowly changing as more and more financial education and awareness is being drip fed into the game but, for me, I think there is still a long way to go. With golf, there have been instances of ex professionals who have played at the highest level running into financial trouble but, I don’t think the problem is as intrenched in the sport as it has been for years with football.
“Fundamentally, the issues that ex sports professionals, who have played at the highest levels regardless of their sport, run into is the sheer trajectory and speed with which their wealth increases coupled with the lack of education around money, budgeting and planning.
“I believe it is crucial for all governing bodies, clubs and players associations to start to put a far greater focus on this area at all levels in order to mitigate the risks that will inevitably come to those who make money quickly from their successes. Failure to do so, in my opinion, shows negligence at the highest level given the trouble some have found themselves in.”
Client base of sports people
Now he has become an adviser, Paul would like to help golfers across the UK with their financial affairs.
“From a business and revenue perspective, working with PGA teaching professionals may not be the most lucrative but, it is certainly some of the most rewarding work I do.
“Many PGA members struggle, the business is tough and with the expansion of the internet making things difficult from a retailing point of view coupled with the challenging environment that golf clubs in the UK are in, it means that many are struggling to turn a profit each year.
“I have a number of PGA members as clients and I love working with them all to help maximise the effectiveness of their financial planning both from a personal and corporate standpoint. Given the experience I have had in their shoes, I feel it is only right to give back and give them the help I wished I had been able to access when I was in the job.
“When I went from the playing side of things into the coaching space, I had a golf shop for two years, that shop was turning well over £250,000 a year, and I was lucky if I was making £20,000 profit out of it.
“Furthermore, working with PGA members does the added benefit of being able to tap into the incredibly diverse and extensive network that they have. The most powerful way to grow an advice business is by word of mouth and through positive experiences others have had, this has been the case with working with PGA members so far and I hope this continues”.
Promoting the career
Second careerist sports stars are now becoming a norm in the financial advice sector.
But there is more that can be done to reach out to them.
Paul said: “People in sports, especially at an elite level, are very well connected, whether that be through sponsorships, companies and people that have helped in the past, or through like the coaching side of things.
“I had clients who would be ideal clients for what I do now. It’s totally understandable why people in sport are coming into advice. I think awareness more than anything would help get people into the sector because, for me, what shocked me was the average age of the people doing this job.
“In the industry, a lot of financial advisers are coming up to retirement age. That, coupled with the ever-growing advice gap in the UK, is why there’s such a drive to try get more into the job. But I think the awareness that actually making that step isn’t as vast as you think it is.”
Paul also said that second careerists should not be “scared” to look at financial advice.
“When I was offered the opportunity to go to go to an open evening, my business was doing okay, and I had second thoughts about doing the adviser route,” he added. “I went to have a chat with the academy, but I was probably one of the only ones in the room not taking it seriously because it seemed like a big jump.
“But don’t knock it till you’ve tried it, go and have the chat, and listen to what we’ve got to say. For me, looking back which is obviously much easier now, my quality of life not just financially, but time with family has improved. I will be able to spend time with them on weekends, whereas in professional sport that was not a thing.
“The security has given me and what will become my family, is not even comparable to where I was. It’s not for everyone but go and listen to what firms have to say before you make that decision because it’s been a game changer.”
