FTAdviser Podcast

“At the very point where people need advice, they walk away from it”. This was a stark point made by Gillian Hepburn, head of UK adviser solutions and sales for Vanguard, on the latest episode of Tea with the FTA.Speaking to co-hosts Vanessa Barnes, founder of Hannay Wealth, and FT Adviser editor Simoney Kyriakou, Hepburn expressed her hope that targeted support and simplified advice would be a “stepping stone to full advice”.This might help people who have never had advice and who need help investing.However, she said she was always struck by how many people have experience of financial planning and have just “left”, particularly widows who, at the point when they most need help, leave their husbands’ former financial advisers.“I talk a lot about the situation where too many widows leave the adviser and you have to hope they go somewhere else,” she said.During the discussion, which is the last in the six-part mini-series, Hepburn said it was important for the financial services industry as a whole to help the millions of people who could pay for advice, but currently do not, understand the value of such a service.FT Adviser and the Women’s Wealth Alliance have teamed up to create a mini-series of vodcasts. The WWA, a working group of the Consumer Duty Alliance, has been tasked with a twofold goal: to help bring more women into financial services and to improve the financial resilience and education of women across the UK. This is no small task, as our series of six interviews, called Tea with the FTA, outlines.

Companies that fail to get the culture right will fail to hire the right candidates to help the business grow and succeed, according to Jenny Segal, founder of Speaking with Images.Segal, a former actuary and asset management salesperson who has now authored several books, said it was important to understand the positive impact on a company’s financials of having a great workplace culture.Speaking on the latest Tea with the FTA mini-series, Segal said it was clear that if we love what we do and see the purpose in what we do, then we will perform better.Conversely, if there are terrible cultures, there is the cost of having to rehire and retrain.“It’s one of these perfect things, where doing the right thing results in a better outcome,” she told co-hosts Vanessa Barnes, founder of Hannay Wealth, and Simoney Kyriakou, editor of FT Adviser.Barnes pointed out that a discernibly “elbowy, aggressive culture” of a firm can put off both men and women from even applying.“But if we get the firm’s culture right, this brings its own rewards,” Segal added.FT Adviser and the Women’s Wealth Alliance have teamed up to create a mini-series of vodcasts. The WWA, a working group of the Consumer Duty Alliance, has been tasked with a twofold goal: to help bring more women into financial services and to improve the financial resilience and education of women across the UK. This is no small task, as our series of six interviews, called Tea with the FTA, outlines.

“She just blew me away and that was day one.” Gabrielle Beaumont still remembers the impact of seeing a “formidable lady” in a senior role as she discusses the importance of visible female role models to inspire the next generation.Beaumont, chief executive of One Four Nine, told Tea with the FTA about how role models are invaluable and have a big influence, but questioned how to get those role models out into the profession.Vanessa Barnes, co-host of Tea with the FTA and founder of Hannay Wealth, said advisers need to get better at showcasing the profession to show off role models.“We need to be better at using social media ourselves, so that we push out the rubbish and then actually land what we [advisers] look like and what it [the profession] looks like,” Barnes explained.In this video podcast, FT Adviser and WWA look at the issues affecting women, and companies, in the financial services sector.Though the survey revealed 93 per cent of female practitioners would recommend the industry to other women, very few of these had come into the profession knowing about the career from an early age, so there was an educational opportunity outlined in the study.Moreover, there was a “glaring disconnect” according to Barnes, where a cohort of women just did not want to take on a regulated role, and another did not continue progressing in financial planning.FT Adviser and the Women’s Wealth Alliance have teamed up to create a mini-series of vodcasts. The WWA, a working group of the Consumer Duty Alliance, has been tasked with a twofold goal: to help bring more women into financial services and to improve the financial resilience and education of women across the UK. This is no small task, as our series of six interviews, called Tea with the FTA, outlines.

Marketing properly to two-thirds of the UK’s wealth owners is not a nice-to-have: it’s a commercial necessity.This is the view of Claire Blackwell, co-founder of The Next Stage. Blackwell has more than 25 years’ experience helping financial services organisations grow responsibly through stronger client outcomes, governance and strategy.She said over her years in financial services, she has experienced how products have been created and marketed “relatively cheaply” but almost in a “lazy way” that does not consider the potential full spectrum of advised clients.Blackwell told Tea with the FTA: “The marketing feels masculine, it feels just for the wealthy.“And then when it comes to marketing to women, the attitude has been to ‘pink it and shrink it’.”But when it comes to advice and money, people don’t want to see something that has been rolled in pink and glitter.The products and the quality of service should be the same; but what needs to change is the way in which this is marketed to different sectors, and when.FT Adviser and the Women’s Wealth Alliance have teamed up to create a mini-series of vodcasts. The WWA, a working group of the Consumer Duty Alliance, has been tasked with a twofold goal: to help bring more women into financial services and to improve the financial resilience and education of women across the UK. This is no small task, as our series of six interviews, called Tea with the FTA, outlines.

Charlotte Wheeler, senior wealth manager at JPMorgan PI, and a member of the Chartered Insurance Institute’s New Generation Programme, told Tea with the FTA about her pathway into the profession.She said her experience had been extremely positive, and the women she knows in the profession talk about how they are “helping people and empowering people” with such excitement.But, she said: “There is so much more we can do to help drive more women into financial services.“In my role, a lot of female customers ask specifically for a woman.“The stat [from the FCA] says around 18 to 19 per cent of advisers are women currently, so there is so much more we can do . . . to even out the playing field.”Vanessa Barnes, co-host of Tea with the FTA with editor Simoney Kyriakou, and founder of Hannay Wealth, spoke about the research done with the Women’s Wealth Alliance in 2025, which showed that 93 per cent of women already working in financial services absolutely love their careers.In this video podcast, FT Adviser and WWA look at the issues affecting women, and companies, in the financial services sector.Though the survey revealed 93 per cent of female practitioners would recommend the industry to other women, very few of these had come into the profession knowing about the career from an early age, so there was an educational opportunity outlined in the study.Moreover, there was a “glaring disconnect” according to Barnes, where a cohort of women just did not want to take on a regulated role, and another did not continue progressing in financial planning.FT Adviser and the Women’s Wealth Alliance have teamed up to create a mini-series of vodcasts. The WWA, a working group of the Consumer Duty Alliance, has been tasked with a twofold goal: to help bring more women into financial services and to improve the financial resilience and education of women across the UK. This is no small task, as our series of six interviews, called Tea with the FTA, outlines.

"Any actions need to be data-led” when it comes to tackling the advice gap and helping more women to join the financial services profession.This was one of the key principles that underlined the Women’s Wealth Alliance’s 2025 survey of women, their perception of the advice profession, and their careers within financial services.Talking to FT Adviser editor Simoney Kyriakou and Vanessa Barnes, founder of Hannay Wealth and chair of the Women’s Wealth Alliance on the inaugural Tea with the FTA vodcast, Emma Bull, head of engagement at the Consumer Duty Alliance, explained why the WWA was launched.In this video podcast, FT Adviser and WWA look at the issues affecting women, and companies, in the financial services sector.Though the survey revealed 93 per cent of female practitioners would recommend the industry to other women, very few of these had come into the profession knowing about the career from an early age, so there was an educational opportunity outlined in the study.Moreover, there was a “glaring disconnect” according to Barnes, where a cohort of women just did not want to take on a regulated role, and another did not continue progressing in financial planning.FT Adviser and the Women’s Wealth Alliance have teamed up to create a mini-series of vodcasts. The WWA, a working group of the Consumer Duty Alliance, has been tasked with a twofold goal: to help bring more women into financial services and to improve the financial resilience and education of women across the UK. This is no small task, as our series of six interviews, called Tea with the FTA, outlines.

FT Adviser’s Simoney Kyriakou speaks to Violeta Todorova, senior research analyst at Leverage Shares, about the risk-reward balance. Tune in to hear more about the importance of a long-term perspective and the potential for continued growth in equity markets.

In this episode of the FT Adviser podcast Antonia Medlicott, founder of Investing Insiders and The Times columnist, and Harry Woolman, global capital markets associate at Validus, join reporter Hereward Mills to discuss tax speculation, fiscal headroom and the pressures facing new prime minister Andy Burnham.