From JP Morgan to £150M AUM: - Building a Referral-Only Financial Advice Practice

Financial Planner Life Podcast

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2M ago 38:27

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Karen Berisford, Chartered Financial Planner and Fellow of the PFS, left a prestigious investment role at JP Morgan to build a client-first advice practice with St. James’s Place. She prioritised trust, time control, and service over scale-at-all-costs.

In this episode of the Financial Planner Life podcast, Karen shares how she grew to £150M AUM without relying on social media or paid marketing. Instead, she focused on referrals and long-term, values-led growth.

You’ll learn:

How to transition from investments to advice
The fear and reward of becoming client-facing
Turning one ex-colleague’s “yes” into a thriving network
Why trust, consistency, and integrity beat any sales pitch
The realities of flexible working when you run your own practice
How the Women Returners Network helped her hire two standout advisers
The compounding effect of delegation, leadership, and support
The key benefits of the SJP partnership model
Why building optionality starts long before a sale

If you’re serious about building a meaningful career in financial planning, this is your blueprint.

🎧 Listen now, subscribe, and share the one insight you’ll put into action this week.

Be sure to follow Financial Planner life on YouTube for extra content about career development within Financial Planning.

Reach out to [email protected] in regards to sponsorship, partnerships, videography or podcast production.

Want to appear on the Financial Planner Life podcast? Drop Sam a message.

Chapters

1. Why Leave JP Morgan? (00:00:00)

2. Motherhood, Time Zones, and Burnout (00:02:40)

3. Discovering Financial Planning via SJP (00:04:55)

4. The Leap to Self-Employed Partner (00:07:10)

5. Turning a Network into Clients (00:10:20)

6. Referrals to £150m AUM (00:13:10)

7. Capacity, Service, and Hiring Advisors (00:16:20)

8. Women Returners and Building a Team (00:19:10)

9. Flexibility vs Reality of Hard Work (00:22:10)

10. Upbringing, Drive, and Money Mindset (00:25:00)

11. Trust, Emotions, and Client Relationships (00:28:00)

12. Principles: Integrity, Learning, and Network (00:31:00)

13. Growth Without a Niche or Social Media (00:33:20)

14. The Power of the SJP Partnership (00:36:00)

15. Building for the Long Term and Exit (00:38:10)

257 episodes

#Careers #Business #Financial Advice #Financial Planning #Paraplanning #Paraplanner #Trainee Financial Adviser #Entrepreneur #Financial Careers #Sam Oak #Financial Advisors

From JP Morgan to £150M AUM: - Building a Referral-Only Financial Advice Practice

Financial Planner Life Podcast

published 2M ago

MP3•Episode home