This video series sees International Adviser chat with second careerist financial advisers to discuss their journey into the advice sector.
In the video above, Jake Barber talks about his move from derivatives trading to financial advice and the lessons he has learned from his transition in the sector.
Barber is now a director at SJB Global.
Transcript:
[Robbie Lawther] Hi. My name’s Lawther, News Editor, International Advisor, with another installment of ‘Why I Became a Financial Adviser’. Today we’re joined by Jake Barber from SJB Global. Thanks for joining us, Jake. Can you just tell us what you did before financial advice?
[Jake Barber] Yeah. So before I was a financial advisor, I was a derivatives trader in London, so my job was trading indexes and single stocks, more short term positions. So although in finance, very, very different to being a financial adviser.
[RL] And to follow up on that, why did you become a financial advisor?
[JB] So when I was a trader, I wanted something that was a bit more hands off on the investment science. I wanted something that provided more freedom, flexibility to live and work where I want, but also be my own boss. I enjoyed the finance part, but I wanted to be more client focused, which is where I felt my skills lives.
[RL] Has there been anything that surprised you since you become a financial advisor?
[JB] Many things I’d say. Probably the main one is the complexities of giving advice internationally, because if you were just an advisor in the UK, for example, you’ve only got one jurisdiction to focus on. You need to know the taxation for particular investments or contribution and stuff like that. But when you’re dealing internationally, you’ve got many different countries to focus on, but also the cross-border jurisdiction problem as well of knowing about the double taxation agreements in different countries. So it’s not just about where they’re living, it’s about their nationality, it’s about the regulation interpretation between those countries and then also keeping up with the changes. So making sure that the advice that you have given is actually still the best the best advice moving forwards.
[RL] And finally, what’s the most important lesson you’ve learned since joining the sector?
[JB] I probably say the most important lesson is to never stop learning because you may be an expert on one area this year, but five years down the line it could be completely relevant. So it’s about making sure you keep ahead of the curve. Me in particular is making sure that I then share that information with everyone within the firm and there’s information that somebody else may know that I don’t know. So it’s about making sure that we have a hub where we can all share information because if there’s ten or 15 people with different information, if we can all get our hands on the information as quick as possible, that means that we all are learning things as fast as we can. So I’d say keeping the knowledge up that way so that we are always as good as we can be in every different area.
[RL] Thanks for joining us, Jake. Thanks for your time.
