My Week at Brooks Wealth by Arran

My name is Arran, and I am a student at the Peterborough School studying A levels in Business, Maths, and Geography.

I have been doing work experience at Brooks Wealth Management in Peterborough as I am hoping to become a financial advisor after I leave school.

From my experience, I have learned that financial services firms work with a range of clients with many of them working with things like pensions or LISAs. I learnt that LISAs are a place to store money where it cannot be taken out unless the owner wants to buy a house or for retirement planning. However, the money that is added will have a bonus of 25% added to it by the government. This was helpful for me outside of work as I may have to open up an account similar to this when I leave home to pursue my career.

I have also learnt about the essential parts of being a financial advisor – when they meet and get to know the client. There is a process involving a fact find. This allows the advisor to find out information about a client such as if they know about how the advisors can help them and what kind of service or advice they require. They also help sort the will of a client so that assets are distributed according to the client’s wishes. By providing information like this the financial advisors help clients make informed decisions and navigate the complex parts of financial markets in a way that ensures the client has the best knowledge for the future and they know they get the best result possible from Brooks Wealth. They keep clients informed about market trends, economic changes, and geopolitical events that could impact their investments.

Brooks Wealth has a team with a wide range of specialists who have been able to answer any questions I had about what their jobs are and how they got into their profession. I was able to sit in a meeting with all of the advisors where they discussed the changes that are coming to pension schemes in the future and how they need to adapt their processes and knowledge.

I have worked with the admin team for most of the week and they have taken me through all of the different processes that they go through to register and complete the actions that clients need. I have seen many of the different forms as well as having a look into the work/life balance that each of the employees has. I was able to see fundamental parts of the business as well as attending 2 meetings with a networking group. There I was able to talk with a variety of people in different professions to see how they all help each other out.

After this week I feel that I am well informed as to how I should continue after school so that I can gain the knowledge that is required to become a financial advisor. I now know how often advisors work with clients and how much things like good networking can have an impact on how many clients you attract. I enjoyed my time working with Brooks Wealth and would recommend it to anyone who wants to learn about any aspect of a business that works in financial services.