Ready for a career change? Ask SJP about financial advice – £200 voucher to be won

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Hello everyone!

We're delighted to welcome Louise McMahon, Siobhan Sammon and Megan Cheyne, Academy Recruitment Managers at St. James's Place (SJP), who'll be here answering your questions about careers in financial advice.

Whether you're considering a career change, thinking about returning to work after having children or wanting to build your skillset in a new industry, this is your opportunity to ask your questions.

56% of wealth transferred by 2048 is projected to be inherited by women, but they remain underrepresented in the financial industry; only 18% of regulated financial advisers are female*. St. James's Place is passionate about encouraging more women into financial advice and is helping to break down some of the misconceptions about starting a finance career.

Many people assume that working in finance means you need years of experience, a degree in economics or to be brilliant at maths, but that's often not the case.

Whether you’re ready for a new challenge or returning to work, the Academy offers a clear path into advice. It’s designed to help you build a career with purpose, flexibility, and the chance to make a real difference.

Through the St. James's Place Financial Adviser Academy, women can retrain, return to work or build a completely new career with a fully funded training programme leading to a Level 4 Diploma in Regulated Financial Planning.

The Academy is designed to be flexible and provides support throughout the journey, from studying for qualifications through to becoming a practising financial adviser.

The experts are here to answer your questions about:

• What it's really like to be a financial adviser
• The skills needed to succeed
• Flexible working and balancing family life
• The St. James's Place Financial Adviser Academy
• Career progression, earning potential and day-to-day life in the role

Perhaps you've wondered...

• Is financial advice a good career for parents?
• What does a typical day look like?
• What kind of person makes a good financial adviser?
• What support would I receive during training?
• What's the earning potential?
• Am I too old to retrain?

Whatever you're curious about, no question is too big or too small.

Aboout the team

Louise McMahon: Louise is an Academy Recruitment Manager at St James's Place, helping people from a variety of backgrounds transition into rewarding careers in financial advice. A mum of two boys, now 18 and 16, she remembers how challenging the early years of motherhood could be when trying to focus on her own career. Louise is passionate about meeting women considering a career change or return to work and exploring what financial advice could offer.

Megan Cheyne: Megan is an Academy Recruitment Manager at St. James's Place, helping people explore careers in financial advice. After 12 years in the automotive industry, she made a big career pivot herself and understands first-hand how daunting a career change can feel. As a busy mum of three, Megan is passionate about helping women build rewarding, flexible careers that fit around family life.

Siobhan Sammon: Siobhan is an Academy Recruitment Manager at St James's Place. A mum of 2, she understands the challenges of balancing motherhood, work, family life & ambitions. She is passionate about helping more women, particularly mums, discover opportunities within financial services. Her mission is to show women that becoming a mum doesn't mean putting your ambitions on hold; you can still build a successful career and
show your family that it's important to pursue your dreams.

The team will be answering questions from 21st Septemeber until 28th September, so post your questions below and they'll answer as many as they can.

We're looking forward to hearing from you!

• World Wealth Report June 2025, Capgemini World Wealth Report 2025
  ** Understanding the advice market: financial advice firms survey 2025, Financial Conduct Authority, April 2026

I’ve signed up to the emails for this, off the back of a Facebook advert. I think it was that. I’ve had some info through about transferable skills etc, but not sure what to do next. Can you outline the exact steps, cost and timeframe please? Thanks.

Edit to add, I’m aware I’ve posted this too early, but I’m hoping the post can sit here until 21st when you look at them.

What would be a good path into being a financial advisor for a parent who has taken 10+ years out of employment to care for children?

How can a newly minted grad get into this?

How flexible is the working pattern, are financial advisors self employed, and if so, how much time is spent on client generation?

Whatvis a realistic, achievable income in years 1 and 2?

What are the downsides of this profession?

Given that SJP has had to set aside over £300 million to refund thousands of clients for services they never received, do you personally feel embarrassed representing a firm that has consistently overcharged its customers?

Is there much travel involved? Do you receive a salary or work on commission?

There’s something about the wording of the adverts that give me MLM vibes. Maybe it’s the promise of a career change, flexible working around family life etc. So I’d also love to know what the exact salary is, if there is one. Also, do you sell to end users or do you end up having to recruit new financial advisors and make commission from them too?

I’d love a career change but I can’t really afford a drop in my salary so starting ‘at the bottom’ isn’t really an option especially with transferable skills and experience. What would the starting salary be?

I've been out of the workforce for 3 years and am considering a complete career change (after studying) , what would you say is the biggest challenge when starting the Financial Adviser Academy, do you thing there is enough support available to help build confidence along the way?

Do you think AI would replace the majority of jobs - including yours within the next decade ? If not why not ?

I didn’t go to university when I was younger, and it’s something I really regret now. I’m currently considering retraining as a nurse or midwife. I work as a carer at the moment, so I already have experience in the care sector, and I’m confident that academically I could cope with a university course.
My biggest concern is the financial side of it. With rent, household bills and the costs of running a home and supporting a family, taking time out of work to study would be a huge financial sacrifice. I’m worried that if I don’t take the opportunity now, I may never get another chance.
I have around £10,000 in savings, and my DH has a good income, but unfortunately not enough to cover all of our household expenses on its own.
I’d really appreciate any advice or experiences from people who have retrained later in life, particularly around how you funded a period of reduced or no income while studying. Are there grants, bursaries, student finance or other support available that could make this financially possible? I’d love to hear how others managed it.

Does it help if you have a degree already?

Is it possible to work remotely?

Is this something that would be PAYE or would someone need to be self-employed?

Is this a stable job? Or something that is more of a 'you need to be lucky'?

SJP are a highly successful company but were heavily scrutinised by the Financial Conduct Authority (the regulator) a few years ago regarding their customer fee structures, hence having to set aside a huge sum of money for claims. All of this was in the news at the time.

So their reputation is mixed, to say the least.

The training looks excellent but my understanding is that the SJP academy route leads to a self-employed role, which is fundamentally about selling financial products. Or you can join via one of their partner organisations and be employed by them.

It is essentially a sales role, so you would need to be comfortable with that and with the fact that they are Financial Advisors rather than Independent Financial Advisers, so cannot recommend the full range of products on the market to their clients. Would you feel okay with that?

You can study for Financial Advice qualifications elsewhere of course.

But if you want a rapid career change into a large company and are happy to go in with your eyes absolutely wide open (eg. there will be a need to actively recruit clients and may be some compromises along the way) then SJP could be a good route.