Money Talks: Sebastian Elwell, Switchfoot Wealth
How long have you been in the financial services industry, and what initially drew you to this profession?
20 years. I started as a cashier in a bank because I needed a job, after 4 years I became a ‘financial planning manager’ with a couple of certificate level qualifications, I lasted about 1 year before I plucked up the courage to become independent as I had worked out that I hated the way the bank did things and wanted to work for the best interests of my clients – not hit arbitrary sales targets of a national bank.
Reflecting on your experience, what significant changes have you observed in the industry since you began your career?
We are better qualified, we are more client centric, but we still do not grasp the systemic power we hold as an industry. The financial system holds enormous power and we advisers are the one part of the system that can represent our clients as we are the only ones that take time to talk to our clients directly. We can embody the change that is needed across the financial system to builder a fairer, greener society. Change is coming, but too slowly at the moment.
If you could go back and advise your younger self when starting out in this field, what key piece of advice would you offer?
Be the change you want to see. We are all fractals of the bigger system, if we want a new pattern, form it yourself.
What strategies or approaches do you find most effective in building strong, long-term relationships with clients?
Spend time asking questions and spend a lot more time listening to the answers.
In your opinion, what are the most pressing challenges facing financial advisers today, and how do you navigate them in your practice?
Sometimes we get a group of people that are interested in sustainability and systems change and take them sailing for the day. We call it ‘Blue Water Thinking’ we immerse ourselves in nature and have long and deep conversations about the challenges we need to overcome as we navigate. If you want to get an environmental scientist, an actuary, an accountant and a systems change expert to all donate 8 hours to share their knowledge with you, it might be a big ask… If you invite them for a day sailing and promise them interesting conversation, it is surprising how willing people are to help your mission!
The climate and nature emergency are the greatest challenges to the financial advice industry today. What is the point of saving for a future that we will not get? If we cannot find a better narrative, then we will be the early casualties in the climate emergency. Financial advisers should be good at understanding non-linear and exponential change and they should be good at systems thinking as we have always worked with complexity and dynamic feedback in the financial system. Yet too often we are trapped in old patterns.
We have innovated a new advice model that rethinks financial planning methodology in the face of climate breakdown. We have written a ‘how-to’ guide for advisers which we share freely. We have been invited to join the ‘PFS Sustainable Advice Forum’ to help shape the thinking of the professional body when it comes to sustainability and we have been invited to the ‘Adviser Sustainability Group’ set up by the FCA to advise it on the implementation of SDR. We don’t have all the answers, but we are trying to shape a new pattern and we have had some success in this.
Can you share a particularly memorable success story or client interaction that reaffirmed your commitment to this profession?
I’ve many client experiences that I could share, but since we published ‘Sustainable Financial Planning’ we are also inspiring other advisers. Below is a note I received from a Chartered Financial Planner with 14 highly successful years under her belt in the industry:
“I wanted to drop you a note to say I have read your sustainable financial planning guide and just want to say THANK YOU!”
They say timing is everything… over the past few years I have felt so overwhelmed with how I find purpose in my career but reading this guide has set a very clear direction for me. As a financial planner and steward of client capital, I feel privileged with the duty of care and responsibility to genuinely have an impact and do what is in the best interest of a client's future.
The way you have framed climate risk to a client's planning and investment decisions and then offered a solution on how to address this with your 4 principles is pretty groundbreaking! So many light bulb moments and thought-provoking messages - it has to be the standard for advisers!
I feel I am in a unique/fortunate position in that I kind of have a blank sheet of paper in terms of how I grow/attract clients. This has given me so much clarity in how I start to do this meaningfully. I know there is a lot more I need to educate myself on and engage with but this has certainly provided the map! Here's to "being the change"! Thanks again for all of the time, knowledge and experience you have shared through this guide.”
With the rise of digital tools and platforms, how do you integrate technology into your advisory services?
Technology is certainly a problem. Technology encodes the current system and the current system is flawed, so technology just makes flawed assumptions and processes more efficient. We need to fix the underlying theory and purpose of financial planning and then use technology to scale the new methodology.
What do you see as the key issue on the horizon for the industry?
Non-linear climate breakdown. Here are a couple of links to papers by The Institute and Faculty of Actuaries (AKA the risk professionals) that every adviser should read.
The Emperors New Climate Scenarios: https://news.exeter.ac.uk/research/climate-scenario-models-in-financial-services-significantly-underestimate-climate-risk/
Climate Scorpions, The Sting is in the Tail: https://actuaries.org.uk/news-and-media-releases/news-articles/2024/mar/14-mar-24-climate-scorpion-the-sting-is-in-the-tail/
How will you leave your mark? (Either professionally or personally)
We are only 2 advisers at Switchfoot Wealth, but we have a plan to change the world by changing the financial system, by changing the financial planning profession.
We believe we have identified a leverage point in the system and we are leaning on that lever! If you have understood the climate science and the sensitivity of the earth system and you want to do everything you can to change the future, then you are in luck. To be a financial planner is to be one of the most important people in the world right now.
Join us! Download the guide, apply the 4 principles of Sustainable Financial Planning, change your business and change the world. We need allies. If you are a progressive adviser stuck in a firm of dinosaurs, then set up your own practice to shape the future or speak to us about joining ours. The Impact Report on our website sets out how we are applying system thinking to the project of system change.
And we end on perhaps the most important question …
What's your go-to Karaoke song?
Twisted Sister – We’re Not Gonna Take It.
#LeaveYourMark
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