Financial Empowerment – My Story Blog
Quite a few people ask me why I do what I do, so I thought I would write it down for you!!
Education
I remember my parents giving me £5 when I was little to open a new bank account. Whilst I don’t recall how old I was, I still get excited thinking about that! I loved receiving bank statements and paying in gifts and seeing my money grow. (For those unaware, bank interest rates were in double digits for most of the years I was growing up, so I was lucky to experience seeing money in the bank actually grow, unlike today when every day my money in the bank loses money thanks to inflation and low interest rates!)
At the age of 13, I had a Bat Mitzvah (Jewish ceremony to celebrate becoming an adult), but my parents gave me an interesting option. I could have a big party, like my brother had the year before, or I could have a smaller party at our house and keep the difference in cost! That was my first, and most powerful, money decision.
Yes, I chose the smaller party and was so excited to pay the difference into my Post Office account!
Little did I realise the power of education and empowerment that moment and opportunity gave me at the age of 13.
I started earning money from the age of 14 when I worked at a local hairdresser – sweeping up hair and helping the hairdressers.
I look at these early years as being key in my own journey, and how I was fortunate enough to be able to gain control of my money. Not everyone has these opportunities and so the seeds of my passion for financial empowerment were planted.
Trading and Investment
From the age of 16 I wanted my career to be finance-related. At the time I was focusing on accountancy, but whilst I was working in an Accountancy firm during my gap year before studying Finance at university, I learned about some of the other options available out there.
After working in 2 different investment banks during my Summers whilst at university I realised I wanted to focus my career around investments.
So I left university with a job offer as a bond trader at Merrill Lynch (a large US Investment Bank at the time) and never looked back.
It was a very male-dominated environment, but I loved my job. I loved the fast pace and working with numbers.
After 7 years it was time to move on. In my time at Merrill Lynch I had met my now husband (in fact we were introduced by a friend I met on my first day at Merrill Lynch – so I have so much more than my career to thank my first employer for!). I had received a job offer from Fidelity International (a large asset management company), and so the next stage in my career began.
Motherhood
Whilst working at Fidelity I had my 3 children, and whilst I was fortunate to have a husband with flexible hours, allowing me to continue to work, I started to realise the challenges that motherhood and my gender posed when it came to work.
This was when mentoring and looking to help and support others within the workplace started to become part of my passions at work.
Diversity
After our youngest was born and I returned to work after 3 maternity leaves, a small group of us came together to start a Women’s Network within Fidelity. Over the years we built this into an international Diversity Network that fuelled my passions every single day.
My husband used to comment how I would talk about that far more, and with greater enthusiasm, at the end of the day than I ever talked about my actual job!!
Management
And after 18 years as a trader, I made a leap into management to work directly with the President (CEO) of Fidelity and the Executive Team. It felt like the greatest job in the world, teaching me about leadership and the challenges of running a large multinational company. And it made me realise how there was so much more I could do in the future.
And then it all changed.
Making a difference
With changes in our family life as well as with my health, I could see how easily life changes happen and change our own journeys within the blink of an eye.
In 2018 I left Fidelity and the next stage of my career began. I was able to be at home with our children, and that is when the plans to start my own financial planning business started becoming a reality.
I wanted my career to be an amalgamation of the areas that gave me passion –
- Money and finance
- Mentoring, diversity and making a difference
- Education
The impact I can have on every person that I meet in my business drives my passion for financial wellbeing. Helping those that are scared of money, and showing them the power of financial freedom is what gets me out of bed in the morning.
Helping translate the complex money jargon out there and enhance people’s understanding around money and finance fuels my love of the business I run.
And so here I am… running my own business, being with my family more and helping to tackle the obstacles around financial education one person at a time….
And whilst I can’t predict what tomorrow will bring, I am preparing and planning for the future as well as I can (in the same way we all need to do with our finances), and can’t wait to see what tomorrow brings.
