The Habits You Need To Build An 11-Year Career In Financial Advice | with Lloyd Simpson

I think the challenges in in our industry is if you grow, which we're all aiming to do, you're gonna take on typically wealthier clients, you're gonna grow a bigger book and more complex cases. You started off in it was in the business development side of things and straight into the advisory. Straight advisor, and I believe at the time I was the youngest advisor in the business. I know that you're very structured with your day and discipline is what's carried, but one of the things that's helped you, and I always say to people, when it's tough, discipline beats talent like all day long.

Company brand matters. If you move to a business and three months later you won again because they've not lived on what they've promised, the market knows, right? I've done a podcast recently with the trainee wealth funds. We bring those guys in on a salary, we help them all the way through to what we call a pathway advisor, then they become a standalone advisor.

But obviously, we've created that business where you can stay as long as you want. I would say it's probably in fact it is the only place that I've worked where it feels like everyone's trying to do the same thing, right thing, to benefit the business, not just themselves. Welcome back to another episode of Hoxton Life. Um, I'm Jacob Hall.

I'm the global director of advisory. I specialise in looking after a lot of the international planners and senior planners that we have across the business. Today I'm really excited. We've got Lloyd Simpson joining us.

So Lloyd has been with the company just over a year now. I've known Lloyd uh in the international profession for around 11 years, and he came across last October. He's actually one of the partners in the business, and he predominantly focuses on giving advice locally in the GCC. Um, and today we're going to talk about his journey, what's happened, uh challenges he's had along the way, and other parts of that as we go.

So, Lloyd, over to you. Um, introduction if you can tell a little bit about yourself and what you do, and then we can move forward. Yeah, uh thanks, Jake. So, as you said, I've been here 11 years, started my career at a large wealth management firm, been onshore, offshore, so both locally and then uh DIFC, married two young kids, and yeah, joined Hoxton a year ago almost.

Well, first of October. Fantastic. So when I was coming through my career, I worked for the the same firm that that Lloyd worked for, and we worked in different offices, and he was always known to be um a very successful um business development manager to start with, and then moved into the advice process and then financial planner, and then I've seen his journey progress along the way. So when he joined Hoxton, that was was really exciting for us.

Um but how did you originally get into financial planning? What was it that started you off? Um so I've been in finance well my whole career basically. So started retail banks in the UK, started off as a cashier, worked my way up to uh mortgage advisor, financial advisor.

And I was uh uh point where I was actually considering joining SJP. There was a few guys that I knew from back home, worked for the firm that we work for at the time I was young, no liabilities, and thought, why not? And uh moved over to Dubai. So 11 years ago, was that you came over on your own or where were you watching?

I came over on my own. Okay, fantastic. And you started off in it was in the business development side of things or straight into the advisory? Straight advisor, and I believe at the time I was the youngest advisor in the business.

Uh I was the youngest mortgage advisor when I was in the bank back in the UK and youngest financial advisor uh in the bank as well. Fantastic. And I do like to talk about this because I know from speaking to people over the years, it's not always you come over, you start off, clients start coming knocking on the door, and then it's it's all smooth sailing. I mean, there are some challenges along the way, and we don't need to go too far into it, but how was it at the beginning?

Really tough, really, really tough. I think look, you you take a chance, and it's it's ended up really well. The first uh first year, two years were were really tough, right? Really tough.

You're moving away from home, family, friends, you're going to somewhere I'd never been to Dubai before. I had friends that lived here which which helped, but you know the industry, Jake. It's uh yeah, it's it's very challenging. Yeah, and one thing I've noticed that's evolved massively over the last 11 years since I've what 12 years since I've been international is when I started, it was very much like this is what you do, and then you were just less to get on.

Whereas we've obviously worked really hard to build out the the the planner and the trainee wealth manager programs that really help people to move forwards. How did you go about it when you got here? Obviously, you started off in the market, you started taking on clients, and it it just slowly progressed. I mean, was it Yeah, slowly.

I mean, it's um I think back back then the industry was it was different. People kind of kept their own business units to their own business units. There wasn't a great deal of help, I would I wouldn't say. Not that the business wasn't supporting you, but internally within the business that there was very little structure.

Um yeah, f first year was was challenging. So you've got to go out and and find clients. You can be the best at what you do if you don't sit in front of of anyone. Um you're not gonna be very successful.

So that's always the most challenging part. I think relatively early on, um I I took on some very decent clients, uh actually, focused more on the individuals with with capital, and really from there focused on referrals. And that's when it kind of clicked to a the type of client I want to look after, um but to grow your business kind of naturally by doing the right thing, a good job, and get introduced to to friends or colleagues of clients. It's funny you said something there, which I I I when I look at us as a business now, I kind of laugh about.

But I remember when I was starting up and I'd go to people that were doing really well and ask them, oh, how have you done that? And how do you think? And it would be like almost as if I was asking them like personal questions. Not interested.

Not interested, because it was, you know, there was I think there was probably three or four times the amount of wealth managers in this region back then, 10, 11 years ago, and people was a lot more competition around, and it was it was tough. And one thing that I'd say we do pretty well is we try and make sure that everyone helps each other, but it does make a uh big difference. It does make a big difference, yeah. Big difference.

Yeah. And in that career so far, so you started off with the one firm. Um, how long were you with with the first firm for? Eight years, just under eight years.

Okay. And look, the it it was great. I had a I had a great I had a great time there, learned a lot. I think the challenges in in our industry is if you grow, which we're all aiming to do, you're gonna take on typically wealthier clients, you're gonna grow a bigger book and more complex cases.

And that's where I think the firm I was initially, there was a bit of a a bit of a ceiling. Um, and that's what kind of made me transition, I suppose, more on a professional market. So I moved down to DIFC. Uh there there were, you know, similarities between the firm and and where I was at DIFC, but it was more focused on the larger institutions, sort of private banks, uh private markets across an equity, and really sit on the client side of the table with these institutions to build the solutions and work alongside them, um, rather than purely just direct advice, which I'd done, you know, for the the prior eight years.

Yeah, the DIFC is a huge market, obviously heavily regulated. It's really important to us as we know. We've recently got our um DIFC license granted and we're opening the office up down there. Um, but obviously you went through that period and then we started speaking.

I think I think you spoke to Chris for a number of years, didn't you? Known known Chris for a number of years. Yeah, known Chris for a long time, and then started speaking to Chris, and then you came across just over a year ago. I mean, moving from company to company is quite challenging, you know.

You've got to move, you you want your clients to continue relationships, things along those lines. I mean, what what why Hoxton? What what made you Well never won't do it again? Yeah.

It's it is it's a lot of work. So I mean, I think what when you build a business or certainly a reasonable, sizable business, uh the biggest risk, I think, to to your business is the inability to manage clients if they move. Or if you move actually, right? So there are many firms, not right or wrong, but many firms that will just service clients here or clients in in the UK.

But I think if you built a business here, it's very common for individuals to move, right? Or even yourself. I mean, my wife's from Australia. I'm not saying that's on the cars, I think the time zones would be a bit of a a nightmare.

But if you're not in that structure where you can offer advice when clients move, you've got a pretty big hole in your business. So that that's super that's super important. But same as you, Jake, you know, indirectly known each other for a long period of time. We we know everyone in the market.

And one thing that I would say with confidence is the individuals at Hoxton have proper businesses, right? They've got big books, big teams, and that was a massive attraction for me. Right. I wanted to be around people that have built businesses that I've not quite achieved yet.

Um, work with guys that I worked with many, many years ago that are friends. And I think I I feel that I joined Hoxton a bit of a turning point, right? You rebranded, big focus on on the app, there's acquisition, so there was a lot going on. And I think it's quite exciting to be part of a business that's growing so aggressively as well.

Yeah, I think that's really important. And I know when when Chris and the team set out, I don't know if that was the plan, but one thing that we've done very well is we've ticked off licenses in all of the locations, which as we've said before, is we've got advisors that are qualified across three or four jurisdictions, and they don't want to have to give those clients up if they move. I mean, the UK is having a huge problem with that right now, where people are sat in the UK, they've got huge books of clients, there's obviously this max mass exodus of wealth from the UK, and we've got advisors from the UK reaching out to us as a company saying, Can you please help my clients?

Because I can't look after them anymore. And I think that platform that if your clients move to the UK, you go on the UK license, you can continue servicing them. I mean, Australia's a little bit further away, but you may want to continue to doing it's doing so there. But now we've got obviously Europe, US, South Africa, UK.

Here we've got uh the two licenses. That knowing with your business that it can stay as your business longer term, or even if they go to a jurisdiction that you may don't maybe don't want to be qualified in, you know they're gonna get the level of service and you can still keep an eye on it. I think that's very valuable, right? It is, it is.

I think that there's a you know commercial aspect. You work really hard to bring clients on, do the best you can for those clients, and you want to keep that relationship. But I think our job is a little bit more than just commercials, right? So I'm sure you're the same, Jake.

Most of my clients, I know their wives, their kids, we get on really, really well, and those relationships have been for three, four, five years or longer. The last thing you want to be in a position or be forced to do is just say, look, I work for a business that doesn't have the capability to continue that relationship moving forward. Um the client doesn't want that. We also certainly don't want that.

It it's super important to work for a business if you want to grow a big business, it's super, super important. Yeah, and I think the other part of that moving around, and if you do move from company to company, that I always find quite challenging, and I I forced you moved a couple of times before I found where I needed to be at Hoxton, is I found that the senior guys kind of told me what I wanted to hear. And when I when I got there, it was kind of not exactly what was said.

I mean, not I mean there was never really too much, but it what I found really uh refreshing when I dealt with Chris is it was kind of he Chris is very straight. You know, he tells you what's actually happening, and then when you join, there's no surprises, you know, you come on and it it kind of goes quite smoothly. That transition across, I remember working through with you, which it I mean, it's it's never easy because you do have to speak to all your clients, you have to talk to them about why you're moving for your career.

Yeah. I mean, your I remember your conversation, it was quite, I'm moving for my career, and I'm moving to being in a firm that's going to suit what I do longer term, but it also was the right thing for your clients. I mean, how was that transition? Um, as transitions go, pretty seamless.

Um, I mean, to your point, I I agree, you know, many people kind of tell you what you want to hear. That's changed slightly, right? Because we're we're now in an environment where your book has value and company brand matters. If you move to a business and three months later you've gone again because they've not lived on what they promised, the the market knows, right?

So I think a lot more people are aware of that. But the the team, and I'm speaking admin team, phenomenal, right? I mean, the the admins in the office were working evenings, weekends, not like ask them to, to get my clients moved across. Couldn't pull them, absolutely phenomenal.

Good, and that that's good feedback for us because that's something I mean when I moved across four and a half years ago, there was a few challenges, and then we refined it, and then somebody else moved, we refined it, and we're obviously always going to try, as we do with everything, we try and look at what went well, what didn't go so well, and how can we make it better. And I think that's part of our environment as a business, you know. And you mentioned something before, and we talked about it about people not really wanting to help.

I mean, we've obviously got our three core values we've got growth mindset, which I know you fit into, we've got hard working, which which you know you do work hard, and then we've got no ego. And that rule that Chris instilled that anybody in the business, if if you come to Mahmo or Kareem or myself and ask for help, it's a non-negotiable. We have to help, and that's what's created that real culture. I think the environment that we've created is good, it's an environment of people wanting to do well, but it's also an environment where everyone wants every we do it as a team and we do focus on the team numbers as well, um, you know, the onboarding of AUM and things along those lines.

How have you found coming into that environment? How have you settled with it? I probably know 20 30% of the office anyway, Rice. That that was super easy, but yeah, everyone is is really helpful, and I I think I would say it's probably the in fact it is the only place that I've worked where it feels like everyone's trying to do the same thing, right thing, to benefit the business, not just themselves.

That that was non-existent in all other businesses, right? So I think the ethos across the business, people certainly work hard, much harder than I actually won't name names, but you know, guys work really, really hard there. And as you said, if there's markets that maybe you've not got exposure to or your clients going to a market like Australia has helped me out uh recently, everyone's really happy and willing to support with that, which is which is fantastic. Yeah, and I think that's you know part of the journey.

I mean, we bring guys in, and I've I've done some podcasts recently with the trainee wealth managers, and we bring those guys in on a salary, we help them all the way through to what we call a pathway advisor, then they become a standalone advisor, then they become a senior advisor, partner stage where you are. But obviously, we've created that business where you can stay as long as you want. If, for instance, your clients all moved to Australia, they can be sold back to the business and there's value in that as an asset.

I mean, but we've also people talk quite a lot about oh, it's very hardworking, we're all disciplined, and we all work super, super long hours. That's not the case either. If you know, if you get to a point where you've got 60, 70, 80, 100 million under management, you say, Well, do you know what? I'm just gonna service my client bank and I'm gonna work the hours I want to work, we promote that as well.

I mean, I know that you're not there yet and you're in that growth phase again, and you and you want to build the client bank, but having that as an option is obviously good for you and your family, right? It is, and I think you're left alone within reason to build your business how you want to build it, right? There's some advisors out there that want to work in all these different countries, and they can do. They might have two, three, four hundred clients in some cases.

Um I'm personally looking for a large business, small number of clients, right? Um and there's there's not a wrong or right, but the infrastructure in the business is is there to support it, and you can run whatever business you want. It's just important to make sure you've got the team around you to look after the clients continuously. Yeah, agreed with you.

And obviously, we heavily focused on technology. So you've seen our technology in just in the last 12 months. I mean, we've grown out, we've got our wealth flow, we've got our app, we've then recently this week, as you know, we're we're using a lot of the digital onboarding. How has that been integrating that into your business?

How is that helping you? It has it has helped. And it's quite difficult to achieve, really, if you think of all the institutions we work with, right? All of the providers, all of the jurisdictions.

There really hasn't to date been an app that you can kind of track everything. Nothing's perfect, right? We're gonna keep keep making it better and better. But I think visibility for clients is is very important.

Some institutions are better than others, so clients knowing what's going on at all times is is very, very important. We're now transitioning as a business to to streamline that whole process, which has been not just for Hoxton, for all businesses, extremely clunky. And I know Chris and you talk about a one-day client uh quite a lot. I know myself and everyone in the office, if we achieve that, we'll be you know very, very happy.

But the technology is great, right? So we've transitioned for being able to send fact finds to clients online, rich profiles to clients online. The more information that we can have, the better advice that that we can give, right? Whether it's assets that we look after or we don't look after, you don't want to be in a position where a client's got you know assets being managed elsewhere by a bank or another firm.

You've got no visibility of of those assets. You don't know if their portfolio you're recommending is diversified or not. You don't know if there's overlap in the portfolio. So that technology piece is very, very important.

Um it's great for you as an advisor as well, right? To know where everything is and do the best job that you can. Yeah, I think that from something you said there made me start thinking back to when obviously when we both started off being advisors and you're driving around the city and you're doing paper fact finds, and then you're trying to write notes in between meetings, and then you get back to the office later in the day and you've forgotten 50% of what you said. Then we used to get these fact finds and we used to stick them under the desk, you know, and there was thousands of them, you know, all full of all these fact finds.

And you to go back and revisit that was really challenging. So, one of the reasons why we built Matrix, which is our own CRM system, and all the fact finds are on there, we can go back into that data. So, when business markets changed, for instance, when pensions became pretty tough, we went back to the client bank, we looked at all of the fact finds, we went, right, these are the opportunities that you've got within your client bank, and it's mad to see how much that's evolved and how much more efficient you can be when you use technology.

You you can be really efficient, and I think it's also from a client's perspective, you know, we're we're going to a client and we're looking after for the most part their core assets, right? They're really, really important to not just them but their family. And you start that relationship, you're you know, you're recommending what you're going to do to benefit them. But it's important for clients to be able to look back, right?

They have they have all the data, they can see all the valuations, they can see everything that you've discussed, all annual reviews are sent to clients so they're documented. So I think for us, that visibility is very helpful. But for clients, it also ensures that the roadmap we set out since inception to execute on, we're doing that. And if we're not, we can be held accountable.

So I think it's it's good both for clients and and for advisors as well. Yeah, and I I don't want to dwell on the tech for too long, but I think the biggest learning I've had from the technology is it allows me to interact with the clients. And whereas years ago you'd go out and give them a valuation once a quarter or once a year, or whenever you saw them, now you can have that interaction, you can build them out the wealth flow, which is our cash flow modeling tool, and you're actually educating them, which makes your job easier.

You know, the more that they understand what you do, the easier it becomes. I mean, I I always talk about pots, so I have three pots that short, long, you know, like like like probably you do. My clients will regularly say to me, I've got too much in my small pot, I need to move it to my middle pot, you know, and that's just the education piece coming across. But uh the funny one is since we got the app and you know my clients started downloading it, putting it into the wealth flow.

I've had clients that I've had for years that suddenly go, I forgot to mention that I've got this account here. Or I forgot to mention that I've got another property in Spain. It's like, well, what do you mean you forgot to mention it? It's not it's not normally till I don't know, 12, 18 months into relationship when there's there's something they didn't disclose from from the outset, but that that's trust, right?

And and that's what that's what we're here to build. So yeah, very often, and if you look back at the fact finds from when we first started it, Jake, you know, versus actually what we can do now, it's I mean it's it's a it's a complete different industry actually. And and you've seen there's a lot of advice in the market 11 years ago. A lot of them aren't here now.

Yep. Uh, I think that's that's good for the market. I think it's good for clients, but yeah, the technology has has helped a lot. I think that actually financial planning in the GCC is probably in the best shape it's been.

I think that we've obviously worked very hard on our brand, as you said, the rebrand, we've done all of the what we're doing now, the Hoxton Life, which allows people to see who we actually are before they meet with us. And I've noticed that a lot of more of the meetings, I still sit a few meetings, not as many now, but I sit with the guys on a regular basis. And I've noticed now that if somebody sits a first meeting and it moves to a second, generally the second meeting sits, and then if it goes to a fact find, it moves forward.

And it's not like when you are running around before seeing 10 meetings a week and maybe one would become a client, we're a hell of a lot more efficient because people and that's not because suddenly I become the best advisor in the world, that's because financial planning has become more trusted internationally because of the regulation. It's because our brand has become more trusted internationally, people go online, you know, it looks incredible. Um, and I've definitely seen that uptick in in the amount of clients that we on board and the time wasted in in between, uh, which is something that I track for the team.

I know you're quite big on stats as well. So, I mean, have you seen that shift in your business? I have, but I think it's it's as much to do. I mean, when you when you first move here, you you you're really looking for prospects to become clients.

Once you understand, I think A, what you're good at, right? What what you like doing, they're the type of prospects you look to speak to. That that net is not broad anymore, and your business uh evolves, right? Whether it's minimum requirements for clients, and that's not being picky or not wanting.

Look after people, but you've got to protect your business as well. And it's just as important to say no if it doesn't fit than it is to say yes and just keep taking on clients. Um, so yeah, my business has evolved. I would say a few areas that I look at.

So yes, I I focus primarily here. I mean, across my client base, I would say it's traditionally high net worth and and ultra high net worth, but I tend to have a top-down approach to looking at structuring first. It's it's very common, certainly for individuals that have lived here that have got assets everywhere, right? Brokerage account in the US, some in Jersey, something in the UK, something in the Isle of Man.

And just to make sure that from a legacy perspective, A, their family members know what they've got and there's a legal structure in place. If something happens, assets are uh passed along. It's looking after those type of clients is what I like doing. Um, not just not just them as professionals.

I think you can learn a lot from these people. I look after, you know, equity partners at law firms, really senior guys at tech companies, senior guys at your Deloitte, KPMGs, etc. But I think the proposition does expand when you start looking after professional clients rather than than than retail, whether that's across you know private markets as well as traditional markets, whether it means you can start looking or speaking to the the private banks or the investment banks.

And from a structuring perspective, you speak to law firms, it's not a it's not cheap to put these solutions in place, and you need to have a net worth to make it make it viable. So piecing all of that together is what I really, really enjoy and what I what I focus on. You know, not all of my clients have there aren't a lot of individuals in this market or advisors have focused on pension transfers, which I think is great business, right? You can help clients is a very important part.

I do find or have found though, you can become quite transactional. Yeah. Because it's just one dimensional, right? You're looking at one asset and then you're looking at another individual for a similar asset.

Whereas whereas my business now is very much repeat business, the type of clients I have do well, they have liquidity events or you know, equity releases or RSUs or stock options from the business. And it's just kind of putting a structure in place, roadmap in place, and executing it. And as I said before, really my goal as a business is to have fewer clients, but you know, a large last large asset base. I think what you've done really well is you've niched, you know, and you've not come niche down too far.

But when we start off, we like this, yeah. We go and try and see everything. Certainly do. I mean, when I first started, I remember I did it by nationality, so I'd sit with 10 people from one country, 10 people from another country, 10 people from another country.

And I joke about this, but I remember I sat with 10 Germans, and I'm quite chatty. And then I went back and I just did got nowhere with any of them, and I think it was because it was too much of a forward and I was just chatting away, and it was a bit more transactional. But you've niched quite heavily towards the technology sector, towards the professional services. And what I think I've got from those conversations with you before is those people understand what you do, they understand you provide a professional service and you've come to a place where it seems to work for your business.

But I think you've got to start wide, find your niche, and then narrow down. And then when you narrow down on it, that's when the referrals start. Because I I can almost guarantee you go into one tech firm and you know six people that work in the same place that you can and because you've got a good relationship, you can say, Well, I work with X or Y, and that will will obviously help you scale your business, right? You have to scale your business.

You you know, as I said, when when you start that nets wide, and that's fine. I'm sure you did uh as well, Jake. But it was quite common when we first started to you know be driving down to Dubai Airport to see someone over to Abu Dhabi later that day, you know, it's too time intensive and it's and it's not productive either, right? So I think it we we all go through that stage where you're starting to build a business, and it doesn't matter what business you're in, it's always really, really challenging to start with.

It doesn't matter what business you're in. But if you stick with it, you understand what you're good at and where I think you can add the most amount of value and you focus on that and you don't try and go off in too many different directions or get distracted or someone's doing something that seems exciting. You can build a really, really good long-term, robust business for yourself, for your family, and in turn, very, very good for your clients by knowing what you're good at, showing as much value as possible, and I think staying in your lane essentially.

Yeah, agreed. And I I've seen over the last 12 months, obviously you came in and it was you and you started off, and then you've slowly now built out a team around you, so you've got business development. Thankfully, you yeah, which but you have to do like it's quite a lonely world out there when you're when you're on your own. I think Chris led the way with that about building out a structure where a team, I mean, I have a power planner now that co-services my clients with me.

Previously, I would never have done that because it's a big trust thing and it's like, oh God, he's gonna be you know dealing my clients all the time. But I've seen that develop out for now, and you've obviously tell me a bit more about how that team's grown and and how important it is to you. Well, I think that that you can't have a good business if you haven't got a team. And I've always kind of been really big on this.

So, Delhi, uh obviously we worked together for for many years. You know, I used to have you know three, four guys that worked with me, all of my clients knew them. We worked collectively to work with those clients. When I moved down to DIFC, it it just got a lot more restrictive.

It was all internally, right? There was internal power planners, internal admins, and that's fine. I'm not saying what's right or wrong, but it it did seem a bit odd. So moving to Hoxton, building that again has come with its challenges.

So I've got Elsie now, um, who works phenomenally hard. She is phenomenal at what she does. Zhan, who was an advisor in the UK, moved over in June as my associate. Uh, and then Oliver works for for U and I uh as well.

So that that team's very, very important. I think Zhan is um I mean he's very capable, right? He's an advisor in the UK for a very long period of time. He'll be servicing a lot of my clients moving forward, really good at what he does.

Um, and yeah, that that team is very, very important to to grow or scale any any of our businesses. And I think it's so important. I think you know, you're just one person run running around and you know, having that team behind you, there's only so much you can do. And actually, there's stuff that as advisors and planners, we're not very good at.

So having somebody that's a little bit more gets into the weeds, like a poiner that enjoys the research. And I mean, I I still do enjoy that, but the time restraints around that has made a massive, massive difference to my business as well. So, enough about business. Obviously, I think we've got a fairly good scope on that.

Obviously, Dubai itself, you've been here a long time. I know you, you know, obviously you've got your wife, got the the two girls. Life is pretty good over here? It's it's very good, yeah, right.

I think sometimes it takes going back to the UK to realise how how good we have it here. Summer's awful, um, obviously, which we go through every year, and sometimes I do question it around July, August time. But I think from a business perspective, I think it's one of the best places in the world to to be. I I really do.

But when you have a family, right, safety is super important. And you know, we see these things in the news in the UK or wherever else, but certainly having two two young girls, that's that's so so important for me, wherever, whether it's here or I move somewhere else, safety is very, very important. It's tax advantageous. Uh, it's got great restaurants, beaches, etc.

I think you just need to get out from time to time because although it's fantastic, there's not quite as much nature, or you know, you're or I'm certainly aware that the girls spend their life in five-star hotels, which is not something that I did when I was younger, and not something I want to get them too accustomed accustomed to, but Dubai's uh it's it's great. There's good people here, full of expats, you can meet a lot of people. Um yeah, best decision I made was to move into Dubai.

I mean, I I moved to Dubai from Abu Dhabi last year and it was a big transition shop, but obviously we settled in really well. But it's funny, I mean, you just say that about the girls in life. I mean, I I said to Spencer and George on Sunday, we got up Sunday morning, we went to do um rugby and then we got back. I said, Oh, should we go to uh a pool today and we get these passes to go to the Atlantis?

I said, You fancy going to the Atlantis? They said, No, I don't really like the Atlantis, Daddy. Can we go somewhere else? And I just thought, God, what am I creating?

I mean, I'm I'm in a bit of trouble here. So uh one of them. So obviously, uh you you talk about the family, I mean the the the girls thing. Hobbies, you have any hobbies here?

Um, well, I mean, we work a lot, right? So for me, it's just it's the gym and fitness. That's that's something I enjoy. It's a non-negotiable six, at least six days a week.

Um, I'm doing something, normally gym or something along those lines. So, yeah, aside from that, it's it's gym, it's work, and then really I just want to switch off and spend time with the family over over the weekends. I know that you're very structured with your day, and discipline is what's carried well one of the things that's helped you. And I always say to people, when it's tough, discipline beats talent, like all day long.

So, what does an average day for you look like? I think discipline is is very, very important. So, I mean average day, I'm up at quarter to five pretty much every morning. Saturday slightly earlier, because I have to travel to our cruise to go to the gym because the one in Jamira Park is it's justn't open.

So I'm in the gym for an hour, get home, always get the girls up, breakfast, etc. I'm either working from home or or in the office, spend a lot of time with with Z and um with Elsie, really just planning a day and staying on on top of things. Some some weeks it can be prospect meetings, others it's literally just speaking with my clients, we're going to lunch with clients, whatever, whatever that looks like. Over the last well, since my youngest daughter was born, what I've tried to do with pretty good success actually is I don't sit meetings now from 5 pm to 6 30.

Right? So I'm I'm always home, dinner, bath, bedtime, and they'll jump on calls in in the evening. I normally work in evenings, you know, three, four nights, nights a week. And that's the consistent day after day after day.

Uh gym's always been very important for me. I think I started in the gym at 50, well, I did at 15 years old. Even when my first daughter was born, Jake, I might miss three or four days. Because mentally, for me, if if I if I don't do that, I just don't think I'm gonna have a productive day.

Doesn't matter if I'm tired. I was joking you earlier about what happened with the fire alarms in the house earlier. Doesn't matter what happens, I have to get in and get that done. You know, it's just an hour, start the day, earphones in, it's it's your own time before emails and calls and everything else happens, right?

Yeah, and I suppose let's touch on that discipline a little bit more, and you know you've got a fantastic structure in it. Or when you told me about you go home and put when you go home and you dinner with the kids and bath them, I mean I was like, God, I wish I I could do that. And I have started to do it a couple of days a week, actually, and I now take the kids to school two days a week as well, because you know, look at what other people do successfully, because there's there is enough hours in the day.

But I suppose going back and talking to the younger, I mean, you're extremely successful at what you do, you've been through the through the rounds to get to where you are. I mean, what what advice would you give to somebody starting out in this profession now and what do they really need to focus on? Well, I would say if uh if they're young without kids, work as hard as you can before you have kids, right? And I I say it, but but it's it's true, right?

It's I think and it's not to not go and enjoy yourself, but I think if you if you work in your 20s really hard and you are disciplined and you do what you say you're gonna do, by the time you're in your 30s, you the foundations are set, right? So I think do what you say you're gonna do, work as hard as you can. You know, there are other things that are important, but that I think that is is super important when you're you're certainly in your 20s, early 20s. Um and have a hobby here that doesn't involve necessarily going out and drinking, yeah, right?

Because you you see, you see, people move from the UK where they were where they played football, whatever it was, they move here and all they do is work. And if you haven't got something outside of that, so for us it's it's family and gym. If you haven't got anything else, you get distracted. It's very easy to do that here.

So yeah, I would just say work work really, really hard. If you're in our sort of sector industry, focus, don't cast that that wide net, focus on building assets, building value, building relationships, then you'll do really, really well. Yeah, no, good advice. I mean, it's something you said there.

I speak to a lot of the junior guys, and I feel like that old guy that used to say things to me, and I always looked at him and went, Yeah, whatever, mate. But I say to them, you'll never have more time than you do when you're 25 years old. Like, you know, especially when you're starting in the training wealth manager role, you've got no clients of service, you've got no family to get home to, you know, it literally you've got 24 hours a day, seven days a week. You know, and I've seen I'm I've I've done podcasts with people like Ravi, who has done that very, very well.

And his view is like, if I work hard now, when I do have kids, I can enjoy the luxuries that you have with your family and things like that. And I think educate yourself as well, right? Because it's if you haven't got the client base, you you can spend that time getting your exams to do the business you want to do. It's quite challenging if you've got a hundred clients to service, as well as then finding time with family, etc.

So work hard, get educated, and you'll do very well. And Ravi's a great example of that. Yeah. So this year, I've seen obviously you started off in the year, it was very much around centering around your clients, getting them back on, you know, getting them all bedded into the apps, bedded into the programs, bedded into the systems.

You've started to take on new clients again, which is fantastic to see. We're heading into the end of Q3. How's this year gone? It's it's gone well.

Next year will be better, yeah. Right, because it's been very admin time intensive. And as we mentioned, I haven't had a team really up until I would say June. I mean, Elsie joined me in in January, but she, you know, had to learn the processes in the business.

So it's gone really well. Clients are clients are happy, I'm happy, but I think next year is where we can where we can really go at it. These next 12 to 13 weeks, actually, yes, they will bring on clients this year, but they will shape 2020, uh 2026. You know, this last quarter's work I always say makes the difference to how next year starts.

If you come in in January and you've got a decent pipeline of business, you know, you all of your clients have been reviewed, everything's up to date, next year's a hell of a lot easier. Um, and I know you're very structured and disciplined, so I'm looking forward to seeing how that last quarter goes. Yeah, well, I mean, I noticed it, right? So I joined in in October last year and we went to Australia on the 6th of December.

Yeah. Right. So that was uh, I mean, not perfectly timed, but it is what it is. But that that was challenging because you're you know, moving clients to the new business.

You're in Australia, there's time difference, people are still working, although you're you you know you're trying to do as much as you can. So yeah, head down for the rest of the year. He said, built the foundations now, team are here, onboarded clients, business has been great. That will continue for the rest of the rest of the year.

And the longer-term plan is, as you mentioned, you're going to look for some higher net worth, ultra higher net worth clients, keep building that client bank out, build the team around you? Yeah, I th I think it's um I said my my focus are I would say those those wealthier clients. I think internally, and we've already started to do this actually, is is build that private proposition out. DIFC will will help for that, and I know Chris is very keen to do that as well.

So I want to be a part of that from a Hoxton perspective, continue to build the business. Zee joined me, as I said, in in June. I want to get him to doing what I know he wants to do, and that's an advisor position. Um, over the next one, two years, I think it's very important.

Help people within the business, which I think you know we we both do. Delhi, as I mentioned before, worked with for a long time and he's doing super good in the business now, which which is nice to see. So for me, it's just continue to build the business, try and be in involved within Hoxton to build that private proposition out and and really just continue to add value to the clients. Yeah, excellent.

I mean, listen, it's it's been exciting to see you integrate, come on, and and we've all had learnings from you. I mean, you've done a lot of work with the guys now, you've gone over your proposition, so I'm excited to see that evolve. Obviously, great opportunity for for anybody in this profession now, especially in this market with the amount of people moving here, which is obviously exciting. But Lloyd, thank you very much for coming on today.

I'm sure we'll have you back on again and see how the journey goes over the next 12 months. But good luck for the last quarter and I look forward to uh seeing you close out the year. Thanks very much.