Taking a new career stand

Taking a new career stand

Hiren
Name: Hiren Nandha
Job title: Partner
Location: London

Hiren Nandha was not always a financial adviser. In fact, he initially studied law,  but decided to take a different path and join St. James’s Place as a paraplanner. 8 years on, hear how Hiren has since developed into a fully qualified adviser working in the SJP Partnership

Hiren studied law at university, fully intending to become a lawyer. Although he always aspired to help people, Hiren fell out of love with law after completing his post-graduate degree. He wanted to do something that involved building relationships with people for the long term. This led him to join St. James’s Place: “It was a massive step to press the life reset button. It was quite a gamble, given that it was a completely new industry. Starting a new career was daunting, to say the least.” 

Hiren always knew he wanted to advise clients, so completed the required exams and qualified as an adviser with his Level 4 Regulated Financial Advice Diploma. Whilst studying, he worked as a paraplanner, supporting advisers to ensure they gave clients the right advice, resulting in a solid foundation for his own advice career.

 When the opportunity arose to join Sigma Financial Planners Ltd – a Partner Practice founded by his friend , he knew the opportunity was too good to turn down. 

The St. James’s Place Financial Adviser Academy supports people with everything they need to know about becoming an adviser, providing them with knowledge and expertise on supporting clients, skills workshops, and even guidance on attracting new business. Hiren joined Term 2 of the programme, bypassing the first term of the Academy as he was already qualified and achieved Chartered status. 

The Academy supports both qualified and non-qualified individuals to become financial advisers. Additionally, St. James’s Place are keen to support and promote continued professional development. Not only is Hiren diploma qualified, he is also a Certified Financial Planner (CFP) with the Chartered Institute for Securities and Investments (CISI). “Becoming a CFP was intense, but I’m so glad I did it.” Hiren hopes to become a Chartered Fellow soon, which is achievable due to his professional experience. 

The Academy offers a blended approach to learning, with some live and some self-service training. Hiren found the box sets, consisting of on-demand sessions curated around specific training areas, particularly useful: “They worked for me as they were interactive and engaging: “They included various scenarios, such as dealing with objection handling.” 

Hiren also actively supported his cohort, as due to experience working within the SJP Partnership; he knew the systems inside out and offered extra training sessions for his peers.  We all supported each other, and our cohort had a good family feel. We’ve now formed a peer group, meeting every 6-8 weeks to check how things are going and bounce ideas off each other.” 

When thinking about the future, Hiren looks forward to continuing to grow his client base and helping people achieve financial freedom. “If you’re going to go for it, you need to commit 101% - get the buy-in and support of family and friends as this is a huge change, not just professionally but from a personal view too.” 

“Once you’ve established you can do it, it will be life-changing, and you’ll enjoy the whole journey!”