PFS will use cash reserves to extend new talent funding

The Personal Finance Society (PFS) has confirmed it will use some of its cash reserves to continue to attract new talent into the advice profession.

Last summer, the organisation committed £1m of funding to its three-year ‘Pathway to the Profession’ initiative, but it has now said it will carry on putting money into the project beyond this time frame.

The first £500,000 of the £1m has included £200,000 to help 500 new entrants begin their Diploma in Regulated Financial Planning.

Each of these has also received free PFS membership.

It also included £50,000 for a new annual symposium to showcase the profession to young people and nearly £200,000 in partnership funding for scholarships, internships and career support.

The second phase of investment will support four initiatives: a PFS summer school; social media activity, including investment in the Pennies to Pounds financial literacy platform; national UCAS Discovery Events; and a dedicated talent hub at the PFS Festival of Financial Planning in November.

At an event to celebrate the first anniversary of the scheme, held in London last night (14 July), PFS president Carla Brown was pressed on whether funding will be available beyond the three years initially announced.

In response, Brown said that “it’s no secret we have cash reserves” and that it intended to use them to keep the momentum going.

“We are creating something special,” she added.

Brown said that “we are here to continue investing in new talent”, but that the PFS had “not yet firmed up the numbers” when it came to how much it would be.

“We want to go away and assess what works and what doesn’t work first,” she told those attending.

“One year ago, as the Personal Finance Society marked its 20th anniversary, we made a very clear commitment. We said we would open doors. We said we would remove barriers. We said we would invest in tomorrow’s talent.

“And we backed that with the largest investment we have ever made into the future of financial planning: a £1m commitment to attract, support and develop the next generation. That was not simply a funding announcement. It was a statement of intent.

“It said that if we believe financial planning is a profession with a vital role to play across society, then we also have a responsibility to make sure that profession is visible across society, and that it is accessible and welcoming to talented people from every background.

“That was the ambition behind our Pathway to the Profession. And one year on, I think we can say with real confidence that this programme is delivering.”

PFS board member Edward Grant re-emphasised the use of reserves, saying: “We have reserves, we have an ambition and we want to fulfil that ambition. We will continue funding it while it is still working.”

He added: “We can take it so far, but we need to pass the baton on to the industry eventually. It is really important the profession works with us to achieve the aim.”

At the anniversary event, some of the recipients of the funding spoke of how it had changed their lives and enabled them to pursue a career in financial planning that they might otherwise have struggled to access.

These included Hannah Woolridge, who has passed her RO exams as a second careerist having previously worked on cruise ships before the Covid-19 pandemic affected the job market, and Anjola Ayanleke, who was a recipient of the financial planning and wealth management scholarship who is studying at Coventry University.

Attendees also heard from Sonny Living, an incoming trainee paraplanner at Finova Money, who was sitting his exams while still doing an undergraduate degree at the University of East Anglia.