Not every career story follows the same road. Financial Planner Callum Mccarthy transformed his career, leaving his old one in the rear-view mirror.
Callum Mccarthy built a solid career as a lorry driver before deciding it was time to pursue a long-held passion for finance. Today, he's a qualified financial planner at Penguin in South Wales, holding the CeMAP, CeRER and DipFA.
We sat down with Callum to find out how he made the transition, what the journey really looked like, and what he'd say to anyone thinking about retraining for a new career.
What first sparked your interest in property and finance?
My background wasn't property and finance. I was a lorry driver. I've always loved the idea of property and finance, but when I turned 18, I made a choice: do I go into the mortgage sector, the finance sector, or do I just go into the lorry driving? And realistically at the time it was which one paid the quickest and it was the lorry driving. During COVID, I had a bit of an epiphany and decided to get back into it, I just love the idea of being able to help people secure their dreams, especially those who didn't think they could.
Can you tell us why you changed lanes from lorry driving to financial planning?
So I'd done a few jobs when I was in the younger years, and then lorry driving was probably the first big one I was doing and it was great because it helped me get into my own property and my own journey. However, it was purely in COVID. My first child was during COVID. It was obviously a scary time for a lot of people. I was working a lot and I sat down with my partner, and was like: I'm working a ridiculous amount of hours here. I don't enjoy what I do. It pays well. Great. But other than that, there's no benefit. We got a child, I really want to be home and I would like to do something I actually enjoy doing and waking up for". And we've always said "you are always banging on about properties and money and finance. You love all that stuff."
What does a typical day look like for you?
So a day for me, it can vary, but I'm in a real fortunate position with the employer I work for because we have such a big, strong team, my meetings mainly consists of seeing clients. I don't have to do so much of the admin side of things.
Of course there is some element of it, but it's more, ideally seeing as many clients as I can see on a day-to-day basis. A great thing we do at Penguin is we have no minimums, it's very rare in the UK for financial planning. So I can sit with a client with maybe, multiple millions, but I can also sit with that client's child who might only be 18, 20, and they've got their first few hundred pound. So it's really a variety of different clients, of different agents, just complete different personalities and just seeing how many of those meetings I can have a day.
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How did you research how to go from lorry driving to financial planning?
I didn't become a financial advisor straight away. I became a mortgage advisor and a protection advisor. I had absolutely no idea to be truthful. I just googled it initially saying, 'what do I need?' and it came up with CeMAP and I thought, okay, so how do you get CeMAP?
And then I just went on the websites and read through all the data. I think the big one for me, the reason I chose to go with LIBF for this, it was the customer service. I picked up the phone and was like, "I think I know what I want to do and I think I know how to do it, but can you just explain it?" I was slightly nervous on the call because I expected "oh, you're a lorry driver, probably not the right candidate for us. Go away," sort of thing. But it wasn't that way at all. So that's how I did the research and obviously went from there.
What was breaking into the financial services like?
The financial sector was difficult, and I think it was just because there was not enough people who give you time. I did my exams. I was in the finance sector somewhere else, with mortgages and I thought, oh, surely people would give me the time of day. But the amount of people who were like, "I'm so busy, I've got no time, but I need help, but I don't have time to give to you."
There was a lot of "no's". It was more just grit and persistence of LinkedIn and other social media, just messaging constantly until a few people said "yeah", and just gave me time. There's a few individuals who actually just went, I have nothing to give you, but I can give you a few tips.
And even just that. I think for people coming up in the ranks, everybody knows in our profession that there is a shortage of advisers. Just give someone 20 minutes. You might not have a job for them but just give them 20 minutes of tips and guides.
I speak to people, probably once a week I would say just new people coming through and the first thing I normally say, depending on the situation is get an exam under your belt.
How did you find contacts to secure your first job?
My approach to reaching out to people when I first started out, was purely just message as many people as you can. I rang firms as well. I rang accountancies, solicitors and said "is there any way I can learn a bit more about you and you can maybe help me get into that sector."
It was just nonstop. In the lorry actually, during my break, I'd go on Company House, I'd go on Google, search for companies in the area I lived and just go okay, these are the ones I'm gonna call. And it's just persistence. That's all it was. It was persistence and grit to go: I've got my exams, I worked hard for the exams, so now I want to get into the sector. How do I do it?
How did you revise for your exams?
So I was lorry driving in COVID, long hours, all over the UK. And I knew I had time on my hands. I had a lot of time on my hands, it was typical. Nobody was on the road. So I was getting to places a lot quicker than I needed to. But for me it was scheduling that time to revise, I'll hold myself accountable. I'm gonna have a 45 minute break at this time. What can I do? Let's get the textbooks out. Let's go jump in the passenger seat and revise.
Develop financial planning skills
The learning experience with LIBF was very supportive, with clear goals and markers to be achieved throughout the programme. This really helped me stay on track with my studying."
Julie Soar
Mortgage and Protection Adviser
What kept you motivated during your studies?
What keeps me motivated is family. All day long. Family. That's probably one of the biggest changes for me for why I changed in the first place. Obviously, I wanted to change and have that goal in mind, as I didn't enjoy the lorry driving, but I was comfortable, it paid the bills and, you know I had a good social life, but it was family, do better for them.
What advice would you give someone considering a complete career change into financial services?
My first question would be, why do you want to make a complete career change? Really think about it. If you are saying, "I want a big career change because I see people in the financial services driving nice fancy cars". Have a harder think about it because it's not as easy as people make out.
There is a lot of work and time and energy goes into this. If it is a deeper meaning, like for me was, I want to help people and I love the feeling of doing so, then of course go for it. That would be my advice.
Would you recommend LIBF to others?
Would I recommend LIBF to other professionals? Absolutely. They helped me massively. Just for stepping in, just for that first initial step, I think.
Doing a massive transition change, there is a lot of doubters and that's understandable, but I feel having that person be like, "yeah, this is completely normal. If you want to change and you want to do it, we can help you, we can support you to do those exams."
It's not just for uni graduates coming through, it is for everyone. If you really want to put the work in.
Are you ready for a career U-turn?
Callum's story is proof that a career change isn't just possible - it's within reach, no matter where your destination started.
LIBF offers a range of professional qualifications designed for people at exactly this kind of crossroads. The CeMAP, CeRER and DipFA are all flexible, industry-recognised qualifications you can study around your life.
Ready to change lanes? Explore your future with LIBF today.
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That’s the best thing about LIBF – managing studying alongside work. It was structured in a flexible way that I meant if I wanted to get ahead, I could. If I fell behind, I could catch up."
Sonny Kurmi
Financial Adviser