Lowes Magazine Issue 125

SPOTLIGHT

Spotlight on Lowes staff

Helen also participates in Redstart, a charity for primary-school children which delivers financial education through progressive learning. “I’m also an Education

HELEN GRIEVES IS A LOWES FINANCIAL Adviser and the lead of the Lowes Academy, the training centre launched to encourage new recruits into the financial advice profession. Helen is well qualified to lead the Academy having six years as a secondary school maths teacher under her belt. She studied for her professional qualifications while still teaching and took her Advanced Diploma in Financial Planning just eight weeks after giving birth to her first child. She did so well in her exams that the governing exam body, the Chartered Insurance Institute, awarded her the highly prestigious Maddocks Prize, given to the person with the highest percentage score overall in the Advanced Diploma exam. “The Academy was launched in 2020, as a facility to support people going through their professional qualifications who wanted tutoring, rather than to have to read through thick text books on their own,” Helen explains. “We wanted to have a course which enabled anyone who was interested in joining financial services, no matter what their background, to do so at a reasonable cost. People often fall into financial services as a career and many people don’t know about financial advice and the various career opportunities it offers. This is one way to get that message out there.” Initially the course was envisaged as face-to-face training. “But, of course, the Covid pandemic and the subsequent lockdowns made that impossible, so we pivoted and started training via online services,” Helen says. “That changed the dynamic of the Academy as it meant we could reach more people, in fact anyone in the UK who needed training in becoming a financial adviser.” The Academy offers two different workshop streams, depending on trainees’ level of experience, both of which break down the exam study into manageable sections and offer tutoring to help candidates pass their exams. “We have people who have never worked in financial services before take the courses, as well as candidates from other financial advice firms who are unable to offer this level of training themselves,” Helen explains.

Champion for the Personal Finance Society, helping deliver financial education for secondary school children too.” Having become a Lowes Adviser in 2022, Helen has been gradually adding to her number of clients and says it’s a role she loves. “My degree was in accounting, but I

couldn’t see myself as an accountant as I was always more of a people person,” she says. “Now, as someone who has been through the exams, I’m able to help others to do the same. And I also get to talk with Lowes clients about their finances and what they want for their lives and then work with them to put in place financial plans to help them achieve their goals. My role at Lowes really gives me the best of both worlds.”

13 Lowes.co.uk