More young people need to join the financial planning profession to break the stereotype of it being an "old man’s job", according to Bobby Kuzemko from Hoxton Capital Management.
Kuzemko, who has worked at Hoxton part-time as business development manager and client relationship manager while completing his GCSEs, recounted the reaction of his peers to his interest in the industry.
“When I tell people in school that I want to do financial planning they tell me it’s an old man’s job,” he stated.
“That may be a stereotype, maybe that’s true, but I do think the industry needs to get more young people in to break that perception.”
He explained this perception may be due to the fact that financial planning “is not really advertised as a job that’s for young people”.
“I don’t know if I could tell you the solution to that but there is definitely a stereotype of it being an old man’s job, even though I don’t think that’s the case,” he added.
He explained that, as the financial planning world is constantly “evolving”, it requires more young talent.
“The world is changing quickly as more and more people need financial planning and young people, who have open and active minds, are the perfect group of people to address that,” he added.
“The perception and the stereotype needs to be broken.”
Entering the industry
While Kuzemko stated that his time in the industry has been very welcoming, he acknowledged this may not be the experience for everyone.
“I’m pretty lucky to have a brother in the industry, otherwise I don’t think it would have been as welcoming as I wouldn’t know where to start.”
He explained that, without the family connection, he may not have been aware of a career in financial planning as “careers in finance are not spoken about enough”.
He explained that, in school, he was told about a lot of apprenticeships in accounting but financial planning specifically was never covered.
“I was looking for apprenticeships in financial planning and all I could find were apprenticeships for accountancy, there are none that are specifically for financial planning in my experience,” he added.
“The average person who’s not lucky enough to have someone they know in the industry might find it a difficult industry to break into.”
Career journey
Kuzemko became aware of the industry when a family member secured a job at Hoxton.
“My brother, who has just turned 23 went down the financial planning route while he was studying at university,” he stated.
“In 2023, I started doing some small jobs for my brother on the client side of things and that’s when I started to think that I could go down the same route as him.”
He said the fact that his brother was already in the company “gave me a good path” into the industry and Hoxton was happy to take him on board part time.
