Coming from a non-financial services background, she told FT Adviser: “It is a steep learning curve. I had never even worked in an office before - all of my life before involved working with horses, all around the world.
"But I wanted something that could be more of a career. I had always been interested in financial services, so it is great to be able to turn a hobby into a career.”
She described the quality of the leads as “variable”, but added: “I don’t think you could ever expect to build a business up around just the leads M&G give you.
"It was made clear the leads are not guaranteed business, and if anyone thinks they would be able to have a business based on a couple of months' worth of leads, then they were not paying attention.”
Castren said the bulk of her business continued to be based on the leads provided by M&G, but said acquaintances had started to contact her since she qualified, and that may provide a pool of future clients.
Am M&G Wealth spokesperson said: “We are creating further lead opportunities for these Academy Advisers, through marketing initiatives and business development partnerships, which will capitalise on the high demand for advice in our sector.
"We are also developing some of our support infrastructure and supervision capabilities to give more dedicated coaching and mentoring resource to all Academy Advisers going forward.
"All Academy Advisers should know that earnings will be lower in the first few years but will build up over time. The majority of the client leads we supply to the Academy Advisers come from our heritage policyholders.”
david.thorpe@ft.com
