In a new city but part of the same team: a catch-up with Sarah

Sarah wrote her first blog in 2019 on how she came to find herself working at AAB Wealth. A year later she reflected on how her role had evolved, the challenges she faced with a sudden change in her working... Read more

Blog29th Nov 2021

Sarah wrote her first blog in 2019 on how she came to find herself working at AAB Wealth. A year later she reflected on how her role had evolved, the challenges she faced with a sudden change in her working environment and her aims for 2021. Having reached all three of her goals; to be a promoted to paraplanner, obtain her diploma and continue to develop relationships with clients, we caught up with Sarah to find out what her focuses are for the coming year and how the introduction of the hybrid working policy has helped ease her move to Edinburgh.

I joined the team four years ago as a Client Services Support (CSS) Trainee, from there I became the Team Lead for the CSS team which involved a lot more of the process side of the business, which I enjoyed learning about. I was then promoted to Trainee Paraplanner, focusing more on the technical side of our business. I obtained my Diploma earlier this year and I am now a Financial Planning Associate which is more client focused, as we are the first point of contact for any non-advised client enquiries, along with supporting the Financial Planners in the analysis and report writing that is needed.

If you are considering a career in Wealth Management, I’d say go for it! Before joining AAB Wealth, I had no idea what my day-to-day job would involve. I thought you needed certain qualifications or previous experience but that is not the case at all. You need to be interested in learning and developing your own knowledge, be open to change and have good interpersonal skills, AAB Wealth will train you in the rest!

In my last blog I spoke about some of the challenges I faced from working at home during the pandemic and how our team adapted to maintaining our client relationships well. Since restrictions have lifted, we have been able to go into the office more which has been great to bring the team together. We are all very much still adopting the hybrid approach which allows us to balance our work and personal life. I’ve really enjoyed being able to meet people and do training in person again.

I also previously spoke about my aims for 2021, which were to be promoted to paraplanner, obtain my diploma and continue to develop relationships with clients. I am delighted to have hit all three goals in 2021 which is a great achievement. I am now focusing on developing my technical skills and starting to work towards becoming a Chartered Financial Planner.

Reflecting on the past three years, one of my most memorable moments was when I had only been with the company a few months and I was still trying to understand what we do and how we benefit clients. There was a couple who had received unfortunate news about their health and they wanted to know if they could stop working over the next couple of years and enjoy life while this was still possible. We were able to demonstrate that not only was this possible, but they could stop working there and then. The couple were overwhelmed and that’s when I realised that the work we do is so much more than just wealth management, it can be life changing.

I recently made the move to Edinburgh which felt very straight forward compared to my previous move within Aberdeen. I am loving being back in the central belt, I’m from Stirling originally so it’s great being near family and friends again. I have been into the Edinburgh office a couple of times. Not knowing where anything was or how to work the coffee machine definitely made me feel like the new girl again but everyone was friendly and helpful.

When I first started at AAB Wealth, I did not think moving cities and being able to work with the same team would even be an option, especially because we didn’t even have an Edinburgh office at the time! However, when the office did open, I had hoped it would be a possibility in the near future. The pandemic helped highlight that you can work from anywhere nowadays and although AAB Wealth has always offered flexible working, the unprecedented circumstances encouraged our transition into hybrid working and made the move down a lot easier.

Since the pandemic, I have kept in touch with clients through Teams meetings, emails and phone calls. Following the reopening of our offices many clients are keen to meet in person, so I have no doubt that I’ll settle into the Edinburgh office quite quickly.

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