After two years of non-financial work, Ian first entered the world of finance in 2008, working for HSBC in a non-regulated capacity.  In 2009, he started to work at a firm called Saunderson House, but left relatively quickly due to a lack of available progression.

In 2010, Ian rejoined HSBC as a regulated Financial Planning Manager.  This was the first opportunity to work with clients to make investments or take out insurance products, though the range was highly restricted.  Ian likely would have stayed there longer, but in 2011 the entire Financial Planning Manager role was made redundant, likely as a response to the Retail Distribution Review which was implemented in 2012.

Despite being relatively inexperienced at the time, Ian was able to secure a role as a Financial Consultant at Brooks Macdonald in 2011.  Shortly after starting, Ian was asked to head up the research committee, looking into the market for discretionary investment managers, self-invested personal pensions, platforms and offshore bonds, all with a view to creating panels of suitable products for investors with certain characteristics.

After Brooks Macdonald, Ian spent some further years as an independent financial adviser, first for The Private Office and then for the financial planning arm of Carter Backer Winter, a top 60 accountancy practice.

Unfortunately Ian’s health took a turn for the worse between 2019 and 2021, which led to a need to take a career break.  In August 2021, Ian started to work as an unregulated  paraplanner for Charles Stanley, and after working there for a year (covering maternity leave for one of the existing paraplanners), Ian decided to get back into the position of giving advice directly to clients.  Although he has returned to work, Ian has limited mobility on foot, therefore may as a preference use phone calls and video conferencing for the majority of contact rather than face-to-face meetings.