Trainee Financial Planner

Life Matters; Christchurch; Hybrid; GBP 45,000 - 50,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Career Pathway

Holiday: 22 days + BH

Funded CPD and exams

Office in Poole + Free parking

Hybrid with flexibility

Exposure to Investment Committee

Modern tech stack & AI tools

Job summary

Life Matters in Poole, Dorset, invites applications for a role designed to train a future Financial Planner. You will shadow the Managing Director from day one, progressing to co-leading client meetings and ultimately leading engagements.

The role supports funded exams and a clear pathway to Chartered status within a small, high-trust team. Hybrid with a predominantly office-based pattern, the position offers a structured development route, with mentorship, a 22-day holiday plus bank holidays,

Qualifications

• Real client facing exposure in financial planning, wealth management or private banking.
• Strong understanding of consumer duty, AML, SPS and CPD is expected.
• Willingness to learn and grow in a small firm with hands-on mentoring.

Responsibilities

• Attend client meetings with the Managing Director and progress from shadowing to leading.
• Develop long-term relationships with high-net-worth clients.
• Review AI-generated meeting summaries and planning outputs for accuracy.
• Build and stress test financial forecasts using cashflow tools.
• Support new client onboarding alongside the Managing Director.
• Obey a strict ethical and compliance framework.
• Share ideas to improve business processes and client relationships.
• Bridge to a senior paraplanner role as the team grows.

Skills

Client facing experience

Questioning skills

Listening skills

Education

Level 4 Diploma in Regulated Financial Planning

Tools

Voyant / Truth

MS Office

Job description

Life Matters is an independent lifestyle financial planning firm in Poole, Dorset. We believe life is for living. Live it well. Our role isn't to sell products. It's to give clients the peace of mind and confidence to make bold decisions about their money, and the lives they want to live. We turn traditional financial advice on its head: rather than recommending a short term fix through an individual product, we create a detailed plan that helps clients achieve their long term goals.

• VouchedFor Top Rated Adviser, four years running.
• 100% of clients say working with us has helped them achieve their life goals.
• 4.9 star average client rating; many of our clients have been with us since 2008.
• Seen as the leading financial planning firm in the area for wealthy families.
• High touch, low volume: we cap client relationships at around 80 per planner to protect the depth and quality of service.

The successful candidate will receive a basic salary of £45,000 - £50,000 depending on experience & qualifications.

Other benefits include:

• Career Pathway: A structured, funded route to client facing financial planning, mentored directly by the Managing Director, in the room for every client meeting from the start.
• Holiday: 22 days plus bank holidays, Birthday off plus extended Christmas closure.
• Professional Development: Funded CPD and full financial support with professional exams, all the way to Diploma and beyond.
• Office: Poole, Dorset (BH14). Free parking. Hybrid with sensible flexibility, predominantly office based, so you learn alongside the team.
• A Voice in the Firm: Exposure to the Life Matters Investment Committee and a real say in how we do things as you grow.
• Modern Tech Stack: Migrating to a contemporary back office system and embracing AI tools (Saturn AI). We welcome your ideas to push that forward.

Purpose of the role:

This is a role for someone who wants to become a Financial Planner, and we are serious about getting you there. From your first week you will shadow our Managing Director in every client meeting: not a reward to be earned later, but the way you learn the craft. The exams are funded, the mentoring is real, and the destination is built into the role, not dangled in front of it. It suits someone with real client facing experience in financial planning, wealth management or private banking who wants to advise. Not product pushing. Not volume. Lifestyle planning that changes lives, with the time and mentoring to learn it the right way.

Duties and Responsibilities:

• Client Meetings: From your first week you are in every Planning Meeting and review meeting with the Managing Director, moving from shadowing to co-leading to leading as your confidence and sign-off progress.
• Relationship Building: Develop strong, long term relationships with varied, often complex HNW clients, learning to adapt your style to each one.
• AI Meeting Output: Review and quality check AI generated meeting summaries and planning outputs (Saturn AI), owning their accuracy and taking that work off the Managing Director's plate early.
• Cashflow Modelling: Build and stress test financial forecasts using cashflow tools (Voyant / Truth) that bring each client's plan to life.
• Onboarding Support: Support new client onboarding alongside the Managing Director.
• Compliance: Work within a strict ethical and compliance framework: Consumer Duty, AML, SPS and CPD.
• Continuous Improvement: Share ideas and innovations that could improve business processes or enhance client relationships.
• Interim paraplanning: Until our separate senior paraplanner hire lands, there may be some hands on paraplanning: plans, reports and meeting summaries. Said plainly so there are no surprises: it is a bridge while the team builds out, not the shape of the role. Life Matters is hiring a chartered senior paraplanner to own that side of the business.

The Ideal Employee:

• Experience: Real client facing exposure in financial planning, wealth management or private banking: you have sat in client meetings, ideally helped run them.
• Qualification: Level 4 Diploma in Regulated Financial Planning.
• Technical Knowledge: Strong financial planning knowledge and core MS Office; hands on cashflow modelling (e.g. Voyant / Truth) is valuable but trainable.
• Compliance: A sound compliance record and a working understanding of Consumer Duty, AML, SPS and CPD.
• Interpersonal: Strong questioning and listening skills, and the warmth and gravitas to build trust with a diverse HNW clientele.
• Mindset: Hungry to learn and grow. You ask for feedback, treat it as an investment in your development rather than a criticism, and are comfortable in a small firm where everyone mucks in
• Location: Within a sensible daily commute of Poole (BH14). This is a predominantly office based role, so local candidates are the priority.
• Outlook: Progressive on tech and open to AI tools. We're not standing still and you shouldn't want to either.

Experience required:

• Experience supporting business owners, senior executives or HNW retirees.
• Paraplanning or report writing background (handy in the interim period), exposure to running parts of client meetings, or early advising experience.

Working Pattern:

Hybrid with sensible flexibility. The office is in Poole (BH14). Mondays in office are standard. Because this is a learning role and most client meetings happen in the office, you will be in more often than not while you develop. Clients always come first.

Our Six Core Values

1. Put clients at the centre of all we do.
2. Do the right thing; not the easy thing.
3. Be curious; pursue growth and learning.
4. Collaborate to create brilliant and simple solutions.
5. Embrace and drive change.
6. Act with passion and care.

If these resonate with you, you'll feel right at home here.