Once in every life time you get the opportunity to amass experience in bucket fulls and within a very short period of time, this is one of those times!
There are 30 year olds in the financial services industry today who having left university have spent their entire working life in the investment world and have never seen anything other than a protracted bull run.
Even the trials and tribulations of 1999 – 2000 are ancient history to this group and the 1987 Black Monday was missed due to them having piano or school swimming lessons! As a result I have become more comfortable in my steadily increasing years.
If nothing Succeeds like Success, then quite simply nothing has the Experience than the Experienced. As more and more music on the radio irritates me and each day reveals more and more grey in the wig, I realise that there is so much knowledge and untapped potential amongst the IF’s of our great country.
Day in and day out we meet IFA’s and whether they are 58, 68 or 78, I see enthusiasm and excitement. Our industry may overall be ageing and there may be pressing issues that we need to address to bring in the young men and woman we need for the next generation, but never discount the old war horses.
At 58 the average age of the IFA may be the wrong side of 50, but only guys with that experience can relate to the reality that when you have more than 7 good years you are bound to have a greater negative reaction than usual. Let’s all just put our teeth in, hold onto our wigs, tighten our corsets, oil the wheelchair and hope like anything that we don’t get a full 7 bad years!