My journey into financial services began when I bought a book on personal finance for my teenage son. He never read it, because like many teenagers, he was luckily an expert in everything invented in the history of the world already. But I did. And it changed my life. 

That book gave me a sense of clarity and empowerment around personal finance I hadn’t expected. I wanted to understand more - so much more that I went on to independently study for, and gain, a DipFA in financial advice. At that point, I made the leap and decided to career shift.

I was naive. But I was still surprised by what I found.

For all the technical training and expertise I encountered in financial services, there was remarkably little attention paid to the emotional and relational dimensions of advice - to how advisers build relationships with clients that are connected yet boundaried, and that hold real value in and of themselves. What I saw, again and again, were well-intentioned relationships. But not always well-executed ones.

And that, of course, is exactly what psychotherapy is devoted to. In therapy, you can't guarantee outcomes. The relationship is the work. It's approached with rigour, intentionality, and care - because it matters.

And it matters in financial services too. So I founded Emotional Finance. It felt like a no-brainer.