Starting a Financial Planning Firm After 20 Years in Fund Management | Stewart Heggie

Starting a financial planning firm after a long career in fund management brings a different set of decisions. How do you choose the right support, build a clear proposition and prepare for the work before the income arrives? Adam Carolan speaks with Stewart Heggie of Heggie & Co about moving into lifestyle financial planning, choosing a network and focusing his message on fund managers. They discuss the practical workload of setting up, finding potential clients through existing relationships and LinkedIn, pricing advice and where human judgement fits as AI develops. Stewart shares an early-stage founder’s experience, including the decisions he is still working through. Watch the conversation and subscribe for more from the Plannex Podcast. This is a discussion of business experience and opinions, not personal financial advice. 00:25 Why leave fund management for financial planning? 01:42 The pause that prompted a career rethink 03:51 Finding conviction and a market opportunity 06:21 Qualifications and learning how to build a firm 08:11 Why Stewart wanted his own business 11:36 The task list behind the launch 12:53 Choosing a network and the support he needed 17:49 The onboarding and authorisation process 18:56 Energy, uncertainty and starting from scratch 21:18 Planning for a gap in income 22:50 Stewart’s personal start-up budget estimate 23:57 A first-year goal of 20 families 24:41 Sponsor message from IRIS 25:30 Why choose fund managers as a niche? 28:13 A focused message without excluding every other client 30:11 What prospective clients need to know about you 34:07 Concentration risk and complex financial lives 36:39 Start with what a good life looks like 40:32 The support Stewart found in the profession 43:29 The first hire and the human Swiss Army knife 46:31 Where coaching fits into financial planning 49:53 Would clients choose AI over a human? 54:11 Working out the price of advice 57:39 Fixed fees and assets under management 01:00:07 Charging for the initial piece of work 01:02:04 Putting fees on the website 01:02:28 What still scares Stewart More from Plannex: Connect, learn and grow with the financial planning community. 💬 Join Plannex Connect: https://plannex.co.uk/connect/ 📚 Explore Plannex Training: https://plannex.co.uk/app/ 🚀 Grow your firm with Plannex Scale: https://plannex.co.uk/scale/ 🎟️ Discover Plannex Live: https://plannex.co.uk/live/ Follow us on LinkedIn:   / plan-nex   Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/plannnex?ig... Subscribe for more conversations from the Plannex Podcast.