On the show this week is my guest Adam Piplica, intriguingly known as, the Singing Paraplanner.
We talk about how Adam set up his blog, how he’s training to be a financial adviser and the Money Life Live event he hosted which aims to keep finance simple.
Welcome to episode 169 of the Marketing and Finance Podcast.
What you’ll hear about in this episode
Why jargon confuses potential customers
Adam’s transition from blogger to financial planner
How Adam became “The Singing Paraplanner”
Why he hosted his own live financial services event
Whether Adam would run another conference and what he would change
Who is Adam Piplica?
Adam started his blog not long after he left university, following his decision to learn about finance and the stock markets, something he knew nothing about.
He found that most of the online information was targeted to the US market, which often didn’t apply to the UK. He started carrying out his own research so he could make some investments.
After successfully investing during the recession, the blog was a way to talk about his own experiences and encourage others to invest too, in a simple way. This led to him writing for MSN Money and other online publications.
Summary of our chat
Adam found that the financial services industry uses a lot of acronyms. This is confusing for a beginner. He also found many of the terms online related to the American market, such as index funds, which are known as ‘trackers’ in the UK. He decided his blog would help to clear up some of the confusion.
Adam found that his readers were asking him questions about investing that he didn’t feel able to answer. He met bloggers doing what he did who were also qualified and therefore able to give their readers the help they needed, so he decided to train to become a financial planner.
Adam describes himself as the “Singing Para-planner”. A paraplanner is someone who helps financial advisers do their job. He’s also a semi-professional singer, taking singing jobs to bring in some money while he transitioned between careers. He still sings part-time, as a soloist and in choirs.
Money Life Live, his event, came to Adam in a dream. He designed it as a live event for people who weren’t financial experts to learn more about investments. Having got so much from conferences, Adam wanted to use his event to inspire attendees to find out more.
Adam’s event inspired people to take action with their finances and think more about investing. Although it was a lot of work, it was a huge success, and he would like to run another event in the future. It was a valuable learning experience, and it’s good to follow through on ideas.
One Thing Adam Would Like Listeners to Take Away
Believe in yourself! Adam decided to become a financial adviser with no experience apart from DIY investing, but believed he could make it happen. It’s been a journey, but try to make a bit of progress each day. Don’t give up and not stay motivated.
A marketing campaign or product that grabbed Adam’s attention
Adam loves a mobile phone app called Money Box. It gamifies putting money into an ISA. It sends you notifications to prompt you to spontaneously put some money in – people buy things on a whim all the time, so why not save in the same way?
Adam likes Carl Richards, particularly The Behaviour Gap. He’s interested in how humans think and why we do things, and what influences how we behave. Carl Richards captures that, and helps you realise you’re not as in control as you think, so you need to work to beat that.
If you enjoyed – Adam Piplica: The Singing Paraplanner on blogging, simple finance, and running live events – please leave a comment or a review on iTunes.
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