Financial Planning Today: What made you decide to launch your own firm Jamie?
Jamie Lowe: I was working for an independent financial adviser firm when I started transitioning 18 months ago. I got a lot of support from clients, colleagues and my professional connections. I was looking at serving the LGBTQ+ community more, but I couldn’t work out how to send my message out while working for a company that had its own identity. It turns out that transitioning has helped me find my voice, and I have too much to say to work for someone else.
FPT: Do you believe LGBTQIA (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer (or questioning), intersex and asexual) clients have any specific Financial Planning needs?
Jamie Lowe: There are practical differences such as different family structures; it’s not easy to start a family in a same sex couple or potentially for trans people. Planners need to be able to work with the legal system that doesn’t make it easy if you don’t have a hetero-normative lifestyle.
Trans people face long wait lists for NHS treatments (I’ve spoken with people who have been waiting over 10 years), these treatments aren’t optional. Many people pay for hormones, therapy and operations privately.
Going through a life insurance application might be difficult for an adviser who doesn’t understand the anatomy and journey of a trans person (which is different for everyone).
While anyone faces difficulties with an aspect of their personal life, they are bound to have reduced headspace. It’s important to have someone they trust through those times and help them make decisions. Starting my transition significantly reduced my headspace while I got used to how much body reacts to new hormones, how I appear to other people and for people address me in the appropriate way. To give my journey some context, when I started testosterone, I started the female menopause and male puberty at the same time. Let’s just say that I’ve been in a better place mentally and physically!
Most financial advisers don’t realise the struggles of the community, or how to speak to someone respectfully and sensitively to get the information that they need. It’s not that they’re bad advisers, there are some great ones out there, but working with someone who understands you without having to explain it makes seeking advice less daunting and intimidating.
FPT: What can Financial Planners do to make sure they are helping their LGBTQIA clients with these challenges?
JL: Making services user friendly is a must. It sounds really simple and it is but a lot of services aren’t working out how to address someone correctly. Things like having options for gender neutral titles, gathering their clients’ pronouns and preferred names and then using them as a standard part of everyday practice.
Adjusting their style of questioning goes a long way. Leave all assumptions at the door, including what gender they or their partner might be. You might make assumptions about your clients’ lifestyle that 99% of the time is correct, but the 1% that you’re wrong could offend them and cost you the opportunity to help them and potentially put them off seeking financial advice anywhere. You can avoid all that by speaking about people in a gender-neutral way and by finding out what their gender/pronouns are.
Asking the questions that they need to know. There’s a fine line between taking an interest and being nosey. And tell people why you’re asking because there are times when we need to know sensitive information, for example asking medical questions for a protection insurance application is relevant to the advice you provide. It’s important to understand that a trans client may not be open with everyone about their journey, so they might feel uncomfortable to share the information.
FPT: Have you received much encouragement from the Financial Planning community?
JL: Yes, there’s been a lot of support, not just from the Financial Planning community but every time I go networking it’s clear that there is a lot of support. It's lovely that people see the relevance in what I’m doing, and I hope it encourages people to be bold about their identity and embrace it in their professional life too.
• The above is a small portion of the interview with Jamie Lowe which will feature in full in the next issue of Financial Planning Today magazine. Subscribe to Financial Planning Today in time for the next issue in order to read the full interview about the new firm, the challenges of advising LGBTQIA clients, and how the Financial Planning community needs to lead by example. Register for the website note or click on 'My Account' if you are already registered for more details about subscribing.