She left the Army and became a Financial Planner Mum, With St James's Place Academy | Katie Volker

In this episode of the financial planner life podcast, Sam Oakes sits down with Katie, a former Army officer who transitioned into a successful financial planning career with the St. James’s Place Academy.

Katie’s story is one of resilience, adaptability, and building a business that fits around life’s big moments, including becoming a mum mid-way through growing her firm.

We cover:

✅ How military skills like leadership, discipline, and resilience translate into financial planning

✅ What it’s really like going through the St. James’s Place Academy (and how Katie passed her exams in just 6 months)

✅ The importance of mentorship and building your support network

✅ How social media, especially Instagram Stories, has helped her win new clients

✅ Balancing business growth and motherhood, and how becoming a parent opened new networking opportunities

✅ Why financial planning needs more diverse voices and more women in leadership

✅ Tips for using LinkedIn and Instagram for business development

✅ The power of storytelling and human connection in financial services

Whether you’re ex-military, thinking about a career change, or wondering how to balance parenthood with self-employment, this is a must-watch.

Begin your financial planning career journey today

Whether you are looking to become a paraplanner, administrator, mortgage and protection adviser or financial planner, the Financial Planner Life Academy is for you. 

With limited entry-level job roles, giving yourself the best financial planning career education, will not only kick start your financial planning journey with relevant qualifications and skills, but it’ll also help you achieve success much faster.&nbs

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Reach out to Sam@financialplannerlife.com in regards to sponsorship, partnerships, videography or career development.