Meet the Mancunian - Talking financial wellbeing with Ruth Downs

Transcript

Meet the Mancunian-Ruth Downs (Season 4, Episode 5)

Intro

Welcome to the fifth episode of the Meet the Mancunian podcast, season four. I'm Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe, your friendly host. On the streets and nooks of Manchester, my inspiring Mancunian guests tackle their causes with their grit and passion. They are leaders, worker bees, and community hosts. They share their stories to inspire you all through the season.

Relax, grab a brew. And listen in to the Meet the Mancunian podcast on Apple, Google, Spotify, or any of your favorite podcasting platforms. You can also check out all the episodes on my new website, www.meetthemancunion.co.uk

Looking to help the local community with financial wellbeing, we hear from Ruth Downs, Financial Advisor, The Platt Partnership in this episode.

Episode 5

Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: I'm delighted to introduce my guest, Ruth Downs financial advisor, The Platt Partnership. Thank you so much, Ruth, for joining me.

Ruth Downs: Pleasure. Thank you for having me

Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: Really excited to hear about all the good work that you're doing to help women find reliable financial advice. So tell us your story, how did you get involved?

Ruth Downs: Wow. Well, many moons ago I dread to tell you how many moons. But yeah, I went to visit my mom who lives in Cape Town in South Africa. She lives over there now. And I'd seen that her health had massively deteriorated. And long story short, I frog-marched her to the doctors and I was told that she had two to three weeks to live unless she had a double bypass or a valve transplant.

My whole world got turned upside down. I gave my job in the UK to go and look after her because her health was so bad. They told me to look into her finances and they said, to start getting things in order because we're not sure if she's going to make it. Well, as you can imagine, the first time you look at any kind of financial documentation, there are a lot of wording a lot of words that can seem perplexing and I reached out to financial advisors in the UK and asked for their help. And the response I got was they were predominantly one, male, Two, they wouldn't talk to me because politely they said I had nothing to invest and it wasn't worth their time. And then the third thing was that they said, I wouldn't be able to understand it in the time I had.

Ruth Downs: Now I was at the most vulnerable point I'd ever been in my life. I'd given up my career, my friends, my family to move abroad to look after my mom because you only have one mom.

Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: Of course

Ruth Downs:  And I was reaching out for help and no one would help me. So I'm pleased to tell you my mom is fine, and she recovered and we got through, but I knew that there was a massive gap in the market for people to have friendly financial advice. Where people can get answers to their questions without being looked down on.

Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: Thank you so much, and I think some of the best advice, the best experiences, and almost the best businesses probably come from that personal lived experience.

So I'm so glad your mom's okay, and I'm glad that gave you the opportunity to kind of find a new direction for yourself.

So tell us about how you got involved with The Platt Partnership.

Ruth Downs: So I did my studies and I worked with a training academy to get where I am. So I was pretty much trained to do the job whilst on the job. And yeah, had a wonderful time. But I think anyone that has ever been self-employed, there's this calling. That tells you that that's where you're meant to be. And I was employed at the time, and I decided to make that switch to being self-employed, but under The Platt Partnership who helped me with all of my administration side of the job, the paraplanning side of the job.

But I'm self-employed under their wing and they're such a fantastic agency. I'm, I had so many offers from different financial places to join them. And I chose The Platt Partnership because they understood my values, they understood what it was I was trying to achieve. They didn't want to harness and hold me back from my dreams. But they wanted to push me forward and they wanted to work with me to find how I could do that. And it was important to me to have the expertise within the company of The Platt Partnership so that if there was a complicated case, I could lean on someone to ask for their advice.

Because I'm quite thorough. Like even though I know what the right thing is to do, I like to triple-check that that is what others may do. Because I always think if it was me, how would I want to be treated? and they are exactly the right fit for me, and I'm very blessed to have come across them and to have joined them.

Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: So tell us about how you work with women in the UK. Who do you help and support and what impact have you made? 

Ruth Downs: I mean, it's not just, it's not just women. Obviously, there is I feel a need within within financial services, to break away from that stereotypical view of you know, a kind of the old financial advisor view of someone that you have to have a million pounds to be able to invest.

And it's gonna cost a lot of money to work with someone. and I'm trying to debunk all those myths to say, no, you don't have to have a million pounds, to find about financial advice. You could set up a policy with as little as like 75 pounds or less. It's just about I wanted to give people a safe place to come and chat, even if they had nothing to invest, to put them on the right track. And I think now more than ever, because of inflation rates, interest rates are now [rising. There's so much that is going on and people need that accessible friendly financial advice.

And whilst on this, I work with this platform called Leading Ladies in Business. So I host one of their groups as well, and I help run friendly forums as well where people can come and ask questions, and be surrounded by like-minded business people. And another area that I'm quite passionate about is I also am very proud to help people who are deaf. They're a community who have felt completely forgotten in financial advice. People that think, I don't know how or where to even start. So I work with some wonderful people called The Interpreter’s Initiative, and they help me in my job to offer financial advice to the deaf, and I'm very, very proud.

Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: That's really interesting. So tell us more about this you know, working with people, The Interpreter’s Initiative that you talked about and how do you reach out to your customer base. Are you tied up with a charity or are you volunteering?

Ruth Downs: It's more like, for instance, I went into The Deaf Centre there, and we held just like an open forum where people knew we were coming in. They could just come in and ask us any questions that they had. And obviously The Interpreter’s Initiative, they interpreted for me and vice versa, and it worked really well. They're, keen to help offer financial advice for the community and so far it's been really successful.

Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: What impact would you say you've made through your financial advice? Is that your kitty who's in the corner there?

Ruth Downs: Oh, gosh, yes. That’s a young kitten who's terrorising the whole place at the moment. But yeah, I love animals, so, oh yeah, he wants to get involved.He loves coming onto these calls.

So the impact that I feel I've made is breaking down barriers. letting people know that they don't have to be afraid or nervous or feel like they don't have the knowledge to speak to somebody about financial advice. I couldn't come in into your job and do what you do and vice versa.

So yeah, I always say there's no such thing as a silly question and the number of people that come off the call that I have with them and just feel like a weight has been lifted. I do help change people's view of finances. And that's my main goal - I want to change the way that financial advice is viewed, to let them know that there are people that genuinely care who would treat their money as if it was like my own and help. And I love to do that.

Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: I think we all need, everybody needs a friendly word of advice, isn’t it? And not given in a very legalese manner, kind of given in a layman speak or a common man's or common woman's language.

Ruth Downs: So it's like I describe pensions to my clients as in, oh, I could go on about portfolios and asset classes and all the rest of it, but instead I go, okay, so where are we gonna put your money? Is essentially in, think of it like, I mean, I don't follow football, but for instance, we could just use that analogy of the Premiership League. You have the Premiership League and that is where all your money kind of is sat. And then within the Premiership League, you have your teams. So you've got Man United, Liverpool, Everton. I think that's about all that I can remember are football teams. But you have many more that go in and those are kind of your funds. And then within your funds or your football teams, you have players. So all the individual players that go in and they're kind of your assets. So like your cash, your property, your shares, and that's what makes up your portfolio.

And people go, wow, okay, I get it. Now, even if they don't follow football like me, they go, I understand it. So then I go, okay, so now we need to understand. how much risk you would like to take or how little risk you would like to take. And then we work together to find a solution. I always say I never tell my clients what to do, but I give them those options and then we work together to find what is going to be best for them and their families.

Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: There must be challenges along the way that you're facing on this journey of yours and the goal of making financial advice, friendly and easy to understand. So what are those challenges and how have you managed to overcome them?

Ruth Downs: That is a fantastic question. It's been tough and it's like in everyone's lives, we always come up against challenges and you've got to have that inner belief that this is your calling. This is something that you're meant to do no matter how shaky the ground may be.

And I remember when I first qualified, I was so young and fresh and I was out networking and speaking to as many people as possible. And I got on a call with someone who was quite senior within a networking, shall we say, group. And I don't want to mention which one, but there was me and another financial advisor on the call, and pretty much we were, me and this other financial advisor were competing to get the same place. And he was absolutely lovely. But then the gentleman that was running it, he basically turned around to me on the call and he told me that there was no place for women in finance and he openly kind of said this and was like, you'll be lucky to work anywhere, let alone to get into to this group.

And I remember I stayed quiet because I'm someone that doesn't like to react. I kind of. Okay, I'm going to listen and I'm just going to, you know, think about my response. And I remember the other financial, the male financial advisor on the call, he was lovely and I will never ever forget this, but he took his headphones because we were on a Zoom call and he wrapped them around his neck and he pretended to hang himself as if to say look, stop. And the guy was like, oh no, no. I didn't mean it like that.

And I just went, I think you've said enough. I said, you don't think there's meant to be a place for women in finance? I was like, just watch me because thank you. You've spurred me on to continue to be on this path and to tell me that there is a role for women in finance because of people like you. And that was tough. I thought about that for a long time. I got very angry after the call, and then of course, as we all do, we analyse it. And then I decided, yeah, I'm going to use this fuel to power me on to know that there is, and I've had it from the other side as well. I have to say I've had women that have kind of come to me and have then, how can I put this?

From the previous company I was at, there was like a client base where we would all get allocated different clients. And I got allocated this one lady and she hadn't even spoken to me, but she told me if it's okay, I'd rather have a male financial advisor. So it's not just one way, it's both. And I think there are still things that shock me about the old-fashioned view that men should be handling finances and that's the way it should be. Whereas I, some of my clients are, are divorced women who have no idea where to start and have come out of bad relationships and want a female to help them, to guide them and to have that, you know, is a different energy that you deal with. 

So I definitely think there's a market there and these are the challenges that I do come up against every day and I feel I have to work twice as hard to be in this industry to prove myself, but that makes me really, really good at what I do. So I'm happy to continue with that.

Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: That's a very positive attitude to stereotyping and taking it as a good challenge to, prove yourself and to show the difference you can make. And absolutely, go for it. Ruth, shine on! I always believe that women and men can do anything they want to. And it's really in your mind as long as you are up for it, the sky's the limit.

Ruth Downs: It's hard, you have to practice every day a growth mindset. And it's not easy. Yes. And there are days when it's really hard, but I do believe that you should, every experience that you have, you have to power, let it empower you, to move forward and to be better.

And I always turn it around and go, how can I use that to make me a better person? And what can I learn from this? Because when you look inside yourself, that's where the growth happens and where you can use it for positivity.

Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: Absolutely, very positively. How can interested people reach out to you and learn more?

Ruth Downs: So I have, I do have a website. So it's just my name, which is www.ruthdowns.com. And it's D O W N S. There's no e in it, so people can have a look on there. And it gives, once again, a bit of background about how I got started, and I also created it because I think finance is a very personal journey my clients tell me a lot about themselves, and their lives. You know, how they had their relationship with money, which often starts with when they were at school.

So I wanted to kind of do something for that, for others that might be looking to know who they're going to work with. So I created this website and it's got bits about me as well about what I like to do in my own spare time, how I got into this, and how I help my clients, as well as testimonials that I've done.

So they can reach out, I mean, pretty much by any medium. LinkedIn obviously it's my name. You've got Instagram.

I help a lot of veterinarians as well. I would've loved to have been a veterinarian in another life. But I am too emotional around animals. So like, even when my cat goes for a checkup, I have to leave the room. I'm like, nope, I can't, I can't deal with it. And so I think the next best thing is to be able to help veterinarians and people who care for animals and help them with their financial journey. I think if you love what you do, you will never work a day in your life.

And often I do 12, 15 hour days and it's like, my fiancé is like, come on Ruth, you know, it's time for bed. And I come in, I've got this beaming grin on my face and I've like, you know, today's been so productive. I've really felt like I've helped a lot of people and people come on to the call so nervous and then they come off feeling like this weight has been lifted. I mean, I'm, I'm getting all passionate about it now, but it's a joy to be able to do and to find your passion and to find what your calling is and to get so much enjoyment out of it.

Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: Truly. I can hear that coming right out of you, so that's great. Is there any volunteering that you do? Is everything that you do part of your business or is there other things that you do?

Ruth Downs: I do a lot of volunteering like the Leading Ladies in Business that's not mine. So I volunteer to host the groups. When I go into like for instance when I was talking about the Manchester Deaf Centre that is going in and working with The Interpreter’s Initiative and it's completely free, a free service.

It's what we call financial wellbeing workshops. So it's not necessarily with a specific charity, but it's my way of trying to give back to reach as many people as possible. Because especially with Covid and even pre covid, mental wellbeing is intrinsically linked with financial wellbeing. And so many people wake up worried about money and worried about what they're going to do.

So if I can go in and say, look, I mean we were very British about it. We bury our heads in the sand and if it doesn't, if we don't look at it, it doesn't exist. So what, what my thing is to say, look, would you rather your finances take control of you? Or would you like to take control of your finances by working out what goes where?

And the first step is we fill in this financial questionnaire. They can fill it in alone. We can fill it in together. and I've often helped people find money that they didn't even know they had. I've helped money people cancel direct debits that they didn't even realise they were still paying. So, I've saved money and they're like, wow unless I'd have done this exercise, I'd have never have known. And they feel so much better. So I do a lot of financial wellbeing in the workplace where I go in and I speak to employees from all different backgrounds, all different types of companies. And especially focusing on obviously the deaf community now and helping them know that they get access to friendly financial advice from someone that they can trust. And like I'll say, I'll come to you, you don't have to come to us, we'll come to an environment that you are comfortable in and we can do this in your home. And often, I advise with a member of their family or a friend or someone they trust.

Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: What advice would you have for somebody looking to start something similar in another part of the world, in another part of the UK? Because now we now have listeners from 41 countries, so maybe somebody gets inspired by your journey.

Ruth Downs: Wow. Incredible. I'd say go for it. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. Absolutely reach out. I will have a call with you. I will tell you about my journey. I will tell you how I got started, what the process is, kind of what's, and all, you know, the good, the bad. You know, studying is, it's hard, but there's people out there that can make it enjoyable. And I found those kinds of people along my journey.

So if you are considering a career change, or thinking about that you want to give back and help. And if it's in the financial industry, then absolutely. There are so many different places that I could refer you to and training programs that pay you to do the job whilst on the job or if you want to do another job or you can do your studies in your own time.

So many different options and I will never forget when I came back, I said to my fiancé at the time, because I came back from Cape Town and obviously I didn't have a job and I said, I really think that this is what I want to do, but I'd hadn't, I'd been headhunted by a company that was waiting for me to kind of come back and they, they were offering me double my salary of what I was on before I left.

Ruth Downs: It was a different company and I was like, I, it was like this golden carrot and was dangling in front of me. and I was like, I could go there. I know this inside out, this job, and I could do it easily, or I could take the hard road. It was going to be a pay cut, it was going to be learning again, but then I could really have a chance to do something that I felt was giving back as well and helping people's everyday lives.

Ruth Downs: And yeah, I, and my fiancé just looked and he went, you've never been one to take the easy road, Ruth. Go for it. So I think if you have that, you've got a support network, whether it's a friend, whether it's a family member, whether it is your partner. I’d a hundred percent say, go for it.

And nothing ventured, nothing gained. And growth only happens outside your comfort zone. The good, the bad. Like I've had, like when I moved to Cape Town, that was the worst time in my life you know, potentially nearly losing my mom and a new country that had its own challenges. And that was, that was really, really tough.

But the strongest steel is forged in the hottest fire. and that really did shape me, and I came back a different person from that experience, and it led me to where I am today. So I will forever be thankful for that difficult period and for the teachings and the blessings that it also gave me.

Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: I think it's a really good shout. I mean, I did my MBA when I was in Saudi Arabia. And partly in the pandemic here as well. And it was because I was there, I finally was able to. It was a goal for many, many years and I kept putting it off, but then I finally took the plunge. So, absolutely resonate with what you said.

Now, an opportunity for you to talk about anything I haven't asked you about.

Ruth Downs: I think you've pretty much answered it. I just, I really want to tell people don't ever let anyone tell you cannot do something. Because if you want to do it and there's something in the back of your mind, then go and explore it because life is too short and what's the worst that can happen? Because I wouldn't class it as you fail doing that because you gave it a go and you realised that that was something that might not have been your path.

But when one door closes, another opens, and always try and have that positive mentality and surround yourself with people that you aspire to be. and or who you look up to, because it really, that has been a big thing for me because doing this job, certain people fell by the wayside that I thought were really close because they didn't support what I was doing.

Ruth Downs: But that opened it up for people who were super supportive to step in. And it has been a real journey, but it's been one that I wouldn't change for the world.

Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: Thank you for sharing that.

I'm going to go to the signature questions that I ask all my guests. So first of all, describe the Mancunian spirit in a word or a phrase.

Ruth Downs: The word tenacious comes to mind. I don't even know if that's the right word.

Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: It's a good word I think. Perseverance. Yes.

Ruth Downs: Yeah, very much.

Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: And one of my first guests said, Mancunians are fierce.

Ruth Downs: Yeah. We have fire in our bellies. I think everyone does. But Mancunians especially, we have a very strong community, I dunno what the word is.

It's like we all kind of plug together. I'm very, very proud. We're very proud. Proud of where we're from, no matter where I've been in the world.

Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: I'm glad your journey brought you back to Manchester. Can you share a Mancunian who inspires you and why?

Ruth Downs: A Mancunian? My dad, I think because he's got an MBE for services to the entertainment industry.

So we've been to Buckingham Palace and we've seen that, but he's had businesses that he's opened and businesses that have failed and businesses that have done exceptionally well. He's reinvented his career as times have changed. And, you know, he's always been very composed and a true businessman.

Ruth Downs: So, I really look up to him. I don't think he knows that.

Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: I hope he can listen to this podcast and hear that because shout out to your dad. He sounds wonderful.

What's the most important life lesson you've learned?

Ruth Downs: That every single thing that happens to you, there's a reason for it, and you just have to. Don't look out. Always look what your lesson and how you can do better. So like, place blame on others, always. Turn it around and think, right, if I was in that situation again, what would I do differently? And never let anyone tell you, you can't. I love my family, but there was only, there's only one person in my family that I think believed that I could get to where I am now. And they're all, even they admit it now. They go, oh, I didn't think you'd make it all the way through. And it's like, just have that belief and just listen to your inner gut.

Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: Thank you for sharing that.

Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: It's a great life lesson because I think that inner belief or that self-confidence, can take you places. because you keep yourself going when maybe others around you aren't as confident.

Ruth Downs: I have to say, I'm not necessarily a very confident person. And you know, I'm saying this because I'm forgetting that there's going to be tons of people listening to this. But it's, more like we're just having a conversation. So I don't want people to think, oh gosh, she sounds really confident. She knows what she's doing. I really like, I mean, obviously, in finance, I know what I'm doing. But every day is a lesson. And I always think, what can I learn from what I did today and how can I make that better?

Ruth Downs: That growth mindset. And it's something I have to work really hard at. So everyone that's listening can do it.

Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: Thank you. And I believe that too.

If you could have one superpower, what would it be?

Ruth Downs: Myself and my fiancé, he asked me, we always have these kinds of random questions and I can never answer that.

I think my superpower would be to heal people and animals. Or speak to animals. Oh, I don't know. There are so many. Yeah. I think I would love to be able to heal people's pain and help or speak to animals. I know that's two, that's being greedy. I'm sorry.

Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: I'm going to gift you two because I love animals too. So that sounds, that sounds very nice. And hopefully, that kitten and you can have a chat,

Ruth Downs: It'd probably just be, feed me now. That's what it would be.

Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: and play with me, isn't it?

Thank you so much. This is all I have for now, so. It was a real pleasure and thanks so much for sharing your story.

Ruth Downs: Thank you so much for having me.

Outro

Thank you, Ruth. I really enjoyed learning about helping the community with financial advice today.

Dear listener, thank you so much for listening to the fifth episode of the Meet the Mancunian Podcast, Season four. I hope this episode and the podcast itself encourages you to follow your passions. Inspired by the amazing Mancunian guest who feature here.

Tune in every Tuesday for a new episode or log on to www.meetthemancunian.co.uk to listen to all the episodes and learn more about my podcasting story.

Next week on Tuesday, 27 December 2022, the Meet the Mancunian podcast talks to Lauren Rosegreen about helping the homeless. Please do leave a review or a voice message on my website www.meetthemancunian.co.uk. It takes only a few minutes. Thank you.