# Future Fit Financial Planning: In Conversation with James McPartland Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/bwd-in-the-know-6569109/future-fit-financial-planning-in-conversation-with-james-mcpartland Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/bwd-in-the-know-6569109/future-fit-financial-planning-in-conversation-with-james-mcpartland.md Podcast: [BWD: In The Know](https://stenobird.com/podcast/bwd-in-the-know-6569109) Published: 2026-03-26T19:00:00+00:00 Episode link: https://shows.acast.com/bwd/episodes/future-fit-financial-planning-in-conversation-with-james-mcp Audio file: https://sphinx.acast.com/p/open/s/64c8f6eb243b4a0010cb8e10/e/69c55a3f9b6be94a1a899fa3/media.mp3 Processing state: not_requested JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/bwd-in-the-know-6569109/episodes/future-fit-financial-planning-in-conversation-with-james-mcpartland Duration seconds: 4363 ## Resource The Adviser Who Walked Away   In conversation with James McPartland     In this episode, James is joined by  James McPartland  to explore the story behind building and ultimately walking away from a £400m financial planning business.    Built from scratch under the St. James’s Place model, James and his partners grew a highly successful firm before making the decision to leave and start again. In this candid conversation, he shares what pushed them to that point, what they got wrong along the way, and what they would do differently if they had their time again.    In this episode, they discuss:   Building an advice business from scratch in your twenties  Growing organically to £400m of client assets  The realities of operating within a large advice model  The frustrations that led to the decision to leave  What happens when you resign from your own business  The risks, pressure and personal impact of starting again  Lessons learned — and what they would do differently  Why client relationships matter more than brand names    This episode offers a candid and practical look at one of the biggest decisions an adviser can make, and what it really takes to start again.    If you’re a financial planner, adviser or business owner thinking about the future of your firm, this episode is for you.   Chapters   00:00 Introduction  02:20 How James Fell Into Financial Planning  07:00 Starting Out With Just a Phone  12:00 Building an Advice Business in Your Twenties  18:00 Joining St. James’s Place  24:00 Growing the Business to £400m  32:00 When Things Started to Feel Misaligned  40:00… ## Actions - request_transcript: `POST https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/bwd-in-the-know-6569109/episodes/future-fit-financial-planning-in-conversation-with-james-mcpartland/transcription-requests` — Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode. - read_markdown: `GET https://stenobird.com/podcast/bwd-in-the-know-6569109/future-fit-financial-planning-in-conversation-with-james-mcpartland.md` — Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource. A page view does not enqueue transcription. Agents should invoke `request_transcript` explicitly when they need this episode processed. ## Transcript Full transcripts are not published on public pages unless there is a clear rights basis.