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I recently had a quick and jam-packed conversation with Julia Schortinghuis – Certified Financial Planner and Director at Lighthouse Capital – about her journey in Financial Advice. 

Julia’s career path in Financial Planning first started with roles in retail banking and stockbroking. Julia admits back then she didn’t really know what she wanted to do – so she focused on developing different skill sets and gaining some experience in the finance industry. 

With a growth mindset as her guiding light and having now been a financial planner for over 15 years, Julia shares her best tips for new entrants in Financial Planning:

1. Constantly step outside your comfort zone.
   1. Discomfort is a catalyst for growth. Julia shared she wasn’t particularly good at public speaking back in college. This frustrated her enough to take on a teaching role to develop her public speaking skills and get used to the discomfort of talking in front of many people. This skill would later be put to good use when she decided to become a Financial Planner.
   2. Another way to step out of your comfort zone, which Julia has found very beneficial in building her career, is to seek out people you admire and ask questions. Early in her career, she would reach out to people she looked up to, despite the discomfort, and ask if she could ask them a few questions over coffee. “You’d be surprised at how generous people are,” Julia says. Three of the people she reached out to became her mentors.
2. Focus on improving your soft skills.
   1. Whenever she didn’t know something, Julia never pretended she knew how to do it. Instead, she would immerse herself in research and even reach out to people she thought would be a good source of knowledge. Whether it’s public speaking, networking or developing interpersonal communication, you can learn these skills with the right mindset and tools.
3. Develop good habits for yourself, so you can perform optimally at work.
4. Never underestimate the power of relationships
   1. be interested in other people
   2. get out there and meet with people. Interact with them on a regular basis
   3. Don’t be afraid to pick up the phone
5. Keep reading
   1. Julia’s favourite book right now is Mindset: The New Psychology of Success by Carol S. Dweck – a great read providing excellent insights into redefining what success is.
6. Continuous learning mindset
   1. Julia’s advice is to keep a continuous learning mindset because a career has no endpoint. Always be curious.

One of the fastest ways to improve what you do is by learning from others who are where you want to be. Julia Schortinguis is a phenomenal financial adviser who’s success is a result of adopting a growth mindset.

To connect with Julia:

• XY Adviser
• LinkedIn
• Lighthouse Capital Website