Raj Shah, OH 1984-94, visited the school in March during National Careers Week (2024) to talk to our Sixth Form Business and Economics Society about his career since leaving Hymers College. After leaving school, he went to Sheffield Hallam to study Business and Technology, before carving a career in financial planning.

Raj's career started in his placement year when he worked in an administrative role for a large financial planning firm and from there, it gave him an insight in to such a career. He studied for his qualifications whilst working at Aviva and in 2009, he set up his own company, Blue Wealth.

He shared with the students his passion for helping people and supporting them in achieving their desired lifestyle for life, without fear of running out of money. Raj shared some calculations for which the mathematicians in the room didn't need their calculators! The students learned about planning their future with conversations about savings, inflation, depreciation, and the need to start saving early.

Raj reinforced what all our alumni say to our students; choose a degree you are going to love and enjoy that will bring the results you require. Raj reiterated the importance of work experience to step into any industry.  All customer-facing experience will help for a stand-out job application, particularly in a sales-facing role to reinforce confidence and build on such integral life skills working in a public-facing industry.

I enjoyed sharing my journey to date and experience of building a financial planning business.  I hope to inspire more students into my wonderful profession!

Thank you Raj, for returning to Hymers College to talk to our students.

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