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The Bearded IFA

The Bearded IFA

By: Robert Lewis
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Welcome to The Bearded IFA — honest conversations about money, business, leadership, life, and everything in between.


Hosted by Rob Lewis, better known as The Bearded IFA, this podcast goes beyond pensions, investments, and financial planning. Drawing on years of experience as an Independent Financial Adviser, business owner, entrepreneur, and active member of the local community, Rob sits down with inspiring business owners, leaders, professionals, and changemakers to uncover the stories behind their success.


Expect real conversations, practical insights, lessons learned, challenges overcome, and plenty of laughs along the way. From building businesses and managing money to leadership, personal growth, community impact, and navigating life's twists and turns, no topic is off limits.


Whether you're an entrepreneur, business owner, professional, aspiring leader, or simply someone who enjoys hearing authentic stories from interesting people, The Bearded IFA offers valuable insights and thought-provoking discussions from people who have been there and done it.


Pull up a chair, grab a coffee, and join the conversation.


The Bearded IFA — where money meets life, business meets people, and every story has something to teach us. 🎙️🧔🏻‍♂️

© 2026 The Bearded IFA Economics Leadership Management & Leadership
Episodes
  • The Bearded IFA Diaries | What Does It Really Mean to Become a B Corp?

    The Bearded IFA Diaries | What Does It Really Mean to Become a B Corp?
    21 Oct 2026

    What actually is a B Corp and why are more businesses choosing to become one?

    In this episode of The Bearded IFA Diaries, I’m joined by Laura Hothersall from Truth, an independent consultant who helps businesses of all sizes and industries through the B Corp certification process.

    This one is also personal for me, as Laura played a central role in helping Celtic Financial Planning become a B Corp.

    We talk about what B Corp actually means, what businesses are assessed on, and why it goes far beyond simply having another badge on your website.

    B Corp looks at how a business operates across areas including its people, customers, governance, community and environmental impact.

    We also explore why that increasingly matters commercially.

    Can B Corp help build trust with customers?
    Can it strengthen your brand?
    Can it help attract and retain better people?
    And are consumers and recruits starting to care more about the values behind the businesses they choose?

    We also discuss the fact that B Corp standards are becoming tougher.

    That creates more work for businesses going through the process, but it also helps protect the credibility of the certification.

    From my own experience, the process forces you to look closely at how your business really operates — from policies and suppliers to employees, customers and decision-making.

    In this episode:

    🌍 What B Corp actually is
    📋 What businesses are assessed on
    🏢 Why more companies are becoming B Corps
    🤝 How Laura helps businesses through the process
    👥 Why values increasingly matter to employees and recruits
    🛍️ Why consumers care about how businesses behave
    🏆 The commercial advantages B Corp can bring
    📈 Why the standards are getting tougher
    💬 My own experience taking Celtic Financial Planning through certification
    🚀 Why becoming a B Corp is really the start, not the finish line

    One of the biggest takeaways from this conversation is simple:

    B Corp isn’t just about getting certified. It’s about building a better business.

    A fascinating conversation about purpose, culture, sustainability, recruitment, trust and what businesses need to think about if they’re considering the B Corp journey.

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    🎙️ The Bearded IFA Diaries — real conversations with business owners, professionals and interesting people about their journeys, challenges and what they’ve learned along the way.

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    18 min
  • The Bearded IFA Diaries | Are Financial Advisers Doing Enough Due Diligence?

    The Bearded IFA Diaries | Are Financial Advisers Doing Enough Due Diligence?
    7 Oct 2026
    How do financial advisers prove that the platforms and investment solutions they recommend are genuinely right for their clients?And is simply reviewing a handful of providers really enough anymore?In this episode of The Bearded IFA Diaries, I’m joined by Tony Peters from Due Diligence Solutions, a specialist who has spent more than a decade helping financial advice firms independently review platforms, discretionary fund managers and their wider investment propositions.Tony started his career as a financial adviser before eventually running his own business with more than 20 advisers. Around the time of the Retail Distribution Review, he spotted a growing challenge for advice firms: properly researching and documenting why they had selected particular platforms and DFMs. That ultimately led to the creation of Due Diligence Solutions.Today, Tony and his team research more than 30 platforms and 246 discretionary fund managers, helping firms create the evidence and audit trail behind their decision-making.And that evidence is becoming increasingly important.We talk about why there is no single platform that is right for every client.Different clients have different requirements — whether that’s cost, trusts, direct equities, gilts, bonds or more complex planning needs. Tony explains that his role isn’t to tell an adviser which provider to use, but to independently filter the market and produce an appropriate shortlist based on what that particular firm and its clients actually need.We also discuss the increasing scrutiny around provider selection.With consolidation across financial services, changing ownership of platforms, Consumer Duty and greater attention from both regulators and professional indemnity insurers, being able to demonstrate why a firm selected a provider is becoming every bit as important as the selection itself.Then there’s the rapidly changing DFM market.Tony has seen a much greater emphasis on performance, cost and value for money, particularly over the last few years.We discuss whether Consumer Duty initially created something of a “race to the bottom” on cost and why the industry is increasingly coming back to a more sensible question:Is the client actually receiving good value for the outcome they’re getting?Another fascinating part of the conversation is the distinction between a firm’s Centralised Investment Proposition (CIP) and its Centralised Retirement Proposition (CRP).Accumulating wealth and drawing an income in retirement are very different phases of somebody’s financial life, with different risks and objectives.Tony believes firms need to be much clearer about that distinction — including how clients transition from one proposition to the other.In this episode:🔍 What good due diligence actually looks like📊 Why researching only a handful of providers may not be enough💻 How platform due diligence has changed over the last decade🏦 Why there is no single platform that works for every client📈 How the DFM market is evolving💷 Cost versus genuine value for money⚖️ The impact of Consumer Duty on investment propositions🏢 Consolidation and what happens when providers change ownership📝 Why a strong audit trail is becoming increasingly important🚦 How Tony's traffic-light system identifies strengths and weaknesses in providers🎯 Why client and investment propositions should drive provider selection👴 Why accumulation and retirement propositions need to be treated differently🤝 The value of an independent second pair of eyes🏛️ Tony's ongoing conversations with the FCA about what “good” looks like🔮 How Due Diligence Solutions is expanding into pensions, bonds, ESG and other areas of financial planningOne of the points I particularly enjoyed was Tony’s view on independence.Due Diligence Solutions isn’t owned or sponsored by a platform or DFM, and Tony is clear that maintaining that independence is fundamental to the credibility of the work they do.Because ultimately, due diligence shouldn’t be about creating a document simply to satisfy compliance.It should help advisers challenge what they’re doing, understand the market, identify better alternatives and demonstrate that the decisions they make genuinely support good outcomes for their clients.A fascinating conversation about financial advice, platforms, DFMs, Consumer Duty, regulation, independence and what good due diligence really looks like.#TheBeardedIFA #TheBeardedIFADiaries #FinancialPlanning #FinancialAdvice #DueDiligence #IFA #ConsumerDuty #Investments #DFM #FinancialServices Send us Fan MailSupport the show🎙️ The Bearded IFA Diaries — real conversations with business owners, professionals and interesting people about their journeys, challenges and what they’ve learned along the way.
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    27 min
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