Dan Armitage (CEO of Neuro Sparks) and David Tait (Founder of Redmill Advance,) joins Sam Oakes to talk about supporting neurodivergent individuals in financial planning. Dan spent a decade as a regulated financial adviser, as well as a bank manager in his early twenties, before founding Neuro Sparks with his mother three years ago. He lives with ADHD, dyslexia and dyscalculia himself, and that experience now shapes every part of how he trains other financial planners.In this conversation, Dan explains what it was like...
Dan Armitage (CEO of Neuro Sparks) and David Tait (Founder of Redmill Advance,) joins Sam Oakes to talk about supporting neurodivergent individuals in financial planning. Dan spent a decade as a regulated financial adviser, as well as a bank manager in his early twenties, before founding Neuro Sparks with his mother three years ago. He lives with ADHD, dyslexia and dyscalculia himself, and that experience now shapes every part of how he trains other financial planners.
In this conversation, Dan explains what it was like navigating a career in financial services before he had the language for his own neurodivergence, and what changed once he understood it properly. He and David discuss why 15% of the population is neurodivergent, and why so many employers still are not equipped to identify or support that within their own teams. They also walk through Dan's own academic journey, from sitting his CII exams with a short term memory in the bottom 1% of the population, through to completing a level seven postgraduate certificate in neurodiversity at university - something he describes as the first time in his life he felt he could genuinely study.
David shares how Redmill Advance builds neurodivergent support directly into training academies of up to 500 delegates at a time, including how trainers are taught to spot when someone is struggling and quietly adjust their approach without singling anyone out. Sam also shares his own ADHD diagnosis in detail, and how it changed the way he runs Financial Planner Life, once he understood his own way of working.
Key takeaways from this episode:
- Why 15% of the population is neurodivergent and what that means for financial planning firms today
- How Dan built Neuro Sparks with his mother after a decade as a regulated financial adviser
- What it was like working in financial planning before Dan was diagnosed with ADHD, dyslexia and dyscalculia
- How Dan sat his CII exams with a bottom 1% memory
- What employers notice, and what they don't, when it comes to how their people think
- What reasonable adjustments actually mean under the Equality Act, and where the limits of "reasonable" sit for employers
- How Redmill Advance tailors training for neurodivergent delegates inside academies of up to five hundred people
- Why Sam decided to share his own ADHD diagnosis on the podcast, and what it changed about how he runs Financial Planner Life
This is an episode for financial planning firms thinking seriously about how they support neurodivergent staff, for managers who want to spot the signs before someone reaches a crisis point, and for any financial planner who has ever wondered whether their own brain works a little differently to everyone else's.
Learn more about Neuro Sparks Business Solutions at www.neurosparksolutions.com and Redmill Advance at www.redmilladvance.com/fpl
Financial Planner Life is sponsored by Redmill Advance
Whether you're starting out, already qualified, or building a training academy, Redmill Advance delivers expert-led learning, exam support and CPD from Level 4 to Chartered.
✅ Trusted by top UK firms
👉 www.redmilladvance.com/fpl
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