I am a Senior Consultant at LCP, based in Winchester. I joined LCP as a pensions actuarial graduate in late 2014, having completed a summer internship before my final year at university.
Why did you choose a career in the pensions industry?
I wouldn’t say I actively “chose” a career in the pensions industry at all!
At university, I would never have expected to have been started my career in pensions. Whilst I was completing my Economics degree, I had limited exposure to “actuarial” careers – things like investment banking, consultancy, and civil service were the things that were most often mentioned.
It was in searching for consultancy internships that I came across LCP – my first impression was of a very welcoming organisation that was highly regarded in its industry. As the role was based in Winchester, it also offered a different style of living to the many London-based internships I had found.
The rest, as they say, is history. I found that working in pensions was much more diverse than I could ever have imagined; and the skills I’ve picked up from my work in pensions have led me to doing interesting work in other areas – in particular within football.
What does a typical day look like for you?
Today, I’ve been providing information to a group of pension scheme trustees to help them decide how to make difficult decisions in relation to Company that is responsible for funding the pension scheme but is experiencing financial difficulties.
Next up was launching a new online platform to help football clubs across Europe arrange friendlies – a project we’ve been working on for the past year.
Then, I’ve been closely with a colleague to help prepare data to be passed to insurers as part of a process that will see insurers provide quotations for insuring the remaining pension scheme benefits.
My next job is to work out the cost of changing the way a pension scheme is operated to offer a more generous benefit. I’ll also be promoting my article in LCP’s online investment magazine on social media.
Later in the week, highlights will be attending calls with the Chair of a Trustee board to create an agenda for an upcoming Trustee meeting, visiting a local university to discuss our work in football with potential future colleagues, and coming up with a plan for leading presentation training with colleagues.
As you’ll be able to see, my days are very varied! It’s hard to predict what any one day will look like – but that what makes it fun.
What do you like about working for LCP?
One of the things I value most about working at LCP is the curious culture – new ideas are embraced in the core areas of our business, in growth areas, and in entirely new areas.
This innovative culture facilitated a small team to start working in Football Analytics around the time I joined LCP (the first significant project for this team was developing an online data-scouting tool, TransferLab, to assist professional football clubs in making better recruitment decisions).
As a keen footballer and football fan, the opportunity to apply the analytical and actuarial skills I was developing through my pensions actuarial work, to the world of football, was exciting. Through this work, I have gained experiences of relationship development, sales, contract negotiations and working with third parties – and I do not think I would have benefited from the same personal learning experiences without working in this exciting growth area.
My role now combines helping trustees and companies manage their pensions arrangements, football analytics, and wider business development work with LCP.
I consider myself lucky to work for a company where many of my colleagues have become personal friends. My colleagues regularly push me to achieve more but are also supportive and mindful of my overall wellbeing. It is great to be a part of our team.
