Following the recent Future Ready: Building Your Financial Resilience talk at Epsom College, students and parents were invited to explore what it really means to prepare for the future, not just financially, but personally and professionally.
Hosted with the Really Helpful Club, the session brought together Lucy Taylor and Austin Flood from leading wealth manager Evelyn Partners, alongside Natalie Abou-Alwan, a lawyer with more than 25 years’ experience across the energy, finance and commodities trading sectors, and author of How To Navigate Your Career Like A Legend.
Together, they shared practical advice, personal reflections and clear messages on confidence, careers, money and resilience. At the heart of the discussion were five simple but powerful ideas.
1. Build confidence through action
Confidence and resilience are not things you simply wait to feel. They are built over time, through experience, consistency and the way you show up.
For Natalie Abou-Alwan, resilience has meant continuing to learn, building experience and developing strong professional relationships. Over time, that combination has helped her build confidence across a career spanning law, energy, finance and commodities trading.
One of the strongest messages from the session was that integrity matters. In high pressure environments, it can be tempting to feel that you need to have every answer immediately. Natalie’s advice was clear:
“If you don’t have an immediate answer to a complicated question where time is critical, it’s better to say you don’t know, but you’ll find out as quickly as you can, rather than feel under pressure to just give any answer. People will respect you for that.”
Confidence is not about pretending to know everything. It is about being prepared, recognising when you need more information and having the integrity to respond properly.
2. Time is your superpower
One of the most powerful financial messages from the event was also one of the simplest: time matters. As the Chinese proverb says:
“The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now.”
Lucy Taylor reminded students that investing is not about being clever. It is about starting before you feel ready.
“Most people think investing is about being clever. It isn’t. It’s about starting before you feel ready. You don’t need lots of money. You don’t need to be an expert. You just need time.”
Small, consistent actions can make a meaningful difference over time. That might mean noticing where your money goes, setting up a small regular standing order into an investment account, or making use of tax efficient products such as ISAs when appropriate.
The message was not about having everything perfectly planned. It was about starting small, starting early and giving your future self more options.
3. You do not need to have it all figured out
Careers are rarely linear. Many young people feel pressure to know exactly what they want to do, but the panel offered a more reassuring perspective.
Austin Flood’s own career path has taken him from sport and performance to financial planning. He shared that being open to change is essential, because the world of work is different now and very few careers follow a straight line.
“Being open to change means you can take advantage of opportunities you didn’t plan for, and you would be surprised at which skills transfer well.”
Natalie’s advice to young people was equally practical:
“It may not be your dream job or career, but it will start to build your experience, skill set and network, which you can then use as a springboard to get to where you want to be.”
The end goal may change over time, and that is not a failure. It is part of building a career, discovering what matters to you and staying open to opportunity.
4. Keep investing in yourself
Skills matter. Curiosity matters. Learning matters. As Warren Buffett says:
“The best investment you can make is in yourself.”
That message ran throughout the conversation. Whether through education, work experience, mentoring, reading, financial knowledge or personal development, investing in yourself helps build confidence and resilience for the long term Lucy’s advice to her younger self was simple:
“Always be curious and invest in your future self.”
Natalie’s book, How To Navigate Your Career Like A Legend, was born from years of observing workplace behaviours, from the good to the difficult. Through mentoring people from a wide range of backgrounds, she saw the value of practical guidance that helps people feel less alone when facing challenges at work. The lesson for students was clear: keep learning, keep building your skills and keep developing the relationships that support you as you grow.
5. Take control of your financial future
Financial resilience is not just about money. It is about confidence, freedom, security and choice. Austin described financial wellbeing as a combination of “means and resilience”. Means are the systems that give you security, how you earn, save, spend and invest. Resilience is how you respond when life does not go to plan.
His practical advice was refreshingly simple: spend less than you earn, start investing early where possible, build an emergency cash reserve and get to grips with the basics. Small habits, formed early, can create flexibility later.
Lucy also highlighted the importance of a safety net. Everyone will face challenges in life, some expected and some unexpected. Her view of financial resilience was clear:
“Having visibility and control of your finances gives you options and, ultimately, freedom.”
For students thinking about university and student finance, Austin encouraged them to see university as an investment and to make deliberate choices. The question is not simply whether university is the right route, but what skills, experience and future flexibility that route can provide.
A final thought
The conversation at Epsom College was a timely reminder that financial resilience is built through both mindset and action. It comes from building confidence through experience. It comes from staying open to change. It comes from investing in your skills, understanding your money and taking small, consistent steps towards the future you want.
You do not need to have it all figured out. But you do need to begin.
