COLUMNS • MY BUSINESS
Starting out My Biz speaks to trainee adviser Lillian Nguyen from Finax Home Loans about her journey from Air New Zealand to the adviser market. BY MIRIAM BELL
Tell us about your background before moving into mortgage advice. I’ve always been good with numbers, so I was always interested in working with them. I did a degree in accounting and 028
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international business at university and, after that, I went into banking, joining ASB as a customer service officer in 2013. In my time at ASB, I worked my way up to being a business relationship manager and managing a portfolio of clients. That role enhanced my lending skills as I was dealing with more complex structures, and assessing business lending as well as home lending. After five years at the bank, I decided I wanted to travel and see the world. Being a flight attendant was a high school dream so it seemed a good idea to give it a go. In early 2018, I left to work as international cabin crew for Air NZ. I did that for two years but I remained in touch with my banking contacts and kept up my knowledge of mortgages and finance.
How did you end up getting into the mortgage advice business? Last year, I lost my Air NZ role due to Covid-19 and had to start looking for a new job. When I was at ASB, I loved
helping customers buy houses. It’s just so exciting to enable people to achieve that goal of purchasing their own home. So I started looking for a job in an area related to my banking background and ended up applying for a job at Finax Home Loans. It all happened very quickly and at just the right time. I actually ended up starting work during the second (level three) lockdown. I’ve always had a passion for lending and mortgages. This opportunity has allowed me to go into an area of work that I enjoy, and pursue that passion.
And how are you going with learning the business? While I was away from the financial industry for two years, as soon as I started here it felt like I'd never left. The Finax team has been helpful and welcoming, and I’ve learnt a lot from the company founder, Lucia Xiao’s, knowledge and experience. My banking experience has been useful – even though there are big differences
