Meet Nicola Langridge – 2025 Financial Planner of the Year

When Nicola Langridge walked onto the stage at the 2025 FPI Convention to accept the Financial Planner of the Year Award, she wasn’t just celebrating a personal milestone – she was stepping into a role she has envisioned since the first day she joined Private Client Holdings (PCH) in 2017.

“For as long as I can remember, this has been a dream of mine,” she says. “When I started at PCH, Mark MacSymon had just won the award. Watching the platform it gave him, the opportunities to teach, speak and give back, I knew it was something I wanted to work towards.” Today, after her first-ever entry into the competition, Langridge is still “on cloud nine”.

From chiropractic to finance

Langridge’s journey into financial planning was anything but conventional. Raised in a family of medical professionals, she initially studied to become a chiropractor before realising it wasn’t the right fit. “I love working with people, but not the hands-on part,” she says with a laugh.

After time abroad in London and Asia, she returned to South Africa and enrolled for a Business Science degree at UCT. By her second year, she had fallen head over heels for finance. An internship with Citigroup in New York during the credit crunch cemented her fascination with markets and investment behaviour.

She started her professional career at PSG Asset Management on the investment side, but something was missing. “I realised I needed the human connection,” she explains. “I wanted to work with people, not only portfolios.” After earning her Postgraduate Diploma in Financial Planning and her CFP® designation, she joined Private Client Holdings – and found her home.

The philosophy behind her practice

Coming from a family steeped in holistic medical thinking, Langridge sees financial advice through a similar lens. “I’ve simply moved from one form of wellness to another,” she says. “Financial wellness is also about looking at the whole picture. You can’t silo a person’s goals, fears, behaviours, or life circumstances.” Empathy, she believes, is the most essential skill in the profession. “If you can’t understand what drives someone, especially what drives their money decisions, you can’t build a plan they’ll trust or follow.”

This holistic approach has helped shape a broad client base, with a strong emphasis on women and medical professionals. “Women tend to look for an adviser who can genuinely listen and connect. There still aren’t many female advisers in the high-net-worth space, so clients naturally gravitate to that empathy.”

Growing a career – and the next generation

The need for new entrants into financial planning is something Langridge is passionate about. With women still making up just 20% of the advice industry, and only about 35% of CFP® professionals, she sees her win as an opportunity to inspire. “I’d love to motivate more people, especially women, to join the profession. We need diversity. We need more qualified planners giving ethical, high-quality advice.”

PCH has been proactive here, running structured internship programmes that allow young professionals to move from admin roles into paraplanning and eventually advising.  Since winning the award, she has already had aspiring planners reach out for mentorship.
“I had people do that for me when I was coming up,” she says. “If someone wants a coffee or a quick call, I’ll always try to make time.”

Her advice to young professionals? “Be patient. Ask for more responsibility. Don’t be afraid to reach out to mentors. And understand that becoming an adviser takes time. It’s a huge responsibility.”

Adapting in a shifting world

Reflecting on the past year, Langridge notes the turbulence in both local and global markets but says her long-term approach has stayed consistent. “It’s been a really strong year for returns. Our focus is always on long-term investing and staying the course. Clients love you in years like this,” she jokes. What has challenged advisers more, she says, isn’t markets but misinformation. “Clients often send me videos from ‘finfluencers’ or deepfakes circulating online, sometimes even fabricated clips of world leaders giving fake financial advice. People get anxious. Part of our role is to help cancel out the noise.”

What comes next

Winning Financial Planner of the Year brings visibility, and Langridge is ready to use it. “My goals are twofold: continue growing my book, and build a strong public-speaking and media presence.” For the past five years, she has hosted popular women-focused and medical-professional events, often partnering with female asset managers or female winemakers. “It’s a wonderful way to share knowledge and build community. And it helps sharpen my communication skills. I’m never fully comfortable on stage, but once I’m up there, it’s exhilarating.” With her new platform, she plans to expand this engagement and help shape the next generation of qualified, ethical advisers. “If you’ve got a message worth sharing, why not share it?”