Payment Expert’s ID Check: Payments Professionals offers insight from industry leaders and experts on how they got their start in the financial industry, from their early years in education, to how they have been able to climb the corporate ladder.
This week, Jan Skoyles, Head of Research at GoldCore, discusses how the 2008 financial crisis sparked a career-long interest in gold, silver and sound money. She explains why demystifying precious metals remains central to her work, how financial education can restore trust, and why the most meaningful career journeys often begin by seizing unexpected opportunities.
Where did you go to university and what did you study? What impact did this have on your current journey?
I studied International Business and Economics at Aston University in Birmingham. My time there coincided with the 2008 financial crisis, which had a huge impact on how I thought about money, markets and the financial system.
What struck me at the time was the gap between economic theory and what was unfolding in the real world. There was a certain irony in condemning Mugabe’s printing presses in one lecture while discussing quantitative easing in another. It left me questioning what money really is, who controls it, and what happens when confidence in the system begins to break down.
During a challenging period of illness, which forced me to split my final year, I was introduced to the world of gold and silver investing. That led me to write my dissertation on the return of gold and silver to the monetary system. It became much more than an academic project. It was the starting point of my career and the moment I realised that gold was not some relic of the past, but a very relevant answer to questions people were once again asking about trust, value and financial security.
What first drew you to the payments industry and why have you stayed?
Gold was my first love. What drew me into the wider payments and financial technology space was the question of how people actually use, store and transfer value in the modern world.
The financial crisis exposed many weaknesses in the banking system. It made it clear that people needed better ways to protect their wealth and, perhaps more importantly, better ways to understand what was happening to it. Gold has always sat at the heart of that conversation because it is outside the banking system, cannot be printed at will, and carries no one else’s liability.
I have stayed because the industry is really about trust. Whether we are talking about physical bullion, digital platforms, custody, payments or investment access, the same questions keep returning: who holds the asset, what backs the promise, and can the client rely on it? Gold forces those questions into the open. That is why it remains so important.
Are there any lessons from your first role in the industry which you still draw on?
As a co-founder of a company that was around in the early stages of online gold investment, I learned that vision is important, but trust matters more. We were exploring new ways to make gold investment more accessible, including the use of emerging technology, but the most important lesson was that the technology was never the point. The asset and the service were the point. It’s still true today. People were not coming to us because they wanted complexity. They wanted clarity. They wanted to know that they owned real gold, that it was securely stored, and that they could understand exactly what they were buying.
I also learned that the emotional weight of investing is not determined by the size of the account. Someone investing £50 often cared just as deeply as someone investing £500,000. That taught me that the role of a good precious metals business is not simply to sell gold. It is to make gold accessible, understandable and relevant to people at different stages of their financial lives.
When was your first big break in the industry? Why was this such a significant moment for you?
The recognition I received for my dissertation was the turning point. It did not just earn me a degree. It validated my interest in gold and silver at a time when the traditional financial system was under serious scrutiny.
It also gave me the confidence to enter the industry through a very specific lens. I was not interested in gold as a speculative trade or a fashionable asset. I was interested in gold as money, as insurance, and as a form of financial resilience.
That early focus helped me cut through a lot of noise. Precious metals can be a niche market, but they sit at the centre of some of the biggest questions in finance: inflation, debt, currency debasement, central bank policy, geopolitical risk and trust in institutions. That has shaped my career ever since.
Was there a moment you faced in the industry which really challenged you? How did you overcome this?
One of the biggest challenges has always been education. Gold is often misunderstood. Some people see it as old-fashioned, others see it only as something to trade, and many simply do not know where it fits within a modern portfolio.
In the early days, we were often explaining why physical ownership mattered, why counterparty risk mattered, and why gold should not be dismissed just because it does not behave like a conventional financial asset. That required patience and consistency.
The way through was always to return to the fundamentals. Gold is tangible. It is scarce. It has been trusted across cultures and centuries. It does not depend on the promise of a government, a bank or a corporate balance sheet. Once people understand that, the conversation changes. They begin to see gold not as an alternative to the financial system for the sake of being alternative, but as a form of protection within a world that is increasingly uncertain.
What are some of the skills you deem essential to starting in your industry and how have yours developed over the years?
The most important skill is the ability to translate complexity into plain English. Gold sits at the intersection of economics, politics, markets, history and human psychology. You need to be able to explain why it matters without drowning people in jargon.
You also need curiosity. The gold market is never just about the gold price. It is about what is happening to currencies, debt, central banks, interest rates, geopolitics and confidence in the wider system. To work in this industry, you have to be willing to connect the dots.
Over the years, I have become more focused on education and communication. Many clients are not looking for someone to impress them with technical language. They are looking for someone who can help them understand what is happening, what their options are, and why owning physical gold and silver may play a role in protecting their wealth.
Who was your biggest role model, inside or outside of your industry, who continues to inspire you in your current career?
Investment manager Ned Naylor-Leyland has had a huge influence on my career. He was the person who suggested my dissertation topic and helped introduce me to the world of gold and sound money.
He did not just mentor me. He sponsored me. He introduced me to people, challenged my thinking, and helped me understand the deeper story of the financial system beyond what was taught in textbooks. If it weren’t for him persuading me to write my dissertation on gold and silver, all the way back in 2010 (!) then I wouldn’t be speaking to you today.
What I have always admired is his commitment to education. He has never treated precious metals
as a trend or a trade. He understands it as part of a much bigger monetary story. That has stayed with me throughout my career and continues to shape how I communicate about gold today.
If you didn’t work in the industry, what other career option would you have pursued or would have loved to?
I have always been drawn to entrepreneurship, especially ideas that help people make better decisions or connect with information in a more meaningful way. I was involved in projects outside precious metals, mainly around blockchain, and I have always been fascinated by how networks, recommendations and communities shape behaviour.
But in many ways, I think I would still have ended up circling back to the same themes: trust, value, education and human decision-making. Gold happens to bring all of those themes together rather neatly. Rather inconveniently for anyone trying to leave it behind.
Lastly, what is some advice you would give to an aspiring person looking to get a start in your respective industry?
Find a sponsor, not just a mentor. A mentor gives advice, but a sponsor opens doors, makes introductions and puts your name into rooms you are not yet in.
I would also say: never turn down an invitation to a cocktail party. You never know who you might meet or where one conversation may take you. That is not frivolous advice. Careers are often shaped by chance meetings, provided you have done the work beforehand.
Finally, do not follow the crowd. Find the question that genuinely interests you and follow it properly. For me, that question was: what happens when trust in money breaks down? That question led me to gold, and gold led me to a career. Find your own version of that. It may become your golden ticket.
Interested in sharing your experiences from the industry and passing on advice to the next-generation for ID Check? Contact: [email protected]
