Boolers, which has the strapline ‘Sharing a wealth of wisdom’, is a standout firm in the Midlands. Of the many reasons, the foremost are its Chartered status and its £587m of assets under management. The firm has won multiple industry awards and offers a focus on business owners, senior executives and people who are close to retirement. These three cohorts make up the majority of the Boolers client book, and the firm has accordingly tailored its processes to meet their needs. The Leicester-based firm has been serving clients for over 30 years and focuses on Sipp and Ssas pensions, investments and wealth management. Boolers prides itself on offering a personal ongoing service and being available for clients, with regular reviews a fundamental part of its financial planning service. The firm is also active in the local community and launched the Boolers Academy last year. The academy is an initiative to teach people between the ages of 18 to 24 about the cornerstones of financial advice. Business owner and financial planner Chris Ball noted at the time of the launch that many people leave school without having a true understanding of finance and its importance. The academy looks at key topics such as credit cards, store cards, pensions and the fundamentals of investing.
Central Wealth Planning is a Chartered and independent advice firm, offering private client and corporate services. Based in Solihull, the company specialises in business advice, retirement and pensions advice, wealth management, later life and care fee funding, and immediate needs annuities. Central offers a personalised service and limits its client numbers to achieve this. Central’s advisers focus on building long-term plans with ongoing support. Managing director Ian Smith is both Chartered and Certified as a financial planner. He was also a prominent figure in the Institute of Financial Planning (now merged with the CISI), where he worked as a regional manager. Smith has won several national industry awards for the quality of his advice. Fellow director Sam Clarke is also a Chartered and Certified financial planner, as well as an award-winning mortgage planner. She is highly qualified in offering care home fee planning. Central Wealth Planning itself is a three-time winner of the New Model Adviser Awards for the Midlands. It supports the Society of Later Life Advisers, highlighting the firm’s ability to cater towards elderly clients.
Located in Newark on Trent, DB Wood has been operating in the Midlands since 1976. The firm is focused on financial planning, business planning, investment management and risk advisory. The underlying philosophy at DB Wood is to focus on why they offer financial advice, rather than simply considering the ‘what’ and ‘how’ of delivering the service. The firm has grown significantly in the past decade. It had £66m in assets under management back in 2011. They now manage in advance of £525m, thanks to a mixture of organic growth and acquisitions. The firm acquired Gallimore Associates in 2012, and Albian Lake Wealth Management in 2017. Another major factor in the expansion of DB Wood was the launch of its discretionary investment management service in August 2015. This service is focused on planning objectives, rather than benchmarks, and is available to other IFAs. The proposition consists of six model portfolios and is available through several platforms. While the business has ample investment expertise, the client planning service is central to client outcomes. The firm’s website points out that one of the most significant parts of the adviser’s role is listening and making sure that the resulting financial plan properly meets the objectives and needs of the client.
Whateley Wealth Management is one of the fastest-growing independent advice firms in the Midlands. The firm grew from £30m AUM in 2017 to £100m by the end of 2019. At the heart of this has been a savvy client acquisition strategy that has used networking, online directories, local accountancy connections and referrals from existing clients. Managing director Nicola Whateley attributes this growth to a series of good hiring decisions. She noted in a recent article that ‘hiring the right people’ was the best decision she’s made as a business owner. The hires have included a full-time compliance officer, as well as a mortgage and protection officer. Beyond this, Whateley has positioned staff training and development as a central part of Whateley Wealth Management’s strategic plan. The firm funds all relevant study and examination costs for staff. Whateley targets a wide range of clients, rather than simply focusing on the top end of the market. For those who are not in a position to access the full ongoing service, one-off meetings with no ongoing charge are recommended. For those looking to emulate the growth of the firm, Whateley recommends putting serious thought into the back-office system, compliance structure and the service proposition itself. Technology and communications were absolutely vital.
Gemini Wealth Management was established in 2006 in Sutton Coldfield. Since then, it has cemented itself as one of the leading financial planning firms in the Birmingham area. The firm has expanded its group to include an advisory business, a discretionary fund management division, an estate planning arm and a mortgage division. The Gemini team provides professional, unbiased, advice on financial products, financial planning, investment, wealth management and tax efficiency to both private individuals and businesses alike. Their team of 12 advisers has over 300 years of combined experience. Their planning is split into five phases. It starts with the discovery phase, which is an introduction to Gemini’s investment methods and a discussion of fees. Next is the analysis phase, which examines clients’ existing investments and pensions. During the recommendation phase, advisers present their recommendations to clients, which is followed by the implementation phase if clients are on board. Finally, their review process keeps clients up to date with their investments. Gemini is actively involved in the local community as part of their corporate social responsibility programme. They support two charity partners: Remap UK and the Michael Lewis Foundation. Over the past few years, their fundraising has raised more than £24,000 for these two charities and previous charity partners.
In the quiet village of Wall Heath sits financial planning firm Hayden Kilkelly (HK). Founded in 2016 by Paul Hayden Jones and Graham Kilkelly, the firm has gone from strength to strength since. HK is known for its ‘Tardis’ approach to financial planning. They get each prospective client to imagine stepping out of a Tardis into the future and attempt to visualise life in retirement. HK then works towards those goals in a tailored way. Hayden Kilkelly has corporate chartered status, awarded by the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII), which places HK among some of the best financial planning firms in status, qualifications, technical competence, ethics, client service and ongoing client support. Additionally, both Jones and Kilkelly have attained CII Fellowship status. This is widely regarded as the premier designation for those in the insurance profession. HK has also been actively promoting the financial planning profession to secondary schools. They have been awarded a Personal Finance Society (PFS) Education Outreach Ambassador role for this. The firm recently launched their ‘In the Event of My Death’ service for clients. This is an additional service for HK clients, whereby clients have access to secure online documents detailing their financial information, funeral wishes and a chance to pre-record ‘a proper goodbye’ in advance for their loved ones. The service has been very well received by clients.
Positioned in a hamlet on the edge of the Shropshire Hills, Matrix Capital offers independent financial advice to both private individuals and businesses. Matrix implements its ‘Financial Empowerment Programme’ with their clients. This consists of six stages designed to help clients take a holistic approach to professional financial planning. Matrix is not only an excellent advice firm, but they have also fully committed to their corporate social responsibility (CSR) programme. The firm’s theme is ‘vulnerability and combating financial abuse’. The most significant piece of work that Matrix completed for their CSR efforts was a video animation, which they raised funding for, created and then gifted to Citizens Advice. Citizens Advice then used that work to raise awareness of financial abuse and scams. The video has since been made publicly available and is being used in a variety of places. Additionally, Robin Melley, co-director of Matrix, has been awarded a distinction in the Step advanced certificate for advising vulnerable clients. The certificate covers every aspect of vulnerability, including how to advise the most vulnerable members of society, clients who have lost mental capacity and those at risk of financial abuse. In recognition of their CSR work, Matrix received the Special Award for Outstanding Consumer Engagement at the 2019 Personal Finance Society Awards.
Founded in 2012 by Caroline Anstee, Kettering-based Anstee & Co has grown rapidly. They now boast of three offices, 1,000 clients, five fee-earning advisers and over £120m assets under advice. Additionally, Anstee & Co have three mortgage advisers who deal specifically with clients who only require assistance with their mortgages. Currently, the firm has 4,000 of these clients. The firm has a transparent fee structure, which differs between private clients, corporate clients and mortgage advice. The firm was set up with sustainability at its core. For Anstee & Co, this means that the company has staff of all ages, whose ideas allow the business to compete in the face of new technologies, such as robo-advice. Anstee ensures this by recruiting and hiring a team with different experience and specialisms. All staff are encouraged to continue learning and get as qualified as soon as possible. Outside of the office, Anstee & Co hosts an annual charity golf day at Wellingborough Golf Club. Last year the firm raised more than £5,000 for a local dementia choir. Additionally, they offer pro bono advice to a local cancer support charity.
Future Life Wealth Management can be found in Renishaw, a short drive south of Sheffield. Future Life was founded in 2009 by Jillian Thomas. Future Life Wealth Management offers a bespoke financial planning service to generators of wealth, typically business owners, executives and professionals, and to receivers of wealth, such as inheritors, divorcees, and retirees. Since setting up the company in 2009, Thomas has won numerous awards including the Forward Ladies Inspirational Leader Award 2016, the Derbyshire Times Lifetime Achievement Award 2018 and the Corporate Social Responsibility category in the East Midlands Institute of Directors awards 2018. In 2019, the firm created a ‘financial masterclass’ programme explaining the fundamentals of investments and pensions, which was rolled out to over 500 local businesses in the South Yorkshire and East Midlands areas. To build on this reputation, the firm has secured monthly sections in the Yorkshire Post and the Derby Times, and regularly gains slots on local radio and television stations as an expert financial commentator. In-house, the firm has three office dogs to boost morale and provide stress-relief.
MPA Financial Management was established in 1988 in Henley-in-Arden. With over 30 years’ in the advice industry, MPA is considered one of the leading firms in the west midlands. MPA was awarded chartered status by the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII). This title is only awarded to firms that meet rigorous criteria relating to professionalism and capability. To retain their status, MPA must ensure the advice, service, and ongoing support they provide to clients are of the highest quality. They do so by ensuring their advisers are up to date with their professional qualifications. The firm set up their own charity – The MPA Charitable Foundation – two years ago to help small charities and individuals in the local area to their office. So far MPA have distributed over £20,000 to a wide range of good causes such as a youth club, Christmas dinner for 80 older people and a local playground. MPA also paid £1,300 for 64 local men over the age of 40 to have a blood test for prostate cancer. MPA offers a range of nine services that suit a variety of clients. Their most popular one is the ‘MPA Wealth’ service. Others include ‘MPA Private Client’ and ‘MPA Lite’ for those with excess of £500,000 and with less than £100,000 invested through the firm respectively, and ‘MPA Civil’, which is specifically for those in the senior civil service.
Elevation is a wealth management practice with offices in Birmingham, London and Nottingham. The firm specialises in providing ‘general practice’ wealth management. To complement the Elevation holistic approach to financial planning, the group has specialist services such as estate planning that provide inter-generational advice as well as internal investment management capability through sister company Blackwood Asset Management. Elevation has grown over the last 9 years to become a significant regional practice, through the acquisition of smaller retiring practices. This effort has been enhanced by its IFA Academy, which supports the development of staff through each aspect of the business while they become qualified. The result has aided 5 of the current IFA team. Elevation believes that exposing its staff to different aspects of the business leads to a greater understanding of the overall client delivery. A by-product of this strategy is that Elevation holds a younger average age than most practices (36). The firm believes this helps its advisers to understand intergenerational client needs and the mediums that clients expect advice to be delivered through – all during the changing landscape of 2020 produced by Covid-19.
Since 2004, OCM Wealth Management has been a partner to many high net worth and ultra-high net worth individuals. As both a Chartered Financial Planning firm and a Discretionary Asset Manager the business combines those two skills to ensure that both are delivered seamlessly to clients. As a family-run business, OCM Wealth Management understands the need to balance current plans while mitigating the loss of capital and income to taxation by saving for retirement and understanding the risks of ill health or death. It is equally as important for the firm to deliver stable investment returns over the short, medium and long term and to balance that with protecting capital. OCM Wealth Management is a young and vibrant firm, composed of a blend between high-calibre graduates and mature advisers, that focuses on building a team of competent wealth managers that will be able to work with new clients for many years. The businesses sports division has also grown due to clients requesting the services. The firm expects strong growth in that area to continue. The firm now officially supports a local homeless charity The Hope Centre with staff volunteering and financial support.
Prosperity Wealth is a well-established, award-winning firm that provides leading independent financial advice throughout the country and has been doing so for almost two decades. The firm currently employs over 60 advisers, including specialists who advise on pensions, long-term care and equity release. To provide clients with a top-class service, Prosperity Wealth has streamlined processes and systems with 20 support staff to ensure that clients receive a service that is second to none. The business manages funds of approximately £950m, which demonstrates its knowledge, expertise and the trust that clients have in the firm. The firm provides bespoke advice and often covers a wide range of areas that include employee benefits, personal pensions, investments, protection and tax planning. Prosperity Wealth has no preference for any company or fund it invests in, which include investment bonds, ISAs, VCTs and inheritance specialist solutions. The firm has three other parts of the business: Prosperity Mortgages, Prosperity Commercial and Prosperity Employee Benefits. The firm has been involved in many charitable causes, including giving donations to the Black Country food bank and its work with Birmingham Children’s Hospital. The firm’s name was added to the red balloon section at the entrance of the hospital.
The Premier Partnership Limited provides impartial and honest financial advice and offers many services to help clients make the most of their finances, such as investment and taxation advice along with pension and estate planning. The Premier Partnership are independent financial advisers, and the business has no links or ties to any one product provider. They can access life assurance, pension or investment solutions from across the whole marketplace.The firm aims to assist clients with all aspects of financial planning by giving clear and sound advice with a transparent charging structure. The Premier Partnership, located in Tamworth, was originally created by Nigel Herrick in 1991 as an appointed representative of a little-known life assurance company. It has been in its present form as an independent advisory company since 1993. The firm takes pride in never having to advertise, with all new business coming from referrals or recommendations. The reason is simple: the business’s clients appreciate the way they are treated and Premier Partnership values its relationships with them. Many clients become personal friends of the firm’s advisers.
Wealth Solutions was formed by managing director Simon Redhead in 2008 to create a leading wealth management business that cares about what it does and has a reputation for doing it well. The business wants to provide an advisory service that caters for all aspects of financial planning over the long-term. It is not interested in serving individual transactions but rather clients who need advice today, tomorrow and beyond. Wealth Solutions understands the need to support this service with the best people who have leading experience and knowledge of the industry. Wealth Solutions uses cutting edge technology that allows our clients to gain secure and immediate access to their investments. Over ten years later, Wealth Solution has rapidly increased the size of the business. Staff numbers have increased from two to 20 over the past 10 years. They also opened a second office in Leamington Spa. The firm is fixed on bringing in the next generation and offers an enterprise management incentive scheme. Once you have hit five years of service, you can get shares in the business at a discounted price. The firm, during lockdown, has continued to support local charities with fundraising efforts. Wealth Solutions looks forward to running events like walks, rowing and abseiling again for these causes.
Wattam Kirby Mee (WKM Wealth) is an independent financial planning and investment management business established by four financial service professionals and friends, with 60 years of industry experience. They set up the business with the goal to help their clients, friends, and family to achieve financial freedom and create the ability to enjoy their lives. WKM received direct authorisation from the FCA on 20 April 2020. Already in their short history, it has started attracting old and new clients with their financial planning and investment management proposition. Using their skills from previous roles, the four co-founders have built on this using better technology, including a well-received client portal. WKM is growing fast and working hard with their clients to meet their long-term goals, both financially and personally. Achieving client goals is the main driver behind WKM, and the culture of both clients and staff is about collaboration and ‘enjoying the journey’. Away from their day jobs, WKM staff have recently signed up to the 1% pledge to give away 1% of their time, profit and services to good causes each year. The team is determined to not only make a difference for their clients but also do some good in the world at a time that has never been needed more. The future for WKM is looking bright.
Based in East Anglia, Gibbs Denley Financial Services are Chartered Financial Planners who have been helping clients to achieve their financial goals for 30 years. Throughout that time they have grown to employ 34 staff across three offices: Cambridge, Bury St Edmunds and Chelmsford. They hold over half a billion pounds of assets under management and are dedicated to delivering high standards of service, professional advice tailored to the client and long-term, beneficial relationships. Gibbs Denley knows that the quality of client advice depends on the knowledge and skills of their staff, which is why it provides its staff with a comprehensive professional development programme. This has led to 7 of their advisers achieving Chartered status, and 4 of them have also achieved fellowship with the Personal Finance Society. Over the last 30 years, Gibbs Denley has won several awards, including being listed in the New Model Adviser Top 100 every year since 2016. During lockdown, the firm raised over £1,200 for NHS Charities Together by challenging staff to run, walk or cycle over 1,000km collectively (while maintaining social distancing). They are also supporting Macmillan for 2020–21.
Just north of Sutton Coldfield sits the small village of Wall, where Intelligent Wealth Management Partnership (IWMP) is based. IWMP’s methods are based on scientific approaches to investment management. They use investment strategies that have been proven to work over time. The firm has a specific order for planning. The first step is to find out exactly what the clients currently have and see if it is fit for purpose or if it could be improved. They then look at any areas clients may have missed. This involves planning for potential setbacks, for example, how the client’s family would cope in different circumstances if the client were suddenly unable to work. The next phase is goal setting, which usually means getting clients to a level of personal wealth where they feel comfortable enough to make life-changing decisions, such as retiring or changing their career. Finally, they put together a plan for how this can be achieved with evidence-based strategies, while minimising tax and maximising the potential returns.
The testimonials on Margetts Wealth’s website indicate the importance the firm places on long-term relationships. ‘Having been with Margetts for several years, there is a clear understanding of what service means,’ reads one of them. Similarly, a local accountant waxes lyrical about a decade of referring clients to Margetts, praising them for being a steady hand rather than a ‘reactive’ adviser. The Birmingham-based firm has now been in operation for more than 30 years and currently resides in a landmark spot on St. Paul’s Square. Managing director Kevin Smith has made sure to instil a focus on financial planning, built upon four main principles. These are establishing the client’s goals, achieving efficiencies through multiple savings boxes, diversification, and long-term discipline and perspective. Margetts has a varied client base, working with private clients and business owners. It also caters to family wealth, offering comprehensive inheritance and capital gains strategies, and utilising estate planning expertise. The firm is well integrated with other Birmingham professionals, offering a holistic service through its 4P Professional Partner Programme. This programme ensures that planning advice works in cohesion with advice from other professional connections. Margetts Wealth is very much focused on delivering a modern advice proposition. While this involves a great deal of expertise and experience, the company’s strapline of ‘honest advice from honest people’ perhaps best outlines its ethos.
Temple Row Wealth Management is a newly formed firm by Bart Dalton, who, along with his team, are lighting up Birmingham’s entrepreneurial circles. Based in the heart of Birmingham, Temple Row is an international team, with English, Spanish and Americans bringing a rich tapestry of views. They have even been known to send the occasional Thanksgiving card. The practice focuses on business owners nearing retirement and their family’s needs to protect legacies. Dalton has written three books about helping owners maximise their businesses, networks and sales efforts. His latest book, The Assisted Purchase, is a great tool for other advisers who are looking to create long-lasting client engagement. The firm has been a founding member of the International Center for Wealth Advisory Excellence, a collection of US and Canadian top advisory firms that have been looking at the concerns around longevity and its effects on retirement plans. The meetings have been held in Cortona, Italy, Paris, France and Edinburgh.
Welcome to the New Model Adviser regional Top 20s, in partnership with PIMCO. As part of our commitment to the regions across the UK, we have launched our regional Top 20 publications, showcasing some of the best firms within financial planning and wealth management. We will select 20 firms in the Midlands, Scotland, Southeast, Southwest and the North of England. Each list will focus on the firms we think are doing great work building bonds with clients and driving the profession forward, both in terms of growth and best practice. This special publication corresponds with our virtual regional roundtables, also in partnership with PIMCO, which focuses on building bonds with clients, particularly during a pandemic and challenging lockdowns. We are starting in the Midlands, where in normal circumstances we would have recently hosted our annual retreat, catching up with some of the best in the area. Our list looks at the firms who are championing great advice, especially during a year where all firms have had to adapt and overcome difficulties to ensure they are still providing clients with great service. There are plenty of great financial advisers working across the UK, and those listed in these pages are providing dedicated services throughout the Midlands. One of the biggest things that shines through, regardless of which firm you speak to, is that it’s all about the clients.
The huge disruption the pandemic has caused is having ripple effects within the way financial advisers and providers communicate with each other and their clients. Still, issues such as the advice gap and preparing for the big wealth transfer to the next generation continue to pose challenges to consumers and the way they perceive financial advice as a profession. In the first of a series of regional events across the UK organised by PIMCO and Citywire, advisers from the Midlands and city fund managers met on Zoom to share their views on how to build and maintain long-lasting client relationships. Communication is key Communication with clients has inevitably been more frequent since the Covid-19 outbreak, advisers say, but working towards maintaining a high level of trust with clients hasn’t changed because of the pandemic. ‘Being yourself and telling the truth’ has been the constant mantra for Philip McGovern, managing director for Henley-in-Arden-based MPA Financial Management. ‘Clients trust truth, and obviously, continue to produce solutions for what they want to do during their lifetimes and try to satisfy their goals’. But sometimes, building durable relationships doesn’t have to be centered around financial statements and investment talk – a simple, kind gesture can do the trick. For example, Gary Metcalf, director at Gemini Wealth Management, shared the inspirational and heartfelt book, The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse, with a client, who spent lockdown on his own. ‘The feedback I had was amazing,’ says Metcalf. ‘Nothing to do with financial services, just showing that you think about them and you care about them. I do a lot of that sort of stuff with my clients, and it works, and they tell other people and it’s a good referral tool, as well.’ The event’s participants have also discussed building relationships with fund providers, where other dynamics are in place. Joseph McCurdy, vice president and account manager at PIMCO, says timely and appropriate communication and the ability to avoid information overload is what emerged the most during the pandemic in his business relationship with advisers. ‘You do have to be able to know when to step in, but sometimes you have to know when to step out,’ says McCurdy. ‘Going through that period, it’s providing people with the appropriate information. To explain what’s going on in the market, can I produce something that will allow you to communicate better with your clients?’ In the height of the pandemic, where markets saw the biggest selloff in decades, one challenge was how to communicate bad news. As Gareth Cope, chartered financial planner at Intelligent Wealth Partnerships, puts it, ‘you can’t sugar coat these things,’ so advisers need to explain clearly what is happening in markets and what they are planning to do to protect their portfolios. Changing the perspective For many years, or at least since the introduction of RDR in 2010, adviser businesses had to cope with a change in their models, meaning that a large chunk of the market couldn’t afford financial advice at a reasonable price. This has caused an advice gap that still resonates today within the industry. Changing people’s mind on financial services remains tricky, advisers say. The trust element always comes into play, says Ian Smith, director of Central Wealth Planning. ‘I don’t think there’s a particularly easy way to suddenly get people [financial advice] that are not interested or don’t trust us to suddenly trust us, apart from if they get somebody else to tell them who they know and trust,’ Smith says. Another issue around the advice gap is capacity and the ability to travel around the country to meet clients. Cope thinks it is in the hand of the next generation of professionals to find more efficient ways to reach out to existing and new clients. ‘It’s going to be the next generation that does it through social media. I’ve been doing it for over 20 years. It’s not going to be me that does this, but other people coming into the industry,’ Cope says. Attracting younger clients can help build a larger audience, albeit this might not immediately be profitable for advisers. One way to attract a younger clientele is to engage with the daughters and sons of existing clients sooner rather than later. ‘Advice only becomes valuable when people actually go searching for it, and advisers will know this really well,’ says McCurdy. ‘When you’re young and you’re going through that stage of getting married, having kids and so forth, you generally don’t have the money to either pay for financial advice or to invest. And it’s not until you come to the later stages of [life] where you actually inherit money or that you’re earning enough that you do put that money to work for you, that you actually see the value of advice.’ For others, the rapid increase in DB transfers has pushed more people to seek advice. This has not only raised more queries by people that had never asked for advice before, but also served as a way to distinguish good from bad advice. McGovern says: ‘With this big explosion of DB transfers the last few years, you’ve spoken to people who’d never sought financial advice before. Some people think it’s really expensive, but they don’t fully understand what they’re getting for it.’ For McCurdy, to bridge the advice gap is to demonstrate the value of advice and finding better ways to connect the older and younger generations, especially when it comes to intergenerational wealth planning. ‘You spend two or three hours with a client and the client at some stage, does have to appreciate that they’re not necessarily just paying for those two or three hours – they’re paying for the 20 years of experience and the exams and the training and everything that you’ve done through that period of time in order to condense their needs into those two or three meetings in order to deliver them a solution,’ McCurdy says. For Gemini’s Metcalf, building bloodline protection Wills has worked well as a way to engage with his clients’ children, the trustees and beneficiaries of the will. ‘Certainly, when you’ve got your top clients passing large amounts of money down to their children, they need to understand the value of that and the role of the trustee and the executor,’ he says. ‘Doing any inheritance tax planning, you would like their children there because they’re the ones that will benefit from any amount of inheritance tax planning you do.’
On top of technology Many lessons have been learnt since March, and the world has come to terms with the start of a new normal. Technology has been a protagonist of the pandemic for those lucky enough to be able to work from home. For Tim Kirby, co-founder of WKM Wealth, technology has been ‘massively important’ especially since his firm launched during the pandemic. ‘We’ve known nothing else other than being tech savvy to operate the business,’ says Kirby. ‘We’ve invested quite a lot in our online portal, which the clients are really enjoying and really like the two-way shared communication through that. ‘I came from a more traditional firm before I left and set up WKM, and I can only imagine the difficulties perhaps they’re having, not being tech savvy as a business, but all firms have learnt over the last six months that clients are pretty adaptable,’ he says. While most clients have surprised advisers in how quickly they have adapted to technology and online meetings, things have proved more challenging when building new relationships from scratch. ‘I’ve spoken to people that have taken on new clients very well and we’ll wait and see whether we can do annual reviews again by Zoom,’ Cope says. ‘I suspect we’ll be going back to face-to-face for a fair few because I’m finding that not so many things are cropping up in Zoom. It’d be great if we could have a lot of our meetings on Zoom because we’ve got more time to do our prep or follow up work. We’ll have to wait and see in the next year whether that continues.’ Overall, the enhanced use of technology has allowed advisers and investment professionals to see clients wherever they are located. Since Covid-19 broke out, McCurdy has taken more clients onboard, and working for a US firm such as PIMCO, he was able to easily help clients across Europe, where the firm has a vast bulk of assets. ‘I did a meeting with a firm in Edinburgh and the product specialist was in Newport Beach in California. The firm in Edinburgh had four people from their investment committee dialling in from four different parts of Scotland, and for them to be able to do that and be able to question on a consistent basis was brilliant, because to get those guys into an office in Edinburgh for a meeting and get somebody across from the US takes a huge amount of resources and we don’t necessarily need to do that going forward,’ says McCurdy. Getting technical So what are the tech must-haves and must-dos in the new normal to engage with clients? Advisers agree that a coherent and clear website and the ability to respond quickly to client requests are paramount. Cope believes that the relationship with providers has not changed because of Covid but has made communication quicker, although he still likes to deal with representatives of the firm in person, instead of compiling questionnaires on their website. ‘I do like to speak to someone there rather than rely upon emails and internet forms,’ he says. The way technology has helped businesses during most of 2020 is unquestionable. As ever, it is up to the single individual and their habits to see how technology can help the relationship further. Kirby says people will still want to meet their advisers face-to-face, for example. ‘We were talking to a fund manager that manages a £1.8bn investment trust. We’d never have been able to see them face-to-face before, but now, through this type of medium, we’ve got that access. On the client side and on the provider side, there’s some great advantages to this, but it will still take some getting used to for lots of people.’
Much has changed in society since March and the beginning of lockdown. This is also true for financial advisers and their clients, who have found new ways of communicating with each other. But what has been easier for them to do to keep their conversations alive and what have been the challenges?
A word about risk: Investing in the bond market is subject to risks, including market, interest rate, issuer, credit, inflation risk, and liquidity risk. The value of most bonds and bond strategies are impacted by changes in interest rates. Bonds and bond strategies with longer durations tend to be more sensitive and volatile than those with shorter durations; bond prices generally fall as interest rates rise, and the current low interest rate environment increases this risk. Current reductions in bond counterparty capacity may contribute to decreased market liquidity and increased price volatility. Bond investments may be worth more or less than the original cost when redeemed. Investing in foreign denominated and/or domiciled securities may involve heightened risk due to currency fluctuations, and economic and political risks, which may be enhanced in emerging markets. Currency rates may fluctuate significantly over short periods of time and may reduce the returns of a portfolio. High-yield, lower-rated, securities involve greater risk than higher-rated securities; portfolios that invest in them may be subject to greater levels of credit and liquidity risk than portfolios that do not. Derivatives may involve certain costs and risks such as liquidity, interest rate, market, credit, management and the risk that a position could not be closed when most advantageous. Investing in derivatives could lose more than the amount invested. The services and products described in this communication are only available to professional clients as defined in the Financial Conduct Authority’s Handbook. This communication is not a public offer and individual investors should not rely on this document. Opinion and estimates offered constitute our judgment and are subject to change without notice, as are statements of financial market trends, which are based on current market conditions. We believe the information provided here is reliable, but do not warrant its accuracy or completeness. For investment professionals only. PIMCO Europe Ltd (Company No. 2604517) Ltd (Company No. 2604517) and PIMCO Europe Ltd - Italy (Company No. 07533910969) are authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (12 Endeavour Square, London E20 1JN) in the UK. PIMCO Europe Ltd services are available only to professional clients as defined in the Financial Conduct Authority’s Handbook and are not available to individual investors, who should not rely on this communication.
The Premier Partnership Limited provides impartial and honest financial advice and offers many services to help clients make the most of their finances, such as investment and taxation advice along with pension and estate planning. The Premier Partnership are independent financial advisers, and the business has no links or ties to any one product provider. They can access life assurance, pension or investment solutions from across the whole marketplace. The firm aims to assist clients with all aspects of financial planning by giving clear and sound advice with a transparent charging structure. The Premier Partnership, located in Tamworth, was originally created by Nigel Herrick in 1991 as an appointed representative of a little-known life assurance company. It has been in its present form as an independent advisory company since 1993. The firm takes pride in never having to advertise, with all new business coming from referrals or recommendations. The reason is simple: the business’s clients appreciate the way they are treated and Premier Partnership values its relationships with them. Many clients become personal friends of the firm’s advisers.
Wattam Kirby Mee (WKM Wealth) is an independent financial planning and investment management business established by four financial service professionals and friends, with 60 years of industry experience. They set up the business with the goal to help their clients, friends, and family to achieve financial freedom and create the ability to enjoy their lives. WKM received direct authorisation from the FCA on 20 April 2020. Already in their short history, it has started attracting old and new clients with their financial planning and investment management proposition.
Using their skills from previous roles, the four co-founders have built on this using better technology, including a well-received client portal. WKM is growing fast and working hard with their clients to meet their long-term goals, both financially and personally. Achieving client goals is the main driver behind WKM, and the culture of both clients and staff is about collaboration and ‘enjoying the journey’. Away from their day jobs, WKM staff have recently signed up to the 1% pledge to give away 1% of their time, profit and services to good causes each year. The team is determined to not only make a difference for their clients but also do some good in the world at a time that has never been needed more. The future for WKM is looking bright.
