OpinionOct 16 2013

Diary of adviser: Colin Low

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Monday

Monday starts with the school run for my seven year old. It does me good as it means a walk to the local primary school, so at least we get a breath of fresh air first thing and the chance for my legs to recover from the half-marathon I had run the day before.

I also get the chance to spend some time alone with him before we both start the busy week ahead. I’m surprised to be collared by a teacher who saw me interviewed about annuity rates on BBC Look East a couple of weeks ago and she is very complimentary.

Then it is into our office for a rare full day there. I take the view that my job is to see clients or introducers and I like to trust my team to do their own jobs. However I am not in the office solely for administration. The day is split between research for my dissertation (more later) and then on to client work – meeting notes and letters from the previous week and preparation for the week ahead. It is payday later in the week so I finish the day by confirming the payroll.


Tuesday

The morning is spent in the library at University Campus Suffolk working on my dissertation. A brief telephone interview with BBC Radio Suffolk is conducted while I am walking through the town centre on the way and it is quite tricky to maintain concentration with so much background noise.

I am working towards an masters degree in financial planning with Manchester Metropolitan University and this morning was spent working on the literature review, which is pretty tough going. However the course is really stretching me to examine our business processes and the way in which we source business.

With only another 10,000 words to do, it is off to a local professionals’ lunchtime networking group. Organised by a local firm of accountants, I spend most of the time discussing the possible housing bubble with a surveyor and a conveyancing solicitor.

After a rather delightful selection of sausage rolls and prawn tempura, I drive off to meet with some potential new clients in a nearby town. We offer our first meeting without obligation, but the client must complete our factfind in advance. We had received this a few days before and they did indeed turn out to be both lovely people and very agreeable to our first stage analysis and report.

Wednesday

It is my birthday and a pre-booked day off. Spend the day with Mrs Spouse, for coffee, cake and a light lunch. Great to be able to meet the kids out of school and then head off for a slap-up pizza meal as a birthday treat. Kept my eye on emails as I went along and, other than a bit of a panic with the printers updating our stationery, it was a very relaxing day.

Thursday

An early start to see a client who lives near the coast. She has just finalised her divorce and I have been working with her and her solicitor for the past 18 months to get to the best possible position. She is an absolute delight to work with (as are all my clients) and we now have the decree absolute in order to move forward with the pension sharing order.

Next stop is to discuss advertising opportunities with a local publisher. In two minds on this one as we are pretty busy already, but if we wish to grow it looks as though it could be of interest.

Lunch was spent in a supermarket car park with a dodgy sandwich, a bag of crisps and a couple of double chocolate cookies but I was, at least, able to catch up on a couple of phone calls. All appears to be well in the office and there are some arrangements that are coming to fruition.

I conclude the day with a review meeting with long-standing clients. They are very pleased with how their arrangements have progressed and the returns on their portfolios, but they are weighing up some additional property purchase so need to know how they can get hold of funds should they be required rapidly.


Friday

It is another early start. I want to get into the office and crack on as I am planning an early departure. Our accountants arrive for a meeting at 10am. As well as acting for us, we share a number of clients and have a fantastic working relationship. We spend a couple of hours discussing a number of very beneficial topics before visiting a local restaurant to continue discussions. A very pleasant meat platter was on offer and it was the ideal accompaniment to my Diet Coke, as a way of bringing the week to an end. I leave the office early to accompany the family on a weekend away.