OpinionApr 9 2014

Diary of adviser: Carole Nicholls

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Monday

I am up early for a meeting with the finance director of one of the pension schemes we run. The only time we can both fit it in our diaries is 8am, so I fight my way through the traffic and in unusual style I manage to get to the offices on time. Thankfully, the existing provider has agreed to offer a scheme for use as a qualifying scheme, so now all we have to arrange is some staff meetings to get the ball rolling.

Today is definitely a day for auto-enrolment and I have just enough time to run back to the office and pick up my presentation for my next appointment. This is with an IT firm for which I have worked for many years. I make two presentations on the benefits of joining the existing scheme, where the benefits are far superior to the minimum auto-enrolment requirements. At the end there was a small queue of people with queries mostly on the usual lines of “can I transfer in benefits from a previous scheme”. Employees always think this is an easy question – it may be a simple question, but a compliant answer, as we all know, is very time consuming.

Tuesday

Up at 6am and into Bristol to catch the London train. I cut it fine and the long queue at the ticket machine puts me in panic mode, but I make it through to Paddington without any holdups.

My first meeting is part work, part social. We go out for a splendid Italian and I choose only one course so I can keep a clear head as my client questions me about the performance of his portfolios. Next is a new client who has been recommended to us. These are the best clients, because you do not have to spend time convincing them that you are the best IFA around.


Wednesday

More auto-enrolment – off to south Wales, where I make 10 presentations in a scout hut. By the end I am not sure what I am talking about. I survived the experience, which included questioning by a union representative.


Thursday

By Thursday, I have hardly been in the office at all, so this is a day to make lots of outstanding phone calls and catch up with my PA. Client-wise it is a varied day. It starts with a university professor needing to check the situation on his lifetime allowance. An elderly client comes to review her investments. She is a cautious investor and very irritated by the continuing low interest rates. A young client comes for her annual review and it is a delight to see that after working with her for three years the plans we set in place are now beginning to work.

As I need to be in London early on Friday, I walk to the car park with my PA and drive to London.


Friday

I discover I have forgotten my credit card, so spend the whole day making the small amount of cash I have stretch out. Four clients are lined up for me back to back. The first has received our report, but needs to discuss the paperwork. She is followed by one of my older clients making investments for his new grandson. Then it is a quick change of subject to planning retirement for the next client who has recently lost his job and needs to bridge the gap between 58 and 60, when he will receive a defined benefit scheme. The final meeting is a very difficult one as the client is terminally ill, but very positive and keen to get his affairs in order.

Carole Nicholls is managing director for Bristol-based Nicholls Financial Services