Monday
In the afternoon I have a new client meeting in the office from an unusual source – he is my postman and approached me for pension advice after spotting the company name on the letters he delivers. It is a prompt finish to get my daughter to her swimming lesson.
Tuesday
A full day in the office preparing for client meetings later in the week and putting the finishing touches to the risk-based portfolios I am rolling out to clients. After much debate and thought we adopted Dynamic Planner as our risk profiling tool so I use their asset allocation models as the basis for the portfolios. Once they are all completed I will submit them to Nataxis GAM for their independent assessment.
Wednesday
After dropping my boys off at school it is out to a client to present a group pension solution to the two main directors. They do not stage until spring 2017 but want to get a scheme up and running now in readiness. I was referred to them by an existing client who went to work there last year. They are happy with the proposal and paperwork is completed.
Next is a coffee with a provider to catch up with what is new as well as a few questions I have on their products and funds. Then it is back to the office to conclude the prep for Friday’s meetings. Emails that require a response get in the way and I end up taking a file home and working late after putting the children to bed. I do not like doing it but sometimes we have to.
Thursday
I am out early to a Vanguard seminar. There are three excellent presentations with the one on behavioural finance standing out as the best I have seen on the subject. This is the first time I have been to a Vanguard event and it will not be the last.
I am then off to a lunch organised by a pension provider. We have to work for our food as they want plenty of feedback on their products, service and the competition. There are other IFAs there too; I am a one-adviser business, so it is good to speak to other advisers and share ideas.
Friday
Again I drop the boys at school and straight out to see the clients I prepared for earlier in the week. I set up the group pension earlier in the year after being referred by the accountant and now the two directors have asked for personal advice. Today I am presenting my recommendations and reviewing the cash flow plans we have put together. All goes well and again I come away with applications completed.
Back at the office my part-time administrator is in so I pass over the files and applications for her to process and start work on preparing my notes for a review meeting on Monday before an early finish for my daughter’s nativity performance. After that, it is all the family out to eat before an early night for everybody as we are up very early in the morning to fly to Lapland to visit Santa.
Darren Cooke is a chartered financial planner at Derbyshire-based Red Circle Financial Planning
