Monday
The usual Monday morning meeting took place in the office to ensure that everyone had their assigned tasks for the week ahead. One staff member was off ill. I had a trip into Manchester at midday to meet with an accountant regarding a client’s taxation affairs. For the rest of the day it was a case of head down in the office to bring several client files up to date. This followed a very busy period after the end of the tax year, which had by then started to slow down.
I then arranged a team approach to cover 10 webinars the following week from different platforms as part of Sense Network’s due diligence week.
Tuesday
The same routine as Monday got me to the office at 8.30 am. I continued to catch up with paperwork and dealt with two case reviews where clarification was required to ensure that the required compliance standard was reached on recent business concluded.
I then started to chase up information on a new client case where a carry-forward pension exercise was required and high earner taper rules would come into play. A large insurance company had not provided all the details requested. However, it promised to email them within 24 hours. The usual 50-plus emails were then dealt with.
Wednesday
I arrived at the office for 8.15am (no kids to drop off). I set aside time to go through the paperwork from the previous night’s meeting.
A meeting was in my diary for the afternoon with long-standing clients – a two-hour journey away – to review their portfolio. This had benefited to some tune since Brexit and the fall of the pound. The meeting was primarily about overall strategy heading towards retirement and long-term IHT planning. It was nice to report the Sipp had increased more than £500k since 2010. I completed Isa paperwork for 2016/17 following recent recommendations and agreed to review the IHT strategy. The day ended with the usual 50-plus emails to deal with.
Thursday
I was working from home at 8.15am, still dealing with emails from the day before – a new enquiry via our website and confirming all the report requirements for our paraplanner for teh following Monday.
At a client meeting at 1.30pm, I reviewed their portfolio and considered further investment from monies maturing in a deposit account. I updated the fact-findings and confirmed that the report would be prepared in due course. The Sipp was up £45,000 since the previous review in February.
I came back home to continue to work on files and a group personal pension presentation for a scheme implementation for later this month. Finally, there were the usual 50-plus emails to deal with.
Friday
It was all day in the office on Friday, starting with a telephone conversation with a client to discuss a life policy that had been rated by the underwriters. I agreed to put the policy on risk with a few amendments. I aimed to get the remaining paperwork completely up to date and the relevant valuations out in the post.
Andrew Day is principal director of Depledge Strategic Wealth Management
