Monday
First on the agenda is checking emails and working through my notes following three client meetings on Friday. There is a lot of information to work through, and I am grateful for the help of Leon Williams, my administrative support.
I am one of the AE Champions at Chase de Vere, which means I am working with a number of small business clients to help them implement auto-enrolment. This afternoon I speak with Sean McSweeney, who is responsible for auto-enrolment delivery, and Misha Cardenas, who is doing a fantastic job in co-ordinating all our activity.
I then do some preparation work for my meetings this week and manage to get away at a decent time. Dinner with my family is followed by a trip to the gym.
Tuesday
The day starts with a meeting with the head of HR for a stationery firm of about 110 employees. I am helping the company to implement auto-enrolment and have been through the process of segmenting the workforce, providing a cost breakdown, working through the benefits of using salary exchange and reviewing potential pension-product providers.
The update meeting goes well and the firm is also keen for us to provide workshops for its employees after the implementation process.
Auto-enrolment is also on agenda this afternoon as I travel to Chester city centre to meet with a national law firm. We discuss areas in which we can potentially work together, looking also at probate and powers of attorney.
I end up doing an hour’s work at home this evening after my daughter has gone to bed. I can then chill out over a nice glass of wine with my wife.
Wednesday
This morning I have a review meeting for a lovely couple who I have advised for a number of years. The husband has previously worked in biotechnology and often wants to increase the investment weighting in this sector. It is an area that has performed incredibly well, and they have already benefited from that, so my challenge is to keep them in check so they do not end up taking too much risk.
I then head back to our Chester office where I need to do some preparation work for client meetings tomorrow. I also meet with my manager, Steve Hearn, to discuss an auto-enrolment seminar we will be hosting in February in Crewe. We held a similar event in November, inviting local accountants, HR directors and senior executives, and that went incredibly well, so we are doing it again.
I am working again at home this evening, putting the final touches to the paperwork for tomorrow’s client meetings.
Thursday
Today I have a day of client meetings at our Chester office. First is an existing client, and I am reviewing his pension portfolio, which is about £265,000. He is a cautious investor about five years from retirement. We discuss the right mix of investments for him, and agree to a few tweaks we will need to make to ensure he can achieve this.
Next two more existing clients, a married couple looking at inheritance tax planning. We discuss the merits of various trust arrangements.
I do a fair amount of inheritance tax planning work, although my starting position is usually to err on the side of caution, making sure clients understand and accept any downside risks before going into the benefits in great detail.
My final meeting of the day is a prospective new client. She has a sizeable investment portfolio but no real strategy. She holds six separate pension pots and is not sure how any of them are performing. I explain the benefits of a joined-up approach and agree to prepare an initial report to confirm how we could help and the cost for our services.
After a day of meetings, I am delighted to head to the gym again this evening.
Friday
I am in the office early to go through some of the paperwork from yesterday’s meetings.
It is then time for our monthly team meeting. This is hosted by Steve Hearn, who manages our Chester-based advisers, and is a great opportunity for me to catch up with the other advisers to discuss what has been happening and to address any problems or issues.
Chris Parker is an IFA based at Chase de Vere’s Chester office
