Monday: After a week off, it is time to get an update on what has been going on.
I generally keep an eye on emails while I am away, but there is always a nagging concern as I roll up to the office that I will find a pile of client queries and a team that has been too polite to contact me about a big issue. However, all is well, and before long I am working through my many emails.
I meet with a couple who are considering becoming clients. They both run their own businesses and appreciate the need to build up their savings for later life (and for us to make a living advising them).
In the evening, I visit the allotment with my eight-year-old; we pick yet more runner beans. Note to self: plant fewer next year.
Tuesday
In the morning, I have a meeting with our recently appointed marketing consultant who has worked wonders in looking at the image we present and our target audience. We look again at our web content (or lack of it) and draw up a plan. Watch this space.
I drive to a nearby village to meet a couple who are two of my longest-standing clients. His lifestyle is increasingly being changed by Parkinson’s disease, yet they are an absolute joy to be with. They are accepting the changes that this brings and, as part of our review, we look at how they can make better use of the income and capital from their investments to make their lives more comfortable. I come away with a real sense of satisfaction – we are helping people with real issues and providing real benefits.
Wednesday
A five-mile run in the morning – I am trying to keep in shape, as last year’s work obtaining a master’s degree in financial planning took a serious toll on my waistline.
Most of the day is spent in a training course with the rest of our team on using our office database. I conclude the day with a meeting with a potential new client. After a 20-minute chat, we agree that his issues can be addressed in other ways with a lower cost to him.
Thursday
Today is a training day with a number of local solicitors and family consultants. We are all members of Resolution, which works in family law issues to help provide non-adversarial dispute resolution. It throws up some interesting business models and helps to focus our thoughts on how we can work better together as professionals.
Friday: I meet clients with whom we have been working for six months.
We were introduced to them by an existing client. They had run into difficulty with a probate issue from an inheritance they were receiving, but, being able to join the dots between providers, solicitors and clients, we have managed to get the share portfolio into their names on an appropriate platform.
This meeting was arranged to begin the process of ‘knocking it into shape’. Thankfully, the clients engaged with our plans. Now begins the process of maximising the portfolio’s tax efficiency. I think we will get on well.
Friday concludes with preparation for a charity trustees meeting next week. It means a lot of work twice a year, but we have made real progress in organising their financial affairs in the last two years.
In the evening, more bean picking and another five miles.
Colin Low is managing director of Suffolk-based Kingsfleet Wealth
