'I wish I had more time to support people who probably need it most'

Lancaster works for Manchester-based Depledge Strategic Wealth Management, which has four advisers, of which Lancaster is the second most senior.

Whilst he young adviser is kept busy by his fee-paying clients – his client bank is the second largest in the firm – he nevertheless helps where he can.

"Where opportunities come up to help people as a gesture of goodwill, without compromising existing pieces of work for existing clients and service for existing fee-paying clients, I will look to help as much as I possibly can," he says.

"Because frankly, I think there's been a perception of financial advisers – that is slowly going but I think it's still there – that they're only in it to make money.

"That couldn't be further from the truth with me."

He estimates he has the capacity to help about three to five people a year on a pro-bono basis, but says he strives to "absolutely find time to help" people who come along and need help.

Lancaster regards the role of a financial adviser as one of taking clients from a "place of current uncertainty and current anxiety to certainty, reassurance and optimism about going off to live your best life."

It's nerve-wracking meeting some of these super successful, often very wealthy people for the first time, but I have to remind myself that I have the privilege to be able to sit in that position because of how hard I've worked, because of the qualifications I've got and the experience I've built up, because I deserve to be here.

But ultimately he feels people who are in trouble and cannot afford advice might get the most value out of it of all.

He explains: "The clients I work with on a day-to-day basis, they've worked really hard for their wealth and we add significant value with our tax planning, financial planning, investment management and portfolio management.

"But without us in many cases they'd probably still be okay. What we're doing is we're optimising and we're helping them to live their very best lifestyles going forward. It wouldn't be catastrophic if we weren't around.

"And I think actually people like [my] client's sister are probably the people who need the support most and get the most value from it."

He tells of a client who in a catch-up call mentioned that her sister was going through a tough time. She had worked in the NHS for years and wanted to retire but had no idea about the pension available to her and how to manage the transition from employment to retirement.

She also had some credit card debt her sister was concerned about.

Lancaster agreed to see her. He says: "We've now arranged for letters of authority to be sent out for this client's sister's pension schemes so that we can get all of the information back and once I've got that I'll review it and I'll arrange to go and have a cup of tea with her just to talk through what she's got, talk through what her hopes and goals and aspirations are and whether they may or may not be achievable.

"If they are not, what compromises may need to be made, what our options are and also talk through this credit card situation to make sure that she's not getting in any difficulty there."

He is clear he does not provide formal advice or recommendations, "it's just helpful information and guidance". 

"There's going to be no money changing hands here because it's clear to me that she probably hasn't got the means to pay for formal advice.

"I just want to help her because she's an extension of a client relationship I have and I have the ability to help her and I just wish I had more time to provide that support and assistance to people who probably need it most."

Lancaster would be prepared to give full advice at his cost if he felt the case warranted it.

But he adds: "Capacity would need to be considered, it might take us some time, and you also need to think about fairness.

"If we're saying yes to someone in that regard, why are we saying yes to them potentially at the expense of others? And we've also got to be really careful that this pro-bono work isn't being subsidised by our existing clients.

"Because ultimately our front and centre responsibility is to our fee-paying clients."

A high level of EQ

Depledge was established 10 years ago next year and now has £230mn of assets under management. Lancaster joined in September 2020, having previously worked at Tilney, now Evelyn Partners.

He says he joined Depledge because "I've gotten to know Andrew, the MD, here now over the course of many conversations; I liked his philosophy about how clients should be dealt with and I liked the idea of moving into a smaller kind of boutique business."

He adds: "I think Andrew's feeling, and this is one that I share, is that costs are creeping upwards and upwards within the industry and it's impeding on the bottom line returns that clients are achieving more and more all of the time."

He says the firm is keen to keep costs down while still running a sustainable profitable business.

This means it charges an initial fee, determined by the complexity of the case but typically between £1,000 and £5,000, and has a tiered ongoing fee structure, from 0.65 per cent down to 0.3 per cent for wealth of £2mn+, charged on the entire pot.

My biggest strength is my EQ and my ability to connect with people to make sure that they are heard and they feel listened to.

Depledge's clients mainly consist of senior executives, business owners and entrepreneurs, who are either retired or still working. 

"That's not to say we're excluding other types of clients that have either accumulated their wealth through other sources or that are aiming to accumulate their wealth through other sources, but predominantly that's where our clients sit," Lancaster says.

For Lancaster, who started advising when he was 24-years-old, lots of clients are relatively new relationships with an average age of early to mid-60s, slightly younger than the firm's overall average.

Getting clients to trust him as a young adviser was not always easy, but Lancaster considers himself as a "sensitive guy with a high level of EQ", meaning he is emotionally and socially astute.

"I often say I've got enough IQ to do this job. And for any IQ I lack, I've got the people around me to support and add value where required, but my biggest strength is my EQ and my ability to connect with people to make sure that they're heard and they feel listened to and ultimately to ensure that I understand what they want and to be able to deliver it.

"So, it's nerve-wracking meeting some of these super successful, often very wealthy people for the first time, but I have to remind myself that I have the privilege to be able to sit in that position because of how hard I've worked, because of the qualifications I've got and the experience I've built up, because I deserve to be here."

He adds: "And once you get to know these people more those nerves or any anxieties dissipate and you've then got this relationship where we're both our best hopefully and we can achieve the very best financial planning outcomes."

Lancaster did not always want to be a financial adviser, however it was not a career that was too far fetched either, as his dad is an adviser who "runs his own successful business".

"I did a few different things before ultimately settling on financial services because I realised that my skills lie with people, I can have a proper career by getting qualifications and working within high-quality firms, and it's not served my dad too badly," he says grinning.

Time will tell

Lancaster says the industry has come a long way since the 1980s in terms of qualifications and accreditations and forging long-term client relationships.

But there's some way to go still. "I seem to talk to a lot of clients who don't know what they're paying for their financial planning retainer, for their investment portfolio," he says, "and I just think when you think about the amount of money that they probably are paying that's crazy.

"So there probably needs to be some work done there on really clarifying things for people."

He also says regulation will need to be continually improved to better serve advisers.

"There are two approaches that the Financial Conduct Authority need to have.

"[Firstly] that is the approach with firms that are wanting to communicate, wanting to work collaboratively and [are] conducive to a better profession: we need to be open, we need to have swift communications, all needs to be pulling in the right direction.

"And then the opposite approach is weeding out those bad firms that are bringing the industry into disrepute and taking us away from where we want to get to."

But he adds: "I do think that they seemingly do a good job on reviewing businesses, dealing with the cowboys of the profession, and that's massively appreciated.

"Perhaps that's just taking up too much time, too much resource to actually provide the communication and the service the other good firms, which have been supporting them and will continue to support them, need."

As to whether the consumer duty is the potential answer to all these questions he simply says: "Time will tell."

carmen.reichman@ft.com