Monday
We are still working from home and so my usual one-hour commute to our Edinburgh office is instead a 10-step journey to my study.
Thank goodness for technology, as we have been able to run operations pretty well unimpeded as a team – even though my two daughters (who work for me) and I are in three different households.
We have a 15-minute catch up over WhatsApp about the weekend and then it is down to planning our week.
Strangely, I keep the same hours as when I am at the office, and so retrace my steps around 5pm each day.
Tuesday
I have been a member of the Society of Later Life Advisers for five years now and so it is time for my re-accreditation.
It takes a bit of time and I want to be correct in the information I give them.
I need to give copies of my statement of professional standing, my continued professional development, and my learning statement.
As I collect everything together I realise the amount of work we do each year to confirm our competence as advisers is substantial but necessary.
I finish the day with a call to a client who is looking for consolidated tax statements for her tax return – she is philosophical about her investments and is pleasantly surprised when we discuss values.
Wednesday
Where we can, we are conducting meetings via video conferencing.
I get an email notification to say that clients are waiting for me to join our meeting and it is an hour earlier than we had scheduled.
I hastily join them to find out that they are not there; they had been testing the connection and then logged off before I could join them.
When we do meet an hour later, they say they wish to invest more funds. Working remotely does not seem to be discouraging people from taking decisions just now.
Thursday
Our business has been a member of Tenetconnect for almost 10 years, and I have been a member of their national focus group for eight of those years.
We usually meet three or four times a year to discuss anything that might benefit members or new policy requirements and how they can best be implemented.
Since lockdown we have been meeting virtually much more regularly than we would have in person, and today is one of those meetings.
The continued integration of Intelligent Office into businesses is a regular topic.
New technology is always a challenge, but we are aware of the benefits and we are all steadily working through the implementation (admittedly not always smoothly).
Friday
Friday is usually a review day: how the week has gone, whether we have kept our promises to clients, have we achieved what we wanted to do and if not can we carry it over to next week?
However, a Zoom chat replaces that, and then I take myself to the summerhouse in my garden for a couple of hours with my book.
It is an electronic blackspot, so no phones and no internet – bliss.
Caroline Cochrane is a partner at Crandles and Co
If you would like to write a Diary of an Adviser then contact Ima Jackson-Obot at ima.jacksonobot@ft.com
