A balanced life of working from office and home doesn't always help when you have a jammed-packed conference schedule and a dice with death.
Monday
There is an adage in the West Country: ‘start nothing new on a Monday’. So I use today to deal with outstanding client tasks and this includes phone call and email to a long-standing client with inheritance tax concerns, explaining what the available options are.
Estate planning is complex, but it is a perfect example of how we can really add value through advice and planning, working closely with a client to achieve the right outcome.
I also follow up on a potential new enquiry and complete a telephone fact-find, and we agree to discuss further when the prospect has more information for me.
Although I have been in business for many years, my client bank is sufficiently mature in years that inevitably tragedy strikes and people die, so there is always a need to identify suitable new prospects.
Tuesday
Breakfast meeting today with a fund management group. It’s always tricky to decide which of the many invites I get to accept, but today was worth it to get some insight from fund managers on Europe and the US, and all the market and political shenanigans going on and what it may mean to investor clients.
Head on afterwards to the office to clear out any post and deal with anything new. Splitting my time between working from home and the office works pretty well and is an efficient use of time.
Having use of an office enables me to deal with documents supporting some new investment business and getting everything onto the back office system and dotting the Is and crossing the Ts. We live and work in an increasingly digitised world, so why do we still have to deal with this waterfall of paper? Answers on a postcard please.
Wednesday
This morning working from home, I make two client phone calls to discuss work in progress and arrange reviews. A short meeting locally with a client to review progress on her Self-invested personal pension (Sipp) and Isa investments wraps end the morning productively. In time for me to jump in the car to head for the airport for a flight to Edinburgh, one of my favourite cities and a great place to get a feel for the UK investment zeitgeist!
Thursday
A high-intensity day full of meetings with fund managers at the Enlightenment event – always packed with news and views on the macro and micro pictures across the globe. The day ends with a networking dinner and a chance to share ideas with colleagues on both the buy and sell side.
Friday
A full morning of fund manager presentations, including plenty of Q&As, which proves to be really useful. Lunchtime is spent having conversations with one or two individuals before the event comes to an end.
My flight out is not until 6.30pm, so I use the Business Centre in the hotel to work on client cases, send emails and catch up on the phone calls.
I make my way to the airport in reasonable time. My flight is in two stages: the first to Manchester and the second to Exeter. Having checked in, I am told the flight is delayed, I will not make the connection in Manchester and will have to stay in a hotel until the first flight on Saturday.
The flight miraculously leaves on time and I get my connecting flight and am back in Exeter at 9.30pm. I pick my car up and drive off down the M5, only to have the shock of my life when a back wheel comes off the car! I get to the hard shoulder without accident or injury and await recovery, getting home in the early hours of Saturday.
The recovery guy tells me how lucky I was and that I should do the lottery this weekend, but I still don’t like the financial odds!
Nick McBreen is an independent financial adviser at Worldwide Financial Planning
