Monday
Gym, coffee and at my desk for 8am. I am fortunate that I live within a mile or so of my base office. The morning starts checking emails and answering or diarising tasks.
My first meeting of the day is a 20-minute drive down the road – an annual review with longstanding clients who retired from farming several years ago.
Then it is back to the office for a presentation meeting: a retirement planning solution for existing clients with a profitable company.
This is swiftly followed by another meeting. It is the third occasion that I have met with this lady who has agreed to become a client and we are working our way through her objectives with a view to putting a recommendation together at our next meeting.
The remainder of the afternoon consists of typing up my meeting notes.
Tuesday
Today starts with an early morning run in the sunshine.
Penrith is a great place when the sun shines, looking across to Ullswater and the Lake District mountains.
I am into the office for 8am, preparing for a monthly one-to-one with an adviser I manage.
Next stop is my own annual appraisal; this is a good couple of hours formally reflecting on the previous year and putting together a plan for me and my team for the year ahead.
The afternoon consists of finishing my meeting notes from Monday and preparing for a presentation the following day.
Wednesday
It is my turn on the school run, followed by a longer drive to a client presentation meeting just over the border in Northumberland.
This is the fourth time we have met to discuss a potential investment for income. On this occasion, I am introducing a discretionary fund manager to the client as part of my proposal.
The meeting goes well and we agree to leave some time to consider the information before we decide how to progress.
The afternoon is largely taken up with a self-invested personal pension application to purchase a commercial property, and an internal office meeting where our senior accountants meet with the tax consultants and financial advisers to discuss ongoing work, hot topics and areas of development.
Thursday
Today is largely an admin day. I put a recommendation to put together for a new client after discussing the research and cash flow model with my assistant.
The next job is to check a valuation report and application for a small self-adminstered scheme loan for a corporate client who has just purchased large commercial premises.
I always enjoy this type of advice, the idea now being to utilise the rent that has built up in the pension scheme to provide a good value loan to the company to enable further development.
The day ends with a review meeting with a family I have known for a number of years. Mum, dad and son each have an investment portfolio and the son also has a Sipp. The performance in late 2018 has caused some concerns, but the long-term objectives remain on track.
Friday
I have an early start for a trip down to Leeds.
This is a full team meeting; we have 14 advisers in the north of England and Scotland and the meeting allows us to get together for a day and discuss a number of topics. This time we review the use and benefits of cash flow modelling and how cash management systems can be used to aid clients.
The afternoon sees an external presentation from a fund manager, providing a global macro economic overview.
Justin Rourke is financial planning consultant at Armstrong Watson Financial Planning
If you would like to write a Diary of Adviser, please contact Melanie Tringham at melanie.tringham@ft.com
