Monday
I arrive in the Handforth office at 8:30am for breakfast, which is always a nice way to start the week and chat with colleagues about their weekend escapades (which are frustratingly more exciting than mine these days).
Monday is my preparation day for the week ahead, which I need as I have got eight client meetings and a new client sign-up meeting.
Monday also includes internal meetings, and at 9am I meet with the client manager/paraplanner team that provides support for the advisers. As I look after circa £130m of assets for more than 100 clients, I need all the support I can get. We have a general update and discuss any complex cases that may need my input and I provide a 10-minute technical update on a topic of the day – this week’s exciting instalment being ways to plan around the £2m Residential Property Nil Rate Band trap.
I then work through the initial prep and cash flow modelling provided by the team for my client meetings.
After lunch it’s the adviser team meeting, updating on progress with new clients and general figures. The afternoon is completed with the fine tuning of the prep, interacting with the team.
Tuesday
The day is spent presenting the first three client meetings of the week; a combination of quarterly, six monthly and annual reviews. I pick up a new client referral along the way. Quite a lot of additional planning angles have been identified and agreed with the clients. Post-meeting discussions with the relevant client manager (who attends the meetings as well) allows them to start on the relevant reports.
Later on, I manage to get 30 mins in the gym – I am determined not to be a January New Year’s resolution casualty.
Wednesday
I get in a bit earlier to spend an hour on the storyline for the new seminar I will be presenting next month, and then its on to the next set of meetings.
We have a wealth client and their immediate family in today, and a joint meeting has been arranged with their solicitor and accountant to plan a full holistic strategy. I always enjoy these meetings as they really work the brain. There were some nice trust and business process re-engineering angles discussed and agreed, which will involve further meetings throughout the year.
I manage to get off a little earlier to play six-aside football (badly), and then provide my usual taxi service for the kids' return trips from their dance classes and gym sessions.
Thursday
I bring myself back up to speed with emails and client questions, then check client reports. The final paperwork is ready for the client sign-up, meeting which goes better than I could have planned. There is one happy new client and a referral to their friend who would like to attend the new seminar.
We have an investment committee meeting after lunch to discuss and agree asset allocation changes to our model portfolios. Some great analysis is provided by our investment team, and an agreement to reduce equity by 3 per cent – we certainly live in interesting times.
Friday
I have a day at the Chester office, starting with my last client meeting of the week. I then head over to a local solicitor firm to meet and discuss a new client and share-planning angles, which brings up some interesting referral opportunities for both parties.
I clear up the last few client questions, then its back to my taxi job, finally topping the week off with a nice night out with the family afterwards.
Andrew Hirst is a partner and chartered financial planner of Equilibrium Asset Management, based in Wilmslow
