Monday
In the morning, I arrived at our country office to meet with a solicitor who I have brought in to assist with the completion and sign-off on a late client’s IHT 400 form.
I very pleased with his assistance and technical direction on keeping the process moving forward for our late client’s widow. The process of administering an estate can so easily become stuck and as multi-million pound clients then the process is more involved. I was reassured to have the process advanced to its final stages so hopefully the issue of the probate is imminent for this lady.
Usually I am in the country office on Monday until 2pm and then it is off to Belfast again to pick up my daughter and son up from school. Once home I can log on through our secure server back to the office to keep the wheels turning.
Tuesday
Today usually involves my bicycle wheels turning down the towpath along the River Lagan to our city centre office. There I see clients referred from our introducer Bert and new clients from referrals and from our leads from online marketing. We work with a range of very good introducers who are typically existing or retired IFAs and keep the wheels turning.
Wednesday
I am usually busy as my father-in-law kindly picks our children up so I can work late. This helps work productivity during the midweek, and I use the opportunity for new business meetings and reviews.
New clients will almost always want face-to-face meetings, but longstanding clients already know us well and are usually happy to deal over the phone and via email and post.
This Wednesday’s meeting was with a referral from an existing client, and the gentleman has been proactive and requested his transfer value on his deferred defined benefit pension. It has increased by more than 20 per cent in the last year as a result of falling gilt yields.
The meeting was very useful and the client has a clear financial plan in mind to access funds to reduce debts which in turn would allow him to reduce his hours, stop doing night shifts and have a better quality of life and more time with his family.
Hopefully the critical yield on the TVAS will not be too high as he would be a good client to work with.
Thursday
I have the opportunity for some quality CPD at the impressive Titanic Centre Belfast, plus the opportunity to keep up to date with the new residence nil rate band and other inheritance tax planning options.
After a cycle home through the May sunshine, I drive down to our head office where we are processing to beat the clock for a client’s DB transfer who had left it until the last few days to accept the offer of the transfer value from her previous employer’s scheme.
Friday
Today’s meeting is the issue of £2.5m worth of policies to clients who recently invested with us after carrying out due diligence on four IFAs. This was a great case for us and an endorsement of the team effort that goes into our online marketing, (which is how the client came to know of us), quality of advice and how it is delivered. This includes our catering – we have upgraded from cheese on toast for these clients.
More of these would be nice and I thanked the client for picking me out of the beauty parade of advisers, which he found a little amusing.
I love this job/business/profession for its variety, the ongoing, non-stop changes in the stock market, legislation and our clients’ lives, which means we never get to stand still for long.
I am glad to have the flexibility to pick my kids up from school most days as I always manage to catch up on work later. This keeps me out of the city centre’s trendy bars, but on the odd Friday evening there is the chance for a well-earned pint of real ale before hopping on my bicycle and heading for home.
Cormac O’Toole is chartered financial planner and registered partner of O’Toole & Associates
