Diary of an adviser – Sharon Mattheus

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Diary of an adviser – Sharon Mattheus

Monday

After breakfast I head off to my home office, which has gorgeous views of my garden and open fields behind the house.

There is a lot to catch up on, but a half-hour golf lesson to look forward to later onkeeps me motivated. I start my day by going through my cases and creating my week’s ‘to do’ list. My priority is to make sure I am ready for a report on a defined benefit transfer. 

I head off to my golf lesson around 3.30pm, before heading back to my office for another half hour before preparing dinner. I return to my office for a telephone meeting at 7pm, where my client would like to discuss the difference between actively and passively managed funds. I plan to finalise my recommendation after our discussion.

Tuesday

I usually head to the London head office on Tuesdays, catching the 8am train to get in for 9.30am.  During my train journey I catch up on emails. One is from a gentleman looking for a pension specialist to advise on his DB scheme, which is my specialist area. This has come from a recent advert I placed in my local village newsletter. I then meet with Foster Denovo's business development manager, and we go through some of my more complex cases.

Next up is a call with a potential client looking for pension advice – again a DB enquiry – and after talking about his personal circumstances, as well as his objectives, we agree that transferring isn't the right thing to do at this stage. I stay overnight with a friend who lives in London and we head out to dinner.

Wednesday

I am in the office by 8am as I like to miss rush hour on the tube. My first meeting today is a mortgage referral from a colleague. The gentleman is self-employed with no pension at all as he is concentrating on building up a property portfolio. We talk about the benefits of building up pension savings alongside his property portfolio. I then attend a sales training session, focused on protection and holistic financial planning.

Finally, it’s time to catch the 4.30pm train home.

Thursdays

I’m back in my home office, where I have a meeting with a client who has inherited a property from his late father. We spend a couple of hours talking about the benefits of putting money into a pension versus renting out the property.  We'll meet again in a couple of weeks to give him time to review the summary of our discussion, which I will email over to him later that afternoon.

The rest of the day is spent responding to emails and booking in various client meetings. On Thursday evenings my husband and I head off for tennis ‘club night’.

Fridays

I get up most mornings around 6.30am, and Friday is no different. Today I want to finish earlier, so I can enjoy nine holes of golf. Like my tennis, I need all the practice I can get! This is my day of local face-to-face meetings. My first is with an existing client who wants to arrange business protection as he has a limited company.  

My next meeting involves reviewing a client's portfolio. The good news is that it has performed rather well despite Brexit and Donald Trump. After a torturous game of golf with friends around 4.30pm, I enjoy a glass of wine and wind down for the weekend.

 

Sharon Mattheus is a partner in the London-based private client division of Foster Denovo