IFAFeb 25 2019

Nation's favourite individual advisers named

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Nation's favourite individual advisers named

VouchedFor has named the individual advisers who received the greatest volume of top reviews on their ranking website in 2018.

For financial advisers, 234 of Burford-based Philip Hanley’s clients rated him a top adviser in 2018, Leeds-based Vista Financial Management’s Alan Parkin was applauded by 107 clients, Northallerton’s Derek Dryden, of Gale & Phillipson, was positively reviewed by 132 clients.

In Scotland, users were most likely to want to rate their adviser with Affluent Financial Planning’s Carl Melvin getting 184 reviews in 2018, Border Finance’s Andrew Finnie getting 248 reviews, Craiglyon’s John Porter getting 108 and Stirling-based Brian Kerr getting 114 nods from clients.

In the north, Vista Financial Management’s Alan Parkin got 107 endorsements, Liverpool-based SMC Financial Service’s Sean McDermott got 112 top rankings, Sale-based Darren Burnett was applauded 117 times, Maghull-based Chris Lunt got 112 reviews, WTK Financial Solutions’ Chris Newland got 132 positive reviews and Wilmslow’s Andrew Day got 105 top rankings.

Among the top rated advisers in the south was Oak Wealth Planning’s Bob Gibbs, Shoreham-based Investment Solution’s Angus Wilson plus Worthing-based Ivan Lyons, Gallagher’s Ketan Shah, who is based in Woking, Milton Keynes Financial Advice’s Graeme Brown, Manning and Company’s Mike LeGassick and Elite Wealth Management’s Alan Powell.

In Wales, only one adviser scooped more than 100 positive reviews and that was First Option’s Bob Windust, who is based In Cardiff.

Also rated a top financial adviser by more than 100 clients in 2018 was True Potential’s Joseph Stevens, who is based in Ormskirk, Gallagher’s Sian Macinnes, Capital Wealth Solutions’ James Caviel, Eastbourne-based Clifford Osborne’s Paul Clifford, Skelmersdale-based Allie Baglow of Allisons Financial Planning, Wirral-based Helen Brown of Philip Bates & Co, Neil Gilbourne of Newark-based 3R Financial Services, Nottingham-based Mansion Park’s John Crichton, Barnet-based Filip Slipaczek, Kingston Upon Thames-based Stewart Twiddle, Town Close Financial Planning’s Jeremy Askew, MLP Wealth Management’s Paul Standerwick plus Paolo Standerwick, Jones & Co’s Mark Jones plus Donna Robertson, Colne-based Christina Clegg, Durham-based Wealth of Advice’s Chris Breward, Amanda Reid of Sutton Coldfield-based Gemini Wealth Management, Hannah Cowell of 2plan Wealth Management and Leicester-based Gary Metcalf of Gemini Wealth Management.

Nearly all the financial advisers with more than 100 positive reviews on Vouchedfor labelled themselves as IFAs.

For mortgage advisers, Chiswick-based Charlie Wade was rated a top adviser 107 times in 2018, Cheadle-based Ben Shirtliff of Banks Lane Finance got 112 good reviews, Pinner-based Dilip Kandaiah of AFP Partnership got 101 positive reviews, Northampton-based Salcey Mortgages' Thomas Andrews got 150 positive endorsements, Rugby-based LPR Mortgages' Lloyd Richards got 180 pats on the back and Rugby-based Matthew Clarke of Matt Clarke Mortgages got the thumbs up 117 times.

When it comes to companies, True Potential, 2plan Wealth Management and GHL Direct were three of the nation's most popular financial advice firms, according to VouchedFor.

The rating site for financial and legal advisers released its list of financial and mortgage advisers which qualified for its 2019 Guide To The UK's Top Rated Financial Advisers on Saturday (February 23), ranking them the highest number of positive reviews received from their clients.

The print version of the guide, distributed nationally in The Times, featured a list of financial advisers and mortgage advisers who qualified as ‘Top Rated’ by members of the public using the VouchedFor platform.

In total, 1,172 advisers from 737 different companies were included in the guide.

VouchedFor's list of advisers is based on reviews while FTAdviser's Top 100 Financial Advisers list uses data from our research partner Strategic Insight, formerly known as Matrix Data.

Last year marked a new dawn for FTAdviser's Top 100 Financial Advisers list as significant changes were made to the methodology used to rank businesses and a greater volume of data was received from Strategic Insight about these companies.

As a result, Tenet claimed the top spot this year on FTAdviser's list due to a combination of their assets under management, the number of highly qualified individuals at the business, and net retail fund sales.

emma.hughes@ft.com