Monday
My day starts at 3am with our newborn son’s night feed. My wife and I like to take it in turns so we both get enough sleep. After an hour’s feed it is back to bed until 6.30am when the whole house wakes up.
I check a few emails first thing, then help out getting the kids ready before making my way to the office for 9am. I do not have to go far as I work from home!
Mondays are usually spent working on the business rather than in it, so I work on this week’s blog for the website and refine my application for an upcoming award entry.
I finish at 4pm to prepare for tonight’s meal and then back on emails between 7pm and 9pm.
Tuesday
The day starts with a morning family run. The wife and I have a running buggy each and it’s a quick 3 miles before getting back and ready to start work at 9am.
I start prepping for the first of two meetings today; the first is with a doctor with a serious pension lifetime allowance problem and the second is a new referral who is stressed with his job and wants to make sure he can retire in five years.
Analysis and cash flows prepared, I head out and see both clients at their homes in Milton Keynes and Bedford.
I am back home about 5pm, so my wife has cooked tonight and I bath the kids.
Wednesday
Our son managed to sleep through until 5am this morning, so a lucky night for me.
It is an admin day today. I check my meeting reports from yesterday and follow up on tasks from those meetings, as well as tasks for other clients.
Paperwork has come back from clients in Nottingham who are transferring pensions, Isas and general investment accounts to our recommended solutions. There is lots to check and get right before sending it off to the provider.
Just before dinner I do a bit more research of future meal ideas. I am currently reducing my meat intake and slowly converting to vegan.
Whether I ever will is another thing, but a book I am reading at the moment called How not to die by Michael Greger has really opened my eyes to the health benefits.
After dinner is made I have a team meeting with our operations director (who is also my wife) at 7pm and we proof the blog I have written, prepare the weekly email to clients and go through client work.
Thursday
It is another morning run with the kids before preparing for this morning’s review meeting with a client.
They have updated their data capture form using CashCalcs, which makes it super easy to prepare their cash flow and be ready to discuss their plan.
When back from my morning meeting I start preparing for my evening meeting at 7pm. I am off to see a client who is retiring in the next month.
I am back home at 9pm to check a few emails and catch up on Line of Duty on iPlayer.
Friday
Friday is another day I try to keep free of client meetings to work on the business.
There are a few admin tasks to take care of, including setting up new clients on MoneyHub.
This personal finance app allows the client to collate all their financial information into one app, including seeing live data of the investments we have recommended.
The rest of the day is spent reviewing the accounts and watching a webinar on the benefits of a new income protection product from Aviva.
Finally the day ends at 4pm and as I have no appointments this weekend I sit down with my wife to plan our two-year-old’s first cinema trip. Ten episodes of Peppa Pig back-to-back is going to be the toughest part of the week.
Carl Roberts is managing director and chartered financial planner at RTS Financial Planning
If you would like to write a week in your life as a financial adviser, please contact: melanie.tringham@ft.com
