How / why did you get into your line of work in the financial services sector?
I followed in my Father’s footsteps – he worked at Lloyds bank as a bank manager for his full working career (a one club player) and retired early at 55 on a generous bank pension.
My first role within the Lloyds banking group was with Black Horse Financial services and Private banking after graduating from further education at a tender age of 21.
What is your special interest or particular field of expertise in the financial services sector right now?
The thing I find most fascinating is the global economic impact of the various investment markets and conveying this message to the United Advisers Group’s clients to help them build the financial future they want.
What is the most important aspect of your work, in relation to clients, or the part of your day-to-day role which gives you the most satisfaction
Ensuring that our clients realise we cannot promise positive performance constantly, but we can promise service. This means ensuring our clients understand the investment cycle and how the various asset classes perform at various stages, and making sure that we work to optimise this for them as best as we can.
What’s special/unique/most interesting about the region you work in?
The thing I love the most is working with our clients over the decades of their lives – and in fact supporting multiple generations of the same families to reach their financial goals.. Our clients come from such a diverse background and market sectors – we work with Physicists , Scientists, IGO/NGO directors, Marketeer’s, Bankers, Engineers, Brokers, Politicians and CEOS’s across a number of industries. We have clients from 40 different nationalities from 54 differing countries. The rich tapestry of our clients makes every day a very different day.
How has the market / industry / your client base been impacted by Brexit?
This subject has been very contentious at times with more than a few clients – and as we work with so many different nationalities, not all have been directly impacted. We do have quite a few ex-pat British clients who’ve had to close down their UK bank accounts as they are no longer British tax payers or residents, which has caused some issues.
We’ve worked with our clients, whether or British or not, to manage the volatility that Brexit has caused on the UK economy, as well as the global impacts of the pandemic, the Ukraine conflict and widespread inflation.
Right now, what is your one piece of invaluable information for expats or anyone seeking retirement planning and wealth management advice?
Successful retirement and wealth management planning takes a great deal of time and knowledge to get it right – often over decades. This can be a long-term commitment so we’d recommend you build a long-lasting relationship with a fully regulated brokerage you can trust. Whoever you partner with needs to understand the life of an international businessperson, the impact on the family, and the implications of often managing transactions in multiple different currencies and across multiple taxation jurisdictions. You should look for someone who can offer a full, holistic planning lifestyle financial planning service and who can give you clear cash flow modelling for future scenarios.
What would be your advice to any firm seeking licencing permissions under an international network?
Depending on the location of your brokerage….speak with Nexus Global as your regulated support network.
Nexus Global and Blacktower already have a long and successful history in the sector, how will your firm continue to offer value to clients in the next 20 years and beyond?
It is paramount for us that United Advisers Group remains totally committed to delivering a full service from cradle to grave for our clients and their families. Our focus is on genuinely understanding our client’s family financial needs and what is important to them. Our clients realise that we genuinely care for the client’s best interests.
Tell us an interesting fact about yourself.
I was born and raised in Stratford on Avon and my boyhood football team is Coventry City – the Sky Blues. I am an avid sports fan!
