Throughout my 20 years in the industry as an adviser and planner, I have always sought ways to enhance the quality of the advice that I give to my clients.
A key component of this is ensuring I am always providing the best quality technical advice in terms of helping you plan your financial future.
This will include staying abreast of legislative changes and how these can affect your financial plan.
A good example of this was the recent UK Budget. Tat, Brendan, and I have spent a long time reviewing the announcements that the chancellor made, and how they could affect your plans.
All three of us also ensure that we follow a rigorous regime of continual professional development (CPD) which can include reading widely and attending industry seminars and other events.
However, I have increasingly come to appreciate that being able to provide the best possible advice to my clients means so much more than just knowing about the technical minutiae of pensions and investments.
Behaviours matter too, and a key one is listening.
Recognising the importance of listening
I recently commenced a four-day programme called âUnlocking Excellenceâ.
Aside from the four days of in person sessions, I will also undertake a significant number of additional âthinking sessionsâ and complete an assessment. At the end of everything, I will hopefully achieve a Financial Discovery Coach (FDC) designation. All of this is to put into practice the theory and so is a significant investment of time and money.
A key reason why I have been so keen to invest in taking my listening and questioning skills to another level, is a simple desire to develop even deeper and more meaningful relationships with our clients â the ultimate goal being to facilitating their financial decision making leading to amazing outcomes.
The course came highly recommended by our business consultant, Brett Davidson, and is run by Rebecca Timmins and her company When We Think. Importantly for me, she comes from a financial planning background herself, having spent over 20 years in the industry. This means that she understands the challenges both advisers and clients face and the importance of positive outcomes from face-to-face meetings.
The course is designed to help financial planners like me increase trust and rapport with clients to deepen relationships and deliver greater value than simply worrying about numbers on a spreadsheet.
The course did literally give me âtime to thinkâ!
Funnily enough, the distance I had to drive each day gave me plenty of time to both think and listen. These are two things that, perhaps, I havenât always had enough time to do with a young family and a business to run.
I spent the commute listening to some podcasts, putting on old tunes, and singing! I also had time to just think about the future, where I want to take Charlton House, and the services we want to provide for our clients.
The course has so far inspired me to want to build even deeper relationships with my clients, both new and existing. By enhancing my personal consultancy skills, I think I can add real value by better helping people make great decisions.
Importantly, those decisions arenât always about money.
Get in touch
If you would like to talk about any aspect of your financial planning, please contact us by email or, if you prefer to speak to us, you can reach us in the UK on +44 (0) 208 0044900 or in Hong Kong on +852 39039004.
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