Robson Laidler Wealth are a team of Chartered Financial Planners, in Jesmond who will give you the confidence that you can achieve the lifestyle you want without fear of running out of money. Director Amanda Cowie reflects on the past year...
What did you set out to achieve this year?
After a very successful 2020 we wanted to increase the size of our team to allow us to maintain a great level of service to our existing and new clients. Both Jen Gilroy and Lydia Sutton joined us in May, and they have been a great addition to our team. We also set ourselves some specific business growth objectives, which we are on track to exceed.
Has everything gone according to plan?
Absolutely! We have increased our marketing activity and have just launched a campaign called “Finding Financial Fairness in Divorce” for those facing relationship breakdown in later life. Because of this we have seen increased traffic through the website as well as more client introductions.
How has the ongoing Covid crisis affected your business and how have you mitigated this?
We are fortunate in that we have been able to work flexibly throughout the whole of the pandemic with no detriment to our service. This is testament to the agility of our team, who adapted well to remote working and to our lovely clients who were so positive about us delivering our service virtually. We are now largely back together as a team in the office but the pandemic has shown us that it is possible to be more flexible and work the odd day from home.
What are you most proud of this year?
Despite the pandemic we have continued with steady growth, which has seen our client relationships strengthen, an increase in the number of families that we serve and new faces to our team.
Seeing our people develop in their careers through professional qualifications has definitely been a highlight. Emma Purvis who has worked with us for 13 years has recently qualified as a financial planner. And our trainee paraplanner Megan Dimmick has passed all of her regulated financial planning exams first time and is now training to be a paraplanner as part of her progression to ultimately becoming our next financial planner.
What’s the best piece of business advice you’ve received this year?
The best advice we give ourselves is within our simple philosophy of doing the right thing for clients and the consequence of this is a successful business, measured by more engaged clients and financial growth.
What have you learnt about yourselves this year? That we are a very strong team. That we can adapt well to change. That we can have even more confidence in the value we add to our clients’ lives.
What’s been the most enjoyable business social event you have attended?
There haven’t been many! We had our team “Christmas” lunch in April outside! Neil (director in the business) has managed to squeeze in several client golf matches including a recent trip to Muirfield. And Robson Laidler hosted a Ladies in Business lunch at Dobson and Parnell recently – great fun and well received and something we will be running again in the spring. Describe 2021 in three words
The. Best. Yet.
What does the remainder of the year hold and any new plans for 2022?
Apart from helping those facing divorce find an equitable financial way forward, we are now able to advise clients on how to plan using their main residence. We will also continue to develop our client relationships and enable our team to progress in their chosen careers.
