Member Article

Financial advisors target growth after relocation

A Teesside company specialising in advice on pensions and investments is looking to grow after relocating to new offices.

Complete Money Care has moved to new offices in Hub 2 of the Innovation Centre at Hartlepool’s Queen’s Meadow Business Park, and has developed tiered support packages to match clients’ needs.

Stark changes to the financial services industry including the setting up of the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) encouraged CMC to broaden its services and concentrate more on higher wealth clients.

Lester Corbett, Grahame Coles and Karen Ayton have more than 70 years’ experience advising people on pensions and investments.

Lester, who has been a financial adviser since 1984, said: “Over many years, we built up a large portfolio of clients mainly advising on mortgage products or life assurance policies.

“This has been useful because it means we are already known to a lot of people in Teesside.

“Our industry has changed so much in recent years with much needed regulation and greater transparency, and it was clear that we needed a new strategy to become much more of a service provider, advising on good investments and helping clients to manage and grow their wealth.

“But we wanted to be as strategically prepared as we could be and recognised that wealth management through tailored packages were where we should focus.”

While CMC will continue to provide some mortgage and insurance advice, its primary focus will be to help clients to secure better returns on large scale investments such as pension pots and investments, particularly if their portfolios are under-performing.

An on-going care service is available to clients with higher investment pots – typically in excess of £75,000 – which will involve regular review of investments to make sure they are achieving the best results.

Grahame said: “For many years, setting up a pension or investment fund was fairly simple as there were just a few funds to choose from.

“But now there are thousands of funds and people need to realise that their investment may be seriously under-performing if they leave it without review.

“There are also those people who may come into large amounts of money for the first time, through inheritance, selling property or even winning the lottery. And there are those who have bought products via the bank but are not getting the same level of service they once were.

“Investment can be a complex area and people need the peace of mind of knowing their money is performing as well as it can, without undue risk.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Martin Walker .