A big THANK YOU to my clients

Green Financial is a small business, family owned and run, that provides a personal service to a limited number of clients. Recently, I needed to say Thank You and wanted to make the five thank you gifts something more than a branded freebie.


Background
In April 2010, I decided to relocate from working in the City of London to nearer home in Putney. This was so that when my new child was born (now aged 6 months) I would no longer need to spend a number of hours each day commuting, with the attendant stresses of dealing with Transport for London(!) and that time could be spent being a husband and father – whilst still maintaining or even increasing the hours worked on looking after my clients.

Part of this process involved the re-registration of my financial services licence with the Financial Services Authority, a process that normally takes six months but I proudly achieved in just three. Green Financial Advice was born about 6 months before my new daughter. Whilst most clients see our relationship as dealing with me personally, the formation of a new company also meant I legally needed to write to all clients to ensure they were happy to continue to deal with me via that new company name. Additionally, later in the year, as part of my annual International Standards certification process (I was one of the first thirty advisers in the UK to be accredited as ISO22222, Personal Financial Planner, compliant) it was suggested I place on record confirmation from all clients of their intentions to continue to deal with me personally for each of their existing financial plans or products.

This was quite an undertaking with many people to write to, covering almost three hundred different policies. I was delighted that the response rate was 93%.

When writing I acknowledged that most clients would send back the paperwork anyway with no incentive to do so, but I wanted to say thank you for taking the time and trouble to assist me in complying with my administrative requirements.

Charity Thank You

At Green Financial we have been supporting the work of The Royal Hospital for Neuro Disability in Putney. It is a national charity (www.rhn.org.uk Reg No 205907) providing assessment, rehabilitation treatment and care for adults with profound and complex disabilities caused by disease or damage to the brain. I was delighted to make a donation of £250 in the name of Green Financial Clients to the RHN

Client Thank You

here goes...

First ‘out of the hat’ was a client in London. They have a young child so I thought a money box would be appropriate, especially as I had seen this: Not a piggy bank, but a herdy bank! Made in bone china in Staffordshire’s potteries, almost in Green Financial green and with the slogan ‘Why should pigs have all the money?’. I hope it is enjoyed and brings smiles and prosperity for many years to come.





Next up: As the communication had been about letters, what better thank you than a Scrabble themed gift (geddit!?). Two clients in Hampshire and Berkshire have a scrabble mug and a set of scrabble coasters on the way.

As mentioned above, one of my main reasons for moving was to avoid commuting. When I saw a charming book about a pet that hit the news in 2009 after it took to commuting on a bus every day I hoped it would be just right as the fourth gift for an animal loving client in Oxfordshire.

Fifth, finally and by no means last, back to London with a local client in Wandsworth. Echoing my journey, they too used to work in the City so I trust the book below is of interest to them. It is a giant fold out panorama (many, many feet long when extended) that photographs the North bank of the River Thames all the way from Kew to Canary Wharf.

So there we have it, a big THANK YOU again to all my loyal clients, it truly is my pleasure to work with you and I look forward to Green Financial being of service for many more years to come.

Dear Diary, Monday

I was so busy last week I didn’t have time to blog.
So this week I thought I’d write up a diary of last week to give a little insight as to what I get up to, where I do it and who I do it with!

Monday 11th October
Having made my son what I thought was a breakfast fit for a hard day at school, a delicious bowl of porridge with chopped bananas, I was greeted with the response that ‘he’d rather have coco pops’. Now I know how Jamie Oliver feels!

A busy retirement
The working week then began with a meeting in the Putney office with a client who recently retired from a career in banking. As with many retired clients he seems to be busier now than when he was working!
The meeting was around the ongoing management of an investment portfolio and the portfolio construction for the pension retirement income. As is usual in situations such as this we also strayed into estate planning matters. I now have a number of questions to answer and finer details to clarify before we proceed further.

Family Matters
Then a dash out of the office to the train station (anyone who is also on www.foursquare.com could track me at this point!) and to ‘Sunny Brighton’.
The pleasure of meeting a prospective new client was tinged with sadness at the circumstances. Too often tragedy strikes when we least expect it and this gentleman was dealing with a recent bereavement of a too young wife and mother to a too young family.
Despite the circumstances the time together was positive and I feel well able to help (in purely financial matters only) the family move on from what has happened and position themselves for their future.

Life is a jigsaw
Then straight back to Putney for a meeting in the office with a client that I have only fairly recently started working with. It has taken the best part of six months to unravel their previous financial position thanks to the existing providers giving almost no information on small matters like performance or costs! We have started to work out a plan to determine if they have enough money to last a lifetime. A huge part of my work is helping people to discover “How much is enough?”. With this client the pieces of the jigsaw are almost all in place but to continue the analogy there seems to be a corner piece missing. I have left them with a few questions and if the answers are positive then we’ll complete the jigsaw and admire the view – but if the answers are not as hoped we may well be scrabbling around on the floor or simply hoping to find the missing piece down the back of the sofa…

Injury Time
Monday finishes with a particularly pleasing event for me. My first game of squash for over six months, thanks to a knee injury in the spring and then tearing an ankle ligament in the summer after falling – and in case you wonder the fall was non-sports related - and also non alcohol related before you ask!
To hammer home the time that had passed my regular squash partner had no idea I had set up Green Financial as a stand alone entity and last time we played my wife and I had just had the 12 week scan for the new baby, now due any week!
The score on the night: Well, that’s not important. It’s the taking part that counts…