insideKENT Magazine Issue 76 - July 2018 | Page 169

What can you do for insideKENT
readers?
We provide the most intuitive,
immersive and reassuring
experiences there are when it
comes to looking after both the
pennies and the pounds. I hope
that a few readers who see this
article will come and see us and
see how we can help them – we
typically deal with families that
are likely to incur Inheritance Tax,
or have out of the ordinary
financial affairs that need a great
deal more than just the basics.
We cover everything you would
expect of a leading wealth
management practice, but have
found recently that a larger
number of property developers
and investors have been seeking
our advice than usual.
What’s your opinion on the
current economic state of the
world?
I’ve been asked this question just
about every working day for the
last 25 years, and the honest
answer is that thinking can be
dangerous.
My view is that the economics of
the world have been in a
perpetual state of flux since the
simplest form of tribal bartering
began, we’ve just became more
numerate and creative with the
currency, so in short I’m saying
it doesn’t really matter what the
current state is. However, I would
describe the feelings at the
moment as cautious, but on
balance little
to choose between the half-fulls
and half-empties.
This may sound flippant and in
a way it is, but wealth
management is about accepting
that you cannot predict the
future; you’ve probably heard of
the FTSE, our local stock
exchange...despite all the
conjecture and forecasts, the truth
is that all we know with any
degree of certainty is:
• it opens on weekdays at 8am
and closes at 4.30pm.
• some days it goes up, and on
others it falls.
• historically the trend has been
upwards, although there are dips
in between. Of course past
performance is not reflective of
future performance.
Beyond this, nobody knows
anything, furthermore, if anybody
suggests they do, I would urge
extreme caution. Our approach
to looking after our clients is to
be prepared for the unexpected
and always having a contingency
plan for it.
What’s the most rewarding
aspect of your job?
When a client just ‘gets it’ and
then, as a result, goes on to make
really good decisions when all we
have done is simply make the
complicated understandable and
given them confidence. Our world seems to perpetually seek to confuse
its users and it is so rewarding to undo this for people and they comment
on it all of the time, one of the most common phrases we hear being:
“For the first time, I get it… I feel safe.”
You will probably know somebody who deals with us; perhaps ask
them about what they think too.
What are your passions?
Number one is to only ever do the right thing by my conscience and
to never have any regrets in this regard in every walk of my life. I have
none yet.
Personal passions are finding ways to allow all of my children to make
their own way in the real world and without the ‘need’ for me. Beyond
the love of your family, deep down there is no better feeling than this.
Making sure that everybody in my world is appreciated for what makes
them great and empowered to be ‘life successful’ using whatever their
‘great’ is. I also like to help them avoid dwelling on or toiling to change
their less great attributes.
Believing in people more than they do and seeing how they grow, and
finally finding new more efficient and effective ways of doing things
using only the tools in front of us.
www.77wm.co.uk
The value of an investment with St. James's Place will be directly linked
to the performance of the funds you select and the value can therefore
go down as well as up. You may get back less than you invested.
The levels and bases of taxation and reliefs from taxation can change
at any time. The value of any tax relief depends on individual
circumstances.
The Partner Practice represents only St. James’s Place Wealth
Management plc (which is authorised and regulated by the Financial
Conduct Authority) for the purpose of advising solely on the group’s
wealth management products and services, more details of which are
set out on the group’s website at www.sjp.co.uk/products. The ‘St.
James’s Place Partnership’ and the title ‘Partner Practice’ are marketing
terms used to describe St. James’s Place representatives.
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