The Business Exchange Swindon & Wiltshire Edition 33: Oct/Nov 2017 | Page 11
EPOCH WEALTH MANAGEMENT ADVISES OWNER OF
WELL-KNOWN ONLINE RETAILER
Epoch Wealth Management who work across the South West and is one of the UK’s top fi nancial
planning fi rms, has been working with one of the owners of popular UK e-retailer, Not On The High
Street.com (NOTHS). Here, Epoch Managing Partner, Barry Newbury and Sophie Cornish, co-founder
of NOTHS, explain how the relationship came to be and why it’s worked so far.
Barry Newbury (BN): Sophie and her husband, Simon,
were referred to Epoch through our mutual relationship with
London accountancy fi rm haysmacintyre. When we fi rst met,
Sophie was building the business she co-founded, whilst
Simon had just stepped away from a career in the City.
Sophie Cornish (SC): We knew we needed help with our
personal fi nances, but with incredibly busy lives, we couldn’t
initially spare the time to meet with Epoch. We were just so
focused on building the business that it was only when we
stopped to take a breath that we realised we needed to start
the process!
The thing that really differentiated Epoch initially was
that they used a fi nancial forecasting tool with us. No
other adviser we’d used in the past had been able to show
us the ebb and fl ow of our fi nances in a transparent and
comprehensive way. Having previously built up a patchwork
quilt of investments and pensions over time, to be able to
fi nally make informed decisions about our fi nancial future
gave us personal fi nancial confi dence.
BN: The fi nancial forecasting tool has been a fantastic
addition to our client proposition. It allowed us to show
Sophie and Simon a range of scenarios, from staying on the
course they were, to the business being more successful
than projected. We were also able to show you the effect of
headwinds or even business failure on your ability to meet
your goals.
SC: That’s right. Life as an entrepreneur is very uncertain and
knowing the potential impact of our decisions has allowed
us to better shape our future. Being able to see the impact
of business success or failure has also shaped our thoughts.
We could see that even with some headwinds, we should be
in a reasonably good place. That’s the goal- the worst-case
scenario is ok and the best-case scenario is great. Epoch
knows how entrepreneurs think – they’re entrepreneurs
themselves after all. Having that ability to have an honest
and straightforward conversation was refreshing and
reassuring. Furthermore, being able to challenge our own
preconceptions has allowed us to make decisions that allow
us to focus on the family and our work.
BN: This is the key thing for us; we want to involve clients in
the fi nancial planning process as much as possible. That way,
rather than having to convince someone that your advice
is sound, you can show them the impact it’ll have and let
them make an informed decision, as opposed to one based
on blind trust. The tool we use has proved so popular that
we’ve decided to license it to other IFAs rather than retain
it as a USP. That way, more people can benefi t from this
approach to fi nancial advice.
Epoch Wealth Management based in Queen Square
House, just off Queen Square in Bath has been named New
Model Adviser of the Year for the South West region twice
in the last three years. They have over 500 clients and the
fi rm has infl uence on more than £500m of client assets,
positioning itself at the High Net Worth end of the market.
It is one of only four Chartered Financial Planning fi rms
in Bath and one of around 900 in the country. Furthermore,
it is the only Accredited Financial Planning Firm in Bath and
one of fewer than 80 in the country, placing it within the
top 1% of advice fi rms nationally.
For more info:
www.epochwm.co.uk
@EpochWealth
[email protected]
01225 487772
THE BUSINESS EXCHANGE 2017
11