Find A Financial Life Planner
Bruce Wilson ACA, FIFP, CFP®, DipPFS, RLP®
Helm Godfrey Partners LTD
Warnford Court, Throgmorton Street,
London,
Phone: 44 (0) 20 7614 1000
Helm Godfrey Partners is located in the heart of the city of London next to the Bank of England. We also operate out of nine other locations mainly in the south of England as well as two offices in the North, and we have advisers based in two accountancy practices here in London.
Helm Godfrey partners in its current format started life in 1999 as a result of a management buyout from the founder and owner of Helm Financial Services which was set up in the 1960s. Since then the company has grown significantly and has acquired a number of small businesses and practices. We now have some 50 individuals who work within the company of which 25 are regulated advisers.
We are traditional or general independent financial advisers focusing on the mass affluent and high net worth market and also we look after successful businesses through our employment benefit advisers. More recently some of our advisers have concentrated on deepening their understanding of their clients and four of us have attended the Kinder Institute 5-day EVOKE residential training programme. Of these four two are Registered Life Planners.
Q: What would you like to say about how Life Planning has made changes in your personal and professional life?
The changes that I have made in both my personal and professional life have been significant following the 2-day and 5-day workshops. I was fortunate enough to be George's partner in the Seven Stages of Money Maturity workshop (2-day) which was done in front of the other participants. In the process George lit my torch around my search for freedom. I realized that I needed to plan for that event so that I could control what I did in my working time. I have since made decisions to ensure I spend more time doing those things I want to do and much less on what I don't. This process was dramatically accelerated through Life Planning.
I also appreciated how critically important this work was and that if I was able to offer it to my clients I would be giving them something more valuable than they could ever imagine.
Q: What helped you to decide to enroll in your first Kinder Life Planning workshop?
I was already doing what I considered Life Planning and was due to run a workshop called the Dharma of money at the Tassajara Zen Centre in California and wanted more information about the Kinder approach, particularly as George had a Buddhist background. I wasn't ready for how mind blowing the material and the experience would be.
Q: How does your Life Planning Practice differ from the other Financial Planning Practices in the area?
This is an interesting question and I think it goes to the heart of the differentiation of Life Planning and financial planning. I think all financial planning when done really well should start with Life Planning as the heart of the plan and then the financial plan follows. This ensures that what is really important is dealt with and not the possibility that the financial plan is accurate but addresses the wrong pathway and misses the real fulfillment and happiness in life. This is quite possible when there has been no deep enquiry into what is important and significant in one's life.
Q: What are the top 2 actions you have taken to spread the word about your Life Planning practice?
I changed my process with clients and introduced the lifetime wealth management experience to my existing and new clients. The brochure produced outlined how I deal with clients starting off with
1) The lifetime navigator focusing on Life Planning and its three aspects - exploration, vision and obstacles.
2) The lifetime financial planner with its three-step process of financial net worth, financial roadmap and lifetime cash flow.
3) The bespoke investment programme based on the three steps of risk profiling, asset allocation and investment plan.
This process continues with tax and regular revaluations of how we are doing and where we are. This clearly showed my current and any new clients the depth of the work we do with them and gives us the opportunity to explain the importance of each part in the overall process of the lifetime wealth management experience.
The second action was to set up a group of other like-minded Registered Life Planners to work together to promote Life Planning in general and specifically give each of us an opportunity to promote our own firms. This initiative is called Project Eve[LINK & New Name] and is in its early days but we do have a website, some video blogs explaining what Life Planning is, individual biographies of the six of us who are all at the forefront of promoting Life Planning in the UK, and some case studies. Our intention is to run regular workshops to promote financial Life Planning. We have yet to come up with a better name to sum up what we are doing. The first workshop will be during financial planning week here in the UK, which is in November.
Q: Describe a client situation where Life Planning made a profound difference (for the client and/or for you).
Where Life Planning is carried out in a full and frank manner with both parties fully engaged in the process there is no question that there is an enormous shift in the relationship between client and adviser. The significance of this cannot be underestimated. The deepest change from my perspective has been how I now view my role, which has fundamentally changed my relationship with the client. Probably the most critical element of this is a direct result of trying to light their torch around what their life could be. This is something I had never thought of as part of my role as an adviser or planner. I think it is probably the most important change in what I do. Not only am I asking my client to look at his/her life in a way they have never done before but I'm also offering to stand by and help them on their journey. What an amazing offer is that to anybody. It is totally transformative.
To give you an example of this a recent client in his heart's core exercise had health as a "have", quit smoking, lose weight and exercise more as a "do", and be fit and more energetic as a "be". When we last spoke he had joined a gym, is exercising more, feeling more energetic and has given up smoking. Whilst I cannot take personal responsibility for any of these I do believe that these resulted from him putting them down in his heart's core and my continued support has helped him in starting to achieve these lifetime goals.
Q: What were the most significant challenges you have overcome in your practice and how did you overcome them?
I think it has been the difference between the value I feel I offer with this work and the perception that the client has because this is something totally new and not at all what they expect. This resulted in me charging a very high price and one which my clients would not accept. I have now reduced that price in order to attract more clients to the service. It is a further demonstration to me that I should only focus on clients who are prepared to work in a really deep and meaningful way. A business model of less clients and more relationship.
Q: In what ways is your practice more successful since you have added Life Planning?
It's more successful in the sense that I am more fulfilled and working in the area of people's lives which is far more exciting than their money. It also has become a very clear proposition that I offer my clients from outset. It means that we all have a better understanding of the value proposition I offer. This is a continuing and ongoing process and requires a wider understanding and acceptance of financial Life Planning generally.