As a financial planner, MATT MILLARD has been encouraging clients for years to make the most of the time they have and live life to the full. But he admits it’s only recently that he’s properly begun to do that himself. Here he discusses rockwealth Cardiff’s first two years in business with Head of Client Education ROBIN POWELL, and explains how the Covid pandemic among other things has helped to change his perspective on life. RP: When you founded rockwealth Cardiff two years ago, Matt, you were effectively starting from scratch, with only a few clients. How has the business gone since then? MM: That’s right, for all intents and purposes, I started from scratch. But it's gone well. I'm certainly on track with my business plan. The first year was about consolidating those existing client relationships and getting them on board with the rockwealth way of doing things. But I’ve always enjoyed networking, particularly with accountants and solicitors, and I’ve found several new clients that way. I particularly enjoy working with business owners who are on a high-growth pathway, and who perhaps are looking to sell their businesses in five-to-ten years. Many of them are in their 40s. They’re really receptive to what we have to offer them, and it’s a privilege to share their journey with them. So, yes, I'm happy with how the first two years have gone. How have you enjoyed the experience of running your own advice business? I’ve had my own business before, but I’ve enjoyed it much more this time round. Back then I was directly authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority, which meant that about 60% of my time was spent on admin and compliance. I’m now what’s called an authorised representative, so rockwealth takes care of all that for me. One of the reasons I chose to work with rockwealth is that I really like the processes and systems it has in place, and the way that it outsources specialist functions. That has allowed me to focus on what I really want to do, which is spend more time meeting and talking to people, and helping clients to live the lives they want to lead. There’s been a shift in focus in the financial advice profession in recent years — away from investment products, and towards financial planning. Do you think the public is aware of that shift? Or do most people still come to you with investment-related questions? It's definitely the latter, I would say. I can only speak from my own experience, but every new client that I've onboarded so far has had no experience of proper financial planning. Many of my new clients have been through referrals, and quite a few of them were referred because their adviser was retiring. So I think it's a generational thing. 15 or 20 years ago there were hardly any advisers offering proper financial planning. But, as you say, there’s been a big push towards planning in recent years, and quite rightly so. The younger generation of advisers coming through are certainly more grounded in financial planning, and they provide a much better service as a result, in my experience. When I sit down with a new client and start talking to them about goals-based planning, objectives and aspirations, there's often a sort of quizzical look on their face. You can see them thinking, “Why are we talking about this? I came to talk about my pension and investments.” So, for many clients, it takes a little while for that penny to drop. Then, when they really grasp what we're doing and why we're doing it, they embrace it wholeheartedly. Matt, you clearly believe passionately in the value of holistic financial planning. Why do you think it’s so important? I'm a firm believer in helping clients to get the most out of life — as much enjoyment and fulfilment as they can. And without proper holistic financial planning, I do struggle to see how clients can achieve their goals and objectives. As a planner, what I enjoy most about my job is showing clients that they’re in a position, if that’s what they want, to retire much earlier than they were expecting to. Perhaps they were thinking of carrying on until 65, but I’m able to demonstrate that they can finish work at 58 and not have to worry about running out of money. I really enjoy being able to tell clients that, if they continue to work, it's going to be through choice rather than necessity. That's quite empowering, and an enjoyable conversation to have. The pandemic gave people plenty of time to think about their lives and their plans for life after work. In your experience, is there still plenty of interest in early retirement or semi-retirement? It’s really interesting at the moment. The economic situation is a little precarious, and we've obviously had rising inflation and interest rates. Then came the Budget, which incentivised higher earners in their 50s and early 60s to stay in work or return to work after taking early retirement. So it’s made people question what they ought to be doing. All of this shows the value of a full-blown financial planning process. It’s so important for advisers to understand clients' goals and objectives and to help them understand their timeline. When we use cashflow modelling, we're building in stress tests. So we're making assumptions on inflation and investment growth, but we're also showing what would happen in different scenarios. I’m always keen to emphasise to clients that retirement is a moving target. The key is to plan for different eventualities. A financial plan is not set in stone. You’re going to have to make adjustments. I use the analogy of flying off on holiday. Sometimes the conditions will change and the journey becomes bumpy and the pilot will need to make adjustments. A financial planner is a bit like a pilot in that respect. That’s why financial planning is really helpful for clients now. They can clearly see where they are and the different options that are open to them. Yes, it might mean having to work part-time rather than retiring altogether. Or they may need to cut back on spending in certain areas. But, when you’ve planned carefully, there are always levers you can pull. So some of my clients have decided to go down to three days a week rather than finish work. Others have taken the option to stay on for another six months or so and train their replacement. All my clients are different, but those who need to are finding a way to make the adjustments they need to make to ensure they don’t run out of money in their 90s. It’s a big subject, but what advice would you give to people who are approaching retirement? You would expect me to say, as a financial planner, that it's really important to think about how your money is invested, and of course that’s true. Nobody wants to run out of money during their lifetime. But planning for retirement is about much more than money. People who are coming up to retirement often have no other plans than to go on holiday and have a think about what they’re going to do. But you might well live for another 30 years or more after finishing work. What are you going to do every day? You really need to think carefully about what a typical day, week or month might look like. Another important question to ask yourself is, what is on your bucket list? I don't want to be sat with a client when they're 80 or 85 and for them to say to me, I wish I'd done X or wish I'd done Y. Or I wish we had gone on that holiday, or had that extension, or whatever it may be. So, my advice would be to start with a blank piece of paper. Think outside the box. What do you want to do with your life? Which friends or family members do you want to spend more time with? How could you get more involved in your grandchildren’s lives? Then, once you've got that picture, it's a lot easier to start making plans. Finally, a key part of your job as a financial planner is to help people identify the things they truly value. What do you really value yourself? Time. Without question, the thing I value most is time. As we touched on earlier, Covid was a great leveller for everyone. It helped people to decide what was important. It was the same for me. I also had a few health issues last year which helped to refocus my mind. It made me realise we're not going to live forever. We only have so much time, and we have to make the most of it. As a financial planner, I really feel I should practise what I preach. I’m always telling clients that they should retire early, spend more money and enjoy themselves while they have the chance. I have to take my own advice!
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