Alex Harrington

“I’m not here to sell you a plan, I’m here to understand your life.”

I didn’t plan to become a financial adviser. Back in 2016, I joined Mattioli Woods in an administrative role, and one afternoon a director caught me in the car park and asked what I was doing with my life. I didn’t have an answer, but he saw something I hadn’t seen in myself and pointed me towards the financial advice exams.

Those early years across the administration and paraplanning teams gave me something most advisers don’t have – a ground-level understanding of how financial planning actually works, not just in theory. Watching people’s circumstances change when a plan was explained clearly made me want to be the one doing the explaining. I qualified with a Diploma in Regulated Financial Planning and haven’t looked back.

My role today is a little different from most advisers. Rather than constantly chasing new business, I focus on building lasting relationships with existing clients – often people who’ve felt let down or passed around in the past. My job is to win back their confidence, not by selling them something, but by showing up consistently and putting their needs first.

That car park moment still shapes how I work; someone took the time to truly see me, not just my job title, and I try to do the same for every client I meet. I’ve spent 50 minutes in a meeting talking cricket before we got anywhere near a pension. I’ve had half-hour conversations about record collecting before a single spreadsheet came out. People who feel genuinely understood trust more readily, and better financial decisions follow from that. I work with clients who have a pension, a home, and a life they want to protect. What motivates me isn’t growing assets for its own sake; it’s making sure the people who rely on good advice can retire well and feel secure. I’ve looked clients in the eye and told them honestly they don’t need us anymore; that an annuity, a clean break, and a happy retirement is the right answer for them. This kind of honesty is something I’ll never compromise on.

Outside of work, you’ll find me at the cricket, at the cinema catching the latest release, or adding to a vinyl collection that is, depending on who you ask, either burgeoning or excessive. I’ve got a soft spot for mid-noughties indie bands, the kind that were breaking through when I was 13 and are thankfully still touring.

A chance conversation in a car park started this career. The relationships I’ve built since (clients who’ve become friends, who send flowers on moving day) are the reason I stay.