“Tell me what you want from life, and we’ll work out the rest.”
Until last year, I was chairman of the UK’s first consumer-owned wind farm, which went on to win Inspiring Co-op of the Year in 2021. However, the award itself wasn’t what stayed with me – it was watching hundreds of people realise they could collectively own something significant – something none of them could access alone. That experience shaped how I think about financial advice: the most meaningful outcomes usually come from bringing the right resources together, in the right way, at the right time.
Before becoming an adviser, I spent years working across financial services – including time at some of the larger firms such as Scottish Widows, TSB, Royal London, and RBS – learning how money works at a technical level. But I was always behind the scenes, managing systems rather than people. Over time, I realised I wanted to be in the room at the moment things clicked, when the numbers stopped being abstract and started making sense in the context of someone’s real life.
One conversation that comes to mind is when I spoke a client who’d carried a knot of anxiety for seven years. She’d been made redundant, rebuilt her career, secured a good job and accumulated four pensions. Yet every time her current account dipped below £10,000, the fear returned. She didn’t know what her pensions were actually worth and she hadn’t realised her ISA could act as a safety net. No one had ever sat down and explained the full picture.
When we walked through it together, something shifted. She called me a few weeks later to discuss her mortgage and said it was the first time in years she had dealt with money without that familiar tightness in her chest. That’s the transformation I’m looking for – not just better returns, but the ability to make decisions without fear.
Most people don’t need complex strategies, they need clarity. They need someone who can explain how tax-free cash works, what pension crystallisation means, and what they can realistically take home – without the jargon getting in the way. There’s no ‘correct’ answer in financial planning, it’s about understanding what you want from life first, then building a plan that actually fits.
What drew me to Mattioli Woods was the range of tools and thinking available such as central investment propositions, private equity, Venture Capital Trusts (VCTs), and commercial property in pensions. It echoes that cooperative principle I’ve always believed in: pooling expertise and resources so clients can access opportunities they couldn’t reach on their own. But the tools only matter if you’re asking the right questions in the first place.
I’ve also learned what not to do. Early in my career, when markets fell, I’d focus on explaining what had gone wrong, justifying the volatility and pointing out irrational behaviour. Over time, I realised that’s not what people need. As well as needing perspective, they need to understand why staying invested through uncertainty matters, why reacting emotionally often does more damage than the market itself. It’s about seeing beyond the moment, not getting trapped in it.
My interest in ethical investing led me to complete the Chartered Banking Institute’s qualification in Green Finance and I remain a board member of a cooperative consultancy which helps businesses to adopt sustainable business models and practices. Outside work, you can find me running (slowly) around Edinburgh and Arthur’s Seat. I took up running during the pandemic and it’s become the space where I think things through. It also offsets my love of wine and cooking, which feels like a fair trade.
What ultimately drives me is watching someone move from confusion to clarity, from anxiety to confidence. It’s not about the number on the statement – it’s about reaching the point where you truly understand what you have, where it’s going, and that it aligns with what actually matters to you. That shift, when it happens, is worth everything.
