“I learned the value of money by picking strawberries – now I help others make their money work harder.”
At 12, I was doing paper rounds. By 14, while my friends were messing about in the summer holidays, I was out picking strawberries and planting potatoes, and by age 15, I was peeling chips in a local chip shop two evenings a week. My mum believed that if you understood what money actually cost in effort, you’d treat it with respect. She was right.
That early discipline shapes everything about how I work today. With over 20 years’ experience in financial services, I’ve built a practice on the belief that good financial planning isn’t about clever products – it’s about genuinely understanding what matters to the person in front of you. I specialise in wealth management and pensions, helping clients at every stage of life build, protect and eventually enjoy what they’ve worked hard to accumulate.
One client I’d looked after for a decade – a frugal, quietly determined man who’d spent his working life saving carefully on a modest salary – kept telling me he had ‘another year in him’ despite a physically demanding job that was grinding him down. The cash-flow modelling told a clear story: he didn’t need to carry on working. For a couple of reviews I made the case; it wasn’t until his wife heard it too that something shifted. He handed in his notice. At the next review, his wife took me aside and said: “I honestly thought he was going to work himself into an early grave. I’ve seen a glow come back to him.” That’s what this work is about.
I approach every client meeting consultatively – listening far more than talking and paying attention to what isn’t being said as much as what is. I ask about life, not just finances, because understanding someone’s values, fears and motivations is what makes the difference between advice that’s technically sound and advice that truly fits. Whether I’m working through pension contribution strategies, income protection, Inheritance Tax planning or helping someone make the psychological shift from saving to spending, the goal is the same: clarity and confidence.
For clients starting out, I’m particularly passionate about explaining the power of compounded returns and the importance of salary sacrifice – the kind of straightforward thinking that, applied early, makes a real difference later. For those approaching or in retirement, I focus on the cash-flow work that turns uncertainty into a plan you can actually live by.
Outside of work, I’m a family man and a Stockport County supporter – and I’m passing on the same lesson my mum gave me, making sure my son earns his own way to the games he wants to attend. Some things are worth learning early.
