Alan’s son Tom joins Interface as a Trainee Financial Planner

We have some great news to announce this month:

Tom Moran has joined Interface Financial Planning as a trainee financial planner. Initially Tom will provide an extra pair of hands which will help to improve our client service. One of his key roles will be client liaison, dealing with your secure messages, emails, phone calls, and all other means of communication. He will aim to ensure that you receive a response within 24 hours (or sooner if possible).

Tom has been very successful in Education for the last 15 years where he has worked in a role that I loosely described as a ‘school liaison officer’, and I asked Tom to tell me in his own words:

“I was promoting active co-operation between home, school and relevant community and statutory agencies to combat underachievement and promote safeguarding. Whilst enabling children, young people and their families to reach their full academic and social potentials by providing educational opportunities and removing barriers to learning and participation.
School Liaison Officer is nice and all-encompassing for the many roles that I had in a number of schools, I could have gone on a bit but from Child Protection – family disputes – school legal process – attendance – behaviour – mental health support – PSHE design, implementation and teaching. Crumbs I did a lot …”

He is now 40 and wants a new challenge which is bizarrely very similar to my experience because I worked in education as a teacher for 16 years and I became a financial adviser when I was 41. He has pestered me for 12 months to come on board and we have had many discussions. After a lot of careful thought, I am confident that he will be good for you and good for Interface Financial Planning. You will find Tom to be very personable and caring and I know that you will enjoy speaking to him. He will be contacting you soon so  you will get a new voice on the phone with my Welsh lilt being replaced by his mild Brummie accent.

I started working as a financial adviser in January 1990, almost by accident, but it was a wonderful career choice and I will soon reach my thirtieth year. I intend to continue to enjoy helping clients for many years to come however I want to provide everyone with the reassurance that if I ‘fall off my perch’ they will be in good hands. I want clients to enjoy the same level of care that has always been provided by Interface Financial Planning and Tom is the right person to carry it on for another 30 years. I did give some thought to a generous offer of a six-figure sum to buy my business, but this was dismissed because I think a lot more about my clients than their money which is the opposite of what most purchasers are looking for. With Tom taking over much of the admin side of the business I will be able to spend more of my time with clients.

When I started in 1990 no qualifications were required to be a financial adviser and you could be authorised and advising clients within a week. The typical adviser was aged about 25 and was enthused by the high commissions that they could get. It’s no wonder that such dreadful advice was given in those early days – thank goodness that things have changed. I was older and took a longer-term view and I am very proud that the two clients that I took on in January 1990 are still my clients today.

Tom must now follow a structured program of examinations, supervision, and authorisation, before he can provide you with financial advice, but in the meantime,  he will be able to help you in many other ways.

Interface Financial Planning is still supported by Sarah Harvey (our ‘rock’), who has been with Interface since January 2016, Sarah Challenor (our data genius) since April 2015 as well as others who you can see on the website. Last month Lucy Brand moved on and accepted an offer that she couldn’t refuse but we are keeping in touch and she paid me the compliment of asking me to provide financial advice for her and her family because: “I am the one that she trusts”.

Thank you all for your comments and feedback about last month’s newsletter, I am very pleased that you found my guidance on passwords informative and useful. One client has asked me to prepare something on scam emails, viruses, ransomware, and other internet dangers and I am considering this for a future blog. In the meantime, if you have any comments or queries please get in touch, if only to hear Tom’s voice on the phone for the first time.