Making the right choices
It seems that we are constantly being asked to make choices about our behaviour: whether to use plastic bags, how to relate to others, which paper to buy, where to shop, who to support in whatever cause, and who knows we may soon have to decide whether to buy chlorinated chicken. There are some of course who do not give a damn about anyone or anything other than themselves however I am fortunate because that does not apply to any of my clients who for the most part want to do some good and leave the world a little bit better.
My clients have been using Nucleus Financial to place their investments since I started recommending Nucleus in 2011. I had to make a choice of investment platform and I chose Nucleus because I loved their ethos. The last seven years has proven time and again that Nucleus were the right choice and I am delighted that without exception my clients agree. Nucleus were launched in 2006 by a group of financial adviser firms who set out with a mission to create an investment platform which put the client at the heart of the process. Nucleus made the decision to work only with other adviser firms who put clients front and centre of what they do, and they have been very choosy about which other firms could use their platform. Today over 400 adviser firms are members of the Nucleus family and Nucleus has grown to be one of the most successful investment platforms in the UK.
As a Nucleus client you will probably only hear about Nucleus when you receive your statements and I wonder how many of you know the wonderful non-financial things that Nucleus get involved with. The Nucleus team are a caring lot and they are continually getting involved in charitable works. On a cold night in Edinburgh last November many of the Nucleus staff slept out overnight to highlight the plight of the homeless. They have been involved in trekking across mountains, jumping out of planes, baking cakes, and beauty nights, all to raise money for good causes or for those who are less fortunate. In 2016 they raised over £50,000 for Marie Curie. In 2017 they chose to support a mental health charity. For 2018 Nucleus is sponsoring The Yard which offers support to disabled children and young people.
Women’s equality has become a regular news feature (and about time too!). Nucleus signed up to The Women in Finance Charter well before this became such a hot news topic. The Professional Paraplanner article shows you a photo of CEO David Ferguson who I am pleased to say I now regard as a friend. He says: “We want to work in a business where everyone has the same chance to develop and make an impact. It feels like the inclusion tide is finally turning in financial services and the Women in Finance Charter is a great opportunity to champion diversity and the positive difference that it makes.”
Last year I was delighted to be invited to join the Nucleus Platform Development Group and last September I flew to Edinburgh for an inspiring meeting: a lot of development is happening with its key aim of providing more services to clients. Unlike many investment platforms Nucleus is in profit and there is never a discussion of how much profit is distributed to shareholders (there are no public shareholders!), the discussion is always about where can we improve services to clients and where can we reduce the charges that clients pay. It’s great sharing some time with a great set of guys all with the same aim. We met again at The Belfry in January and I am off to Edinburgh again in April. As a personal bonus last September I stayed an extra night in Edinburgh to view the sights and what a beautiful city it is, I shall do the same next time because there is such a lot to see.
I am very fortunate to work with some wonderful people and wonderful organisations. If you have not yet done my values exercise from my website or you haven’t done it for some time I recommend that you take a look at Values.
Your core values are the underlying principles by which you live your life. They are what make you who you are (your core) and they do not tend to change over time. When you live according to your core values you find that life is easy, you’re happier, less stressed because you are focusing on the values that are important to you.
If we are living in conflict with our core values we become stressed, unhappy, dissatisfied and frustrated with who we are and what we’re doing.
Nucleus Financial is an organisation which shares my top ten values of: Integrity, Compassion, Respect, Contribution, Honesty, Trust, Fairness, Loyalty, Sincerity, Equality – if you are a client of mine I bet that you share many of them as well, please let me know how you get on.