Unlike other non-regulated business, financial advisers have a third administrative function governed by the authorities; on compliance, regulation and generic industry administration. Directly authorised firms tend to have their own staff for this activity or they outsource to other compliance firms, however the best system is t align with a company specifically set up to…
Author: Andrew Goodwin
Andrew Goodwin is the Managing Director and Co-founder of National IFA Truly Independent Ltd and Author of ‘The Happy Financial Adviser’.
His 20 year career in Financial Services started when he graduated from Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh with an Honours Degree in Actuarial Mathematics and Statistics.
Between 1995 and 2003 he worked for General Accident (now Aviva) as a Senior Financial Consultant before moving into their corporate division where he achieved advanced qualifications in Taxation & Trusts, Supervision & Sales Management and Pensions.
In 2004 he joined National IFA Positive Solutions on a self-employed contract and during this period he recruited and mentored others into a similar role. By 2008 he was head of the North division in charge of his own recruitment team of Business Consultants.
In 2009, he recognised that the industry was changing and left Positive Solutions to set up his own multi-adviser firm with co-founder Cath Bowden called Truly Independent Ltd. With just £10,000 of investment Truly Independent Ltd today is the largest firm in Cumbria and supports more than 40 self-employed IFA’s across the UK and is growing.
Calculate your efficiency rate
A sole trader financial adviser working from home can measure how efficient they are by recording the actual hours they spend on specific client business. Each month, record the time you leave the house for a client meeting, the time you spend in the meeting and the return journey (or Zoom meetings). Record the time…
Continued recruitment helps produce record turnover
With everything that’s currently going on, it’s great to be able to share some positive news. We have seen our turnover hit a record high of £5.5m (for the last 12 months from April 1 2019 to April 1 2020). A major contributing factor of our increase in turnover has been our continued recruitment of…
Why our Truly advisers are well prepared for the bumpy ride ahead
The FTSE has dived and seems to be continuing south. A quick look at sectors and industries shows that there is no place to hide at the moment. Brexit, for many, was seen as a threat to stability and a damage to trade; it turns out the threat was an unknown disease. For once, the…
New Business Consultant role to meet demand
Truly Independent continues to grow and the number of independent financial advisers who have joined us is fast approaching 60. To help meet demand for the number of Discovery Sessions being booked by potential new joiners, we have recruited Adrian Reeve, an experienced Business Consultant, to assist. Adrian brings with him a wealth of experience,…
10 Year Anniversary Celebrations
“It’s fine to celebrate success, but it is more important to heed the lessons of failure” – Bill Gates In this article, the last of 5, I will explain why I believe it is important to celebrate achievements, but only while realising that in doing so, you are at the beginning of a new venture. Truly…
How did I end up in marketing?
“Marketing is really just about sharing your passion” – Michael Hyatt, Virtual Business Mentor. In this latest of my summer articles, I will explain why I never planned to be involved in marketing and why now, I believe that every company evolves to be so. Passion demands it. The problem Financial advisers, before 1996, used…
50 Up!
“He that waits upon fortune, is never sure of a dinner” – Benjamin Franklin In this article, I will explain why it is important to make changes now, not to procrastinate, and by ‘getting things done’ makes for a happier tomorrow. Like the previous two articles in this summer series, I will use our business…
Where Happiness Creates Success
In this article, I explain how our business model works and how we have been successful in supporting high quality independent financial advisers all over the UK, all with organic growth. Further, you don’t have to be a financial adviser to benefit from this article. Any new or established business or prospective client, could draw…
Now is the time to make changes
Among all the Brexit uncertainty, there is an understandable rationale to sit tight, hold on to what you have and do nothing until the way is clear. Feedback from our financial advisers and from the financial services industry as a whole, suggests that investors have moved from their confident position to regularly add to their…