From IT to IFA: Is this man mad? Part 2

Peter Lawrence spent 30 years in IT, but last year launched his own IFA firm. At a time when there is an apparent exodus of advisers, this is a move that goes against the grain.

Last month I talked about my decision to join the financial services profession, and how I took the step to start my own IFA practice, in spite of having less experience than I would like. So what has happened since? 

The first thing was to decide how I was going to operate, whether through a network, for example. There are some good options around, so that was an obvious first port of call, but two things put me off. First, I could see that sooner or later I would not fit the standard model, perhaps on how I wanted to charge for my services or perhaps on something else.

Second, the network approach to compliance that I had experienced previously was all about belt and braces, and protecting adviser and network from possible future complaints. That is all well and good, but too easily you end up with bloated and de-personalised suitability reports that have so much in them that you really cannot call it treating customers fairly.

Instead, I decided to join Keystone Financial, which is a small directly regulated firm with some solid experience behind it, and with what could be called a pragmatic but vigilant approach to compliance. Within that framework, Prime Time Financial will be operating as a ‘trading style’, and I am free to market my services in the way I want and, I hope, to apply some intelligence in producing some genuinely readable and useful client communications.

Signing up required a plethora of references to be taken up by Keystone, and a long wait while the FSA authorised me in my new position. As someone else wrote recently, the regulated will never appreciate the regulator, but I fail to understand what value is being added during the weeks of waiting, other than updating the FSA Register. And the fact it doesn’t respond to requests for progress updates can only mean it just doesn’t understand you are being deprived of a livelihood while it holds your application.

However, the register on the FSA website was eventually updated and I was finally able to talk to clients again. In the meantime, there was a whole business to set up. Tasks such as designing a logo, chasing the overdue BT phone line (yet again), deciding on technology and content for the website, and researching the most suitable investment process were all needed but gave some satisfaction through variety if nothing else.

I am very fortunate in being familiar with technology through my previous life, and with some graphic design software to hand, I was able to design and then source good quality business cards online quite cheaply. With a suitable printer selected, I made the decision not to have letterhead printed but to print on demand.

The website is a key part of my strategy – for now, at least. How many people do actually search online for an IFA in my local area remains to be seen - but my instinct is that it is important. I chose a content management system for the website: Joomla (see joomla.org). It is very flexible and free, although I paid a small sum for the design template. Future content changes should be straightforward (compliance-approved of course).

I will be running some client seminars in March and April (see the website for details), so one of the add-ons I chose was Constant Contact which manages registrations. It will also manage payments should you be charging for seminars, as I will be. There are plenty of other add-ons available to add value for clients and visitors in due course, but the basics are there.

Now is the time to get in front of the clients. Will I be able to convey the value of what is on offer? Has all this effort been worth it?