Stephen Eve reaches the grand old age of two!

Where does the time go? Cliché, we know, but it feels very true when we think about setting up Stephen Eve Financial Planning. Back in 2022, in world just emerging from covid (dare we say it), the business was started.

There were zero clients on day one, and now we have reached a level we are really proud of with £35m of funds under management. 85 clients have been supported with financial planning on an ongoing basis, and 15 clients on an ad hoc bas, empowering them to manage their own finances with our guidance in future should they need it.

Feedback from clients has been encouraging and we are sincerely grateful to be trusted to look after their money. Here are some of our highlights:

“…giving advice without jargon and making the complex more simple!” Catherine Grainger

“…explaining our options in a thorough, clear, and totally understandable way. We now have confidence in our finance options for the future, thank you.” Bev Orridge

“We look forward to many more years of working with the team at Stephen Eve.” Martin Schofield

“We feel content and assured that they have our best interests at heart.” Mary Dugan

Of course, clients are at the heart of our business but a few more milestones have been:

• Moving into our city centre Regent Street office after a year of working from home

• Employing Rav, our invaluable Paraplanner

• Growing the team once more, which we will explain more about when we can!

• Partnering with Switch Up charity to support Nottingham’s young people

• Working with more young people, welcoming them to the office for work experience and supporting graduates at Nottingham Trent University on skills bootcamps

• Launching our Check-In service to give clients confidence to manage their own money, if they wish to take a more hands-on approach

• Winning the Wealth & Finance International award for Best Independent Retirement Planning Firm 2024

• Becoming a finalist for Generation Next Start Up of the Year Award and winning the regional UK StartUp Awards  Professional Services Start Up of the Year

• Ben being shortlisted for the 2024 Professional Adviser Awards Young Achiever of the Year

• Being featured in publications like The Guardian, Popsugar, Money Marketing, and East Midlands Business Link

• Ben appearing on the Financial Planner Life podcast, with Sam Oakes

That’s not to say there haven’t been challenges. In an industry underpinned by compliance, we were determined to meet regulation and ensure we dotted all of our ‘I’s and crossed our ‘T’s. Thankfully, we have the support of 2plan wealth management who have an abundance of experience, giving us access to best-in-class products, software, plus regulatory and compliance frameworks.

We are also no strangers to the fact that many advice firms have bigger teams, larger offices, more assets under management. However, we are proud to deliver a personalised, bespoke service to our clients and be that friendly, familiar face they can come to time and time again. People have commented that it is refreshing to talk to the same person, who knows them well, and is singing from the same hymn sheet.

All this to say, it has been a whirlwind two years but the past 24 months would not have been possible without the encouragement of our clients, professional network, friends and family. The trust in us to manage finances, the referrals, and not to mention the hugs and ‘keep goings’ – they make all the difference!

So, thank you, it is a pleasure to support you and also to receive your support.

On that note, we’re keen to keep improving and provide the best client experience possible. So, we have some exciting work coming up which we’ll give you a flavour of:

• The team at Stephen Eve is due to grow, which we can reveal more detail on very soon. Ben will remain the adviser/planner for all of our clients but, to enable him to spend more time with clients and keep in touch with them, we are bolstering the team with more back-office support behind the scenes. We will keep you in the loop! The important thing to know is nothing will change from a client perspective, other than you will have more of Ben’s time.

• We are talking about pensions, cash flow, and how to achieve your ideal retirement lifestyle in an event later this month with TC Group. We hope to run more events with our professional partners in the future to share our knowledge and help more people.

Lastly, as Stephen Eve Financial Planning develops, we won’t lose sight of why we started. Our aim is to remain a family-run business, providing a personal and bespoke service, helping people gain clarity over their financial future.