Hello! It’s Olivia (Liv) here. Firstly, I want to wish you a wonderfully festive period, one where you are able to enjoy celebrations and also some rest and recuperation! At TFP… we are all taking a lovely break over the holidays, so we are ready to start 2024 refreshed!
I always love looking back at the end of a year to see all that we have done, and would love to start writing an annual reflection (a year in review) for the TFP community. Because it really never ceases to amaze me just how much has happened over a short 12 month period.
On our last week before the Christmas break, we always like to use this as a time as a team to reflect on all of the good we have done. So, writing this, as always around here, has truly been a team effort!
Casting our minds right back to the beginning of 2023, our energy and focus was really aimed at finishing off all of our projects that were started at the end of 2022; launching the MyTFP… Hub (our app) to all of our existing clients, updating the processes and procedures stored on the TFP Knowledge Base (TKB), embedding a new member of staff, re-inventing our suitability reports and how to present these, setting our marketing plan in motion, updating all of our internal documentation, and well… there is actually a fair bit more, but I fear this list is getting a tad boring.
Firstly, some good news in that what was predicted (very foolishly) by many to be a challenging year for the stock markets has turned out to be actually very positive! A much-needed breather from the doom and gloom that has been with us over the last few years. All our portfolios are showing decent gains over the course of 2023, which brings us back to our ethos of blocking out the noise, ignoring the financial media and staying the course!
2023 saw us continue to grow the number of families that we serve. We are hugely privileged when a family trusts us with their retirement planning and wealth management, it’s a responsibility we take very seriously and are very lucky to work with and help amazing family’s life their best life! Our ongoing client ratings and feedback surveys this year confirmed that the experience our clients receive remains amazingly high and that remains our number one priority in the future.
I would like to thank you all for your continued support and for being a part of our wonderful TFP community.
I hope you enjoy this year in review for 2023 and personally take every opportunity in 2024 to ensure that in a years’ time, your year in review brings you happiness and beautiful memories.
January
After our board meeting (business planning and objective setting) in December 2022, we launched into January and began tackling the blockers to finalising projects we had previously identified to improve our business and the services we deliver. A highlight was the introduction of an internal Knowledge Base (the TFP Knowledge Base, or TKB, as we lovingly refer to it). This has given us a central system to host our processes, resources, ideas and training materials.
TKB is a collaborative space to grow our collective knowledge and understanding; improving business processes and efficiencies as we go! All of the content on here has been updated over the last 12 months to ensure that our processes and procedures reflect our team structures and technology, the new system is fully searchable and much easier to use.
We now include video guides which enables the team to find answers to any questions, big or small, freeing us all up from those tiny 15 minute interruptions. We also hope that this will help when we have future joiners, so that they can understand how we work, who we are as company, and find answers to anything they may find a little tricky when starting out.
👉 TKB launch!
👉 Lauren passed probation – read Laurens introduction blog here
👉 Sam’s first niece was born!
👉 Connor, Lauren & Curtis all started studying for exams.
👉 My daughter was discharged from Broomfield’s neonatology department as an outpatient after being born 10 weeks early in 2020 – read about our NICU journey here
February
Lauren set the pace for exams in February, by passing RO1 (Financial Services, Regulation & Ethics) on the first! Meaning that Connor, Curtis and Iain all had exams/training courses booked through the final week of February. It is a truly wonderful time to see all of the team members studying and improving the knowledge and experience that they have and can deliver to all of the wonderful families that we serve. These guys are our technical, experience and administrative engine, ensuring all work we carry out is actioned smoothly and as efficiently as possible.
FT Adviser were definitely showing us the love this month, with a feature for Dan around giving as a part of financial planning and also allowing Lauren to be a guest on their podcast telling her story of newly stepping into the world of financial planning.
February also brought us TFP’s inaugural pancake competition. Now this was great fun bearing in mind we had ingredients and a crepe machines… no scales, no recipes, no whisks, no bowels for mixing. I’m not sure how well thought out this was, I believed it was until we all sat down to start. My bad! But I kind of feel that the lack of preparation lead to a whole new aspect of challenge and fun… not sure if our team would agree?
👉 Pancake Making Competition
👉 Lauren passed RO1 – Financial Services Regulation & Ethics
👉 Lauren also passed RO5 – Financial Protection
👉 Studymania in the office
👉 Dan’s FT Adviser Article – read the article
👉 Lauren’s FT Adviser Article – read the article
👉 Lauren’s FT Adviser Podcast Episode - listen here
March
In March the office went in to full blown studymania, with Curtis and Iain passing an exam each, While Lauren began studying her 3rd exam in the diploma line up (for Regulated Financial Planning). Connor also started to complete his coursework for one of his advanced exams as he embarks on his journey to Chartered status.
We also had our first major step in launching our WealthGPS® service by officially receiving our certificate to confirm that we have received our Trademark!
👉 Curtis passed RO1 - Financial Services Regulation & Ethics
👉 Lauren was promoted to Trainee Paraplanner
👉 We received our certificate to confirm that we had successfully trademarked our proven process for delivering happier, healthier and wealthier retirements - WealthGPS®
April
By April, it was super clear to see that the study bug is here and here to stay for the foreseeable! Not only was this showing to us all internally a clear drive toward technical knowledge and a willingness to improve and learn, but also the Podcast allowed us to all embed our learning around the behavioural and emotional aspects of what we do.
👉 Easter Egg Painting Competition – well done on your Deadpool Egg winning Curtis!
👉 Lauren passed RO4 – Pensions & Retirement Planning
👉 Connor passed JO5 – Pension Income Options
👉 The Humans Vs Retirement Podcast was launched – hosted by our very own Dan Haylett
May
May brought us one step closer to two more people within our team able to ‘cross the advice line’, after we signed off our new Certification Framework. This will allow our two Paraplanners (Connor & Lauren) to use their technical knowledge and experience from the industry to provide you with advice related answers to any questions you may have. We truly believe that this is such a game changer for our clients, as we will have the ability as a team to provide you with quicker responses to advice based questions.
Towards the end of May, the sun finally started to shine a bit, in preparation for Summer, which I think was super uplifting for all of the UK. But in true British fashion, it didn’t hang around too long! Which personally made dressing my toddler in the mornings before I left, a tad difficult.
So much more happened in May, so here are some more of those highlights:
👉 We re-designed our email signatures, so you could see our smiling faces even over the web!
👉 Lauren passed RO2 – Investment Principles & Risk
👉 The Humans Vs Retirement Podcast hit over 1,600 downloads and made it into the top 5 UK Retirement podcasts
👉 introduced our first C-Suite role into the business in the form of our CTO (Chief Toddler Officer) as my daughter had to come in for an hour one Friday due to a child care disaster
👉 I was nominated in 3 categories for the Professional Advisers Women In Finance Awards
June
In June, our very own Dan Haylett sat on a panel at the NextGen Conference, where he discussed all things on financial psychology.
For all of the work we do around enhancing our service to deliver happier, healthier and wealthier retirements, there is soooo much to be said for socialising and having conversation with other financial planners across the UK, and learning what we can take in from those sorts of environments.
We also had our first ever podcast where a client was the featured guest! Sharing some true insights from someone who has done the thing: Humans vs Retirement…
On the flip side, the team has spent much of the month outside of work, training for our Ben Nevis Climb to raise money for those who need it most around the Essex area.
👉 Dan was a panel member for the NextGen Conference
July
July feels like a blur, but at TFP that’s because we were up in the clouds, quite literally. July saw the team climb up to the summit of Ben Nevis to raise money for our charitable foundation.
It was tough!
But we managed to raise just shy of £3,000.00 for charity, so it was all worth it.
You can read all about it, in Connors Ben Nevis blog HERE
We also launched a short series of webinars, to help share some of our knowledge and experience with the world, which you can catch up on via our YouTube channel.
👉 Lauren passed RO3 – Personal Taxation
👉 Raised £2,880.00 for charity
👉 July Webinar - How to Build Your Vision For Retirement
August
August tends to be a little quieter for us, with lots of our clients and some of the team using the summer for holidays. Because of this, we try use this time to work through our various external assessments, compliance audits and finishing off large projects.
We also had our annual team BBQ! This is always a highlight of the year, as we get to bring our families together to enjoy some good food, and (usually) some sunshine!
Our final project of the month was to finish off a new, world class, way of facilitating our annual forward planning meetings that we hold with each and every one of the families we serve on an ongoing basis… It is something that the team are all super proud of and we just know this is one of those small updates in our trademarked WealthGPS process, ensuring that this remains a world class service.
👉 Team BBQ
👉 New Forward Planning Meeting content
👉 Lauren got through to the semifinals of the Paraplanner of the Year Awards
👉 August Webinar - Don’t Leave HMRC a Tip When You Die
September
In September, Dan has been sharing his expertise with other planners in the industry on the human side of retirement planning at a few conferences lately. Dan has coined this presentation to the industry – Retirement Rebels. Dan has slightly modified this and recorded as a webinar which is also available on our YouTube.
👉 Dan talks at Progressive Planners
👉 Dan talks at Back2Y
October
In October, I followed in Dans footsteps and was invited to speak on a panel at Money Marketing’s Interactive in London. I was asked to speak along with two other panellist on how tech can be used to close the advisor gap. Enabling us to get more modern thinking planners into the industry.
At the office, we also got in the Halloween spirit and carved some pumpkins before heading off for a much needed team building session at Top Golf. Where Dan begrudging came second to Casey Mills. And I took home a wooden spoon and free half an hour golf session as my prize for coming last out of us all.
👉 Pumpkin Carving Competition – where Connor took the win with the CUTEST pumpkin we ever did see!
👉 I was a panelist at Money Marketing Interactive
November
November proved to be another fun packed month with the TFP team; we reached the top 100 both in planners and firms, Lauren got her new letters – DipPFS, we had TFPs Big Bake Off and we sponsored the Maldon Fireworks down at the Prom!!
As a business, TFP were again included in Citywire’s ‘Top 100 UK Firms‘ shortlist for a third consecutive year – which is a 100% track record since we first entered.
November brought us another Budget – which we summarised with our guide to the Autumn Statement. This was an interesting budget for us, with plenty of change that will impact clients planning – giving rise to new tax issues and planning opportunities. Rest assured we will flag anything to you that particularly impacts your own financial plan.
👉 TFP’s Great Big Bake Off
👉 We were a sponsor of the Maldon Fireworks
👉 Our Guide to the Autumn Statement
👉 Lauren received her Diploma in Regulated Financial Planning
👉 We are in Citywires Top 100 Firms List
👉 Dan & Casey were also named in the top 100 planners by VouchedFor
December
December 2023 saw a new colour on the walls and some blinds (that I am pretty sure were older than me) replaced. We are so excited to welcome our long standing clients into the office, and see if you notice the small changes we have made 😊
In December we always try to split the month into two parts. The first two(ish) weeks are always devoted to any final client work of the year, followed by one last week together as a team before closing the office for the festive period. We spend that last week reflecting on the year and planning for the next.
This year our main focus as a team, was to work on our operational efficiency as people and with our technology, to make sure that we can spend as much of our time thinking about how we can make your experience within the TFP community beyond amazing. We truly believe that we help you craft bold lifestyle financial plans with passion, purpose, and a hint of rebellion to transform your retirement dreams into a reality. So, we want to spend as little time possible data entering and trying to get systems to do what we want them to, and focus more on you and the incredible lives you lead both now and in the future.
On the very last day, we do our Secret Santa exchange, and this year, we hosted our inaugural Plannies Ceremonies (if you’ve seen the American version of The Office… this was 1,000,000% inspired by the Dundies). Throughout the year, people have been able to vote for a number of categories, and trophies were awarded after a presentation of all of the stories for each category and winner… I am SO happy we have started this now, because my god, what a brilliant half an hour to have on the last day of the year together as a team)
👉 The office was painted
👉 TFP Team Christmas Do
👉 The Plannies
👉 Dan was also a guest on the amazing Morningstar Long View Podcast – listen here
And that is a wrap on 2023. A year in review… a little look into life here at TFP over the last 12 months.
Reflecting can be hard, we are wired to focus on the challenges ahead of us, but writing this each and every month has been such a joy, and editing this off over the last couple of days had reminded me of the amazing work we have done, and memories we have made as a team this year.
I cannot wait to see where 2024 takes us!
Happy New Year everyone!