The start of a new year is a great time to set goals and envision what we are truly capable of achieving in our personal and professional lives.
The London branch got off to a fantastic start in 2016. As we welcomed Standards International founder Michelle Hoskin to the January session titled 'Success by design - setting yourself and your business up for success'. The session was designed to inspire and energise financial planners to create a life and a business by design and not by accident. Michelle is well known in financial planning circles for her boundless enthusiasm and energy, infectious personality, and unique outlook on what she describes as a ‘magical’ profession.
One crucial perspective I took away from the meeting is Michelle’s concept of “treating the business like a client”, by approaching it with a similar level of care and attention that financial planners are known to give their clients. When Michelle asked the room how many people have their own Vision 2020 for their firms set out; as in how many have all their ducks in a row, so to speak, not many hands went up. So there is clearly lots of work to do. The feedback we received from members, including those attending for the first time, indicates that the session was rather timely.
We’ve got some good meetings planned for the rest of the year. In February, we welcome Mike Morrison of AJ Bell and Henny Dovland of Time Investments to talk about pensions and estate planning. One of the significant impacts of pension freedoms is that pensions are now effectively one of the most tax efficient ways of passing assets across generations.
In March, we are looking forward to welcoming Andrew Storey of eValue and Andrew Moore, financial planner, to talk about using Monte Carlo modelling in retirement planning. I am looking forward to these and other sessions we have planned for the rest of the year. I and my fellow co-chair, Farida Hassanali, CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNERTM APP Chartered MCSI, look forward to seeing you at the branch meeting.
Attendances at branch meetings are free to CISI members. Non-members are welcome to attend at the chairmen’s discretion. A charge will be required for repeated attendance at the rate of £25. All meetings take place at UBS, Finsbury Avenue, London, EC2M 2PP.
Lastly, away from branch matters, regarding the sad news about Parmenion’s Chief Executive and Founder Richard Mein's passing, my thoughts are with his family and the whole team. A great loss to us all.
Abraham Okusanya CFPTM Chartered MCSI