While a summer meeting probably proved an error in terms of numbers of attendees, those sad souls with no summer holiday to go to were treated to an excellent meeting in Milton Keynes in July, reports branch chairman Chris Bowmer CFP^CM.
The aim was to give an insight into the development of a multi-family office type service for wealthy clients, why this might be important and how to communicate it to clients. Graeme Price of UBS talked us through the facts of the matter, many private banks are really struggling in this area being either unwilling or unable to provide the fabulous services that most professional Financial Planners now provide.
While a family office may seem a big step Graeme described how, with careful use of technology, a family office can easily be created using the skills that a Financial Planning practice already has or can easily outsource – such as Abbie Tanner of A Business Innovation legal services. We looked at what should be included and what is just a "nice to have" as well as issues around whether to create a formal structure or an a la carte menu approach.
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We were then treated to marketing expert Abbie Tanner of A Business Innovation highlighting the ways in which this expertise and the family office concept can be effectively marketed. Her focus was on giving seven marketing tactics to allow planners to compete head-on with the
private banks. She showed us many examples of websites that manage to put across the image and impression of a family office without needing to be a big brand.
We were all left with an impression that a family office service is something valuable and tangible where planners can compete with the private banks on more than level terms, and should probably take the opportunity to try.
Our next meeting takes place on Wednesday 30 October. We're really looking forward to welcoming two excellent speakers. Neil Macgillivray of James Hay Partnership will talk on pension death benefit strategies, and Peter Legg of IHT planning matters is leading a session on succession planning for the family business.
Both will be informative and full of practical ideas that we can take away and use with clients. If you're in the Milton Keynes area, please come and join us. You'll be most welcome.