Each month Financial Planner interviews a leading Financial Planner to ask him or her to share best practice from their business and the story of how they and their colleagues built their company. This month we talk to Noel Farrelly FIFP CFP^CM from Index Wealth Management in the West Midlands.

Financial Planner: Index Wealth was one of the first 25 firms to be recognised as an Accredited Financial Planning Firm. What sort of response have you seen since?
Noel Farrelly FIFP CFP^CM: The response from clients has been very positive, as they see it as an endorsement of the way the company operates and are always very pleased at any success we have. While we are playing our part in educating other professionals about the value of Accredited Firm status, there is a lot more work to be done by us and by the Institute of Financial Planning.

FP: Did you attend the two Accredited Financial Planning Firms conferences and what did you think?
NF: I attended the Accredited Financial Planning Firms conference this year; for me though the subject matter left something to be desired. I would have to question whether talks on VAT and professional indemnity insurance are appropriate for the cream of the Financial Planning profession. Nigel Botterill (who is a client of ours!), however, is a brilliant speaker and it was worth attending to see him in action.

FP: How did you first get into Financial Planning and what attracted you to the profession?
NF: My first job was with Standard Life and I progressed through the banking route to starting my own business in 1986 with three colleagues. I detested the way that insurance and investment companies considered that they "owned" advisers as part of their distribution network in those days and was fortunate to meet Paul Etheridge almost immediately. This resulted in my being an early adopter of Prestwood software, which we use in the business to this day. Being able to offer a fee-based comprehensive Financial Planning service to clients ensured that we provided the best possible service and preserved our independence.

FP: How has your team/company changed since the launch and what has the journey been like? How many clients do you have and what's the annual turnover?
NF: The biggest change over the years has been the requirement for more and better qualified support staff. Some 27 years ago, four of us set up with one secretary to support us. I came out of that partnership in the late 80s and formeanother business with Les Phillips. We were four RIs and although we were one of the first firms in the country to employ a Paraplanner it was one Paraplanner between all four of us and an additional three support staff. Now, my business partner Les Phillips and I, who are the two RIs at the firm, have a support staff of nine. All are en- route for professional qualifications and two are already qualified to adviser level and beyond.
We took the decision to form Index in 2004 as a completely new business devoted to looking after the wealth of a small number of clients. We set a relatively large minimum fee and were very selective, charging fees only. Any clients we did not take across to the new business, we ensured were referred to other advisers who were happy to continue working on the commission model. Initially, our minimum fee was £2,500 per annum, although this rose fairly quickly to the current level of £10,000 per annum. We have never had large numbers of clients and currently the number is 160; we have just completed our second quarter of the year and turnover is on target to be over £1.8 million, up 20 per cent from last year.

FP: What type of Financial Planning do you offer to clients, do you have any specialisms and what are your fees/ charges?
NF: We offer comprehensive Financial Planning and specialise in business owners (most of our clients either own businesses or have sold businesses). Our fees are a combination of fixed annual charges and a percentage of funds under advice.

FP: How do you find new clients and what have been some of your best practices in terms of sourcing new clients? Please give examples of what works most effectively?
NF: Existing clients are our best source of new clients. We have a small number of joint ventures with corporate financiers which work extremely well. They are in a position to introduce us to clients when they are thinking of selling a business – this is an ideal time for people to produce a financial plan!
We also have less formal connections with a number of other professionals, particularly solicitors. While solicitors are only occasional introducers the quality of their introductions tends to be extremely high.
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FP: In terms of running your business, what software applications do you use (particularly in reference to Financial Planning and back office software) and what sort of internal processes do you run in brief to ensure everything runs smoothly?
NF: We use Prestwood software for Financial Planning; over the years we have tried out others but never managed to find anything that does the job better. We use Avelo for the back office at the moment but will be switching to Curo later this year. Curo's CRM offering is utterly leading-edge.
Our practice manager, Sarah Grimley, has introduced over the years, a set of systems and procedures which are second to none (we know this because we have had them tested by a third party expert). In the words of a previous employee, this ensures that workflow is not something that has to be managed by the individual; while we are happy with these systems and procedures, we are always looking to improve them.

FP: You are a former IFP Board member, why did you want to get involved with the IFP and what was your role on the Board?
NF: This was in the early days of the IFP and I felt passionately (and still do) that Financial Planning, with regular reviews and a long-term relationship with the client, is the basis for all financial decisions. In those days, every board member had responsibility for bringing on new members and I did some speaking and presenting at various branch meetings and other gatherings.

FP: Both you and your business partner Les Phillips are CFP^CM professionals and you are also an IFP Fellow. What do you feel this brings to the business and how important are qualifications to you?
NF: Qualifications in an area like Financial Planning are crucial; many members of the public are astounded that the regulator required professional qualifications only from the beginning of this year. The level required is nowhere near demanding enough and I think Level 6 should be the minimum. Achieving qualifications adds to the individual's own professionalism and the professionalism of the business.

FP: What has been your greatest source of achievement in running your business and what are you proudest of?
NF: Over 10 years ago we took the decision to establish the business on a fee-only basis and to build low-cost institutional grade portfolios for clients. We were among the first to use wrap platforms and we were the first firm in the UK to use the funds available from Dimensional Fund Advisors; this has resulted in a world class offering to our clients and that is what I'm proudest of achieving.
At the time, other professionals and many advisers took the view that we had lost our senses as we were seen as very different. The passive story was in its very early days and as one private client lawyer said to me, the attitude of many professionals was: "I cannot recommend you, because if your boat goes down, we may go down on our own, whereas if the boat carrying everyone goes down, we cannot be criticised."
Despite this, we have continued to spread our message and it is gratifying to see that a large number of advisory businesses aspire to our model. Winning the New Model Adviser National award in 2006 seemed like a huge vindication of our methodology and while we didn't need a confidence booster of that sort, it did raise our profile, particularly among solicitors and accountants. We remain the only National winner.

FP: Now we are in the post-RDR world, what is the next step for Index Wealth and do you think RDR has changed anything?
NF: RDR changed nothing for us – we were compliant from day one. We do see more businesses now however, that resemble ours, although our 10 year head start stands us in good stead. Sarah, our practice manager, is qualified to adviser level and beyond and is part way through her training to become an adviser. We are interested in employing younger, qualified advisers to help us cope with the growth we anticipate over the next 10 years.
We have two or three initiatives in the pipeline to ensure that we maintain our cutting-edge reputation and we never stop striving to make the client experience better.

FP: If you could change one thing about financial services, what would it be?
NF: Get rid of all of the disparate organisations that "represent" financial advisers and establish one overarching trade organisation. In my view, a merger of the IFP and the PFS would be ideal and would bring some unity to the landscape.

FP: What do you like doing in your spare time outside of work?
NF: Walking the dog, Aston Villa Football Club, golf, theatre and reading, particularly history. Thanks to the magic of apps I now play chess again. Travel is also important.