Adviser profile: Mike Holden and Joel Adams are having the last laugh

Mike Holden and Joel Adams’ penchant for comedy complements all the hard graft and serious intent that has helped them create a thriving business.

Holden and Adams, joint chief executives of Lift-Financial, are an entertaining, laugh-a-minute double act. This is immediately apparent when we start talking about Holden’s qualifications and memberships in his CV, which include ‘cycling proficiency badge’ and ‘member of the Joel Adams supporters club’.

But being a comedy duo has also had its downside – particularly in 2007 when (before the birth of the Lift brand) they broke away from Chartwell Financial Services and one slightly uncharitable ex-colleague labelled the new company ‘Stan and Ollie productions’.

Holden and Adams naturally make a huge joke of this and even incorporate Laurel and Hardy references into staff presentations and the photos for this interview. But one feels the jibe still smarts a little and there’s definitely a cathartic element of ‘who’s laughing now?’ when they talk about their subsequent successes.

Breakaway business

The pair first started working together at Whitehead Group in 1998. They left that firm in 2001 to join three other advisers in buying Chartwell Financial Services from Chartwell Insurance Group and set up an office in Warrington. ‘Over five or six years, that increased to 30 staff and outgrew the office, so we moved to Altrincham,’ says Holden.

Then in 2007, they parted company with the other three advisers. Holden and Adams had decided they wanted to be fee-based, chartered financial planners focused on the corporate market. ‘The others were using commission and not too worried about getting qualified,’ says Holden. ‘So Joel and I gave them some options and we agreed to split the business.’

Holden and Adams’ breakaway company was initially named Chartwell Financial Management. Adams explains the strategy they started with: ‘We wanted to do business with FSA-regulated companies. Many advisers run a mile from anyone else in financial services. That’s why there are so few in the City, they are frightened of being caught out. We thought, let’s get the best people working for us and target our own industry because painters’ houses do not get painted. We had a bit of luck, we had an asset management company client that grew quickly. Now it is a key client in the City employing about 2,500 people.

‘People who work in the City generally have above average wealth so we saw the opportunity to target other similar firms. Now we advise companies on their group schemes and employee benefits and we acquire our private clients through those corporate relationships.’

Holden adds: ‘This approach catapulted us into the City as we picked up a number of asset management, insurance and brokerage companies through referral. We grew organically but aggressively.’

Rapid rebrand

Meanwhile the firm was working towards corporate chartered status which it gained in January 2010. Holden and Adams immediately launched a rebrand in January 2010, designed to ‘mark a new era in the business’.

Holden explains: ‘There were 37 Chartwells registered with the FSA, 37 different companies. It just happened to be a really popular name. Ours was the only one that was chartered. We wanted something different.’

They tried to come up with a new name and brand themselves but found it too confusing. So they appointed a firm called Cosmic ID which came up with the ‘Lift-’ brand now used in Lift-Financial, Lift-Mortgages, Lift-Tax and Lift-Sport. ‘It represents our aspirations for our clients. We want to lift their prospects and help lift the financial burden away from them,’ explains Adams.

‘Also we’re the only firm that’s already in every other company, because they’ve got a lift!’ quips Holden. ‘But you look at any big brand – Orange, Virgin – it’s just a name and that’s what we needed.

‘We’ve played with it a bit and it’s quite amusing. For example, on our website we got a picture of a crane lifting up the name "Chartwell" and dropping it down a black hole.’

Effective awards

After the rebrand, Lift launched a PR blitz on the financial services industry.

‘We looked at everything that our industry reads. We wanted to get our name all over the trade press, because that’s where we focus anyway. We are not interested in the general press. We also started entering all the professional competitions,’ says Holden.

This culminated in a number of awards including, for Adams, Personal Finance Society Chartered Financial Planner of the Year 2010. Winning awards works well for recruitment, they say. For example, a recent group scheme client found them after Googling ‘award winning financial adviser’. They also received two CVs after an article about Adams’ award.

Adams reflects: ‘Achieving all those things has been a painful journey. Even switching to fees just before all the financial turmoil started. We did it quickly but, if we did it again, we’d transition more. Luckily we’ve come out the other end, grown rapidly and are now in a strong position, with a good team of people.’

The firm now has four chartered advisers and three more studying towards chartered status. There are now 11 advisers out of a total staff of 34. ‘There’s a heavy weighting of support staff and this reflects the service we provide to clients,’ says Adams.

He continues: ‘One of the barriers to growth is recruitment. We have plenty of work; we need more well-qualified, professional people to execute the business. The talent pool is really small.’

Holden, who concentrates solely on business development (hence the deliberate lack of qualifications), says he painstakingly contacted every chartered adviser he could find who did not own their own company – this only resulted in one recruit with two still ‘potential’ from the whole exercise! ‘That’s how ridiculous it’s got, it’s such a limited market if you want the best people,’ says Holden.

Flexible fees

Adams says the bespoke level of service for clients means that Lift doesn’t set rigid investment levels. ‘The fee is based simply on the firm’s assessment of the value it can add,’ he says.

Fees for initial planning can be anything between £750 and £4,000. Implementation fees are similarly wide ranging. Annual services range from brief annual updates to a full ‘financial concierge’ and can cost anything from £75 to £25,000.

The firm has recently made a large investment in IT infrastructure designed to facilitate growth and built proprietary software for enrolling members into group pension schemes. This set-up is unique as far as they are aware. ‘We built it because we couldn’t find anything off the shelf,’ says Adams.

‘We still think it’s a people business though,’ he continues. ‘We have a regular on-site presence in all businesses. Every single member of a group scheme [that wants advice] sees a well-qualified adviser for an hour.’

This face-to-face enrolment makes it easier to identify crossover business. ‘In December last year we enrolled over 900 people into a pension scheme over a six-week period,’ says Adams. ‘Everyone had a one-hour meeting. Out of those 900, there were 400 mortgage referrals.’

Meet the team

The lift line-up: (left to right) Joel Adams, Ella Davies, Mark Allen, Michelle Thompson, Kimberley Burke, Rob Roberts, Jade Lee, Mark Tueart, Mick Henshall, Andy Kirke, Jade Stanway, Gary Crossley, Jill Ruddock, Dan Cockayne, Stefan Stimpson, Sarah Hammond, Amanda Deaville, Rob Hadfield, Jonathan Halsall, Andrew Day, Bill Bennett, Lisa Marsh, Mike Holden

Kicking off another specialism

The firm has developed a niche advising sports players, especially footballers, through the brand Lift-Sport. Shareholders and directors of Lift-Sport include Kevin Davies, of Bolton Wanderers and England, and Mark Tueart, a financial adviser specialising in sportspeople, who is the son of Manchester City legend Dennis Tueart.

Clients include Danny Simpson of Newcastle; Jack Rodwell of Everton; and Craig Gardner of Birmingham City.

Holden says: ‘Lift-Sport is really exciting. Kevin Davies has been a client of Joel’s for five years. Joel rescued him from the dangers of financial services, he had been sold a lot of stuff that was not relevant. Joel put him on a fee structure and built a plan for when he stops playing. It’s frightening how many footballers end up skint because their trusted advisers are just taking money off them. Mark and Kevin wanted to put something back into football by helping younger players and educating them to avoid making the same mistakes. Mark has brought in about 20 players as fee-paying clients.

‘That was quite a difficult process – footballers talk in the dressing room "What do you mean you’re paying your financial adviser a fee? My guy doesn’t charge anything!" Mark’s players are turning it around and educating them about commission.

‘All the clubs have player liaison people who deal with lifestyle issues but finance is a personal issue and the clubs don’t cross that line,’ continues Holden. ‘But there is a responsibility on the clubs to give younger players more financial education. Some clubs do have good programmes, but it’s an area where we think we can help future generations.

‘It is building momentum now, through word of mouth. This week we had two players come to us and say "we understand what you’re doing, we want to pay a fee and thank goodness you are here". It also helps because Kevin is a massive advocate
of it.’

Where next?

‘We are both impatient for growth in the future,’ says Adams. ‘We found that organic growth has been slow. We want to accelerate. We would like it to be turning over £10 million in five years’ time, with about 100 to 120 people, including 40 advisers. Organic growth is unlikely to get us there especially when you factor in the recruitment difficulties. That’s why we have looked at some acquisition opportunities and are close to agreeing some deals.

‘We’ve been talking to larger businesses about reverse takeovers. With the support of our shareholders we will hopefully be able to pull off some surprising transactions.’

Adams talks about the number of IFA firms for sale at the moment. ‘Just one in 100 are of the right quality. We’re not looking at one-man bands but properly structured businesses.’

Lift has three directors – finance director, Clive Westbrook; compliance director, Gary Crossley; and recently-recruited operations director, Lisa Marsh.

Holden says: ‘Lisa has helped us transform from a small to a medium-sized business. We now have job specifications for everyone. All contracts of employment are dealt with properly. Everyone has their own development objectives.’

Fun networking

Lift now has offices in Altrincham, London and Edinburgh and Holden and Adams split their time between the three during the week, then head to their homes in the North West for the weekend.

Adams says: ‘We do a lot of networking in London and there’s a lot of fun in that. At the moment, we don’t have an evening free for more than three weeks. We’re out with clients and colleagues every night.’

They admit to often working 15-hour days. ‘It is burning the candle at both ends, but we’re excited about this industry, we’re spreading the word,’ says Holden.

Adams says: ‘We have both made personal sacrifices. We both have young families who we don’t see as much as we should. But we’re trying to focus on the wider picture and build a business that can give us a lifestyle, and is a great place for everybody to work.’

Outside of work, Adams spends time with his family and his two ‘classic’ Ford XR3is. ‘When I was growing up everyone wanted an XR3i, so a few years ago I bought one and felt like I’d really made it!’ he says. ‘The car I drive to work is much better than an XR3 ever was, but that’s not the point. The first was a 1983 XR3i with 14,000 miles – almost as new. This year I bought another one, a 1987 with 10,000 miles. I’ve never driven either. I never intended to have two, but couldn’t let that go to someone who wouldn’t look after it the way I would.’

At weekends, Holden likes spending time with his family including three children, three dogs and two ponies on his 30-acre estate in the Lake District. On the land there are also 20 horses in livery, a five-bedroom holiday barn and a two-bedroom holiday cottage. It’s a listed hall ‘But it’s not as grand as it sounds. It’s in a state of slight dilapidation!’ he says.

There follows much banter as Holden and Adams talk about each other’s lives outside work but at no time did they use the phrase ‘That’s another fine mess you’ve got me into’.

Five top tips

• Get prepared for the retail distribution reveiw – quick!
• Employ the best people you can.
• Encourage professional development and high standards.
• Treat your business like a client; set yourself goals and plan carefully to help them become reality.
• Don’t let short-term setbacks knock you off course.

CV: Mike Holden

CAREER

• 1988-1993 General Portfolio, financial adviser
• 1993-1996 Abbey Life, broker consultant
• 1996-2001 Whitehead Group, consultant
• 2001-present Lift-Financial, joint chief executive

CV: Joel Adams

CAREER

• 1991-2000 Whitehead Group, consultant
• 2001-present Lift-Financial, joint chief executive

PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIPS/QUALIFICATIONS

• Fellow of the Personal Finance Society
• Chartered financial planner
• Certified financial planner
• Advanced diploma in financial planning
• Diploma in financial planning
• Financial planning certificate
• Financial administration certificate
• Certificate in life and pensions