Adviser profile: Tina and Darren Weeks are inspired by life planning

A 'light bulb moment' helped Tina and Darren Weeks transform their failing business and now they routinely find themselves igniting a torch for clients.

One day changed everything for Tina Weeks, director of Serenity Financial Planning. On 4 February 2009 she met financial life planning guru, George Kinder. Within a year Tina had completely transformed her business and become a central figure in the UK life planning movement.

Tina had set up mortgage broking business Financial Weeks in 2004 together with husband and co-director Darren Weeks. But when business fell away rapidly in early 2008 they were nearing bankruptcy and faced with some stark choices. The firm had just started what was meant to be a gradual transition to a financial planning model – which included a rebranding and new name, Serenity. But the credit crunch forced a dramatic acceleration.

Tina says: 'We had to fast track the transition. The two years since have been really hard but there have been two light bulb moments. The first was when I went to a Prestwood Truth demonstration and was bowled over by the concept of cashflow modelling.’

But the biggest moment was when she attended a talk by George Kinder at an Institute of Financial Planning meeting in London. Tina says: ‘I saw that this was the only way to do financial planning. Kinder’s life planning is about using techniques to find out what is really important to clients. Until you know that, how can you create a relevant financial plan?

‘I didn’t want to go to that meeting. I thought "I haven’t got time, I’m so busy". But I came away thinking that was the most important evening of my business life. I booked Kinder’s two-day and five-day courses one after the other.

‘Financial life planning is revolutionary and I’ve channelled it into everything I do. An added bonus is that it affects your own life and aspirations. You can’t work with someone else if you’re not living it yourself.’

UK representative

Tina then completed the six-month practical part of the Kinder training to become the first female registered life planner (RLP) in the UK. But she didn’t stop there.

One of the many reservations UK advisers have about financial life planning is that it is 'too American' and not suitable for the way they work. Tina admits she initially agreed with this to an extent, so she wrote to George Kinder saying she thought he needed a UK representative. He agreed and signed her up to do it.

Tina now arranges Kinder’s UK courses and assists him in delivering them; speaks to anyone who needs advice on life planning in the UK; and is assisting the current mentorship programme. This programme should see the number of RLPs in the UK double from 10 to 20 in September.

Another part of Tina’s life planning journey has been to try and surround herself with like-minded and influential planners, such as Dennis Hall (Yellowtail), Adam Young (Dragonfly) and Bruce Wilson (Helm Godfrey). ‘They are all life planners who have been so generous with their time and invaluable in giving me their ideas and support,’ says Tina.

These connections have also led to her involvement in a new initiative called Project Eve which aims to educate consumers about life planning.

New business

Life planning is working well for Serenity. Tina says: ‘The more I do it, the more clients love it, the more referrals we get. The amount of business coming in is really good. Now it’s more about making sure we manage the brand as it becomes known for life planning.’

Serenity also consulted FP Advance and IFA Life on strategy, including the crucial element of internet marketing.

Tina says: ‘The way we communicate with clients needs to change. The internet is going to be our biggest challenge over the next few years - more than the retail distribution review ever will be. But the internet is an opportunity as well.

‘People are using it to find information about anything they need. But if they are finding it hard to find information but not advice – we need to fill that gap.’

Serenity now has a smart, modern website, but Tina has also been very active raising her profile on social networking sites.

‘I started using Twitter in March 2009,’ she recalls. ‘Within a month I was the most followed IFA. Now I have about 5,000 followers. Then I linked it to my LinkedIn and Ecademy profiles and Plaxo. LinkedIn is a really good way to showcase your expertise – I spent a lot of time on my profile. Now if you type in "financial life planner" I’m at the top.

‘The beauty of the internet is that most of your profile raising is free. Now there is a lot coming from that. For example, I had an 18-member group scheme from a Twitter enquiry last month.’

Social networking is not just useful for finding clients either – Serenity is looking to take on another adviser and Twitter has been useful for recruitment as well.

Tina says this profile raising has led to many fun and varied encounters with journalists, for example, and several other advisers asking her to share her experiences. Answering queries about how she transformed her business became so time consuming that Tina has even started doing consultancy work of her own recently.

Handling growth

Financial Weeks has continued as the regulated entity with Serenity as a trading name. The firm has recently acquired another practice (linked to an accountancy firm) called N Saha and Co and, as mentioned, is looking to take on more advisers in order to handle the growth in clients. Financial Weeks has also taken on one appointed representative, City Financial Services (whose client numbers are not included in the active ones shown in the table of business figures).

 

The firm also plans to acquire a second firm at the end of this year.

‘We are excited as it means we can progress with our growth plans,’ says Tina. ‘To cope with all the business we are also outsourcing as many of the functions as possible including administration, paraplanning, compliance, investment research, IT and marketing. It means we can scale up or down quickly whenever we need.’

CV: Tina Weeks

CAREER

• 1996 - 1999 Allied Dunbar, financial adviser
• 1999 - 2004 Alexander Hall Associates, independent financial adviser
• 2004 - 2010 Financial Weeks, director / IFA
• 2010 - Serenity Financial Planning, director / financial life planner 　

PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIPS/QUALIFICATIONS

• Cert PFS
• Registered Life Planner

Financial coaching

There are three stages to Serenity’s advice process. The first is planning, with fees ranging from £1,495 to £3,495. The second is implementation which costs 1% (minimum £750). The third is ‘financial coaching’. This is charged at 1% a year (minimum £1,495).

Tina says: ‘The most important part to us is the coaching. It is similar to a financial planning review. But for the client to achieve their dreams and ambitions, they need a mentor – someone to inspire and motivate them. That is really hard and it’s why I felt I needed to be trained.’

Darren Weeks gives some examples: ‘One of our clients wants to retire early. But after we put the plan in place, he said he wanted to trade in his two-year-old BMW for a new one. We showed him that it would involve borrowing money to buy a depreciating asset and that would mean retiring at 58 instead of 55.

‘You know that in two years’ time he would repeat that process and buy a new car. His dream of retiring at 55 would become 65. We’re not saying he can't buy the car – it’s up to him.

‘There is another client who works in corporate banking. She hates it with a passion and wants to become an interior designer. But she has a mortgage and can’t see the light at the end of the tunnel. We are helping her set a plan so that in three years’ time she will have enough money to start the business.

‘For a lot of people, it’s unlikely they will do that on their own. So it’s helping people to live their dreams and remember what is most important.’

Soft skills

Tina says: ‘There are many misconceptions about life planning training. We agree that technical skills and qualifications are important, but so are soft skills. It’s about really engaging with clients and relationship building. Some people think it’s fluffy American nonsense; that you have to be a Buddhist to practice it; you have to meditate; or that it’s therapy and counselling!

‘I heard a really successful IFA say this is what good planners do anyway, you don’t need training. My response is "that’s exactly what I thought until I went through it".

‘Previously my techniques were only skimming the surface. It is really deep stuff. It’s learning how to engage with your clients and make them so comfortable that sometimes they discover things that they didn’t realise were important or that they may not have even told their wives or husbands. People don’t open up straight away. It’s a long process.’

Darren says: ‘It’s nothing new actually. Salespeople learn how to pick up soft facts. If they didn’t, they’d fail. The difference is that it’s been labelled and that means there’s a danger people will have misconceptions.

‘One important part is the listening skills. Financial advisers let the client talk for an average of 82 seconds before jumping in. They want to impart their own knowledge. But if they just listened...’

Lighting the torch

Tina tells the story of one of her clients – a hedge fund manager – who seemed to want to carry on working long hours each day. Through the life planning process, Tina discovered that what he really wanted to do was start a school in Africa and that actually he was able do that straight away. So his mindset changed completely.

‘That’s the crux of this,’ she says. ‘When you’ve lit someone’s torch, you can see a physical change in them. They look and act differently. Suddenly they have energy because they can see it’s not a pipe dream. It’s about what’s important now – not just leaving it until retirement.’

With other clients it’s not a ‘juicy’ or unusual light bulb moment – it’s just about helping them understand that they are already living a good life and helping them enjoy today.

Tina doesn’t want to appear evangelical about life planning – she just wants to help people make up their own minds without preconceptions. But she does find it hard to conceal her passion.

‘When you see that change in people there isn’t a feeling like it,’ says Tina. ‘It gives your role as a financial planner so much more meaning. It’s contagious. If you sit with someone who is suddenly energised and motivated and happier, then the way you view your business, your family, and your ambitions it all carries through.’

Darren adds: ‘You get as much of a feeling of someone lighting your torch when you see the effect you’ve had on them.’

Four-day week

Tina is conscious that Serenity’s funds under management are still small compared with many advisers. But she says: ‘People judge a firm by its funds under management, but there are many other things that determine its value. We have income which isn’t based on funds – it’s based on the recurring fee which is guaranteed for as long as we have the client.’

She admits she works ‘all the hours God sends’ but is committed to moving to a four-day week within the next six months. ‘I am a financial life planner so I need to live my life plan as well,’ she says.

‘I met Darren in 1999. We got married in 2001, had our son Kyri in 2003, then our daughter Ellie in 2004. With a huge mortgage, we quit our salaried jobs to start a new business and everyone thought we were crazy. My friends call me adventurous and Darren is ultra cautious. We have completely different strengths. We have quite a to do sometimes but that is why it works. It took me three years of asking to keep chickens in the garden before he finally agreed!

‘We’re so early on in this journey - now in a fantastic growth phase after almost being bankrupt. It’s been a hard slog and there were points where we weren’t sure it would work. But I've never been so excited. I can see this time next year the figures will be double or triple what we have now.’

Five top tips

• Have a clear and compelling client proposition that everyone in the organisation understands
• Ensure that every part of your business is systemised and that back office functions are automated as much as possible
• Put in place a business plan and a marketing plan and review both on a regular basis
• Consider outsourcing as a way of bringing in professional support that can be scaled up or down without committing to salaries
• Use social media to enhance your profile and showcase your expertise