Face to Face with Duncan Glassey of Wealthflow

The issue of what it takes to be completely ‘new model’ or a truly fee-based financial planner is hotly contested and the decision of Edinburgh-based adviser Duncan Glassey to set out on his own will test the purist expression of that approach.

His firm Wealthflow finally spun out of the Aberdeen-based Acumen group on 1 February. Over the next few months he will be putting the finishing touches to a business and a model that has been a good 10 years in the making.

Glassey, who acknowledges the similarity of his model to that of London’s Bloomsbury Financial Planning, is seeking to attract clients who have more than £1 million to invest.

Each client will pay the equivalent of 1% of assets each year, less if they bring large amounts with them, giving Wealthflow £10,000 a year for which they will provide a very in-depth service.

‘The more money there is, the more we can do to help the client,’ said Glassey.

At its very basic level this will involve quarterly reports on their portfolios. But Glassey, a prominent member of the Institute of Financial Planning north of the border, has a view of the financial planner which he sees as both narrower and more extensive than that of the conventional IFA.

It will be more limited in that he will outsource virtually everything apart from the core financial planning aspect of his role. But at the same time he will also act as the focal point for and co-ordinator of all his client’s financial affairs.

‘I have got a better chance of finding out who is a good lawyer, mortgage broker of life insurance expert. Clients would not have a clue about that because it is such a complex professional environment.’

He has already established links with people in most of these professions including KPMG. He envisages attending regular meetings with his clients’ other representatives and thinks, once they recognise the depth of his relationship with his clients, they will be a useful source of further referrals.

‘The problem with the big accountancy and legal firms is that lawyers do not always like accountancy and accountants’ lawyers, so it is unlikely that they will come together. Financial planners have an opportunity to act as the middle person.’