Q1 2021

136 | Q1 2021 Jan21485 Representing Longevity Founded in 2014, Spiritus Wealth is a boutique financial planning firm headquartered in the city of London, with a regional office in the centre of Cambridge. Recently, we caught up with Richard Martin-Redman to find out more about the firm following their recent success in SME News’ Business Elite Awards 2021. As financial advice is about more than just numbers, Spiritus Wealth strive to build trusted relationships with its clients in an effort to reach the results that matter. Going into further detail, Richard begins by providing us with an overview of the firm and the services it provides for its clients. “Here at Spiritus Wealth, we offer a technology- led financial planning service which is truly valued by our clients. From capped advice fees to fixed-fee investment platforms, we have designed our propositions so that the total price of investing through Spiritus Wealth is exceptionally competitive. Typically, we advise affluent families on all parts of their financial planning with our average client investing around £1.5m with us. The client could be a successful entrepreneur who is thinking of selling their business or a city professional looking to structure their assets for retirement. By launching the business, we set out to offer an exceptional financial planning service to a limited and hand-selected number of clients. Almost seven years further down the line, we believe our results speak for themselves.” Competing in the UK financial arena can be a very challenging experience, however as Richard informs us, the firm’s client approach has allowed the team to distance itself from the crowd. “Whether it’s looking after a client that has just gone through a divorce or helping a wealthy family structure their estates more efficiently, we are 100% transparent and up-front with all our clients. If we can’t help you or don’t think you’d get value from using us, we’ll tell you. In addition, with the average age of our team currently standing at just 36, we represent longevity to a prospective client meaning there is potential to build a trusting relationship over many years.” Despite the outbreak of COVID-19, a commitment to innovation has enabled the firm to remain competitive during these difficult and uncertain times as Richard explains further. “When the pandemic hit us all in March, we were moving offices, but we had not finished the paperwork. The result is that we are now all working remotely but this has had no negative impact on our business levels whatsoever. In fact, conducting meetings via the usual tech-based applications can actually enhance the overall client experience. During our planned meetings we use several interactive tools, including the shared screen feature on Teams. This has been brilliant for the business and of course we are saving a fairly high fixed overhead at the same time.” Bringing in the interview to a close, Richard kindly reveals some of the firm’s goals as we look ahead to 2021 and beyond. “The coming year is going to be an interesting one for Spiritus. Firstly, we will be focusing on growing the business by taking on a handful of new clients. Admittedly, in the current climate this will of course be quite challenging when we are working remotely. However, in a post COVID-19 world, we’ll hopefully reach the point where we are expanding at a speedy rate. Currently, we have two advisers and 90 clients compared to the industry average of 121 clients per adviser. With our average being a lot lower than the market average, we would like to reach 120 families in total. Beyond this, with our service levels playing such an incredibly important part of our growth, we must maintain the high standards we’ve been setting since inception.” Company: Spiritus Wealth Contact: Richard Martin-Redman Website: www.spirituswealth.co.uk