The private client investment industry has evolved significantly since our days as a stockbroker, with integrated wealth management becoming more prominent and it was little surprise to us that a meaningful proportion of our clients, particularly those under the age of 50, wanted us to be able to provide certain wealth planning services, in addition to our core investment management offering.
At the end of 2015 we made the strategic decision to provide a wealth planning proposition to complement our investment management offering and hired Anna Murdock to build and manage this new service.
Following regulatory approval, we are now in a position to offer clients advice on their specific circumstances in relation to four key areas of wealth management:
• Retirement planning
• Estate planning
• Wealth structuring
• Protection
With the tax year end rapidly approaching, we asked Anna to highlight some key areas where investors could look to tidy up their financial affairs and make the most of any tax efficient allowances.
Anna Murdock,
Head of Wealth Planning
Having graduated with a BA Hons degree in Psychology from the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Anna started her career in 1998 by winning a place on the graduate training program of a nationwide firm of financial advisers, where she helped establish a branch in Middlesbrough. Taking the decision to move from a client servicing role to a technical advice role, Anna moved to a firm of accountants where she started her in-depth technical learning to advise corporate and private clients on complex advisory matters.
In 2004 Anna become a qualified financial planner and by 2008 she had achieved Chartered Financial Planner status, culminating in her current status as a Fellow of the Chartered Insurance Institute. In 2008 Anna joined UBS Wealth Management in Newcastle where she implemented a financial advice offering for the North-East region.
Following the successful roll-out of this new service she left her native North-East to move to London in 2011, where she was a senior consultant providing complex advice to the bank’s private clients, both domicile and non-domicile. She was soon promoted to Head of Financial Advisory in the UK and left to join JM Finn & Co in 2015.
For the last year, Anna has been building the wealth planning offering from the bottom up, initially seeking the relevant regulatory permissions, implementing appropriate processes and procedures and finally hiring a second wealth planner and an assistant to ensure we are in a position to meet our existing clients’ advice requirements.
When not advising clients, Anna enjoys making the most of London’s theatre and restaurant scenes, playing tennis and keeping fit. When time permits she likes to travel far and wide (Japan this year) and is currently learning Spanish.
