Tailoring Financial Futures

Wealth management firm Investec’s new associate financial planning director in its Belfast office, Patricia Newell, explains how her role can help add value to every aspect of your financial future.

Global banking and wealth management company, Investec, has a strong history in Northern Ireland.

Their office has a heritage dating back to the early 1900s, born out of the traditional partnerships in the city of Belfast.

The company has been growing quickly here, with six new recruits joining various areas of the business recently, including financial planning, investment management, compliance and risk, and marketing. Ambition recently spoke with Patricia Newell, who joined Investec’s financial planning team in January.

Patricia began her working life in economics but soon realised wealth management – advising people on how to protect, invest and manage their wealth – was her passion and her forte. She has held significant financial planning roles with independent financial advice firms and a FTSE 100 company before joining Investec.

Patricia provides each client, whether private or corporate, with a bespoke financial roadmap.

She tells us: “Our department’s services include retirement planning, inheritance tax planning, and providing highly specialised investment recommendations. Our services always centre around the client’s financial plan and roadmap, taking into account their goals and priorities and helping them to achieve their financial ambitions.”

Patricia says while the offering is robust and wide-ranging, every client’s wealth management solution looks different. That’s because it’s bespoke to suit their needs, goals, attitude and risk tolerance.

Her approach is to use an intensive process and one that harks back to that of the zebra – the monochrome mascot that graces the window of its Bedford Street office and every other Investec office across the world.

“The thing about a zebra,” Patricia explains, “is that, while from a distance they all appear the same, they’re not. Their stripes are individual like a thumb print.”

Patricia has a particular interest in later life planning and is currently an associate member of SOLLA, the Society of Later Life Advisers.

“When it comes to retirement, we help people plan for what type of retirement suits them best, whether it be simple or complex. I have a special interest in estate planning and intergenerational planning which is a growing area, and I enjoy helping clients ensure as much of their wealth can pass to the next generation as possible.

“We put the clients at the heart of what we do,” she adds.

It is intensive conversations with clients that allow Investec financial planners to craft such customised solutions for each and every client.

Among those tailored solutions is maximising tax relief. This includes making full use of ISAs for tax efficiencies, planning succession of assets and managing inheritance tax (IHT), and maximising the benefits of pensions contributions.

“And business is buoyant despite the volatility in the market,” Patricia says.

If anything, there’s a heightened awareness to safeguard wealth.

“There’s that old adage: it’s the time in the market rather than the timing of the market,” Patricia continues. “It’s very important that clients look at the fiveyear plus investment timeline because that allows for investments to recover, should there be volatility.

“What we’re seeing trending right now is early retirement or business exits. I think people have become more aware now and are preparing for the future by exiting right.

“We’ve also seen a lot of intergenerational wealth planning, when older people in their 70s and 80s would come to us with their children as a family unit to prepare for passing on their wealth.”

She says such is the demand for the company’s services, the Belfast office has set its sights on even more growth in the coming months and years.

“The Belfast team is a really cohesive, exciting team. Leigh Yeaman, divisional director for Northern Ireland, is very focused on taking Belfast forward. We’re going to grow, and I believe that growth is going to move on quite quickly over the next number of years.”

She says the company’s Chief Executive Officer Fani Titi’s amazing backstory – one of poverty, apartheid and concluding in success – lays down the core values at the business.

“It sets an excellent culture. An allinclusive, flat structure that empowers people,” she concludes.

When Nelson Mandela opened the new Investec building in Johannesburg in 1998, he praised its vision and stature in the wealth management sector. His words set a tone for the future of the business and it’s living up to it.

He said: “Here is a company which stands head and shoulders above its peers – not merely because of its phenomenal growth or its sound management of assets, but because it is a trendsetter.”

Disclaimer: The contents of this article do not constitute a personal recommendation and the investments and services referred to may not be suitable for all investors. The value of investments can go down as well as up and you may not get back the full amount invested.

“Our department’s services include retirement planning, inheritance tax planning, and providing highly specialised investment recommendations. Our services always centre around the client’s financial plan and roadmap, taking into account their goals and priorities and helping them to achieve their financial ambitions.”