What drew you into working in wealth management?
I spent my early twenties travelling around Australia, gaining plenty of life experience, before returning to London to work in financial services. By the time I moved back to the North East I knew financial services was where I belonged.
Describe a typical day for you
Haha, I don’t think there is any such thing! On one day I could be looking at a deal for a client to buy a factory using their pension, another day it could be looking at ensuring proceeds from a business sale can provide enough capital for a client’s comfortable future.
In truth the phone rings and the situation is presented, at that point the problem solving begins, it’s the variety that I most enjoy.
What was your proudest moment in the job?
One of the most privileged and satisfying parts of my job is when I am able to help out a family suffering a bereavement. It’s an incredibly hard time for anyone and brings with it a lot of worries and stress, particularly around money.
Being able to give a family the reassurance that they don’t need to worry financially and putting a plan together to give them future security is incredibly rewarding.
And now to find out a little more about you, what is your favourite holiday destination?
I really like South Africa, we have family there and travelling around the wine regions of Stellenbosch or exploring the coast around the Cape Peninsula is an incredible experience.
What do you like to do to unwind?
Like everyone I enjoy socialising with family and friends, but this can sometimes lead to having a bad head the next day, so around a year ago I decided to switch socialising for training – the side effects are much more rewarding!
Sounds very intense, what does the preparation involve?
It’s a lot of repetition, building up stamina and strength. As triathlon involves so many different disciplines and it’s not something you can really do unless you’ve put in a lot of training and prep work beforehand.
I suffer from poor hand-eye co-ordination so sports like football or golf were never really an option for me. What I love about triathlons is that the fitter you get the faster you go, there’s a very definite cause and effect which is very motivating.
Where will your first triathlon be?
It’s already happened! I took part in the Ponteland Triathlon at the end of May and really enjoyed it which led to me booking a lot more, including the ITU World Triathlon, happening in Leeds on June 10th. It involves a 750m open water swim, 20km bike ride and 7.5km run so the training is intense.
The Brownlee Brothers will also be competing at the event and the crowd is expected to top around 30,000 so I’m sure the atmosphere will be incredible.
We all wish Ben the best of luck – follow his progress in future blogs and if you’d like to talk to him, or any of the experienced and friendly team at Novus, about your financial plans get in touch with us today.
