I met with a husband and wife who had been referred to us by an existing client.
Their main concern was to get an understanding of what their various pension plans might produce for them.
I asked them why at this particular time they had decided to take advice and what it was that they were looking for from their adviser?
The lady told me an interesting story.
They had appointed an adviser before to help them with this and the adviser had gathered letters of authority from them to go off to the various providers with a view to reporting back to them after the data had been acquired.
We know for a fact that this can take many weeks to do but after a suitable time gap the client had asked for an update. Unfortunately the adviser had been made redundant from her firm and no one had bothered to tell them.
The couple then appointed a second adviser and the whole process had started again. Talk about unlucky because this adviser, during the discovery period, then became pregnant and chose to cease providing advice!
The answer to my question then became pretty obvious; I simply had to make sure that whatever I promised them I would follow through and deliver.
Looking straight into their eyes and with the usual cheeky smile on my face I said “I promise not to retire before I have finished helping you!”
