Stand-out year for Perspective

Perspective Financial Group Ltd (Perspective) is delighted to announce it has completed a further acquisition, meaning the Group has made 20 acquisitions this year and 76 in total since
it was founded 16 years ago.

Perspective now has 500 staff, 38 local offices and 140 financial planners, a third of whom are qualified to Chartered level or above. It manages £8 billion of assets on behalf of clients. The Group is three times the size it was five years ago

Ian Wilkinson, Chief Executive Officer said: “We feel very positive about the scale and pace of progress we have made in 2023 towards our goal of creating the best client-centric financial planning firm for both our clients and our people. Successfully completing and integrating an acquisition every two to three weeks is testament to the professionalism of our whole team.

“Our sustained growth is enabling us to become a better, not just bigger, firm which is very important to us. We remain highly selective in the firms we acquire – they must be genuinely client-centric, not just claim to be. In our experience, it’s easy to say those words, but another thing entirely to apply them in practice. The average length of our client relationships is 25 years and often span four generations in a family, which are impressive benchmarks that say a lot about the level of expertise and service we consistently deliver to clients.

“Our reputation for doing what we say and delivering on our promises in transactions has meant a number of firms have re-engaged with us after terminating discussions with other acquirers, when the latter have been unable to complete their proposed acquisition for various reasons.

“Our Perspective Academy launched in 2014 is really proving its value in this high growth environment with over 40 people moving through it at any one time, both new hires and those joining via acquisitions.

“As a financial planner myself with 30 years’ experience who still advises clients, I retain a strong belief in the benefits of developing and nurturing talent in-house. That way, people have the right values to be successful with us.

“Given that two of the main motivations for firms in this sector wishing to sell up are the ability for the owners to retire in the near future, or to grow their business further with the resources of a larger group behind them, a strong pipeline of young, motivated talent coming up through our Academy is vital to ensure clients can rely on us over the long term.

“We are seeing productive results from working with universities including Northumbria, Lancaster, Leeds and Manchester to position financial planning as an excellent professional career path for graduates of all degree disciplines. The combination of a structured training
programme leading to Chartered level qualifications, and the option of developing a client or technical career depending on the individual’s skill set, is highly attractive.

“I am quite certain that Perspective’s best years still lie ahead and warmly welcome our latest acquisition and their team to the Group.”

The acquisition is of Primera Wealth Management Ltd near Chelmsford, Essex which brings 340 households as clients and £205 million of Assets Under Management.

Neil Donnelly and Mark Copsey, Directors of Primera Wealth Management Ltd said: “Over recent years our attention has naturally been drawn towards the future of our business and the continuation of our advice to clients well into the future. After an exhaustive search, one
business in particular, Perspective, stood out. We are therefore delighted to join them, as their ethos, ethics and client focused approach fully align with our own values.”