Financial Planner Lee Hurst is launching his own wealth management firm in Harrogate to capitalise on what he believes is increasing demand for financial advice following the pension freedoms and recent regulatory changes.

Mr Hurst, who has 20 years experience in financial advice at Marshall Zoing and Old Mutual Wealth, says his wealth management boutique will provide independent, bespoke advice for individuals, businesses and trusts. Based in Windsor House in the Spa town, Harrogate Wealth Management will provide comprehensive Financial Planning and wealth management services including retirement planning, tax planning, personal inheritance, investment and pensions advice, and will work closely with clients’ other professional advisers if required.

Initially with a team of three, the ambition is to grow the boutique firm rapidly by offering a niche service that “rivals the larger national firms, but with the personal involvement and high level of individual service a boutique can provide.”

Mr Hurst said: ” “Having been in the profession for almost 20 years, I understand that every client is unique with their own particular circumstances and aims, meaning that they need a tailored, highly personalised approach.”

“Putting the client first is at the core of our business – we pride ourselves on our ability to listen and work closely with each client to help them achieve their life goals and financial objectives.”

He believes that recent changes to the regulation of financial advisers has presented an opportunity for new firms to enter the market and the recent pension reforms in particular have created increased demand for advice around pensions and retirement planning.

Mr Hurst added: “As an independent, fee-based Financial Planning firm, we have no allegiance to any particular product or company, but can instead offer truly objective advice with only the best interests of our clients at heart. We have invested heavily in our backoffice systems in order to create the scale and efficiencies a growing business requires and have also adopted a transparent fee structure to ensure there are no hidden surprises for our clients.”

“We are already receiving a number of referrals, particularly via our network of professional contacts, and are confident that the business will grow quickly.”
Officer manager Lynne Bowman will be working alongside Lee and a consultant is expected to be appointed within the next few weeks with further expansion anticipated early in 2017.