Two leading Financial Planning firms have exclusively told Financial Planning Today magazine the story behind their recently announced merger.

Paradigm Norton and The Red House are joining forces.

The Red House’s founder Ruth Sturkey, a Chartered and Certified Financial Planner, and Barry Horner, a Certified Financial Planner, CEO of Paradigm Norton, have lifted the lid on what the merger will mean in the latest edition of the magazine.

See it in full HERE.

Prior to the merger in December 2017, Ms Sturkey was managing director of The Red House and Mr Horner was CEO of Paradigm Norton. Ms Sturkey has been invited to join Paradigm Norton’s senior leadership team and has become a client director. She will continue to oversee the London operation in the near term and then over time will become more involved not only with managing and building London but also in promoting the Paradigm Norton brand more widely.

Ms Sturkey told FP Today magazine that a merger had been on her mind for a while.

She said: “Linda, my business partner/ops director, and I had been having this discussion for a number of years. Our ideas started to crystallise in September 2016 following a few business and personal events. These caused me to develop a sense of responsibility to move our much-loved business onto a new phase. My vision was to find an opportunity to secure the longevity of our client’s Financial Planning relationships, provide new opportunities for our team to grow and develop and provide an opportunity to bring proper Financial Planning to a wider audience.”

Mr Horner, who is also the chair-elect of the Financial Planning Standards Board, said: “I met Ruth more than a decade ago at a CISI (formerly IFP) event. We started discussions re a possible ‘coming together’ over 3 years ago but the timing wasn’t right then for Ruth.”

In the full article, the duo discuss:

- What prompted the merger
- If it is in reality a ‘takeover’
- What challenges lie ahead
- Staff anxiety about a merger before names were revealed
- The number of clients the combined firm will have
- Their opinions on some of the hottest subjects in Financial Planning

This issue also features:

• Inside My Business with Alan Gow of Argonaut Paraplanning who reveals some major plans for his company

• Planner Casebook – Paraplanner and Chartered Financial Planner Kim Sare explains why a DB transfer can sometimes be the right move for a client

• Columns from leading Financial Planner Julie Lord, PFS chief executive Keith Richards, CISI head of Financial Planning Jackie Lockie, Paraplanner Richard Allum and other key commentators

• A 5 page Special Report from James Nadal on the latest developments in Platforms

• New Investment Insider and DFM section with 200 DFMs listed plus DFM news

Plus lots more.

Our last issue was the most read ever so see what thousands of other Financial Planners, Paraplanners and Wealth Managers are reading.