2022 – End of Year Letter
Chris Broome – Chartered Financial Planner
Greetings from Longhurst HQ!
As is now a Longhurst custom, I wanted to take the opportunity to provide you all with a closing 2022 summary on our business, some of our highlights, and our thoughts as we enter 2023.
GIVING BACK & PROJECT LONGHURST
At Longhurst we are deeply passionate about supporting both our local community and a number of national and international causes.
Throughout 2022 we decided to take a reactive approach to our good-giving, ensuring we made regular donations to those of you fund raising, as well as to global events – such as the Ukraine/Russia war.
These charities included:
- Willen Hospice
- Young Minds
- Ronald McDonald House Charity
- Paws2Rescue
- Bowel Cancer UK
- Brain Tumour Research
- Cancer Research UK
- Stillbirth & Neonatal Death Society
- Young Epilepsy
Plus a number of Undisclosed charities, who we have donated generously to and who will remain publicly undisclosed due to the aggressive and unpleasant stance taken against them by certain areas of society.
In early 2023 we will be making a formal announcement and official unveiling of our new charitable giving programme, which we have called PROJECT LONGHURST.
Until then, we thought we’d share it’s new logo with you:
More Project Longhurst news to come!
MORETREES PARTNERSHIP
Carbon dioxide is one of the biggest drivers of climate change, and we all know we should be playing our part in reducing and negating carbon emissions.
Tree planting not only helps offset your emissions, but it comes with tonnes of other benefits too.
As such, in 2020 Longhurst became a Certified Partner to MoreTrees, an organisation set up to empower both individuals and businesses to offset their carbon footprint.
Since then we have been busy planting trees for a whole bunch of cool reasons, such as when a new client household joins us.
So far we’ve planted in excess of 1414 trees and, as we did last year, this year we plan to plant at least another 100+ instead of sending out Christmas cards.
GROWING THE LONGHURST TEAM
2022 saw the following people join the Longhurst family:
- Megan Oakey – Megan supports Michelle in a client support capacity and has immediately grown into an invaluable and important member of the team. We continue to be impressed with her commitment to personal development and attention to detail. Keep up the good work Megan!
- Ian Gamble – Ian oversees all things compliance and FCA regulation within Longhurst, ensuring our wealth management ship remains in the correct lane, has no holes in it, and is future-proofed as we enter a very busy period of growth. Thank you for your guidance!
- Geraldine Locke – Geraldine joined Longhurst as an external coaching partner, helping our clients to facilitate the life transition encountered when you retire or/and pivot into the next phase of your life. We’re super excited to see how this service develops!
- Beverley McMaster – Beverley also joined Longhurst as an external coaching partner, supporting our senior executives and business owners with their leadership development. This includes myself having some coaching, which I plan to write about in 2023!
HOW OUR BUSINESS GREW
Though we saw the exit of a fee earner earlier this year, Longhurst appears to once again be exceeding its readjusted annual growth expectations for 2022/23.
I continue to believe that this is because of our focus on providing a deeply human and empathetic approach to our lovely clients – something that remains in high demand in a digital world.
Our comprehensive business plan incorporates a long-term vision which should not be unduly impacted by short term volatility (as the markets experienced again this year)– exactly like your financial plan. We practice what we preach.
This year we continued to receive a healthy amount of new client enquiries (c.50+), mainly referrals from existing households and our strategic external partners. As such we continue to grow our client family responsibly.
We also provided some ad hoc transactional services to other busy families.
Ahead of our company year end in March, all in all for the year 2022/23 it appears profitability is once again up from 20221/22,
We continue to be assured with how our business is growing, with it hopefully reflecting confidence in us, from you, that you have made the right decision to partner with our firm.
OTHER NEWS
PFS Associate Member Firm
Longhurst was appointed an Associate Firm by the Personal Finance Society (PFS). Associate Firms voluntarily demonstrate the adoption of the professional standards set by the Personal Finance Society enabling them to stand tall behind a culture that places clients and staff at its heart.
‘How to Raise Entrepreneurs’ Book Giveaway
Inspired by an amazing book we read by business experts Jodie Cook and Daniel Priestley, we gave a big box of these books away to both clients and our professional partners
At the same time, we also gave away a box of additional children’s books, also written by Jodie, under the Clever Tykes banner.
BS 8577 Assessment
Delayed until January 2023, we will shortly be assessed (and hopefully achieve) the BS 8577 certification. BS 8577 accesses Longhurst’s framework for the provision of financial advice and planning services, and is the only British Standard for financial planning and advice businesses.
It specifies best practice for embedding an effective operational management system, which will also support adherence to ISO 22222 Personal financial planning – an ISO accreditation I personally achieved last year.
AWARDS AND ACCREDITATIONS
During 2022 we were nominated for 5 awards, of which we won 2, and achieved a Highly Commended in 2 others. These covered both our financial planning efforts, and our business/SME success.
As follows:
- ‘Best Client Engagement’ – Professional Adviser Awards – Winner for a 2nd year in a row. Recognising our human-focused approach to supporting the clients and households that employ us.
- ‘Excellence in Client Service UK- International Adviser Best Practice Awards – Judges stating our entry was superb, impressed with our services and personal touches.
- ‘Small Firm & Next Gen Firm of the Year’ – Money Marketing Awards – Highly Commended in both categories.
- ‘Best Enterprising Business’ – SME Northamptonshire Awards – Nominated for our human-focused approach to delivering wealth management services.
We also missed out on being nominated for two other awards, one of which we won last year. Though this was personally disappointing (those that know me, know me), we’ve taken the positives from the application process and will come back in 2023 even stronger!
SUMMARY
As some of you know, I like to talk about the positive impact reflection has in our lives.
Reflecting on the year Longhurst has had, during another period of great difficulty for the entire planet, I feel reassured.
Our clients know that I talk about optimism, and looking to the future, but even for the hardiest of us, 2022 (following 2020 and 2021) has been quite a challenge at times.
Longhurst continues to grow from strength to strength, but we will not be resting on our laurels , we never do.
We will continue to invest into our business, our people/family, our regional and professional communities, and of course, our clients.
Our relationship with you all, we hope, has continued to deepen. Onwards into 2023 we go, together.
On behalf of the entire Longhurst team, we wish you all a relaxing festive break, and a healthy and happy New Year.
