We are delighted to announce that Heron House is now an employee owned business!

After many years in the making, we have implemented our succession plan which will ensure that our ethos and service remains unchanged and we can remain independent and protect our clients and staff for decades to come.

Saran and Chris are not ready to retire but want to be part of a wider dynamic team all working together for the long term, and becoming employee owned will enable them to slow down, to a degree, and gradually exit when the time is right. The management team will benefit directly from share options to reward them for the commitment and hard work necessary to run a regulated financial firm.

It has taken a lot of work behind the scenes but we are very excited about what the future will bring. We join nearly 500 UK businesses on this path, one which we are sure is the best for our firm.

We would like to thank our wonderful and very patient legal team at TLT, the Wales Co-Operative Centre and The Eternal Business Consultancy for all of their help and support.

From left to right: Ben Watson (Partner, TLT LLP), Helen Drew (Trustee), Saran Allott-Davey (Founder and Trustee), Nicole Lamburn (Trustee), Liam Fowler (Trustee) and Sophie Dicks (Legal Assistant, TLT LLP).

If you have any questions about employee ownership, please do not hesitate to get in touch with us.

As part of our journey to employee ownership, we became members of the Employee Ownership Association (EOA) which was a very important part of our learning and overall transition journey. You can find more information about employee ownership on their website: www.employeeownership.co.uk.

We wish you all a safe and peaceful Christmas and a prosperous New Year.

HHFM has made a donation, in lieu of sending Christmas cards, to The Wallich, a charity dedicated to helping the homeless in Wales. You can read more about their work, or make a donation on their website: https://thewallich.com/

Our office will close at 1pm on Tuesday 24th December and reopen at 9am on Thursday 2nd January 2020.

We are so incredibly proud of our young team winning a number of awards at the Professional Adviser New Talent Awards 2019, which took place in London on 26th September 2019.  

Rachel, deservedly won Administrator of the Year, and Liam was Highly Commended in his category of Rising Star of the Year.

Andy, Liam, Rachel, Matt and Abby won Young Team of the Year, which is a wonderful achievement for a team that has not been working together for long and is a testament to their hard work.  

General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) comes into effect on 25th May 2018

Implementation of GDPR has resulted in us building a clear and simple client privacy notice.   Our GDPR Client Privacy Notice can be found at the bottom of our home page.  If you prefer to receive a hard copy of this document, please contact us to arrange.

This document allows you to clearly see what data we collect, how we use it, where it is taken from, who it is shared with, where it is kept and the lawful basis for processing and holding your data.  We suggest you review this document before providing us with any of your personal data.

This new regulation brings individuals new rights in relation to your data of which you should be aware of.  Please refer to the Information Commissioner’s Office website for useful guidance if needed. https://ico.org.uk/

Our Data Controllers are Saran Allott Davey and Cassy Lewis; should you need to contact us to discuss your data we can be contacted by post, phone or email using our usual contact details.

Heron House Financial Management Ltd, Heron House, 1 Bryngwyn Road, Newport,  South Wales, NP20 4JS

01633 258200 –  mail@hhfm.co.uk.

As usual we are taking this opportunity, in December, to send our good wishes to all of our clients for Christmas and the New Year.  Thank you to those who send us cards and good wishes, it is always lovely to hear from you and very much appreciated. As usual we are making a charitable donation instead of sending cards and this year our chosen charity is Sparkle, a local charity who provide care, treatment and activities for children and young people with disabilities and developmental difficulties and their families. www.sparkleappeal.co.uk

Staff have also made donations towards the SLS Christmas appeal which resulted in over 1860 shoe boxes, over 800 selection boxes and a mass of new toys which enabled SLS to help over 40 need points!!  In addition to many homeless shelters, they have been able to help individuals, families and young people going through really tough times over South Wales and Bristol.

As well as the Christmas appeal, over the course of this year SLS have received and spent over £10,000 in resources which included hundreds of sleeping bags and thousands of socks and boxers.  They collected and distributed over 3500 Easter eggs, provided preloved clothing, resources and over 9,000 sandwich packs across Bristol and South Wales.  They have also raised nearly £1,000 with their Winter Warmers Go Fund Me page to purchase sleeping bags and vital resources.  They have also linked with businesses and charities to reduce food waste and helped front line with individuals outside cities rough sleeping and in crisis.

HHFM Team News

 It has been a busy year!  We have taken on two more graduate trainees, David and Rachel, bringing our team up to 18 in total.

Andy Willemite who joined us as a graduate trainee almost four years ago has been fully qualified and authorised for over a year now and is carrying out lots of our client reviews and using his pension transfer skills when needed.  Andy is hoping to attain Chartered Financial Planner status next year.

Liam has completed his Diploma in Regulated Financial Planning and is now progressing with his adviser training, while also having some “being a Dad training” from his demanding but gorgeous eight week old first baby.

Our Client Care Leader, Danielle celebrated the birth of her baby daughter this weekend!

Helen, Leanne and Heather have all passed more exams this year, so are qualified to adviser level while working as technical support to the advisers.  We feel we have a great team in place with lots of specialist skills, so do get in touch if you need help with something financial.

Here is a photo of the team on Oxwich Bay beach taking a break from our staff training day last week.

HHFM wishes you all a wonderful Christmas and New Year!

Job Title: Technical Support Assistant

Q: What was you journey to become a member of the Technical Support team?

After graduating from Southampton University with a 2.1 BSc (hons) degree in Mathematics with Actuarial studies I joined Sun Life of Canada in Basingstoke training as an Actuary. After 4 year, during which time I got married, I returned to live in Wales and started working at HHFM in 2001. During my time at HHFM I have done a variety of tasks and gained exposure to different areas of the business and have now developed into my role as a technical support assistant.

Q: What drew you to Heron House?

Heron House offered me the opportunity to use my skills and develop my knowledge of the financial world in a friendly professional environment.

Q: We know you are in the Technical Support team but what does that mean day to day?

Day to day I assist the financial planners and technical support team by preparing reports to send to clients based on the planners recommendations. I make sure our systems are updated correctly and are compliant when any new business has been processed as well as dealing with various client queries and research as required.

Q: What keeps you most interested at work every day?

A good variety of work and as every client’s portfolio is bespoke each report requires different input and thought.

Q: What are you saving for?

Family holidays, updating cars, retirement and children’s University fees (maybe).

Q: When you’re not at Heron House , what keeps you busy?

I enjoy spending my spare time with family and friends. Going out for meals, going to the cinema and theatre, playing tennis and watching my boys play football on the weekend. I try to keep fit by jogging regularly and also enjoy spending time gardening.

Q: If you could give your younger self one piece of advice, what would it be?

You are braver and stronger than you think!

Q: What goals are you working towards now?

Expanding my financial knowledge by reading more financial literature and magazines and developing my knowledge of our software systems.

Q: What makes Heron House a great company?

Heron House is a friendly professional team who enjoy working together, sharing our knowledge and skills to deliver the best for our clients. We each take the time and care to look after our clients as well as each other.

Name: Liam Fowler

Job Title: Technical Support/Investment Analyst

Q: What was your journey to become a member of the Technical Support team?
My journey began when I embarked on a 3 year degree course at Cardiff Metropolitan University to study Business Management with Finance. Upon attaining a first class honour degree I then looked for employment in the world of Financial Management. I was fortunate to be taken on by Heron House where I began studying towards becoming a qualified level 4 financial adviser. During my time at Heron House I have passed my RO1 – Regulations and Ethics, RO2 – Investment Principles and Risk, RO3 – Taxation and Trusts, RO4 – Pensions and RO5 – Protection exams, and I am due to sit my last of the RO exams in July 2017.  These specific exams along with my role within Heron House have helped me to become a Technical Support Member.

Q: What drew you to Heron House?
When looking for employment after University I researched a number of companies within the field of Financial Advice and Heron House stood out to me due to their ethical approach to managing their clients’ money. It was evident from my research that Heron House looked after every member of their team and I wanted to become a part of this well respected team of people.

Q: We know you are in the Technical Support team but what does that mean day to day?
As a Technical Support member I will work alongside the given adviser to prepare, review and analyse client portfolios.

Q: What keeps you most interested at work every day?
I enjoy the challenges that I face within my role, which continues to help my knowledge expand. I also enjoy meeting new people and my role allows me to interact with clients on a regular basis.

Q: What are you saving for?
My Wife and I are due to have a baby at the end of this year, so my goal is to save ready for this new exciting chapter in our lives.

Q: When you’re not at Heron House, what keeps you busy?
In my spare time I enjoy spending time with friends and family. My hobby is Golf and I often play once a week when the weather is nice.

Q:  If you could give your younger self one piece of advice, what would it be?
Life is short and you should enjoy every aspect of it from an early age and try not to worry about the little things in life.

Q: What goals are you working towards now?
I am working towards completing my Level 4 Financial Adviser Qualification.

Q: What makes Heron House a great company?
Heron House is run like a family, they take care of both their employees and their clients. I am honoured to work for such an amazing ethical company.

Head of Investment Research / Financial Planner.

BA (Hons) in History
MSc in Management (Finance)

Andy joined Heron House in 2014 as part of our graduate scheme and became qualified as an adviser in two and a half years. As well as a valuable member of the Technical Support team he also assists both Saran and Chris with their existing client reviews and new clients.