The Team we've put together to serve you has been built over many years, and collectively have literally hundreds of years of financial planning experience.
When we create a Financial Plan for you, we'll be combining this experience to ensure that we get a properly thought-out, rounded and effective series of recommendations that is personally tailored to your own circumstances. You'll meet the members of our Team who are assigned to look after you so that you can put names to voices.
And you'll probably discover exactly what a Paraplanner really does.
Andy Jervis
Director
Andy Jervis started his own financial practice in 1985 at the tender age of 26, having achieved Associateship of the Chartered Insurance Institute (10 examination passes in 2 years). He had joined the financial services industry on leaving school, starting with Norwich Union in Leicester before working with 3 different broking firms and a direct sales life office, picking up a great deal of experience on the way.
In 1987 Andy created Chesterton House Financial Planning (then known as James Jervis Financial Services) with a partner experienced in financial work. The partner left in 1995, since when Andy has embarked on a mission to develop a financial planning practice that would be recognised as a leader in its field. Drawing on a number of inspirational sources Andy has built a practice that consistently achieves outstanding scores for client satisfaction, using processes created and implemented by a team of financial professionals who are skilled in creating consistently high-quality work for clients along with great customer service and support.
Along the way Andy has acquired numerous further examination successes, and is currently one of only five practising advisers in Leicestershire to hold the worldwide-recognised Certified Financial Planner qualification, a mark of both academic success and practical application in the real world.
Andy is married to Sue, who works in the business looking after internal accounting. They have five children, twin grandchildren, a dog and two motorcycles.
Richard Urwin
Director
Richard started his financial services career with Eagle Star before moving to Legal & General and, in 1992 moving to Nationwide Building Society where he took on the role of financial adviser to 6 branches. Richard quickly acquired a reputation for clear, effective advice and reliability, and a number of his clients from those days remain with him today.
In 1996 Richard met Andy Jervis through Richard’s father, who was a client of Andy’s, and after discussion decided to make the move to work with Andy as an independent adviser. He quickly proved a great asset to the business, and subsequently acquired a significant shareholding in Chesterton House.
Like Andy, Richard believes strongly in the need for appropriate qualifications to be able to give effective advice, and he holds the Diploma of the Personal Finance Society. Richard specialises in investment strategy and is the Director primarily responsible for monitoring the effectiveness of Chesterton House’s ‘model portfolio’ templates, and for recommending changes to them. He is a continuing student of investment markets, and is fascinated by the relationship (or lack of it) between the actions recommended for clients and the prevailing view as prescribed by the media. “We have a phrase for the myriad conflicting messages that people receive from the media about money – we call it financial pornography,” he explains. “Our job is to help our clients to stay on track in the midst of this distracting and destructive deluge of information.” It’s an approach that seems to be working judging by the high levels of client satisfaction that Chesterton House continue to experience.
Richard is married to Claire, and they have two children. When he isn’t spending time with them Richard is a keen mountaineer. He is a particular aficionado of ice-climbing, and owns a house in Norway that serves as a great base for this challenging pastime. So if you’d like to learn what it’s like hanging from a vertical ice-floe by a pick-axe, you know where to apply.
Lisa Leeland
Financial Planner
Lisa joined Chesterton House in January 2006 having been working in Financial Services since 1989 when she joined Guardian Royal Exchange as a sales support clerk. She completed the Financial Planning Certificate in 1997 and progressed to advising clients in 1998, having completed her Advanced Financial Planning Certificate by April 2000.
Since starting a family in 2003, Lisa’s career was put on hold for a while, working part-time paraplanning, but she is now back to working as a Planner at Chesterton House and enjoying meeting, helping and advising clients as part of her work.
“I have worked for various IFA companies over the last ten years and can honestly say that at Chesterton House our clients are our priority. Throughout my time here I've been very impressed by the ethics of the company, the focus on creating a great experience for our clients, and the planning processes we've developed to make things really clear for them. I'm convinced we are at the forefront of the financial advice profession, and it's a pleasure to work for a company that demonstrates such a high level of professionalism.”
Lisa is continuing her studies (they never stop!) and is aiming at achieving Chartered Financial Planner status within the next year.
In her spare time Lisa, having previously been an aerobics instructor, now runs around after two young children but is hoping to get some time to herself soon – maybe in about 20 years time!!
Julie Moretta
Paraplanning Team Manager
Julie started her career in financial services in 1989 for Scottish Equitable before moving to a small IFA firm in Sutton Coldfield. Since then she has worked for the Financial Services arm of a large multi-national accountancy firm initially as an Administrator before becoming a Paraplanner in 2000.
Since joining Chesterton House in June 2002 as member of the paraplanning team Julie has gone onto to become our Paraplanning Team Manager. Julie holds the Certificate in Financial Planning and is continuing to study towards Diploma level.
“People ask me what a paraplanner does," Julie comments, "and it's not always easy to reply without sounding boring - according to an Institute of Financial Planning workshop I attended last year we are the anoraks of the industry!!! – something I certainly wouldn’t label any of our paraplanners as being. " She goes on, "In fact at Chesterton House Paraplanners deal with the detail of creating and reviewing clients financial plans, we collate and analyse the data and assist the planners in formulating the strategies for clients' plans, going on to write the Financial Plan for presentation by the Planner to the client.”
“Very early on in my career with Chesterton House I began to realise that this was no ordinary financial adviser. Our culture is to always put clients first, with the whole experience that clients receive being central to how processes are developed. Having worked for several other companies the ethics of Chesterton House are what makes my job so personally motivating, as I know deep to the core that we do the right things for clients – that may sound corny, but I believe it to be true.”
Outside of work Julie likes to spend time with family and friends. She likes to keep fit and is a keen sportsperson, playing Volleyball and Golf when she can.
Dawn Roberts
Administration Manager
Someone has to keep our lively Administration Team in order, and Dawn is just the person to do it!
Dawn joined the Chesterton House team in 2002 as an administrator where she worked for 2 years in “the engine room.” She then spent 2 years in the Paraplanning Department before the opportunity to become Administration Manager arose, which is where she has remained for the last 3 years.
“It was a difficult decision to make at the time; I had just started to find my feet as a paraplanner and had just completed writing my first financial plan with Andy when this opportunity was presented to me. However I feel I have made the right decision and returning to the Administration Department felt a bit like going home. I was born to organise and implement!”
“Working at Chesterton House has changed my life. I bet there aren’t many people that can say that about their job. We help our clients to focus on what it is in their lives that is most important to them and to take the steps required to achieve their goals, I have found that somewhere along the way I have adapted the same principles in my own life, which has meant that I have achieved a lot more than I ever thought possible. We are so very fortunate that we have clients that enjoy working with us, and I have discovered the joy of building on the relationships we have with them, and the satisfaction that is felt by me and the rest of the team at being able to make possible their goals. I particularly enjoy receiving the many post cards from far flung and exotic places.”
Out of work Dawn spends most of her time with her family and friends, her partner Adam and their two beagles Vienna and Mason, who enjoy eating, sleeping (in that order) and dragging Dawn and Adam up hill and down dale!
Our Paraplanning and Administration Teams
Try as we might we haven't been able to drag some of our staff in front of a camera, so we've spared them the ignominy of a surreptitious long-range snap from the corner of the office and agreed on a group photo. We're sure we've missed someone out of it, though.......
Our Team numbers 15 in total at the last count, with our Administration Department occupying the Ground Floor of Chesterton House and Planning and Paraplanning Teams upstairs along with our Accounts Department. We'd like to tell you how wonderful they all are at their jobs, how well qualified, etc, etc, but we'll soon run out of webspace so you'll just have to take our word for it.
Or call us and ask.
Either way, we're looking forward to looking after you.
