A family-run retirement advice company has seen its portfolio rise to over £115m, having started with just one person.
Wealth of Advice is headed up by East Durham entrepreneur Chris Breward, who took a leap of faith to launch the business in 2012 after many years of working for financial firms across the North East and North West.
Mr Breward, who was 33 when Wealth of Advice started, wanted to change the image and reputation of financial and asset management firms, instilling in his clients a trust that would help him grow through word of mouth and recommendations.
Seven years on, Wealth of Advice employs 12 people from its Belmont Business Park offices in Durham and manages a portfolio of over £115m on behalf of clients.
Mr Breward who is from Peterlee and lives in Trimdon with his wife Jodene, who also works for the company, said: “When I launched the business, I wanted to do things differently. As an industry the working demographic is at the older end of the scale and is perceived as quite stuffy and elitist.
“I wanted to change that. I wanted my clients to trust me, to understand that the advice I was giving them was based on their best interests, not mine. If I met with someone and it wasn’t right for them to transfer their financial management to Wealth of Advice, that’s what I would advise them, even if it meant we lost out on that business.
“That approach very quickly paid off and gradually we got more and more people coming to us. That led to us moving into our offices at Belmont Business Park and adding to the team with the right people who shared my vision.”
The Wealth of Advice team includes experienced financial advisers and training paraplanners, as well as administrative and management personnel.
And alongside his wife, Mr Breward employs his sister and two of his nieces, both of whom graduated from Northumbria University and joined the firm to embark on being trained into their current roles.
Wealth of Advice has access to all solutions available across the entire investment universe, enabling the team to advise clients on the best places to invest their assets based on current trends and market fluctuations. It’s this approach which has seen its portfolio of manageable assets rise so significantly, including managing the wealth of many clients with over £1m of assets.
Mr Breward added: “Our growth has been massive since we launched back in 2012 and my aim is for that growth to continue.
“I’m very keen to add to the team, particularly with young talent who are keen to develop under our guidance and share our ambitions for the company.
“Our next significant target is to grow the number of great clients we have as we grow the number of quality people in our team and then hopefully get the funds under our management to over a quarter of a billion.”
