Review of 2019

It’s been an excellent year at DB Wood on all fronts – here’s a taster of what has been achieved and what you can expect in 2020.

We always start with the team. They are the most important part of the business, driving both client outcomes and profitability. If you invest in your team, empower individuals to utilise their strengths, empathise, support and encourage them, then in our experience it helps improves productivity, which in turn benefits our client experience and ultimately takes care of profitability. They constantly push to be better in six months than they are today as well, and to that end they have again expanded their professional qualifications in 2019 spanning personal and corporate financial planning alongside investment management. Overall our team have been fantastic this year, so a big thank you to them.

We have also engaged with local education within the community, providing and taking an active part in the financial planning curriculum of a local comprehensive school. Financial education is so important for children and adults alike, but it’s great to start young! We aim to make a difference.

We have supported our community with sponsorships of a number of sporting clubs and associations. Specifically, we are proud to be the main sponsor for the Newark Half Marathon, securing its future for the next 3 years, but we have also extended significant support to our local hospice which relies heavily on the finance of private business, and whose role is so important to the local community. They do an amazing job, and their services are not taken for granted.

On the business front we have had a progressive year. Our portfolios are on track to return between 6% and 14% net of cost, depending on the level of risk taken, and we are driving the costs down of managing our clients assets. Next year our portfolios and service propositions will begin the year around 10% more attractive from a cost perspective than the year prior, but be reassured that cost will not be traded for quality.

Clients’ financial planning outcomes have once again been impressive this year, generated through the skills and application of our team. Each year we increase the tax savings made by our clients through effective portfolio management and tax planning, ensuring this is always within the spirit and application of HMRC rules.

We have enhanced our client services for 2020 to offer Will writing, in addition to our Lasting Powers of Attorney Service which has proved enormously popular. We have access to the best mortgage lending rates in the market, we have developed a comprehensive business exit and succession planning service as well as a business start up service. These are all relatively new and expanding areas which will serve to compliment our core areas of financial planning, investment and risk management.

To end, it’s been a busy and rewarding year. As always there will be challenges to be embraced, and solutions to consider. We remain absolutely committed to being better next year than we have been this year, and we are acutely aware, that despite all our hard work, we are nothing without our clients. We are as always privileged to look after your affairs, and on behalf of the team at DB Wood, we wish you all a very Happy Christmas.