When it comes to financial advisers in Aberdeen, Welsh and Taylor Wealth is a breath of fresh air! The young wealth management company is celebrating a successful first few years in business, despite launching right as Covid hit. Here’s its story so far.
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Welsh and Taylor Wealth, an Appointed Representative of St. James’s Place Wealth Management, is run by managing directors Martin Welsh and Kieran Taylor.
They’re all about helping clients reach their life goals through financial planning – and their approach is working! They’ve doubled their turnover to seven figures in just three years, and they’ve more than doubled their client base in the same time.
We sat down with Martin and Kieran to hear all about their journey so far and their goals for the future – including how they’re breaking financial adviser stereotypes.
Who are Welsh and Taylor Wealth?
Martin, 33, is an ex-oil and gas worker who ventured into wealth management after attending the St. James’s Place Financial Adviser Academy in February 2016 (the first of this academy to run in Scotland). He was only in his mid-twenties at the time, training with others from various backgrounds.
It was six months of intense training and exams, but Martin left fully qualified and ready to give clients financial advice. He started his own business, Martin Welsh Wealth Management, and slowly built his reputation and client base, before joining another St. James’s Place Partner Practice.
It was at this company, working as financial advisers in Aberdeen, that Martin and Kieran met.
Similarly, Kieran Taylor, 30, entered a St James’s Place Financial Adviser Academy from an oil and gas background. He says: “Internally, I knew oil and gas wasn’t going to be forever. I was a young guy making good money – but really, I was probably the happiest person to be made redundant. Because then it was a case of, well, there’s nothing really holding me back now.
“Martin and I got the time to know each other working in the same business and there really was an affinity. When we realised we had the same values, at that point, really there was nothing holding us back.”
Launching a wealth management practice in Aberdeen
And so, in 2020, Martin and Kieran launched Welsh and Taylor Wealth as Appointed Representatives of St. James’s Place Wealth Management.
Of that time, Martin says: “We were in a safe place. We’d built up our client base who wanted to continue working with us and we conducted a transaction to exit from the business we were working with – that was the scary part, starting out with that debt. Every month, we had borrowing that needed to be paid and we had two staff members from the start – so Kieran and I were the last people to get paid every month.
“But we were very ambitious. We set a high target for our first year in business and we achieved it even with the hurdles caused by Covid.”
They started with 300 clients and, despite the pandemic, 2020 proved a fruitful first year.
Martin explains: “They always say your first year in business makes or breaks you. For us, it was good because it made us go on the cloud, everyone had to work from home. It leapfrogged us in the way we embrace the use of technology and offering virtual meetings.
“That’s allowed us to become so much more efficient in dealing with clients, paperwork, providers – and it’s probably made things happen three times quicker in the business.”
They moved into their own office in June 2020 and now have a growing team: Emma, practice manager (currently on maternity leave), Julie and Morven (client services), Michelle (Administration) and Liviu, an adviser going through the St. James’s Place Financial Adviser Academy.
Breaking the norm of financial advisers
Both Martin and Kieran acknowledge that, particularly as they started in their twenties, they aren’t what people normally expect from financial advisers in Aberdeen. This is, in fact, one of their strengths.
Kieran explains: “We want to do things differently. We know the image you could draw of the old school financial adviser, the guy in the pinstripe suit, coming in to tell you what to do. We’re that bit more open and approachable, and we take our values really seriously in how we want to do things and deal with people.
“We were the odd ones out at our Academies, we were clearly the youngest people there. But as long you demonstrate you can add value, clients don’t care how old you are.”
Martin says: “I had a client just six months in and the first thing they asked as I walked through the door was ‘how old are you?’ – and it was a bit embarrassing, I was 26.
“It took time to earn the kudos but they become clients and still are.”
Despite being younger than the norm, Martin and Kieran’s ambition has propelled their business forward. Kieran adds: “I think people saw us as a young business and thought we might be good in 10 years time. But we wanted to make a name for ourselves now.”
The best of both worlds with St. James’s Place
Of course, while Welsh and Taylor Wealth is a limited company owned by Martin and Kieran, having the backing of St. James’s Place is also a great selling point.
Martin explains: “We’re Appointed Representatives of St James’s Place, a FTSE 100 company and one of the biggest wealth management firms in the UK. We get to offer their products and services, our way.
“St James’s Place looks after about £160 billion and the Partnership has around 900,000 clients, so we can leverage on the scale of that – but we provide a bespoke service. We own the client relationship and service.
“We’ve been identified within the top 40 of St. James’s Place Partner Practices, so we get additional support. We have direct contact with all support functions which ensures we deliver an elite client service.”
Finding an affinity with ambitious clients
So, what exactly does Welsh and Taylor Wealth offer? It specialises in working with small to medium businesses, but services on offer include the likes of investment planning, retirement planning and intergenerational wealth management.
Kieran says: “We’re all about putting a financial plan together for each client, because no clients want to do the same thing, so the solution can’t be off-the shelf. The aim is to put products and plans together that make clients better off in the long run.”
Clients receive advice, information and analytics to help them make the right financial decisions.
As an ambitious young company, both enjoy working with similarly ambitious people and companies. Kieran explains: “We want to help people who are also really serious about their finances and also want to do something big, something special with their life. That’s who we have a real affinity with.
“We had a client who wanted to buy a yacht in Croatia. And what inspired me in that case is they had fairly regular jobs, but they were willing to take the steps they needed to make that a reality. To me that’s exciting.
“We’re normal guys. We didn’t come from money, but we realised that hard work and determination can get you to where you want to be.”
And it’s proven to be a rewarding job. Martin says: “I had one client who hated his job and he wanted to know if he could retire. It was so rewarding to be in a position to say ‘We’ve looked at the wealth you have built up with us and produced some cashflows to understand various different scenarios taking into account your lifestyle and goals, and absolutely you can retire tomorrow!’. That was a lovely feeling.”
Where Welsh and Taylor Wealth is now
With 400 new clients since launching and turnover now in seven figures within just three years, Welsh and Taylor Wealth is an inspiring success story.
The goal for both Martin and Kieran now is to keep growing and become the go-to wealth management company in Aberdeen and the north east.
Find out more about financial planning services on offer at Welsh and Taylor Wealth.
Welsh & Taylor Wealth provide access to a range of useful tools designed to help you financially plan for the growth and future success of your business.
Click here to download a complimentary guide for business owners to find out what Welsh & Taylor Wealth can do to help now.
Welsh and Taylor Wealth is an Appointed Representative of and represents only St. James’s Place Wealth Management plc (which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority) for the purpose of advising solely on the group’s wealth management products and services, more details of which are set out on the group’s website www.sjp.co.uk/ products.
The ‘St. James’s Place Partnership’ and the titles ‘Partner’ and ‘Partner Practice’ are marketing terms used to describe St. James’s Place representatives. Welsh & Taylor Wealth is the trading name of WTW Ltd