A challenging year, but one to be proud of at Wills & Trusts

It’s human nature that in times of adversity and uncertainty, communities come together.

Be it Clap for Heroes, Captain Tom’s mammoth fundraiser, the incredible work undertaken by scientists or simple acts of kindness – 2020 has been an exceptionally tough year but one we can, nevertheless, take pride and inspiration from.

Here at Wills & Trusts, we are reflecting on an unprecedented year but one that has, despite the challenges, seen us emerge stronger in so many ways – while always maintaining our focus on offering a first-class service to our clients.

Here, we take a look back at the past 12 months and highlight key milestones of success and pride – professionally and personally.

Never standing still

2020 saw us launch our new website, offering a much-enhanced user experience, increased functionality, additional resources and a clean, fresh look. Our website is our shop window to the world and perfectly helps us portray what sets us apart, and feedback from clients has been extremely positive. Another significant landmark came in the form of our newly launched Wills & Trusts Solicitors arm, which allows us to augment our existing range of products and services with a truly first-class legal offering. In fact, this venture ensures we are now one of only a select few wealth management firms in the UK with Chartered Financial Planning status with a separate firm of solicitors regulated by the SRA (Solicitors Regulation Authority). We are also thrilled to announce the launch of Wills & Trusts Accountants. This new service will work in conjunction with our financial and legal services, providing our clients with a more rounded and personalised approach to accounts management and tax planning. We look forward to releasing more information about Wills & Trusts Accountants in the new year.

Adapt and evolve

Like most, we had to evolve in 2020 in order to continue to deliver the same high quality of service our clients expect and deserve.

Firstly, to combat the cancellations of physical seminars, we brought our interactive sessions online in the form of webinars. Led by our founder, David Batchelor, this suite of relevant sessions ranged from Will reviews, Investments and Pensions and were completely free to attend – enabling those in lockdown and/or shielding to access crucial information.

And of course, it hasn’t just been our products and services that have had to adapt. Our staff, too, took to the challenge of working from home in their stride, working tirelessly despite the change in environment to ensure our clients continued to receive the highest level of service.

But what’s work without a little play? It’s been great to see our teams improvising and innovating as home became the new workplace. Activities ranged from baking, creating an outdoor cinema to renovating a garage to create a new hangout! If you’d like to see what we’ve all been up to, why not follow us on Facebook – just search Wills & Trusts Wealth Management Group.

Celebrating success

And it’s our staff that feature prominently in the most heart-warming aspect of our 2020 journey – how we have celebrated the success of our employees’ career developments, as well as the difference they have made throughout the year to the communities we serve.

Highlights from a professional perspective include Steph Hobbs, Jenny Woods, Rachel Dow, Michael Bennett, Jo Hervieu Hearmon and Lawrence Patrick all completing and passing their rigorous exams in spite of the challenging backdrop of Covid-19 – a fantastic achievement!

 

Company-wise, we were proud to have our crucial BS8577 certification renewed; a British Standard Certification and one of the highest accolades in financial services.

Further recognition of our work came through the highly respected, prestigious and nationally recognised FT Adviser report of top 100 financial advisers in the UK. For three consecutive years, Wills & Trusts has appeared on the list and 2020 saw us continue our rise up the table to 44th position – rising from 96th in 2018 and 59th in 2019.

And celebrating our community heroes…

While professional accolades are a fantastic way to benchmark our performance and expertise as a company, few areas offer more satisfaction than the valuable contribution we make to the communities we serve and the people within these communities. As ever, our determined staff have stepped up to the plate, and then some.

Highlights include our very own Paraplanner Lawrence, who took part in the Chiltern 50K Ultramarathon in support of the Mehiel Foundation’s Basket Brigade Programme – a magnificent achievement.

Equally daunting but no less successful was Sophie Bramhill’s completion of the Virtual London Marathon – raising over £1,100 for the charity Mind.

And of course, 2020 wouldn’t be complete without an acknowledgement of the staggering and selfless work done by our country’s key workers during the pandemic. To this end, we were so proud of our Administrator, Andrea Laister, who volunteered with ‘Salute the NHS’, an initiative which provides one million meals to frontline NHS workers.

A summary

All the successes and progress made in 2020 has been made possible by the exceptional dedication and hard work of our staff throughout the year, who have served our valued clients with distinction and made a tangible difference to society when society has needed it the most.

At Wills & Trusts Wealth Management, we are all about building futures and cementing legacies and this mission statement has been maintained in this strangest of years; continuing to help our clients achieve their goals lies at the very heart of what we do and drives us forward, both into 2021 and beyond.

It’s been a tough year in many ways, but a year that all of us at Wills & Trusts can rightly be proud of.