John Smith, Head of our Paraplanning Dept writes:

At Four Oaks Financial Services we have an excellent team of people who support our advisers, and who help them to ensure that we provide a first class, professional service to our clients.

We don’t like to use jargon, so first we asked John to explain what “paraplanning” is.  

“The Four Oaks Paraplanning Department is essentially a technical support service.  My team provides our advisers with important information about the different investment and insurance companies and products in the market, helping to ensure that suitable advice is given to each and every client.  The Paraplanning team also work in partnership with the advisers to produce a detailed and bespoke Suitability Report, which explains to our clients clearly what our advice is.” 

John gave an example of a client wishing to invest money in an ISA. “Our network Quilter provides us with a carefully selected list of investment funds that offer genuine value for investors.  It might surprise you to learn that there more than a hundred funds from a variety of fund management houses on this list.  This means we can cater for the specific needs of our clients.  Our job in Paraplanning is to work with our advisers to select an ISA fund that’s absolutely right for each client.  We start the process by making sure we only look at funds that exactly match the client’s attitude to investment risk and reward.  That’s really key.  From the funds remaining, we narrow our choice down to funds that have performed consistently well, and we’ll avoid funds that we think charge investors too much.  There are a number of other considerations too, for example whether each client is looking for growth or income from their investment. 

Once we’ve selected an appropriate fund for our client, my team of paraplanners will prepare the Suitability Report, which will give the client all the information they need to know about our selection.  We’ll also explain all the risk areas and other considerations, which our advisers always discuss with their clients.  The report is then checked and finalised by the adviser, and we’re good to go!” 

John’s rightly proud of his Paraplanning team.  “Having the experienced Four Oaks Paraplanning Team is an excellent resource for our advisers.  It saves them time, which they use productively by spending more quality time with their clients.  Also, our paraplanners act as “a second pair of eyes”, just making sure the advice is the right thing for each client. 

There are 8 of us in the team, all with different areas of expertise, and several of the team are qualified to be financial advisers but prefer the paraplanning role.  This helps us to cope with the many different queries we get from advisers.  No two days are ever the same in the Paraplanning Department, and we all get satisfaction from knowing that our clients are getting high quality advice as a result of our thorough processes.” 

If you feel you’d benefit from discussing your financial circumstances and goals with one of our team of advisers, simply contact us on 0121 323 2070 or clientsupport@fouroaksfs.com and we’ll be happy to speak with you.  

The value of investments can fall as well as rise. You may get back less than you invested.