Yes, there are frustrations but nothing is perfect. You’re never going to find perfection, but AFH is going in right direction and you can’t ask for more than that.
I’m happy being an IFA and working with my clients without the constant distraction of managing the larger business. My work life balance is much improved, and I have more time to spend with my clients and importantly my family. If you’re ready to make the change, AFH is the place for it.
I ran my business, Core Financial Services from our Head Office in Kent. Directly regulated with advisers working out of our offices in Kent, Nottingham and Surrey we provided holistic financial planning to our private and corporate clients.
I arrived at the decision that I was spending too much time on non-client work, running the business, dealing with compliance matters and I had got to the stage where I wanted to focus on my clients and leave the day to day running of the business to someone else.
I was approached by an accountant who made a good offer for the business, but they had no experience of running an IFA practice and needed to borrow money for the purchase. Their vision was to grow the business under the Core FS brand. They were offering more money than AFH, but this approach wasn’t going to deliver what I wanted. Having met with Alan Hudson, we agreed that AFH was a better proposition.
During our negotiations with Alan, he was always straight and clear. He is very genuine and passionate about the AFH proposition and never reneged on anything. It felt the right fit for us all and ticked the main box of each objective.
The acquisition process was pretty much what I expected. The team at AFH were very efficient and helpful throughout the process.
I got my head around the fact I had been bought very quickly and handed all of the responsibility over to the Management team at AFH to allow me to achieve the work life balance that I so much desire.
The deal was fair and due to the timing of the last consideration payment during Covid, Alan extended the calculation period, which was really nice of him and worked in my favour.
Overall, I have no regrets. I’m in the position I wanted to be and I am very pleased I made the move before the pandemic.