Meet the Team - Andrew Chorley
Meet the Team
Our 'Meet the Team' feature will, over the coming weeks, introduce the people behind Financial Planning Wales and offer some background to the origins of the Firm. Firstly, is our Managing Director - Andrew Chorley.
As one of the few professionals to be awarded Chartered Status as both a Financial Planner and Investment Manager, Andrew brings a unique set of skills to Financial Planning Wales. Andrew is a strong believer in Goals Based Financial Planning to help clients to achieve their objectives.
Outside of the office, Andrew enjoys spending his time with his children, Sam and George, who are both keen cricketers, representing Newport Cricket Club and Gwent Young Cricketers in their respective age groups. When not supporting Sam or George, you will often find Andrew at the gym or walking his Labrador – Archie.
We asked Andrew a few questions regarding financial planning and investment management, which will hopefully provide some insights -
What has been your best moment in financial planning?
(Andrew) - It’s difficult to pinpoint one single instance; of course you enjoy the success of an investment or a financial strategy but that can be short lived, its more about helping clients to achieve their objectives over the long run and for them not to have to worry about their finances. Having empathy with someone’s circumstances and having a positive impact on their lives is a great feeling; especially when they recognise this and the working relationship becomes a partnership.
Please can you recommend three books for a novice investor?
(Andrew) There are a lot of technical books and many require a strong background knowledge of investment; I feel that it’s about reading your something that sparks your interest in investment, more technical and strategy books can come later. The US Author Michael Lewis has written a number of books "Liars Poker" and "The Big Short" that provide a great insight into the investment World - the latter was made into a film as were two of his other books "Moneyball" and "The Blind Side". If these make you want to read more than Benjamin Graham's 1949 classic "The Intelligent Investor" still stands the test of time and anything by James Montier such as "Value Investing" or "The Little Book of Behavioral Investing" are great reads.
What was your first job?
(Andrew) My first "real job" was as a Graduate Trainee at Newbury Building Society 1997; initially I had no aspirations to work in finance but thought I would apply and see how it went. It was very much a traditional mutual organisation that looked after its customers brilliantly being service rather than sales orientated without being as antiquated as Captain Mainwaring in the Bank in Dads Army!
In one sentence, what would you change in the financial advice industry?
(Andrew) There are a few but without getting on my soapbox I think how investors attitude to risk is assessed needs to be improved; there are more factors at play than we realise and questionnaires are not as effective as some would have you believe - I don’t know what the answer is but if definitely starts with a two way ongoing dialogue with clients.
If you would like to speak to Andrew regarding any aspects of financial advice or investment please do not hesitate to contact us.