We thought that all of our clients would love to share in Darren’s news. Yesterday, he traveled to London to speak at the Annual Impact Investment Academy and Awards where he was also awarded ‘Individual Financial Adviser of the year 2018’.
This Award was given by a panel of five independent judges who considered many different financial advisers from all over the UK. They gave the award to Darren on the basis of his work in developing the ‘Thomas and Thomas Ethical’ service for his clients and his work in promoting awareness within the advisory community about impact investment.
Impact investing is where an investor places their money with a firm to try and make a financial return – but also to try and assist worthy causes that help either our society or our environment.
Gavin Francis, the Academy Founder from Worthstone, said:
‘Darren has put the needs of his clients before those of his own business. He thought it was the right thing to offer his clients the opportunity to invest in this way and so he asked all of them via a survey and found that over 90% had some form of interest in investing for a positive social outcome as well as a financial return. As a result he developed an investment proposition in order to facilitate this approach to investing and, in order to remove any potential barrier, has offered his clients the opportunity to transition at his cost. He has also been a public advocate within the industry, authoring articles and videos as part of his campaign to engage other advisors. The judges would be pleased to see more advisors showing the kind of active and visible support that he has shown, both within their firms and outside, in promoting social impact investing.’
The Award itself is beautiful, it was handmade from reclaimed timbers by a company called ‘Grassmarket’ who employ some of the most vulnerable people in society and teach them skills to prevent destructive cycles of failure.
The day itself was very informative with speeches from Katherine Brown (head of sustainable investing for the World Economic Forum) and Elizabeth Corley CBE (Chair of the Prime Minister endorsed Social Impact Task Force) among others.
Darren was already scheduled to speak at the event to around 200 attendees who were mainly from the advisory community. He ran four sessions throughout the afternoon which shared his processes and discoveries with other firms who are seeking ways to help their own clients to invest in a way that has a more positive impact upon either society or the environment.
‘Winning this Award is not something I had really expected’ he said. ‘This has been very much a team effort and I consider that Katy, Emma and Lisa have been a part of this journey with me. I also truly believe that our clients have had a huge input into the way that we invest. Their honesty, patience and encouragement are worth more than anything.’
This is the third national Award that Thomas and Thomas have received just this year. We are truly staggered by the way that our tiny firm is now viewed after many years of plugging away!
These Awards are so valuable as they enable us to check our processes and services against our peers. We believe that being ‘judged’ is the best way of staying ahead. Winning them is just the icing on the cake!
As always, we are here if you have any questions. If you would like to know more about Ethical or Impact investing – please just give us a call.
Best wishes
The Thomas and Thomas Team.
