The evenings have drawn in, mud and rain abounds and ‘Brexit’ seems more likely than finding a plumber to service my boiler!
It was therefore extremely wonderful news to be informed that Thomas and Thomas have been awarded a very special accolade by the prestigious industry publication ‘NMA’.
For the past eight years, thousands of financial planning firms across the UK have battled it out to be placed in the NMA Top 100.
Every year, our small West Wales firm has managed to win a place. This is no small achievement given the constant march towards consolidation by ever growing firms (the average Top 100 firm now has 28 staff) and the backdrop of economic uncertainty that has made small and beautiful firms like ours have to run that bit faster to stay ahead.
Being awarded a ‘Top 100’ slot is really an achievement and very valuable within our advisory community, helping us to stand out amongst the 13,000 or so financial firms that currently practise in the UK.
This year, the judges at NMA decided to celebrate just one ‘Transparency Champion’ out of all the Top 100 UK firms. They were looking for a firm that laid out its charges most openly. They wanted to find a firm that spent time and effort building far more for their clients, a firm that went beyond initial financial planning and published everything it did for all to see.
They spent time going through all of the firms’ submissions, running spot checks on websites and available documentation to see who was the most transparent in their opinion. Their decision was to award Thomas and Thomas the ‘Best Transparency Champion’ for 2019.
Of all the awards we have ever won, I feel that this one best sums us up and therefore means a great deal to me personally.
For years we have openly put together things like Masterclass Days, Videos, Ethical Survey’s, Client Satisfaction Questionnaire’s, Published Findings, Personally Written Articles, Charity Events, Beach Cleans and so much more.
We know that our 200 clients greatly enjoy all of this, but it is rather nice to get noticed in respected circles for being different and for being us.
I never finish one of these Award notifications to our clients without saying a huge ‘Thank you’ to you all. Without our clients’ patience, encouragement, ideas and support we would not be where we are today.
Have a lovely week and try to stay warm and dry!
Darren
