Planning today to achieve your tomorrow

Our story 

In 1978 John Hitchell had just left Lloyds Bank. He hated the target driven, stuffy corporate culture of the banking industry. We loved to hear the story of the time the bank manager told him to shave off his trademark beard 'as it was scaring old ladies'. However, with a growing family and having found his dream home, the final straw was when his application for a mortgage was denied on the grounds that it ‘had more bedrooms than his manager’ and then finding out his manager brought the property for his family instead. Unsurprisngly, shortly thereafter John and the bank parted company - this was totally against his views as to how people should be treated.

Unsure what to do next he applied for a job in the local paper and secured a position working out of a small office in Church Road for a fledgeling company called Hambro Life. John did rather well and his personality meant that he quickly grew his clients. Things were very different in those days and one of his best clients over the next 30 years was someone that he started speaking to over a hedge!

He was very proud when two of his sons James and Richard joined the business. Sharing the same ethos on treating clients like family they continue his legacy and both being Chartered Financial Planners show how far the industry has evolved since the days when John saw that advert in the paper and attended a two week ‘intensive’ training course.

Alongside James and Richard, our business now has two other advisers (Nathan & Robert) and is assisted by 4 administrators. We love to work with business owners or entrepreneurs, executives, clients approaching retirement and those in retirement.

Our company values

As a family-run practice, we have offered a friendly professional advisory service to clients since 1978.

As well as offering expert advice, we place the needs of our clients at the heart of the business. By getting to know the individual situation, ambitions and attitudes of every client who comes to us, we can apply our expertise to recommend financial solutions that meet both present and future needs.

Based in Lonsdale Gardens in Tunbridge Wells, our approach is based on our company values;

• We always treat clients as we would want to be treated
• We promise to cut out the jargon and always explain our recommendations in simple terms.
• We work hard to get the right client outcome
• We use technology to provide a better service - including Voyant - one of the UK's leading financial forecasting tools 

The initial meeting is always at our expense and there is never any obligation to proceed further if you decide our service is not for you.