Spotlight on… Jordan Wheatley

Jordan has worked with the Five Wealth team since his final year of university, joining full-time when he graduated in 2016. Starting as an intern, Jordan has steadily progressed within the firm from junior paraplanner to financial planning manager in 2018. Jordan has showcased remarkable dedication and commitment and achieved the position of Chartered Financial Planner in 2024. We had the opportunity to speak with Jordan about his current role and his aspirations for the future.

Tell us a bit about your role and how it has changed over the years

My role has evolved a lot since I first joined the firm, eight years ago, when I was just starting out in my career, and I’ve continued to learn and grow ever since. From interning during university and joining as a junior paraplanner after I graduated, I’ve worked my way up, completing my exams and gaining relevant industry experience, progressing towards my goal of becoming a Chartered Financial Adviser.

A big achievement of mine has been getting signed off to advise my own clients. My time is currently split between supporting the financial adviser in my team, Steve Hughes, through getting reports prepared, and meeting with my own clients to provide advice, so no day is ever the same. This allows me to learn from an experienced adviser while simultaneously developing my own expertise and building strong client relationships.

What has been your highlight of working at Five Wealth?

Managing clients’ finances and helping them towards their financial goals can be daunting but I’m passionate about what I do, and I’m surrounded by a great team who support and trust me. A career highlight for me was undoubtedly being approved as a financial advisor. Having been a part of the team throughout my entire professional journey has been very fulfilling, witnessing the firm’s growth alongside my own personal and professional development.

A particularly proud moment in my career involved two successful meetings, where I helped two different clients with differing circumstances and financial planning needs, which led to them both becoming clients of Five Wealth. I’m really looking forward to working with them over the long term to achieve their objectives. This experience was incredibly rewarding and fueled my ambition to become an established adviser even more and I can’t wait to continue to build my portfolio.

What are you looking forward to in the future at Five Wealth?

Moving forward, I’m looking forward to building strong and lasting relationships with even more clients, further developing my role as a financial adviser and providing the highest level of financial advice. I am also excited to achieve Chartered Financial Adviser status. While I value the experience and knowledge gained through supporting other advisers, I want to dedicate more of my time and energy to directly serving clients. I want to be able to support the other advisers in driving Five Wealth forward through attending industry events and networking opportunities, expanding our client base and increasing the overall value of assets under management.

Spotlight on…. Sharon Brayshaw

Working closely for more than 15 years with co-founder and director, Steve Jordan, our long-serving financial planning assistant, Sharon Brayshaw, is finally ready for retirement. We spoke to her to find out about her varied career in finance.

When did you start your career, and where?

I started at Scottish Provident when I was just 17. It was a completely different world back then. Over the years, the company changed hands – it became Scottish Mutual, then Santander. After that, I was part of building Dewhurst Torevell, which I then left to help launch Five Wealth.

How long have you been working alongside Steve?

I’ve worked with Steve for 18 years. He might not like to hear it but when he started, he was just a mere boy!

What roles have you held during your career?

I’ve worked in life insurance, protection, and even mortgage underwriting. While I didn’t particularly like numbers in my youth, I sort of fell into finance through a job agency in Manchester after a year of secretarial college. I have ended up enjoying my many roles in the industry and never looked back!

How has your role evolved over the years?

Initially, I focused on admin and paraplanning. When Five Wealth was established, my work leaned more towards admin. The company has grown so much since then, and it’s amazing to see where it’s at now. We have moved away from a small business to a serious corporate firm which is testament to the hard work of everyone – it feels like a great time to finally retire.

How has Five Wealth changed since its launch?

It’s grown tremendously, becoming more corporate while still retaining a friendly culture. There are so many young people there now, and the directors and staff are all genuinely nice. Steve’s client base has expanded, and the company keeps going from strength to strength.

What are your plans for retirement?

Retirement hasn’t fully hit me yet! I’d like to find a little part-time job – maybe something local in a shop. But I want to enjoy some time off first, take more trips to the Lake District, and read more on my Kindle.

Do you have any advice for the person taking over your role?

Be prepared to work hard and stay flexible. Many clients may treat you like part of their own family, which can be a positive experience, but it’s important to understand their expectations before starting the job. Being adaptable and open to new processes will help you succeed and navigate any changes smoothly.

Any final thoughts?

It’s been an incredible journey. Five Wealth has grown so much, and it’s rewarding to see it become an established business. While I’m looking forward to this next chapter, I’ll always treasure the memories and the people I’ve worked with.

Sue Barlow has been a fundamental part of Five Wealth since its foundation back in 2016. Here, Sue tells us all about her time at Five Wealth so far and gives us an insight into her role as practice manager.

Tell us a bit about you and your role?

I’ve worked in financial services since I was 18. I’m now in my 50s, which makes this a long time! Having been in financial services for so many years, I like to think I have a lot of knowledge of and experience in many aspects of the industry.  I understand why and how the industry has got to where it is now. I was also amongst the first to sit and pass the Pensions Management Institute Certificate in Pensions Automatic Enrolment (CPAE), so that’s quite interesting!

Outside of work, I’m married to my husband, Paul, and we have two teenage daughters. We live in Wigan with our dog, Barney the Pomtzu. In my free time, I’m a member of the Wigan Community Choir, so you might catch me out and about performing at one of our concerts.

How has your role changed from when you first began to now?

 When I joined Five Wealth back in 2016, I worked with Chris Little, one of the founding directors of Five Wealth (who has recently retired), as a financial planning manager.  I also managed client and in-house schemes, which remains one of my core responsibilities.

My role now also covers a lot of different areas in the office – primarily HR, accounting, health and safety, and employee benefits. I also cover group schemes, including workplace pensions, death-in-service, and private medical cover.

Best part of working at Five Wealth?

The best part of working at Five Wealth is the incredible team. The people here truly make Five Wealth what it is: down-to-earth, approachable, knowledgeable, and always supportive. Also, the hybrid work model we now have has been a game changer for me. After years of commuting between Wigan and Manchester, it’s fantastic!

What advice would you give to someone aspiring to progress in the financial advice industry?

My advice to anyone looking to progress is a positive, can-do attitude is must, and maintaining this is essential to success. As well as this, focus on completing your exams as soon as you can. This way, you’ll have equipped yourself with the necessary knowledge and credentials, allowing you to hit the ground running.

It’s been just over a year since Five Wealth took on £6.7m of investment from Foresight Group, which marked the beginning of a new stage of growth for the business.

By partnering with Foresight, our goal was to build on the success of the last seven years by creating a platform for our next generation of advisers and directors to continue to grow the business through a combination of organic growth and targeted acquisitions.

Working with Foresight, and our investor Director, Matt McLoughlin, has been a wholly positive experience  and been hugely beneficial for our business. Foresight have been exactly who they said they would be, supporting the management team in delivering the original plan we presented to them at outset.

The investment also enabled us to bring in Tim Parsons, as non-exec Chairman, and Jonathan Partington, as Finance Director, both of whom have made significant contributions to our development over the last twelve months.

In short, twelve months on, the business has not only grown in terms of assets under management and the number of clients looked after but importantly it has a whole new level of structure and governance which stands us in good stead for further growth from here on.

Building a business to scale

To deliver on the plan presented to Foresight, scalability is key, and we are well on our way to achieving what we set out to do.

Some  changes are clearly visible such as refreshing our brand to align with the needs of our clients, whether they be high-net worth individuals, business owners or professionals. We’ve also updated our client proposition and been more active in producing content for distribution externally via LinkedIn and a whole range of business publications.

Whilst less visible but of equal, if not greater, importance to our service delivery and scalability is the work we have undertaken in streamlining our internal processes.

We have also launched a more structured professional training programme for our paraplanners, as well as a host of promotions. Amy Grace, Liz Schulz, and Rick Gosling have all joined the management team and are playing an active part in taking the business forward.

Relationships that last a lifetime

Since our inception, our goal has always been creating relationships with our clients that last a lifetime, whether that’s working with ambitious business owners, or advising families in building intergenerational wealth. This hasn’t changed and if anything, our proposition is even more closely aligned to this goal.

This greater focus has  positively impacted on our numbers and, since August last year with Foresight’s backing, our assets under management have grown significantly, increasing by 10% to £771m. Turnover has increased by 8.2% compared to the same period in the prior year and in the process we have brought on board over 30 new client family groups.

As we continue to grow, our ambition is to become the leader in financial planning and investment management in the North, and whilst we recognise we are still in the early stages of this journey we are making good progress.

Helping to realise ambition

We’ve learnt a lot since partnering with Foresight and made a lot of progress in a short period of time building on a solid platform created since 2016. Over the coming years, the intention is to build on this via a combination of organic growth, suitable acquisitions, new adviser additions, and greater efficiency across the business. In a profession with a high average practitioner age, we also intend to continue our focus on building the business with a relatively young but highly qualified team.

As we embark on our second year with Foresight, we are ready to move onto the next phase of our journey updating our original plan taking a more positive long-term view. Our ultimate aim is to create a sustainable, growing business with a long-term focus which provides security for our clients across the generations and our young and enthusiastic team.