Planning and getting to know your client should always come before the investment conversation, says Philip Dragoumis, founder of Thera Wealth Management.
Dragoumis told FT Adviser as part of its Coffee Corner series that he made the jump to setting up his own firm around two years ago after more than 20 years in financial services.
Dragoumis started out in equity sales and previously held roles at Merrill Lynch and HSBC before entering the world of wealth management, first spending three years at St James's Place.
Now Thera works with around 60 families.
How different is your life now from when you worked at a large firm?
“I was an institutional equity sales person, it was a business that was transactional,” he said.
“That kind of business died a death after the financial crisis and there was less demand for it.
“I was fed up with waking up at the office at 6am so I decided it wasn't for me, I didn’t want to spend the rest of my life doing it."
He therefore made the decision to move into private clients and wealth management.
He added: “It is much more rewarding, the skill set is very different, it is more of a long-term relationship.
“The fact that I’ve got my own business and I can run the business the way I want it is important to me.
“The model is changing more from a sales model into a planning-led model - the investments become less important.
“I am happier now, I have my children and I can plan my life around my meetings with clients.”
What is most important when you start working with a new client?
Dragoumis said advice is not just about someone investing your money but is about being there for life events.
“A lot of the people who come to me could probably do it on their own, but they don’t have the time firstly, and secondly they want to know that if something happened to them, there is someone who knows everything about them and how to help."
He said it can take up to two years to build a relationship with a new client.
“After that they start to trust you because they understand you are not trying to sell them anything and that you are acting in their interest.”
And how important is it to pick which clients you work with?
Dragoumis said the important thing for him is that he can choose his clients, which you can’t do in a big firm.
He said: “I do say no to clients because they may not be the right fit, if they are coming at it in the wrong way and they refuse to understand it is not an investment conversation.
“People in the city aren’t the best clients, they think they know best but the truth is they don’t.
“I probably would have been a bad client myself five or six years ago.
“You have to make some mistakes firsthand when you make those mistakes, then you realise you can’t do it on your own.”
