A gap in the market for firms run by younger advisers inspired ex-Octopus duo Tom Wood and Joe Payne to set up on their own.
The pair spent eight and six years respectively at Octopus Investments and said working with financial advice firms gave them an insight into the industry, eventually leading to them setting up Fortify Wealth in March 2024.
FT Adviser’s Coffee Corner sat down with Wood and Payne to find out more about their journey.
What made you want to take the leap to set up your own firm?
Payne, 31, said: “At Octopus we were working with financial advisers in different parts of the UK, particularly in London and the south east.
“We quickly realised there was a massive shortage of younger advisers, and there was a demand from people who were not, but should be working with advisers - particularly people in their 30s and 40s who would want to work with someone for the next 40 years.”
For this reason, he said, Fortify Wealth focuses on younger professionals.
Wood, who is 34, said the pair being in their 30s meant they could relate to younger clients.
He added: “We understand the problems they are going through, we understand that their lives are busy.
“We take this part of their lives and can run it for them.”
Do you work with your clients in person or online?
Fortify Wealth said using video calls and online services for some tasks could help speed up the process.
Payne said: “We definitely prefer working in person, that is the part of the job we love the most.
“We get to understand their objectives in person but video calls can be really useful.”
Wood said using video calls could help improve efficiency in the early parts of the fact find process.
He said: "Before giving people advice, we need to know their objectives - the investing part is the last part of the process.
"We need to know their situation, and that part can be done online ahead of the meeting.
"There, technology has been really good, it means we don’t need to sit in front of a client taking their national insurance numbers."
What has been the biggest change setting up on your own?
Before setting up Fortify Wealth, Wood and Payne were focused on tax efficient investment at Octopus.
Now, as Fortify Wealth, an appointed representative of M&G, they have around 50 advised clients.
Payne said: "We were not advising before, so it has been a complete shift for us, in that sense.
"Going self-employed is a huge change, you are suddenly wearing a lot of different hats."
Wood said setting up their own firm had been an ambition for a number of years.
He said: “We were always going to do it at some point so we spent the last few years preparing for this.
