Introduction
With the launch of the David Bowie Centre in the last few weeks at the V&A East Storehouse I’ve been humming a lot of his tunes recently. Which doesn’t go down well in my house with a wife that can’t stand humming or whistling, or maybe any expression of contentedness or happiness! But is happy to fill the house with Sonos soundbars and play songs in every room whilst I’m trying to watch the football! Domestic injustice runs deep and is not subject to any changes!! Ever. Best not to think about it…
‘Changes’, by Bowie, I think is the unofficial anthem of Lucent Financial Planning. Why? Well, it’s not because most of the team know it or even know how great David Bowie was! For most in our office, I think music history began with the formation of Oasis. ‘Changes’ is our unofficial anthem because it embodies a lot of what we stand for.
“Time may change me"
Change is inevitable and constant. Sometimes it’s imperceptible until you really think about it. I was walking through the village / town I grew up in today. Down the lane I used to stumble back home from the pub when I was 18. The trees and conkers are the same but when you emerge into the housing estate - the houses are different. 30 years of extensions, people doing very well for themselves, or dilapidations as people have aged and found themselves unable to maintain their beloved home has put paid that.
Down past the church - that’s new! The Victorian church of old, that would raise my senses as I walked through the graveyard at night has gone. A brand spanking new one, feeling a lot friendlier, has arisen. I then pass under the railway bridge where once the police stopped me for riding my bike, with no helmet, and a bit tipsy and chuckle at the thought of only falling off it because they were in the way and my foot got stuck in the pedal.
Past some familiar shops, but instead of Off Licences and news agents, there are nail agents and personal trainers. To another pub, where my friends and I would meet in 70s decorated, smoke filled boozer (snug or lounge?) before getting the train to clubs in Birmingham. Now, it’s a large restaurant, that’s been knocked through, no more snug and darts board. No carpet but wooden echoing floors and lungs as clean at the newly laundered napkins.
I think of people that I’d see in those days, many of whom will have passed. The characters and the people on the background. I didn’t know most of them, and they were not my audience. They were in someone’s else’s play, or another’s cheer leader. They were my uninterested bystanders.
All of which is great! The place is undoubtedly improved in some ways. It all seems a lot cleaner than I remember but is it better? Who knows. But I know, as Bowie did, that this will keep coming and I need to change and adapt to it. Or I’ll live in the past, forever looking backwards and not enjoying the present.
“But I can't trace time"
And so, time marches on, the past and the future are massive epochs essentially unknown to us. So vast are this time stretches ahead and behind us that it’s impossible for us to comprehend in our experience of mere days and years.
Our mind runs wild. The fears of previous generations we carry with us continue and we add more of our own. Will AI take our children’s jobs? Maybe, maybe AI will create more jobs or less need for jobs but with greater prosperity. Who knows! The acceptance of this is in the tone of Bowie as he sings this lyric. We need to embrace this, rather than fight against it.
We cannot be bogged down by regrets or inhibited by fears of the future. Our life is now, and we must focus on this, we cannot trace time.
CHANGE - our company values.
You may not know this, as it’s largely only discussed internally at Lucent, but our values are CHANGE. The change we seek to make is to change your lives for the better. That we impact YOU and not just your money. This may be by giving you the freedom to stop doing something - e.g. work! Or the nudge to do something - start a business, go on more holidays, help your family out etc.
C - Curiosity - I want our team to be relentlessly curious. About you, why you want to or don’t want to do things. What you’re interested in and what you want to achieve. Also, curious about finance and how it changes with time. To not be too focussed on the past or worried about the future.
H - Honesty - let’s be honest! If we don’t tell you the truth, who will? If we don’t, what’s the point in us. But it’s hard! Telling people like yourselves can be intimidating! (Not for me, I’m a double hard b4stard). You have been good at earning and maybe saving money, but that does not mean you are good with it. However, trying to persuade people older, and wealthier of you is sometimes difficult!
A - Alternative - I’m interested in what works best, not what bland financial companies have been doing for ages. I think they’re wrong, you’ve voted with your feet and come to us, so you do too! Just this week, a new prospect had been to see an adviser from a national bank and was complaining about how terrible the sandwiches were. Frankly, there is no excuse for terrible sandwiches! I sent him 3 steaks in a box. Why? Because I’d listened and understood what he wanted. Curious / Alternative in one go!
N - Nurturing - we want you to grow as people, we want your money to grow too! But only so you can use it to do great things. I want my team to grow too, so they can do great things. This should be important to you too… see later! If we are to continue what we are doing, we need our great people to grow and for you to let them do that. E.g. by graciously allowing them to become your adviser (If you help us nurture them, your future is also in better hands! That requires your use of our other values like ‘Generosity’.
G - Generosity - we want to be generous with our time, our resources and our emotions! But similarly, sometimes we have nothing else left to give, the well is dry! We know you are generous with us and give us the benefit of the doubt sometimes, when we slip up. That’s how great teams are built!
E - Entrepreneurial - we want our business to be awesome! One that other people talk about and want to emulate. It would be easy for us to raise prices as in market comparisons we are really good value! However, we want to use our nous to do things better, become more efficient, and maintain the value we offer. You can help us by giving us ideas and helping with the business as we move forward.
Current Changes
In the past month we have been reading applications and interviewing for new advisers, and we had a lot! What we do has made waves in the financial advice profession and we had 30 serious applications (100 not so serious!) for the role. This has seriously opened my eyes to the level of adviser we currently have. Not that these people aren’t good at what they do. But some of them, it seems their values are not ‘CHANGE’ but more like ‘Charge’!! I know our advisers were really good and they say that “comparison is the thief of joy” but in this case, it’s been a most wonderful exercise in being grateful for and loving what you have. Keely, Luke and Ellie are so incredibly intelligent, caring and insightful and all wrapped up in great bants! Which is a delightful and indeed, rare, combination.
In the next few months, we will introduce one or two new financial planners to you, in the newsletter.
Change on the horizon
I started Lucent 16 years ago and it’s gone way better than anyone could have imagined! I’m Just as shocked as you are! A clown faced, puppet voiced lummox is not the stereotypical financial adviser. But somehow, it’s worked. And this wouldn’t have happened without the great team behind me that I’ve had the past 8 years. From the sadly retired Lisa to people like Kelly and Paige that have moved on to the people still with us! Long servers like Hannah, Luke and Karen that have guided, steered, nudged, cajoled to… getting downright frustrated and shouting at me! All have helped get us to be able do some of the great work we do.
In the next couple of years, we will be converting to an ‘employee owned’ company. This means that instead of me being sole owner, everyone in the business will have a stake. A week or two ago Keely, our Chartered Financial Planner, and I were sitting in the car, and she said “Steve, you work too hard; please don’t have a heart attack or stroke”. Which was nice! But she’s right! I don’t want to! And becoming employee owned is essentially part of my ‘health plan’. It doesn’t mean I am leaving, just that I will have less responsibility and all the capable people at Lucent get to help steer the ship!
For those not in the know, financial advice company owners exit plan is either:
- Die / Get sick– generally unplanned! - Bad for me, bad for you, bad for our colleagues
- Sell to a ‘consolidator’ – there is a lot of private equity money that hoovers up financial advice firms and as a general rule: changes the investments; strips out the expensive personal service side (e.g. our events) and fires a large proportion of the staff. - Great for me, bad for you, bad for our colleagues
Going employee owned is:
- Great for you – you get continuity of advice proposition with the people that have helped build it, understand it and are bought into continuing to deliver it.
- Great for our colleagues – they get to implement their own ideas, take the business to greater heights with our CHANGE values as guidance.
- Good for me - I won’t get some plank as a ‘boss’ telling me what to do because I’ve took their money. This is uber important for me. Take the harder path… do it better anyway.
Legacy
Going back to how I began this article; walking through the town I grew up in and thinking of the people that used to inhabit it, I know that some people I have helped massively. Clients whom I’ve enabled to feel a bit better about life and do more of the things they love. People in my team that’s I’ve trained to become great financial planners so they can help people with their lives. I want to carry on doing this for a good while yet. But also, the characters and the people in the background, the family of clients and staff I’ve helped but they don’t know! They were acting in their own play, but we have been able to influence, and they don’t know me or Lucent.
I didn’t know most of them, and they were not my audience. They were in someone’s else’s play, or another’s cheer leader. They are uninterested bystanders to Lucent but, hopefully, our influence, delivered by other people will help them too. Some of our audience have been massive cheerleaders for us (the odd threw a rotten cabbage!) and we see and hear you and are grateful for it. This is why we have built and are continuing to build a loving community of people to carry this on…
That’s what I want my legacy to be… better when I’ve left than how I found it. What’s yours?
