Luke Thompson is a Norfolk-based financial adviser offering advice across East Anglia, as well as hints and tips across social media. With the Bank of England raising the interest rate to 5% today, Luke has some timely advice
I was born in Norfolk and have lived in King’s Lynn for most of my life. However, when I was younger, I did have a bit of time growing up in Birmingham.
I would say that I was probably born to work in financial services! In one way or another I have been in the industry now for 15 years and have seen a lot of changes in the way things work and the different types of regulation we have to deal with.
I started offering mortgage and protection advice back in 2017. After the Covid pandemic I decided that I wanted to branch out and complete my training to become a financial adviser and I have been offering financial advice for around 18 months now.
At the start of the Covid pandemic business was tough. No one was moving house, so applications seemed to dry up almost overnight. Then from July 2020 the housing market just exploded, and we have been busier than we had ever been. Hopefully this continues for us in the future.
I do believe that financial planning and offering financial advice is more important than ever. With the ongoing effects we are seeing from the cost-of-living crisis people need to stretch their finances as far as possible and ensure that they are getting the best possible returns on their investments.
Just because people aren’t looking to make investments it doesn’t mean we can’t help them. Looking at their mortgages and or life insurance is another way that we can help. Keep an eye out for our videos we will always try and offer hints and tips as to how you may be able to start making investments even if they are small. Workplace pensions are another area we can assist nearly everyone who is employed will pay into a workplace pension make sure that it is working in the best way for you is the most important thing.
At the moment the mortgage market is very tough. As you may have seen rates are increasing. However, hopefully this will be a short-term issue and at some point, next year, interest rates may start to drop. Although high interest rates give pain to homeowners, they do also benefit savers who have money in bank accounts interest rates for savers haven’t been this high for over fifteen years.
If I had to give one piece of financial planning advice to people, it would be ‘start today – no matter how small it may be‘. If you are young when you start making investments a small amount can add up to a much bigger amount as you get older. The benefits of compounding will help you massively the younger you start.
My main goals are to continue helping more customers and to build more working relationships with local businesses who need financial advice. In the long-term I hope to be able to expand the business further and increase the number of employees that I have.
Visit PAB Wealth Management, and follow @pabwealth on Instagram and Facebook.
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