RICHARD AND SARA’s story

I’ve been friends with Jimmie and his wife for years, having gone to university with them, but we approached Jimmie for advice on our finances because we trust him. He clearly has a way with people, and a way of describing financial things that even idiots can understand!

The reason we went to see him was that we were expecting our first child and wanted to make sure that everything was in order, and that we were planning ahead in the right way.

We suspected our finances were a little bit all over the place – there are so many things you have to consider, especially if you’ve got mortgages and jobs. We had plans to buy a new property and put some savings away, but we needed help putting all the different components together so we could achieve what we wanted. 

Since then things have changed - we have another child on the way now, and we’re in the process of receiving an inheritance. So we’ve been speaking to Jimmie again to find out how best to manage that, and to make sure we on track with everything else, which we are. JJFS helped us to update our plans and consider any other relevant options.

Support for the extended family

JJFS is also providing advise to my wife’s parents and her grandma, as well as my parents. 

My parents both retired and they had concerns about whether they would have to work in retirement. Jimmie has arranged their finances so that they don’t have to work at all, which they’re very happy about!

With my parents-in-law, the issue was around helping them to manage their funds a bit better. My wife’s grandpa passed away and managing that estate was quite difficult because of the way he’d managed his finances. Without a financial adviser, his money was all over the place and took a while to get aligned, but Jimmie and the team were very helpful. 

There are definite crossovers in both these situations, where some of the information we share could be sensitive, but the team are professional and don’tdivulge anything unless they have permission to do so. It’s similar to a doctor and patient relationship: everything is completely confidential.

A financial counsellor

I see Jimmie as a financial counsellor more than anything else because he doesn’t make assumptions for people, he encourages them to find solutions themselves by asking the right questions. Sometimes this can be emotional – for example, if you’re discussing inheritance issues – but he’s extremely good at teasing out the right information.

The caring approach that both Jimmie and John have runs through the business. They have a way of treating people like people and not seeing them for their money. 

That human interaction is really important. I could go online and Google ‘help with my finances’ 1,000 times and it would give me 1,000 different responses. There are so many blog posts and financial companies, but which one do you trust? It comes down to knowing someone and trusting them to make the right decisions.

I see JJFS as a team of very trustworthy people who are personal and friendly. They’re there for you when you need them. If there’s anything you want to ask or chat through, they’ll always make time to do it.