JM FINN Review
Name: JM FINN
Description: JM FINN won our award for best wealth manager in 2023, 2022 and 2021. JM FINN offer a high quality, personalised investment management service that aims to meet the individual demands of today’s private and professional investors.
Summary
JM FINN offer a high-quality, personalised investment management service that aims to meet the individual demands of today’s private and professional investors.
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Pricing
(4.5)
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Market Access
(4.5)
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Online Platform
(4.5)
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Customer Service
(4.5)
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Research & Analysis
(4.5)
Overall
4.5Awards
JM FINN has won our award for best wealth manager in 2023, 2022 and 2021.
Richard’s Review
I’d just sat got home from interviewing Steven Sussman, the JM Finn CEO when I realsied the more wealth management firms I talk to the more I realize that I have been completely fiscally irresponsible my whole life.
I put that mainly down to me perhaps having a slightly higher appetite for risk than others. But mainly I shall blame everyone else.
When I was 21 I was given some money. Not a huge amount, but enough to invest rather than keep in the bank. I remember my parents handing me the cheque on my birthday and saying something along the lines of not placing it up a wall at uni.
That was the extent of my financial education. So off I tottled to Lloyds Bank on Putney High Street. The advisor (who wasn’t much older than me) was suggesting a mix of local, emerging and global markets, but to be honest, I couldn’t have been less interested in what he was talking about.
There was some discussion about past performance percentages and I’d done some rough calculations in my head that when I reached 25 (and could get insured) it may have grown enough to buy a moderate sports car. I recall not really understanding what Scottish Widows investment I was actually in. But it was generally linked to the FTSE 100 performance, as well as a few foreign markets.
I was 21 in November 2000, the FTSE was trading around 6,400. Happy in the knowledge that my investment would perform as before, I went to start a career in New York on the NYMEX Crude oil trading floor. It was a wonderful experience but heavily focused on intra-day trading and inter-month/asset arbitrage. You were always flat at the end of the day. A type of trading I learned to love, and still do, although with increased market efficiencies it doesn’t really exist nowadays.
However, when the market crashed the following summer after I was back for my second internship, I was transferred to the London IPE Brent oil floor, by now the FTSE was approaching 4,000. Taking an initial loss of around 40% on an investment that was supposed to be relatively safe seemed insane. So “sod this”, I thought, took the hit and decided to spend the next few years trading on my own ideas pursuing a career in the stock and derivatives markets.
The rest, as they say, is history, the markets rose, The World did not end, it would have all been alright in the end.
I wish back then I’d been introduced to financial planning earlier. I wish I’d had someone to talk to and bounce ideas off. Explained the differences between short, medium and long term risk. Of how dips in the market for long term investing are not necessarily a bad thing.
Wealth management services and education are more available than ever nowadays. But it’s still not being pushed in schools, which is arguably when it is most important. Innovative digital platforms are providing instant access (and gratification) to longer-term investment products. Which is great, everyone should start saving and investing as soon as possible.
But I still think there is a danger in not actually having anyone to explain it to you. Of having the ability to ask questions. For someone who’s been involved in the markets for decades to say that the market has crashed before, it will crash again, and this is what you should do about it.
So, are digital platforms the right place for the younger generations to place their money and trust in? Or should they still be looking to the traditional wealth manager for advice and investment management services?
I think it’s a combination of both.
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Richard is the founder of the Good Money Guide (formerly Good Broker Guide), one of the original investment comparison sites established in 2015. With a career spanning two decades as a broker, he brings extensive expertise and knowledge to the financial landscape.
Having worked as a broker at Investors Intelligence and a multi-asset derivatives broker at MF Global (Man Financial), Richard has acquired substantial experience in the industry. His career began as a private client stockbroker at Walker Crips and Phillip Securities (now King and Shaxson), following internships on the NYMEX oil trading floor in New York and London IPE in 2001 and 2000.
Richard’s contributions and expertise have been recognized by respected publications such as BusinessInsider, Yahoo Finance, BusinessNews.org.uk, Master Investor, Wealth Briefing, iNews, and The FT, among many others.
Under Richard’s leadership, the Good Money Guide has evolved into a valuable destination for comprehensive information and expert guidance, specialising in trading, investment, and currency exchange. His commitment to delivering high-quality insights has solidified the Good Money Guide’s standing as a well-respected resource for both customers and industry colleagues.
