Meet Matthew

I am a Lifestyle Financial Planner and Registered Life Planner® and was recently voted among the Top 200 Independent Financial Advisers in the country. I have more than 22 years’ experience in financial services.

My approach to financial planning differs to many other financial advisers. Here’s why.

After graduating from De Montfort University with an Honours degree in Economics, I found myself gravitating towards financial services because I enjoyed the mechanics behind how it all worked.

More than that though, I discovered I really enjoyed being in front of people, finding out what they wanted to do with their lives and making sure they could achieve it.

However, the reality was different from my expectations.

I started out at a junior level with Sedgwick Noble Lowndes. Just like so many other financial planners in the profession today, I found I was expected to sell products with financial reward based on how many sales targets I met. I couldn’t develop client relationships because we had to make money, and fast. 

I didn’t enjoy it and it didn’t fit with my principles.

It was after discovering the work of George Kinder and the human side of financial planning, that I realised where my true passion for the job lay. So, I took a huge gamble and decided to leave my employment, giving up a lucrative salary along the way.

The timing could have been better as my eldest son was just born, but with the support of my amazing wife, I was able to set up Santorini Financial Planning with the goal of helping my clients to see (often for the first time) what’s truly possible in their lives. To work with them to transform how they use their money to find fulfilment and achieve ‘true wealth’.

Just before I started trading, my Dad died following a brief battle with cancer at the age of 67. He had not long retired after selling his business a few years before. On one of my daily visits to the hospital, I remember him telling me he had made some mistakes and had some regrets but overall his life has been pretty good. 

The fact that he had a pretty good life was comforting but the thoughts of regrets and some mistakes and the fact that he did not have the opportunity to enjoy his retirement stayed with me.

It inspired me. Just like the conversation with my dad, discovering what is truly important in my clients’ lives continues to inspire me today.

Since establishing The Santorini Retirement Lifestyle Programme, I have been able to help many clients achieve the future they had always dreamed of and have been voted one of the Top 200 IFAs in the country.

My main specialism is looking after owners of small family businesses, who are typically five to ten years from retirement. I help people work out their exit strategy and retirement, turning their hard-earned capital into income that won’t run out.