Jane Smith Financial Planning’s “Year in Review” – Your latest team update

It’s been a busy year here at Jane Smith Financial Planning, with new starters and leavers, exam successes, and awards.

As 2023 draws to a close, we’re keen not to stand still and are looking ahead to our plans for 2024.

Here, in your Jane Smith 2023 “Year in Review”, read your wrap-up of the year, with everything you need to know about the business now, and into the new year.

Hello, Goodbye

In the year that the Beatles released their final single (some 50-plus years after splitting up), 2023 also saw some comings and goings in the team.

We welcomed Thomas to the Jane Smith family, while our technical specialist, Clare Lehman, has said goodbye. Clare left on maternity leave and had her second baby back in December 2022. For the moment, she’s decided to concentrate on being a Mummy and won’t be returning to work with us. We wish her and her family all the best.

We’re currently recruiting for a part-time paraplanner to fill Clare’s empty seat and take us back up to full capacity.

Exam success, award wins, and a 9th consecutive year as a Top-100 firm

The 95th annual Academy Awards ceremony might have been overshadowed by that Will Smith moment but accolades rolled into Jane Smith HQ in 2023, thankfully free of any such drama.

Not only did we have our Chartered and Accredited Financial Planning firm status renewed, but Nicola also received ISO re-accreditation. Read what our Chartered and Accredited status means for you in this blog from August.

Elsewhere in the team, Roxanne became the first-ever winner of the CII Apprentice of the Year Award after receiving a distinction. Sadly, Roxanne was unable to attend the ceremony, but all the Jane Smith Team are very proud of her, and we’re sure you’ll join us in wishing her a huge congratulations.

Trainee financial adviser Thomas continued his journey to Chartered status on his development roadmap to becoming an adviser, passing his J10 exam. He has gone straight on to study for his J09 and has more exams planned for 2024.

Many of you will already have met Thomas. For those of you who haven’t, you can read more about him in our April team update: Meet Thomas article, and you can expect to see more of him in 2024 as he becomes more involved in meetings.

We’re also delighted to announce that Jane Smith Financial Planning made it onto New Model Adviser’s Top 100 firms for the ninth year in a row. This is a huge achievement, a testament to our hard work, but also great news for you as our clients.

Finally, Jane Smith is also a VouchedFor Top Adviser for 2023. This acknowledgement is based solely on clients’ feedback, so a huge thank you to all of you who took the time to leave a review and record your experience with us.

Our Christmas social is a roaring success

On Thursday 7 December, the Jane Smith planning team and around 30 clients descended on The Swan Inn & Bistro in Olney for drinks and canapes.

It was a great opportunity for the Jane Smith team and our clients to meet in a social environment.

Looking ahead to 2024

As financial experts and forecasters look to the new year, we’re looking ahead at Jane Smith too.

Pre-covid, we enjoyed some hugely successful client events. We hope that this month’s Christmas get-together will signal the reinstatement of these events and we’ll look to get these scheduled early in the new year.

We’re also undertaking lots of work behind the scenes to improve and streamline processes. We’re playing our cards close to our chest on this now, but we’ll announce more news in the new year, as we have it, and we expect the changes to make things easier for the Jane Smith team and you, our valued clients.

Stay tuned for more news but for now, have a great Christmas, and see you all in the new year!

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