About Us
YOUR RETIREMENT STRATEGIES
You are now looking forward to, or planning for, your retirement in the near future. You may already be retired, or have early retirement in mind. You know your needs but you are uncertain who can cater for them in the best way possible for both the short and long term. After all if you had a specific health problem you would be sent to a specialist rather than allow your GP to treat you. So if you have a specific retirement planning problem why not seek out a specialist – like us.
ABOUT MARTIN COOPER – PERSONAL
I have been privileged to represent my country at Rugby Union. On leaving school to do articles with a firm of Chartered Accountants, I spent a year watching Wolves ( soccer) but when they were relegated, I decided enough was enough and decided to join my local rugby club, Wolverhampton. I played for them for four years, then achieved, by playing for my county of birth, Staffordshire, to play in an England trial which then persuaded me to join the top class team in the area, Moseley. To my great astonishment, ( I had never played any representative rugby before then) the following year I was picked to play for England. Within another six months, I had played in the first England side to beat the All Blacks in New Zealand ( Martin Johnson’s side was the second!)and scored the winning try against Ireland in 1977. I played against (and lost) the great Welsh sides of that era and earned 11 caps in total. Eleven more than I ever dreamed about. I now live in Worcester with my wife as empty nesters. We have two grown up sons, one of whom is doing a doctorate at Sussex University, and the other is completing his degree before going back to the navy full time as an officer. My spare time is spent watching rugby, playing social golf and enjoying lazy Sundays!
ABOUT MARTIN COOPER - BUSINESS
For over 40 years I have worked in the Financial Services World – all my working life – in which time I have gained something which can never be taught or bought – experience. I trained to become a Chartered Accountant and gained many years practical experience in both the profession and industry. I then worked for a leading Building Society before setting up in private practice in 1986. During my time with the Building Society I was seconded away for one year to work for the Government on a financial institution task force, under the auspices of the then Secretary of State for the Environment, Michael Heseltine, which he set up to try and get pension funds, banks, Building Societies and Insurance companies more involved in our inner cities. We travelled to USA and Germany to see how they were trying to resolve the problems. It is interesting to see how successive governments have adopted similar strategies.
My business objectives are very simple – I work on behalf of my clients to increase their retirement income, to create and retain wealth in the most tax efficient way, and to ensure their families benefit from their prudence.
The Financial Services industry has rationalised considerably over the last few years. Not only have providers had to innovate and offer cheaper more transparent contacts, but also financial advisors have had to become more professional, adopting business models which meet both the increased regulatory requirements and the ever changing needs of clients. I made a conscious decision a few years ago to reduce the number of clients I service whilst at the same time specialise in those areas where I can continue to provide impartial and informed advice in the most professional way possible.
To ensure I offer a service you would expect I have a small support team of two administrators plus David Garrett who has over 30 years experience as an IFA providing excellent research, sales and administrational support. In this continually changing industry what will not change is a clients need for two things – quality advice and honest advice.