*Published with the kind permission of the ‘Chartered Institute for Securities & Investment’ and authour Lora Benson. Published November 2012.*

Having enjoyed a distinguished 50-year career in financial services, Len Warwick is still relishing new challenges.

He has achieved his ambition to publish a novel, ‘The Unspoken’, which is set in Ireland over a period of eight decades. Len says: “I’ve written for many financial and business publications over more than 30 years, including my first book, ‘Making a Difference’, which was a personalised view of the life-assurance industry. However, for some time I had wanted to write a novel.”

He tapped into his personal passions as inspiration for the book – a love of Ireland and its history and delving into the Irish roots of both himself and his wife, Rosaline.

Four generations ago, Len’s ancestors lived in Ireland before moving to north-east England. Rosaline’s parents were from Cork and Westmeath. “While the story is entirely fictional, it does draw on real-life people for some of the characters, on locations with which I am familiar from our frequent visits, particularly West Cork, and on the country’s history from its civil war to the present day.”

The book is based on the cause and repercussions of the shooting of two brothers outside their farmhouse in 1922. Len says: “It reveals how the secrets of the past play on to the future. It is about deception caused by silence and how a failure to speak spoils relationships.”

He spent three years researching and writing the novel, mainly early in the morning or late at night. He says: “I might scribble down some ideas on a train journey. Sometimes, rarely, I found I could not write at all. I felt I had come to a dead end and, on those occasions, I just walked away from it for another day.

“I learned that whatever I wrote could be improved upon,” he continues. “It was not unknown for me to be constantly editing, rewriting or moving whole sections into another part of the book. There has to come a point when you say ‘enough is enough’, and ‘this is it’. I shudder to think what it must have been like when Dickens wrote everything by hand. Thank goodness for ‘cut and paste’!”

The golden rule that Len followed throughout the process, he says, was: “never interrupt or interfere with the day job.” That job is Chairman and Compliance Director at Warwick Butchart Associates, a firm of independent investment and financial advisers in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, that he founded in 1981.

He has been at the forefront of key developments within the financial services industry. Between 1989 and 1996, he was a director of the Securities and Investments Board (SIB), a precursor to the FSA. In 1996, he was awarded a CBE in the Queen’s birthday honours for services to financial regulation.

In more recent times, Len was a founder director of the Association of Independent Financial Advisers. He says: “I’m pleased with how my book turned out and have received some very complimentary comments on my website from people who have read it.

“I would like to publish another novel and have got a couple of ideas, including for a sequel to The Unspoken. I also have a great passion for football and the history of the game, and have been told that I should use my knowledge to produce a book.”

*Published with the kind permission of ‘The Professional’. Published July 2012.*

Usually the subject for an article is prompted by a theme for the magazine or the writer’s wish to share a particular idea. This time it was dictated to me by a whole series of events that occurred within just four weeks of each other. Let me tell you about this period towards the end of April and beginning of May.

I’ll start with two LIA stalwarts who called me within 48 hours of each other on totally unrelated matters. Denis Baker is a former President of the LIA who has done so much for all LIA members who have stood on the shoulders of the early pioneers who formed our great Association 40 years ago. Now in his eighties he continues to inspire and is still working for an Independent Financial Advisers in London. His role these days is to help “advisers in the team” develop their professional connections. Can you imagine what it must be like for younger (aren’t they all?!) advisers to have such a knowledgeable, personable, and experienced professional alongside them as they form connections and develop their careers?

If you ever attended LIA Conventions in the UK you will know Jim Lawson – otherwise known as “Butterscotch Jim” due to the ice breaker he always carried with him, a slim tin of butterscotch. The first time I was offered it I cracked a joke about being warned not to accept sweets from strangers. Jim is also in his eighties, still working as an Adviser and specializing in charitable giving through life assurance. A fine example of much that is good in our business, quietly, without fanfares.

We all know that good news goes unheralded whilst bad news sells fast. Jim Lawson and Denis Baker are good news.

I went to a Conference in that same period and heard Dave Heeley speak. Who is he? Actually he calls himself “Blind Dave Heeley” because that is what he has been for many years. His story was inspiring and humbling and one particular period in his life was completely enthralling.

He says the realisation of a declining eye problem was devastating at the age of seventeen with a career in the army over. With his friends driving cars or taking their tests he realised the implications of going blind. He admits to feeling sorry for himself but in life there are two paths to tread, negative or positive and he made the decision to take the positive route.

He describes himself as up for most challenges and he has certainly attempted many activities – ski-ing, water ski-ing, horse riding, cliff jumping, driving around Brands Hatch, riding motor bikes, driving a tank in the Highlands of Scotland, abseiling,  but he really enjoys running. He competes in the Great North run along with the New York marathon and many London marathons. The ultimate challenge, however, in so many challenges in his life was completing seven marathons in seven days on seven continents! The first and only blind person in the world to achieve this.

After completing this epic challenge, which took him on a running journey around the world beginning on 7th April 2008 in the Falkland Islands (Antarctica), Rio, Brazil, (South America), Los Angeles, (North America), Sydney, (Australasia), Dubai, (Asia), Tunisia, (Africa), and ending with the Flora London marathon, (Europe), on 13th April 2008.

He has had numerous national awards for his sporting efforts and personal example but these efforts have also raised hundreds of thousands of pounds for guide dog and cancer charities amongst many.

Marathons are about preparation, endurance, and enthusiasm so it is fitting I recall, for my penultimate reminiscence of “four weeks and a message”, the widely reported end to Claire Lomas’ efforts in this year’s London Marathon. It took her sixteen days to complete a route that amateur competitors would complete in a few hours. You see Claire Lomas, from Leicestershire, did not do it the easy way. The obstacle for her was that in 2007 she had become paralysed from the chest down in a fall from her horse. This 32 year old mum, supported by her husband, Dan, her mother and daughter finished the London Marathon and was the first person to compete wearing a bionic suit to help her walk. She raised around £90,000 for Spinal Research.

Members of the Household Cavalry gave her a guard of honour. One of the soldiers said: “Claire has done an amazing thing. I’m used to encouraging our Troopers when I’m teaching them to ride but I feel that if I’d tried my kind of encouragement with someone as strong as Claire, she wouldn’t have batted an eyelid.”

All these people have great enthusiasm for what they do and life in general. Then there is the late Sir Bobby Robson. Regular readers of these columns will know that football is a passion and Newcastle United runs through my veins like it did for my Geordie father and grandfather before me. Despite the changes in players’ incomes and lifestyles, the televising of our great game, and the extensive media interest and even intrusion, Bobby Robson adapted to the changes, was true to his roots and was as passionate about the game and his home town club in his seventies as he was in his teens. Ordinary fan like me or experienced international or wealthy club owners or the tea lady all can tell of his enthusiasm and his willingness to give his time. His last club job was with the club he supported as a boy and in the last few days a statue has been unveiled at St James’ Park as a permanent memory of a most popular man. At different stages in his life he survived cancer. He set up the Sir Bobby Robson Foundation to raise money for cancer research. So far more than £4.5m has been given. A remarkable man – and what was so remarkable? A lifetime of enthusiasm, a people person. Knowledgeable and experienced and hugely successful but he was warmly admired not so much for his ability, ability many others have, but for giving people his time and sharing his love of life.

Now, at this stage of reading about my four weeks you may be wondering what the message is – that after all is in the title of this particular article. It is this – there is much negativity about but we should always remember that there is much good news about real people. Whilst we can read of wars, insurrection, unsocial behaviour, the private lives of stars, testing economic and political conditions there is so much good news about the good in people and we do not always give it adequate recognition.

Oh, the message – the stories I have recounted of all these people tell me that there is nothing that can dissuade those with enthusiasm. Enthusiasm has the ability to motivate those around us, transforming how they feel about us and, importantly, how they feel about themselves.

Golfers, tennis players, snooker professionals, footballers, actors, singers, politicians, advisers, managers, businessmen and women can all be good at their jobs, and have good days, but enthusiasm sets the great apart.

It is what managers told us was “a positive mental attitude”. Norman Vincent Peale, a church minister and author, who wrote the book “The power of positive thinking”, which many of us have read, said “Those who are fired with an enthusiastic idea and who allow it to take hold and dominate their thoughts find that new worlds open for them. As long as enthusiasm holds out, so will new opportunities.”

Conrad Hilton said “Enthusiasm is a vital element toward the individual success of every man or woman.”

Real life changing enthusiasm is more than that. Positive attitudes are, of course, certainly not negative but they do not sufficiently imply consideration of others. I was once told that there are two kinds of people – those who give strength and those who sap it”. I thought that was too simplistic, too black and white, and that there was grey there somewhere.

I think the people I have reviewed here in my four week journey are givers of strength because of their consideration for others, giving time for others, taking others with you and, yes, having fun. Enthusiasm is a good quality because it is shared. Founder of Microsoft, Bill Gates, once said “What I do best is share my enthusiasm.”   I like that – and that message is positive.

*Published with the kind permission of the LIA’s ‘The Professional’ magazine*

In recent times I have thought about change in our special business. In some of my articles I have brought the subject  to the fore because, approaching my fiftieth year in financial services, I have witnessed many changes and how we deal with them seems to me to be key.

In so many years I have also had the chance to make many mistakes in handling change. Like many of you I have not always accepted the inevitability of change and the challenge to the way I have done things. It is often said that people do not like change. I have wished for what I perceive to be better times, better processes, better delivery but “wishing” and “shoulding” (“I wish I’d done that”, “We should have done that”) never got anyone anywhere. We have to accept where we are or if we think we have better ways use our influence to change the change. Advisers do have influence but they do not always use it.

We have seen, and will continue to see, enormous changes in the way I.T. develops our capability, regulation shapes our products and services, and through the LIA and other organizations we will continue to share best practice and make changes as a result. There is hardly a single aspect of our work processes that has not changed in the last ten years. There will be many changes in the next ten years we may not envisage now.

Consumers’ attitudes have changed too. How they obtain information has been revolutionized through I.T. Ten years ago the internet did not have the capability it has now to provide information. Google is a new word in our language and Facebook and Twitter are popular means of communication. We can Blog, we can  text, and we can access emails through our IPhone or Blackberry. We can buy goods and services 24/7. All of these changes are available to us to communicate information better, and more frequently, to our clients and professional connections.

However it has to be stressed that our consumers needs of us have not changed. Some consumers will indeed now use the internet to research their intended product purchases – including financial services products. My experience is that many consumers, if not most, want a “high touch” service rather than a “high tech” one. They want the reassurance which a one-to-one relationship provides – fact-finding, research, suitable and relevant advice, regular reviews, answering questions and so on.

One-to-one relationships need two people to make them work. The requirements for an adviser have not changed – knowledge, skills, empathy, integrity but how we acquire this competence has been enshrined in minimum regulatory requirements and in turn has influenced our processes and standards of service.

I fear the resistance to change, intransigence, and failure to adjust more than the concept of change itself. Change happens whatever our walk of life. Progress to this current generation’s acceptance of the normal things of life began with change. My long since departed grandfather used to tell me that a man from his Tyneside town used to tell him “Tommy, one day we’ll press a button on the wall and there will be light.” If you are only used to candles that must have seemed like an extraordinary claim and Tommy Warwick may well have questioned his friend’s sanity as my generation would have done when space travel was a thing for the comic strips.  I have often wondered what Grandad Warwick would make of my car with a radio and a hands-free phone. In my more serious moments I also wonder what he would make of heart, knee and hip replacement surgery and the claims that smoking causes lung cancer.

Change is around us and, in my view, is mostly, but not entirely for the better. Change requires, it seems to me, many personal qualities. In South Africa, where 80% of the population were, in every way, treated appallingly I would submit that amazing change was achieved through courage, leadership and quite amazing dignity. We can all draw inspiration from it.

As I write this article South Africa and the world in general is celebrating the 20^th Anniversary of the release of Nelson Mandela from 27 years in prison under the country’s then apartheid regime. A milestone for sure and an acknowledgement of how far South Africa has come as well as recognising the courage of men like Mandela, Sisulu and others. Those of us who have seen the film “Invictus” or read John Carlin’s even better book on which the film is based, “Playing the enemy”, will recognize not just the courage but the dignity with which their victory was achieved. South Africa became a country for all its peoples.

My wife and I visited South Africa seven years ago. The visit to Mandela’s former cell on Robben Island is full of memories and a source of considerable inspiration.

Is any of this relevant to us? I believe it is if only to emphasise that nothing is impossible. If it was we would not have the telephone, television, air travel, and we would not have landed a man on the moon. Previous generations might not have imagined the UK would have had a woman Prime Minister and that South Africa, let alone the United States, would have a black President.

In the UK at this point in time the regulatory initiatives are coming at us thick and fast, mainly aimed at change, or upheaval, from 2012 depending on your point of view.

Amongst the proposals are higher qualifications for new advisers, re-qualification of existing advisers, considerable increases in capital adequacy and a move away from commission to client agreed remuneration  – which can be paid by fee or by deduction from the product. The amount however is set by agreement with the client not set by the product provider.

Polls of advisers indicate that, for some, these are steps too far. It has been interesting to study the attitude of advisers towards the Consultative Papers, evidenced in the letters pages of our trade press, and the discussions at meetings, seminars and roadshows.

I have concluded that some advisers hope it is all going to go away, some think it is all going to go away, some consider it is all good news and some believe the end of the world is nigh!

Regrettably, and this is an important message in this article, a few are so pre-occupied with the present that the future appears to be of little concern. They have an over-laden desk, and a full briefcase of work. They are just not yet engaged in the personal and business changes they will have to make. In the meanwhile their clients are getting undivided attention (which obviously is good) but mighty soon the focus simply has to include our own business planning – as well as deal with today’s demands. After all thinking of the future is what we do for a living, isn’t it

A personal hobby horse, if you’ll allow me, is that advisers can often see better ways of doing things than those proposed by regulators, professional bodies, trade associations and product providers. An adviser is the person who day in and day out has more contact with consumers in their homes and places of work or in the adviser’s office. Advisers are therefore in an excellent position to comment on proposed regulation or changes in practice. The level of response from practitioners in the UK is very low indicating they are very busy, they are apathetic, or they feel they won’t be listened to. If it is the latter I believe it to be wrong. No one closes their mind to a well structured case. No one, however, is interested in criticism of the “It’s all nonsense” variety. It was said that Margaret Thatcher used to say of one of her Ministers, Lord (David) Young “Everyone else brings me problems, David brings me solutions.”

Nelson Mandela was inspired, during his struggles and imprisonment, through a fine poem by William Henley entitled “Invictus” which has the closing lines:

I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.

I guess that is the final thought for us to dwell upon.

I attended the New Writers UK two day event in Nottingham on the 15th and 16th of October along with my daughter Bernadette Roisin.

www.newwritersuk.co.uk

Apart from attending useful workshops, we had a stand along with other authors whose books were on a variety of topics. Amongst the authors were the best selling novelist Helen Hollick www.helenhollick.net and poet Anita McNamee www.anitamcnamee.com.

Of particular interest on our stand was ‘The Unspoken’. Amongst our customers was Councillor Keith Walker, who is currently the Vice Chairman of Nottinghamshire County Council. We enjoyed spending time talking to him and his wife, as you can see.

*Published with the kind permission of the LIA’s ‘The Professional’ magazine*

LEN WARWICK CBE, ALIA(dip)

I once read of a successful football manager who arrived at a new club and got his players together. He told them “It’s not my role in life to make you happy. It is to make you successful and then we’ll both be happy.”

It struck a chord with me at the time because the sentiments seemed relevant whether managing footballers, financial services staff or ourselves. This article is an attempt to put the many changes we are experiencing in our profession as a result of regulation, I.T. and global issues into perspective. Recalling Lawrie McMenemy’s team talk to his new Southampton players I wonder what more lessons we financial advisers might learn from the beautiful game.

In 1963 I was at Stamford Bridge and saw the incomparable 17 year old George Best, in one of his very first games, terrorize Chelsea’s Ken Shellito (the England right back) and then switch wings to take on Scotland’s left back, Eddie McCreadie – certainly not a player to take only the ball if he could take the player too!

Until the 90s football was a tougher, more physical game. Every team had players who could play and players who could make it more difficult for the maestros to perform.

I was fortunate to develop a lifetime’s passion for the game in the early 50s when tackled players, who ended up on the ground, simply picked themselves up and never let their opponents know they had been hurt. We now have the ritualistic rolling around in agony until the referee has awarded the free-kick, penalty and red card.

Over the years I was impressed with rugged defensive play, skilled midfielders and strikers who could look after themselves.

Every club had its hard men. Arsenal’s Tommy Docherty and Peter Storey, Chelsea’s Stan Willemse, Stan Crowther and Ron Harris, Newcastle’s Jimmy Scoular, John McNamee and John McGrath. Then there was Dave Mackay and Maurice Norman at Spurs, Fulham’s Derek Lampe and Bobby Keetch, Manchester United’s Nobby Stiles and Maurice Setters. Leeds had a few – Norman Hunter, Jack Charlton, Billy Bremner, Bobby Collins and Johnny Giles. Everton had Jimmy Gabriel, George Heslop and a wonderful midfielder Roy Vernon who was no pansy. Kenny Burns of Nottingham Forest was strong and skilful. Liverpool had Tommy Smith, Graeme Souness and Ron Yeates. Wolves had a few – notably the appropriately named Eddie Clamp. There are many more.

Each team had classy midfielders gifted at prizing open such defences with skills and defence splitting passes. None was better than England’s captain Johnny Haynes but Burnley had Jimmy McIlroy, Newcastle had Ivor Allchurch, George Eastham, Tony Green and Dave Hilley. There was John White, Danny Blanchflower, and Glenn Hoddle at Spurs, Jimmy Bloomfield, Liam Brady (Arsenal), Peter Broadbent (Wolves), Neil Young (Manchester City), Alan Ball, Colin Harvey and Howard Kendall (Everton).

Was the game better? I don’t know but I do know it was different. The ball was heavier. The pitches were muddier. The referees ruled with personal authority and never forgot that crowds came to see the players – not them.

What I also know is that anyone who could take the ball towards a harder than nails defender and with a jink of his shoulders and a move in either direction was very special and unique – it is an easier life for creative players today. Remember the shoulder charge and the sliding tackle? To be perfectly balanced, moving gracefully over a pitch with a defender breathing down your neck determined to upend you or, yes, hurt you was what made George Best the greatest of them all. Some modern day “geniuses” will fall over even when not touched!

For those of us who saw the likes of Stan Matthews, Duncan Edwards, Jackie Milburn, Jimmy Greaves, Bobby Moore, Johnny Haynes, Bobby Charlton, Denis Law, and the truly great George Best we can tell you that these were stars in an age when robust tackles won the ball – not prissy interceptions.

With George Best there was a sense of anticipation in the crowd when he latched on to the ball. Many defenders tried to chop him down but he conquered them all with wholesome ability.

So what on earth has this to do with the business in which we earn our living? The point I am trying to make is that nothing stands still. Nothing is as it was. The older we are the more nostalgic we become. Our fathers were the same. Nostalgia can glamorise the past. Isn’t it true that we only remember the sunny days in our childhood?

Time moves on and change happens. Some features of change may be better. Some worse. But we should look at the whole package in the environment we live in – now.

In football some of us have been fortunate enough to see the best and the worst features over many years. The game is different now than it was but it is still football. Some will point, as I have done, to improvements in the 21st Century – more attacking football, better pitches and stadia. We can also point to worse behaviour of players and, in some cases, of fans. There will be pluses and minuses over the years. But it is still the great game of football.

In financial services we have seen the development of products, an improvement in consumer protection and a higher quality of adviser but just as football is different, and yet the same, so is financial services. The object of the game of football is still putting the ball in the back of the net. The objective of our jobs is to provide money when it is needed most and that has not changed since the introduction of simple burial policies centuries ago.

This draws me to some conclusions because we must be careful not to lose sight of the job we do, and how we earn our living, as we adapt to the changes caused by I.T., regulation, and responses to consumer demand.

We have better processes than ever. Better fact-finding, research, analysis, and report writing but none of it is any good if our own particular ball is not put in the back of the net. We still have to ensure that solutions to financial problems and opportunities we have in our locker are taken up by those who can benefit.

It is a different job than it was because the “approach play”, the “midfield” is better equipped and more skilful but, remember, the score still does not change without “the ball crossing the line”.

To be the best we can be we will associate with the best, learn from the best and attend frequent training from the LIA Workshops and elsewhere. If we specialise we may want a specialist qualification. If we wish to be an holistic financial planner the Certified Financial Planner (CFP) will surely be the target we aim for.

The LIA in Ireland has long established its place as an organisation striving to help its members seek the pinnacle of professionalism in what they know, what they do and what they are. They have done that in an industry which has seen constant change.

Just as I watched a 17 year old kid perform at the highest level in very different conditions to the modern day so we, in financial services, have to recognise what is changing around us and adapt to it. I am sure that when managers like Sir Alex Ferguson, Sir Bobby Robson, and Harry Redknapp, who have a few miles on the clock themselves, are talking to youngsters starting out in the game they don’t harp on about the old days of muddy pitches, heavy footballs, boots with hard toe caps, and the hard tacklers of yesteryear. I suspect they concentrate on what has not changed.

With us no amount of I.T., regulation, business stationery, plush offices, and smart suits is of value if a widow can point to our business card, a financial planning report and illustrations only to discover her husband had not been persuaded to put our recommendation in force. The ball has to be put in the back of the net. It was ever thus.

From time to time it makes sense to consider what will make us more successful. Thinking about what the job is might not be a bad start.

President LIA UK and Republic of Ireland 1988/89,
Honorary Life Member LIA Ireland
Chairman, Warwick Butchart Associates Ltd., Cheltenham

I will be updating this soon…….