Tina and Garry's story

Tina

Hi, I’m Tina; this is Garry, my husband. We’ve been with Sylvan for the last three years, and we’ve worked with Adrian Edwards, who is our personal adviser.

Garry

We were with a financial adviser before Adrian, but their terms and conditions were changed in a way that we didn’t like. So, we moved over to Sylvan mainly on the recommendation of my brother-in-law, who’d had Adrian as an adviser for quite some time and was very happy with him.

Tina

We came to Sylvan looking for unbiased and impartial financial advice. We were approaching retirement, so we were looking for guidance on how to deal with our pensions. We had some properties that we inherited, and we wanted to think about the future of those properties. Also, the most advantageous tax advice was another thing that we wanted as well. Sylvan managed to satisfy all those requirements.

Garry

In addition to the recommendations for Sylvan, we also found that when they started to look at our affairs, they had a very professional approach, gave good, solid responses to our questions, and produced a very impressive first document with various proposals for what we should think about doing.

Tina

Working with Sylvan is great because you know there’s somebody in the background who you can trust to look after your money and give you good advice. I know that Adrian is on the ball in terms of what’s coming up, how the markets are changing, all that sort of thing, so I’m really happy to leave that to him.

Garry

Since working with Adrian and Sylvan, we’ve got a lot more confidence about our financial future. We get very good feedback on what our spending and savings mean in terms of our future financial situation, so we feel a lot more comfortable about the future than we did.

Tina

The three words I’d use to describe Adrian are thorough, likeable, and trustworthy, and if you ask my brother, he will say he’s a bit of a financial nerd.

Garry

I think the best thing about working with Adrian and the team at Sylvan is that it gives me confidence that our financial affairs are in a good place and being looked after professionally.

Tina

I really like the personal service from Sylvan, and they’re concerned about doing things right. We’ve had a few questionnaires and feedback opportunities, and if I’ve commented, however trivial it is, for instance, printing double-sided instead of single-sided on their report, they have actioned that and made me feel like I am being listened to.

Garry

I think the best piece of advice, or pieces of advice that Adrian has given me, have been around my pensions as they fell due. Both in terms of when to take them and whether to take them at that time, but also help and support in the actual process, the form filling, what to expect from various pension companies, and what to do in terms of responses. So, yes, that’s definitely the most helpful area.

Tina

Yes, I would recommend Adrian and the team at Sylvan. In fact, we gave his details to our daughter, and she’s had a consultation recently. The reason being, as we’ve said before, he’s thorough, conscientious, and trustworthy. He’s a really nice guy, and he doesn’t make you feel daft.