Fred & Heather

Fred:

My name is Fred, and this is my wife, Heather. We have been working with Platinum for the last nine plus years and our adviser is Jonathan Scott. We got in touch with Platinum on my retirement, basically, we’d been away working in South Africa for two years and when we came back, we had assets in different places and we decided it was really time to settle down, get them all together, and make a plan for the future.

Heather:

I wouldn’t say that we were financially as astute as possibly we should have been and we felt that by going to a company that would be able to give us sound advice, we would be able to pull the different aspects of our finances together and make it as tax efficient as possible.

Fred:

We initially heard about Platinum because we went looking for people, or firms, and we chatted to a few friends. The Platinum office was very close to us and we replied to an advertisement and then had the initial interview with Jonathan, which really sort of set the base for the whole move forward.

Heather:

I think having met Jonathan we felt that we could trust him, and that he would give us sound advice.

Fred:

Recently, they have helped us organise a couple of big events over the last five years, in terms of anniversaries and not being shy in advising us to go and do it, to be quite honest. Obviously, they sourced the funds for us from our savings. That’s been comforting because you feel that they wouldn’t do that, if they thought you were going to leave yourself short.

To be working with Platinum, I think if you were looking for one word it would be confidence to go forward, financial confidence to go forward. Knowing that if things were getting out of hand, Jonathan would tap me on the shoulder and say slow down. So, I think that’s the safeguard because I wouldn’t have had that experience. I may have been slightly tighter than Heather would have been, so Jonathan has given us the courage to move forward and enjoy yourselves.

Heather:

If we haven’t sorted things through Platinum, Fred would be agonising over reading things in newspapers, talking to friends, and maybe jumping from one thing to the other, and still not having the confidence. Whereas I feel we’ve dealt with our finances, we’ve put it in a box with Platinum, and we have that confidence, so we don’t need to agonise over it anymore.

Fred:

The best piece of advice is, I think, to use the money you have and to use it wisely, but not to try and get such a big nest-egg that it’s too late to do anything with.

The best thing about working with Platinum is convenience, trust, and getting to know the person that you’re dealing with. I think that confidence comes through in giving you the ability to work with them comfortably, believing that the advice you’re getting from them is sound, as it should be professionally, but also suitable, tailored to your own needs or what your aspirations are.

Heather:

Three words I would use to describe Platinum are confidence, security, and hope for the future.

Fred:

I would recommend Platinum to others. I know there are probably bigger firms and other smaller maybe one-man firms but I think it’s the confidence that you get with Platinum and the person in Jonathan and the ability to do things with your best interests. And I think that the confidence is the overarching feeling, in one word it’s confidence.