Tees Financial Archives

Tees expands Hertfordshire operations with new office

Posted on 17 February 202529 March 2025 by Sarah O'Sullivan

Tees Law, incorporating Tees Financial Services, is excited to announce the expansion of its presence in Hertfordshire with the opening of a brand-new office. This strategic move comes in response to the growing demand for legal and financial planning services across the region.

Conveniently located near the NFU Headquarters at Hyde Hall in Buntingford, the new office offers increased space and modern facilities designed to enhance client experience. The expansion will enable Tees to bring in additional legal and financial services professionals, bolstering its capacity to serve the diverse needs of its clients. This includes a particular focus on rural and agricultural businesses, landed estate owners, and private clients.

The new premises, housed in a beautifully refurbished barn conversion, feature ample parking and multiple meeting rooms, providing a more accessible and comfortable environment for client consultations. This marks a significant upgrade from the smaller high-street facility in Royston, which will close on 14 March 2025. Tees expects to welcome clients to the new Hertfordshire office from April 2025. Clients will continue to be served in the usual way ahead of moving into the new office space, and all client communications will continue to be processed through their central administrative function at their Bishop’s Stortford office.

“This expansion reflects our commitment to meeting the evolving needs of our clients while maintaining the high standards of service that Tees is known for,” said Ashton Hunt, Group Managing Director at Tees. “Our new office represents an investment in both our team and the communities we serve.”

New address – Tees, North Herts Office, East Barn, Hyde Hall Farm, Buntingford, Herts, SG9 0RU

Tees new Senior Wealth Planner now settled and seeing clients

Posted on 14 November 202329 March 2025 by Sarah O'Sullivan

Tees Financial Ltd has recently welcomed Senior Wealth Planner David Blackman, a role with a key focus on working with the farming community – a first for the firm.

Tees has a long history of working with farming families, going back 100 years, but before now, we’ve not had a senior financial adviser on board who specialises in this area.

With over 32 years of experience in financial services, David is passionate about helping all clients through life events, with a real interest in planning tax efficiency for agricultural businesses and owners. Tees’ financial advisers work with clients to help them pass on their farm and land assets to the next generation in a well-planned and tax-efficient way. This includes taking advantage of Inheritance Tax reliefs (IHT), Business Property Relief (BPR) and Agricultural Property Relief (APR).

Part of David’s role is to help farming businesses make any necessary adjustments in investment activities and to encourage the use of Trusts and other ownership structures to ensure assets can be passed on tax-efficiently.

David is looking forward to advising more clients and said “It’s important that farming families think about putting appropriate plans in place. It can all be confusing with so many options out there, so I’m here to make sense of it all for our clients and advise on the best ways to protect assets and plan for the future. This includes help on pension and retirements too.”

David has a breadth of experience in providing finance advice to the rural community and has joined Tees after previously working for NFU Mutual – a Farmers’ Union insurance composite, so he fully understands the needs and complexities involved in agricultural land ownership and business. As a Chartered Financial Planner and a Chartered Associate of the London Institute of Banking and Finance, David is also able to advise on protecting family wealth and ensuring financial stability in the future.

“I am passionate about helping clients to achieve their goals and it’s so important to me to grow relationships with my clients by regularly reviewing financial plans, instead of just being very transactional. That’s what I love about the job.”

Our specialist financial advisers are based in several sites including Essex, Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire, but can help anyone in the UK.

If you would like to find out more about our services or speak to David directly, call our team on 080o 015 1165.

Tees Financial Academy marks 2nd year with 2 new starters

Posted on 14 November 202329 March 2025 by Sarah O'Sullivan

Last year, Tees Financial launched a new adviser academy, with an aspiration to train Financial Advisers who are new to the industry. Last August the team welcomed its very first two participants and now, a year on, we welcome two additional staff members.

The Academy is structured around a two-year apprenticeship programme which combines studying for the CII’s Diploma in Financial Advice, as well as hands on experience as a financial adviser.

New starters Ben Parkhurst and Megan Johns will be studying for their Level 4 Financial Adviser exams at the same time as shadowing the firm’s highly experienced financial advisers. The programme promises to provide Academy members with key objectives to take away from every stage and gives experience across the whole firm.

James Appleby, Managing Director of Tees Financial Ltd, said: “We’re really excited to be welcoming two additional participants to our Academy and are so proud to continue on our promise to harness and invest in the future of up-and-coming talent for financial advice.”

Ben Parkhurst from Chelmsford didn’t have a financial background before joining the Academy but did have friends who were in the industry and who had told him he could be a great fit. He originally planned on pursuing a career in engineering, “I completed an apprenticeship to become a mechanic before I came to Tees. I thought I wanted to go further in engineering, but then I changed direction and went into logistics. It was here that I realised I love client work, problem solving and talking to people.”

Ben came across Tees this summer and decided to apply for the Academy once he saw the volunteering and charity work the company get involved in, because it aligned with his personal ambitions. He plans on studying further to Level 6 once he has completed his Level 4 exams.

Another of our latest recruits Megan Johns who hails from the Bishop’s Stortford area, where the Tees headquarters are based, joined in August this year and has already completed her first exam on the Level 4 course. “At first it felt daunting to study and work at the same time, but I’m actually really enjoying it and have found it easier in a way because I get real experience in the office alongside one study day a week.”

Megan joined Tees originally as an admin adviser and although she liked the job, she became interested in The Academy at Tees Financial Ltd, once she learnt you don’t need any particular A Levels to be accepted and do well in the role. She said “I’m from the local area so I always knew about Tees but didn’t necessarily know too much about the financial side of the business until I joined. It really interests me, and I hope to progress to become a long-term member of the team once I pass all my exams!”

The Level 4 programme consists of six exams split across two years at the end of which, along with the practical work shadowing experienced advisers in the office, provides Academy members with the qualifications, knowledge and experience to take up a role as a financial adviser at the end of the term. There is also an option to continue studying to become a chartered adviser. The opportunity is open to anyone who in the words of Megan, is “hard working, willing to learn and a people person.”

The exams cover off topics such as financial services, regulation and ethics, investment principles and risk, personal taxation and financial planning in practice. The last exam comprises a written essay style format.

Last August, Tees welcomed Percy Sam – an Industrial Design graduate and Guy Pearson, who previously studied Exercise, Nutrition and Health at Nottingham Trent University.

The Academy has been a change in direction for Guy who previously trained as a personal trainer before the global pandemic. He recalls, “I joined a large advisory firm after leaving personal training, but felt I lacked support and the tools I needed to study for my Financial Adviser exams, but at Tees I have been able to get on-the-job experience as well as lots of time to learn from experienced team members.”

Both Percy and Guy are just a year away from becoming fully qualified and are advocates for others joining the Academy. Percy admitted, “The Academy wasn’t even on my radar, and I knew nothing about financial advising before joining Tees!”

“The Academy at Tees Financial Ltd offers an opportunity to become a qualified Financial Adviser in two years,” says James Appleby. “We’re looking for candidates with the right attitude and aptitude, regardless of past experience.”

The Academy at Tees Financial Ltd is committed to the rolling programme and aims to continue to recruit up to two new recruits each year. This forms part of Tees Financial Ltd’s longer-term growth strategy.

If you would like to find out more about our services or speak to a Tees financial adviser directly, call our team on 0808 159 7432, or fill out our enquiry form and we’ll be in touch.

Tees is a trading name of Tees Financial Limited which is regulated and authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority. Registered number 211314. Tees Financial Limited is registered in England and Wales. Registered number 4342506.

New academy at Tees Financial launches with first two participants

Posted on 6 November 202230 March 2025 by Sarah O'Sullivan

Tees Financial has launched a new adviser academy, to train aspiring Financial Advisers. ‘The Academy at Tees Financial Limited’ has enrolled its first two participants, who will follow a structured two-year apprenticeship programme that combines studying for the CII’s Diploma in Financial Advice, with hands on experience of the day-to-day role of a financial adviser.

As well as studying for their Level 4 Financial Adviser exams, the Academy participants will learn on the job, shadowing experienced Tees financial advisers. The programme will provide participants with key objectives to take away from every stage and gives a broad experience of the different roles across the whole of the Firm.

James Appleby, Managing Director of Tees Financial Ltd, commented “The Academy at Tees Financial Ltd is a key part of our long term growth strategy, and we’re proud to be investing in young talented individuals who represent the future of financial advice.”

People person

Percy Sam is one of the Academy’s new recruits. He studied Industrial Design at Bournemouth University, graduating with a master’s degree in 2020. Soon after, he started a full-time office role with Tees Financial Ltd in the Bishop’s Stortford office.

A self-proclaimed “people person”, it didn’t take him long to get to know everyone by name. In November 2021, he saw an advert for the Academy and, encouraged by his colleagues, applied.

Before his interview, he talked to as many Financial Advisers as possible in order to understand the role and whether he really wanted to do it. “I want to help people” Percy says. “Managing your finances isn’t something they teach very well at school”.

Supportive environment

Having successfully passed the application process, Percy started his two-year journey in September 2022. The first month has been “exciting”, he says. “There’s not enough hours in the day!”

As well as getting used to the course structure and “financial services jargon”, he has started studying through the online learning course. He’s particularly excited to start shadowing advisers: “You get to learn whilst on the job and you get to see how it all works in practice as well as theory”.

“Tees is such an amazing place to work” he adds. Experienced advisers are “open and interested to talk about what they do”, which creates a “very supportive” learning environment.

Fitness to finance

Guy Pearson, who studied Exercise, Nutrition and Health at Nottingham Trent University, is also the Academy’s new recruit.

After graduating in 2018, he set up as a Personal Trainer, before the pandemic disrupted his business and prompted him to change career paths. “There are actually a lot of similarities between personal training and Financial Advice” Guy notes. “Both are, fundamentally, about assessing someone’s current situation, finding out where they want to be and planning how they’re going to get there.”

In 2021, Guy joined a large advisory firm but felt that the programme lacked the support and resources needed to study for the Financial Adviser exams. That was when he decided to apply to the Academy at Tees Financial Ltd.

Structure and support

Guy was drawn to the structured approach of the Academy, which allows him to combine a carefully planned study schedule with on-the-job work experience. Tees provides all the support and resources needed for them to excel in the Financial Adviser exams, as well as abundant opportunities to learn from experienced advisers.

Having started in August 2022, he has already begun shadowing advisers. “It’s a great way to gain first-hand experience of the work” he says. “For four days a week, I get to shadow financial advisers, then one day a week I’m following the structured online learning.”

He appreciates the certainty of having the whole pathway mapped out in front of him, as well as knowing that, after two years, he will be a fully qualified Financial Adviser, with abundant work experience to boot.

Role models

The common factor between Percy and Guy is that neither of them expected to end up where they are now.

“The Academy at Tees Financial Ltd offers an opportunity to become a qualified Financial Adviser in two years” says James Appleby. “We’re looking for candidates with the right attitude and aptitude, regardless of past experience.”

“It wasn’t even on my radar” Percy admits. “I knew nothing about financial advising before joining Tees!” Having found his calling now, Percy is ambitious: he wants to become a Level 7 Financial Adviser. “I’ve always wanted to keep progressing” he says. “My goal is one day to match the experience and knowledge of the Tees Financial Advisers.”

Community impact

The Academy at Tees Financial Ltd is a rolling programme, which will welcome one or two new recruits each year. Part of Tees Financial Ltd’s longer-term growth strategy.

“We have a highly professional and experienced team of financial advisers at Tees and The Academy is a chance for them to share their wealth of knowledge with people at the start of their careers” says James Appleby.