Partner Article

TMP Wealth Management Managing Director marks milestone year!

To quote Albert Einstein “Information is not knowledge. The only source of knowledge is experience. You need experience to gain wisdom.”

Some of James Richfield’s closest friends might jokingly question his “wisdom” but the experience of advising for more than 25 years is certainly serving clients well in Morpeth, the UK and beyond.

This March he has just celebrated his 20-year anniversary of working alongside the respected FTSE 100 company St. James’s Place Wealth Management and is still loving every minute.

After 20 years, what gives you the most enjoyment? Meeting people. It’s having conversations, building relationships and understanding people and then ultimately helping them make decisions that ordinarily they wouldn’t’t have taken. Especially when it puts them in much better financial shape. It’s always about doing the right thing for people and that’s what gives me the most satisfaction.

How did it all start? At the age of 16, school arranged some work experience with Barclays Bank. I did two weeks and must have impressed as they eventually gave me a job.

I transferred up to the North East in 1995. That was when the Evening Chronicle used to have the jobs pages on a Thursday. I noticed an advert for a financial adviser role and got the job. A few years later St James’s Place came knocking and the rest is history.

You’ve grown your company with your business partner Peter Grieves, how does that relationship work? Peter and I share the same common goals, the same ethos on how a business should be run and how clients should be looked after.

Just after we first met, I knew very quickly we had the synergy to drive the business in the same direction and we’ve never looked back.

The financial world changes rapidly, has anything stayed the same in those 20 years? The one constant is people’s need for good advice. 20 years is a long time and we have seen huge changes in legislation, the economy, cultural and behavioural changes. In an ever-complex world access to trusted advice has become harder to find.

You’ve recently developed the business quite significantly, what’s changed? In the past 20 years we have developed our business to where we sit today and it felt right to refresh things and introduce new members to the board. They have all brought quality and fresh ideas to the rebranded TMP Wealth Management.

How has Covid changed the financial landscape… If you had said 12 months ago we’d be conducting meetings on video conferencing, I wouldn’t have known where to start. We are very much about face-to-face relationships and nothing will change that but ZOOM and TEAMS will enhance what we can do for clients. We’ve got clients all over the country and the technology now makes it so much easier to have conversations with them.

When are not in lockdown, how do you like to spend your time? One of my biggest passions is Rugby Union. I’ve been involved at Morpeth Rugby Club for a number of years now as Chair of Youth Rugby. That’s responsibility for around 300 six to sixteen year old young players. That brings challenges but is great fun. I also support the Newcastle Falcons and get to England games whenever I can. I have got a fox-red Labrador called Ted who’s well known in the office and so enjoy getting out in our amazing countryside with him too.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Justin Lockwood .