Transcript

Can you start by telling us a bit about your background and your career in financial advice?

Hi, my name is Mike Woods. I started advising in 2008 after a career change. In 2013, I set up Bespoke Advice with Susie Lane as an advisory company and then sold it to Cardan in 2020. Subsequently, after a period of patience and working with Cardan, I sold my book of business to them in 2024.

Why did you decide the time was right to sell your book of business?
I decided to sell my book of business because I wanted to retire. You start to think about when you want to retire, and I did my own financial planning as to when I could afford to retire and then started to plan how that would work, how that would look, etc. So that was largely the trigger for my sale.

How were you feeling at the start of the process your book of business?
I was pretty relaxed because I enjoyed my work, and therefore I didn't have a fixed date, such as "I want to go at age 60 or 62" or whatever it happens to be. Therefore, I could take steps to retire in a considered but also quite relaxed manner.

What were the most important things you were looking for in a firm to take over your clients?
Most of your clients become friends over many years of advice, and strong relationships are built. And therefore, to me, it was really important that that scenario was perpetuated, and that the cultural match was correct, including the ethos and values, etc., and the retention of the clients should be very, very high. So, the cultural match was my primary objective.

What made you feel that Cardan was the right home for your clients?
Cardan became a natural bedfellow, I suppose, because I owned Bespoke Advice, and Cardan had effectively bought me out. So, I knew of Cardan, and I knew of Alex Morley at Cardan, and together with the fact that owned Bespoke Advice, it became the natural option for me.

How did Cardan support you through the transition?
I'm quite independent, and I've run businesses before, so I was pretty confident in what I was doing. I took some personal, independent legal advice, but not a huge amount, because I trusted Cardan. We did a lot of give and take and working out the model of how the purchase would work, and we spent a lot of time talking about it and then getting to a heads of agreement, which gave us the framework for how we would put the details of the deal together.

What was important to you about how that transition was handled?
Following the purchase, the agreement and shaking hands, and the first payment, the agreement was that I would meet every client with the new adviser. There were three new advisers who were taking a third of my book each. So, for the subsequent year, I went to see every single client with their new adviser to hand over to the new person who was handling their finances. That's so important because you've got to perpetuate the relationship, and therefore, the endorsement and the introduction are mandatory to make it a success.

How did your clients respond to the move and the transition?
We've had exceptional retention. I had been preparing the clients for my departure for five years before I left because I always said to them, "I'm not going to go on forever, but I'm never going to leave you hanging." As we got closer to the deal and each review I did, because it took quite a bit of time, they knew it was coming. So when it did come and we sent them all a letter to let them know what was coming and that it shouldn't be a surprise to them, they knew their review was going to happen as normal and that in their next review I'd be accompanied by the new adviser, and they knew they had a choice that they didn't have to stay if they didn't want to.

What gave you confidence that your clients would be well looked after the hand over?
I knew all three employed advisers. I knew they were capable; they're all Chartered and fully qualified, and they've got good client skills, and underpinning that, they put the client first. I always put the client first, and therefore, I was confident it would all work well.

How do you feel about where things are now for you and your clients?
I thought I'd miss it, but I don't! One of the key things after the transition that Cardan or Bespoke Advice did was disable my email and take away my access to systems, which was the best thing they could have ever done because it stopped me looking and let the three advisers, after the year of transition, get on with things. Only ever so occasionally would they contact me to say such and such has happened, or whatever else.

How did you feel after selling your business to Cardan?
If I had to do it again, I'd do exactly the same thing; the process worked well. Over the course of the year, having completed the sale of the business, I obviously had a payment, but I wasn't getting any sort of income from clients. But to me, it was part of the process and the agreement that I had to see everyone. I saw every single client; I didn't miss any out and took their new advisers to them, and that worked really well. If I had to do it again, I would emphasise that that definitely has to happen.

If another adviser was thinking about selling their book or transferring their clients to Cardan, what would you say to them?
Anybody who's looking to sell their book needs to get a bit of perspective, because there are numbers bandied about, multiples of income and whatever else. I think you need to go with a bit of perspective and a huge amount of patience, because these things take time, and it's important they take time because it's important to get the right result.

Would you recommend that other advisers who are looking to sell or retire consider Cardan as an option?
I would definitely recommend Cardan. It worked well for me. A few important things when selling are that they've got to have the capability to look after your clients, they've got to have the capability to buy you out in terms of capital money, and they've got to be able to look after your clients on an ongoing basis. The process worked, and it worked well. I'm one of the first, so I helped build those processes, but I think they're repeatable, and they'll be adjusted depending on any person's needs. So, therefore, I'd definitely recommend Cardan.

Transcript

Can you start by introducing yourself and telling us a bit about your role at Bespoke Advice?

My name's Nicola Bywater. I've been with Bespoke for 10 years, and I'm a financial planner. I see clients on a variety of financial planning areas, mainly investments and care fees planning, and Inheritance Tax planning.

What was the business like before Cardan became involved?
The main difference is the growth in the business. When I first joined Bespoke, there was only a handful of us. Then Cardan became involved, and the idea of Cardan's involvement was so that we could have progression plans for all the advisers.

How were you feeling when you first heard about the partnership with Cardan?
We were quite relieved, because I was probably one of the youngest advisers within the firm, and that's not a good strategy for the ongoing business. So, we needed some younger, newer advisers to come into the firm, and the reason that was important to us was so that we knew our clients would still be looked after when we were ready to move on.

How did the transition affect your day-to-day role and responsibilities?
The transition with Cardan coming in didn't have a huge impact on my day-to-day work. However, one change that was really good for me was that I worked closely with one of the apprentices who came in, and that freed up a lot of time for me. I wanted to start focusing more on care fees planning, which I specialise in, and working with the apprentice, she got a lot of experience on what to do, but I got a lot of time freed up because she was doing a lot of my support work.

How did clients respond to the transition to Cardan?
My clients responded really well to the transition to Cardan. I was quite nervous about discussing with the clients the fact that I was starting to take a back seat and somebody else would be looking after them, but the fact that I could explain about the apprenticeship scheme, that the apprentices do the exams with us whilst working closely with us, and I could take Phoebe, who was my apprentice, out to meet the clients while I was still working and helping them, meant it was a really smooth transition. I'm still in Bespoke, so the clients know where I am, but I don't get any calls from them. It's all working perfectly, and Phoebe's looking after them wonderfully. It gives a lot of confidence in how the whole system works.

What benefits does being a part of a larger group bring to your clients?
Being part of a larger group gives the clients a little bit more reassurance. At first, Bespoke Advice was really small and clients didn't have a problem with that at all, to be honest, but for the long term, if there's illness, accidents, or retirement, clients could feel that they're going to be left without an adviser, and we didn't want our clients to be in a position where they had to move to another firm completely. Not all firms work in the same way as us, so it was important to us that they were going to be looked after in exactly the same way.

Looking back, how do you feel about Bespoke's decision to partner with Cardan?
I think the decision to partner with Cardan was a good decision for Bespoke because it has allowed us to grow, and it's allowed us to talk to our clients about how we see the future, and that bringing young advisers in is important.

Would you recommend Cardan to other firms considering a similar partnership?
I would recommend Cardan to other firms thinking of a similar partnership, because there's more than one adviser working with Cardan, so, if you're looking to pass your clients over to another adviser, it's vital that the clients are looked after, and the adviser is the right fit for the client. Within Cardan, you've got a number of different advisers who are very qualified and very good at looking after clients, so you've got a choice as to who is going to be the one to take over your clients in the future.

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Can you introduce yourself, your role, and tell us a little about Aretian Wealth Management?

My name is Paul Harsum. I founded Aretian Wealth in 2020, I engaged with Cardan in 2024, and our deal was finalised in April of 2026.

What made you feel the time was right to partner with Cardan?

We built the business up from scratch over six years, and I was still the majority shareholder alongside my wife. We wanted to take the business further and expand, but our personal liability held us back a bit, and we weren't entirely sure that we should be doing that on our own. The opportunity to join a much larger group was really attractive for us, with their ability to support our growth, without it all being on us.

What were the key things you were looking for in a partner?

Although we did want support from a partner, we still very much wanted to be able to run the business in the way that we wanted to, and so the trust of working with a business partner who was aligned with us, but would allow us to carry on doing things the way that we know they can be done best, was really key and important. We didn't want to work with a partner who was going to start dictating to us things that we had to do and ways of doing things and what have you. We needed to be able to continue our journey in the way that we knew best, knowing that Cardan trusted us to deliver.

What made Cardan stand out compared with the more traditional routes available to you?

The reason we decided to partner with Cardan was that we wanted a partner who would value what we had built and help us grow it further. We weren't interested in retiring, which excluded a lot of firms. We also weren't interested in dissolving Aretian Wealth and transferring our clients and some of our advisers into a pre-existing business. What we wanted to do was work with somebody who recognised what we had built and help us push it to the next level.

How important was it for you to retain your independent status, and why?

It was key to us that we retained our independent status. Most of the advisers within our firm started as tied agents within large organisations, and as we became independent, we recognised the value that it affords our clients. We weren't just about to sign up with somebody to go back to a restricted or tied model. We wanted to stay independent because we think it's the most important thing for our clients to recognise that they have with us, which is somebody who's going to act in an unbiased manner, in their best interests, and recommend products from across the whole of the market.

How has the partnership helped you scale the business while maintaining your independence?

It's early days, but we're very hopeful that the support we've received so far will continue. Alex has an excellent team. We really rate Hubert, Nick, Carolina, and the rest of the guys. We've already been able to negotiate some reductions in platform charges, and we've also been able to benefit from group purchasing across some of our pre-existing suppliers, like Simply Biz. So, a good start.

What benefits has the partnership brought to your clients?

There hasn't been any impact on clients, which is exactly what we wanted. We believe that we have a strong service offering for our clients, and if you're going to engage with a partner firm that's going to help you grow, there shouldn't be much day-to-day change in what clients receive. We are expecting there to be reductions in some of the fees they're paying, particularly for platforms, which is great, and we look forward to more like that moving forward.

Looking back, how do you feel about the decision to partner with Cardan?

I feel very positively about the decision to partner with Cardan. It helped that I've known Alex for years. Söderberg was a relatively new proposition to me, but I've been really pleased throughout the process with the levels of engagement that we've had, and also, it's become clear since the dust has settled that they really do want to be there as someone who can help where I feel I need it. So, I'm feeling really positive. That's exactly what we wanted from the relationship, and so far, so good.

Would you recommend Cardan to other advisers or firms considering their next stage of growth?

I would definitely recommend Cardan; I think it's hard to argue with their vision. There are less and less medium-sized independent financial advice businesses out there; they're being gobbled up by consolidators, and I'm not convinced that's the best thing. Having a group of independent firms nationwide that can bounce ideas off each other, that retain their individual cultures, I think, is inherently valuable. Having a few more business owners joining the team who've got that same mentality would be great for me, for the business, and probably for them as well. So, I would suggest that if you have the mentality that independence is right, doing the right thing by clients is right, but you need that bit of support and structure as you look to grow the business, you've got nothing to lose by having a look and having a conversation.