Established in 2003, Amber River True Bearing has been providing responsive, supportive and personalised financial advice. In recognising that each client is an individual on their own journey, with their own goals, they strive to use their industry-leading knowledge of financial planning to help their clients turn their dreams into reality.
In 2021, the company made the step of becoming part of the nationwide Amber River Group with the team providing tailored financial planning services on pensions, investments, financial protection, inheritance tax planning and much more from its offices in Chorley, Altrincham and Stoke.
In this Q&A, we spoke with Executive Chairman George Critchley to discuss the company’s recent merger, the wider industry and advice for small business owners and start-ups.
Q) Would you like to give us some background/history of Amber River True Bearing?
GC) We’re a firm of chartered financial planners. The firm launched in 2003 and in that year there was a lot of bad publicity around financial advice.
There were things like pension miss-selling and endowment miss-selling issues. Mainly with the banks I have to say, but it wasn’t the best of times to be in the financial advice world. I just felt that many of us and especially certain IFA’s that I knew, at the time, were doing things correctly.
I decided to set up a new IFA firm. I approached those key IFAs previously mentioned. Advisers that had the right values and were highly qualified. Just very simply give “good advice and service” to clients. With everything going on around us we would be a beacon in the world, of financial planning. I am proud that four of the original founders are still at Amber River True Bearing today.
We are now at 90 employees. We’ve been Chartered since 2008. We have always believed in knowing our subject. Even today, approximately two-thirds of financial advisers nationally are not chartered.
We are a people business and clients would not take advice if they did not trust us.
By 2021 we could see the benefits of merging with a national group.
Q) You touched on bringing another business partner on board. What has that evolution been like over the past three years? How have things changed?
GC) My biggest personal challenge has been going from being a majority shareholder to a minority shareholder. I have to stop myself sometimes and remind myself that this is the case.
The reason for doing it was that we wanted to expand more quickly. We are regulated by the FCA (Financial Conduct Authority) and under FCA rules we have to retain significant capital within the business. The retention of that capital can slow business expansion.
We were always growing to a certain degree, up until we did the deal in 2021, but to expand at a faster rate, we needed deeper pockets. Hence, our relationship with the Amber River Group. The Amber River group is often described as being like a collection of boutique hotels, taking advantage of regional strengths and experience but adding in some common processes and efficiency.
We met them and saw that they thought about things in a similar vein to ourselves. We are both very progressive and want to give advise in the right way.
So, we’ve hooked our wagon to their engine. It has enabled us to double in size in three years by buying nine small IFA businesses. Yet still growing the core Amber River True Bearing organically.
Q) What have been the key highlights for you, from a business perspective over the past 12 months?
GC) Good question! Over the past year, we have developed a sophisticated feedback system. This reaches out to our clients. We have several thousand clients and we need to know what they are thinking. About our offerings, services, relationships and anything else we do for them.
In the last year, we have received several hundred pieces of feedback. This feedback is actively enhancing our advice and service offering for the future.
Clients are with us 10-20-30 years. We take them on a journey and help them manage their finances so that they can do the things they want to do. It’s our job to make sure that money is there as and when needed.
A basic part of our work is to ensure the investment vehicles match our clients needs and wants. To utilise tax saving strategies but always staying within HMRC rules and regulations. Our clients cumulative feedback is measured by an NPS score. Amber River True Bearing’s NPS score is well above industry averages.
Another highlight is that we managed to integrate the nine accrued business with success. We have had challenging moments but are delighted with the overall result. We have welcomed some new very talented individuals.
Q) You mentioned there about the new feedback system, are there any general innovations within the industry that you can see driving the industry forward?
GC) The broad answer is that modern information technology allows us to do more good for more clients. It’s in these technological advances that we see the greatest gains going forward. We believe passionately in face to face advice. Behind the scenes, though, new technologies enable us to expand our face to face time. In this respect, AI can be a force for good.
Q) With a new government, new policies and whatever direction the country takes, what does 2025 look like for your business?
GC) More of the same really! We add 25 new clients to the business each month. We also do a lot of workshops and presentations for employers and employees. We want to continue to do this; we want to help more clients.
We intend to make further acquisitions of small IFA businesses. By the end of 2025 we plan to add one or two more, but not disrupt our organic growth.
Another focus is on developing junior and senior management teams. This has been a continuous process for several years now and is essential if we are to continue to improve.
We have a phrase we use at Amber River True Bearing “come as you are but don’t stay as you are”. We are passionate believers in personal development. We actively encourage academic and vocational development.
Q) Obviously, this interview is being conducted on behalf of the Chamber, what advantages have you found from being a member of the Chamber
GC) Our marketing manager liaises with the Chamber weekly, bringing us to a wider audience. The presentations and training events, (of the Chamber) align themselves with our programme of presentations.
We already work with 60 or 70 major Northwest employers. The Chamber brings access to the smaller medium size regional firms. We specialise in financial education and pre- retirement workshops. We can work together with the Chamber in these areas.
Several new business relationships have developed as a result of our relationship with the Chamber.
We’re very supportive of the Chamber’s mission of bringing the business community together and helping us to help each other, it’s a symbiotic relationship.
Q) How would you say that your business helps small businesses?
GC) Many of our clients are small businesses. They are very good at what they do. They know their trades or professions and they are experts. They spend up to 18 hours a day thinking about nothing else. Over time, they start to succeed and make money. It never ceases to amaze me how naïve they can be as to what to do with that money. This is where financial planning is worth its weight in gold.
As these businesses grow and have more employees, we can assist them with our workshops. We run 120 full or part day workshops per year. Both online and or face to face.
Q) It’s been a rocky few years for businesses small and big, with periods of huge uncertainty. With this in mind, how important is financial future proofing and is it something more businesses have become conscious of?
GC) After 40 years of my life in business, I don’t think I have experienced two or three years of economic chaos like that we have just had. The whole world has been turned upside down. During this period, our value to our clients has never been so great. We have been active in helping our clients in avoiding, understandable but wrong decisions.
What we found is during that period, we were holding our clients hands again and again.
We discovered that much of our value doesn’t come in the good times but in the bad. It can be human nature to do the wrong thing, and in the long run if you do that, you end up worse off.
Moving into 2025, I am more optimistic. The worst would seem to be over. Investment markets are looking up and interest rates look likely to fall, albeit more slowly than anticipated. A resolution to the war in Ukraine would also be very welcome.
