Mark's experience working with us

My name is Mark Furness. I’ve been a client of CD Financial for about five years, and my primary adviser is Claire Dentith.

When I first went to CD Financial, I had just moved back to the country after quite a long time abroad, and I had a relatively complex financial situation with pensions spread around the world, tax liabilities, and so on. I needed a bit of help with sorting through that madness and getting everything straight.

The first time I heard about CD Financial was through my tax adviser. It was a personal recommendation, and Claire happened to be in the next town along, which made it very convenient. So, I was happy to go along and have an initial chat with her and see if she could help me with my needs.

When I met the team, Claire, and her colleagues, I really liked the all-female advisory team there. I’d had a lot of financial advisers in the past who were young males who were out for commission, and I felt that Claire and the team really had my best interests at heart.

Over the past five years or so, my financial needs have matured, and they’ve changed a little bit. When I first went to Claire, it was more about finding a home for some investments and making sure the money was taken care of. But as I’ve come into my 50s, obviously, retirement has become a little bit closer on the horizon, and so we’ve been taking some time to plan that out, seeing what that might look like and some of the options available. That advice has been invaluable.

Working with Claire and the team makes me feel very comfortable. I feel that my finances are in a safe pair of hands and somewhere I can trust, and that, for me, is the most important thing. You hear a lot of discussion these days on scams and financial investments that may go wrong, and I have no concerns with Claire and the team, knowing that they’re handling my affairs in the best possible way.

They’ve given me some great advice over the years, and I’ve been able to grow some of my investments in a healthy way while certainly taking the amount of risk that I’m comfortable with. She never pushes me into investments that might not be suitable, but I also don’t sit there with low-growth investments. She really hit the nail on the head with the type of investments that are suitable for my risk profile.

My financial future: by working with CD Financial, it’s helped to plan out what that will look like and really put some meat on the bones of what it will look like in 5, 10 or 15 years’ time. Things like what I’ll be able to afford and what sort of lifestyle I can look forward to. And that’s really helped give me a sense of comfort that things are heading in the right direction.

If I were going to use three words to describe Claire, I would certainly say trustworthy, which I think is the most important thing in this relationship. But also reliable – if she says she’s going to do something, it gets done. And lastly, friendly. She’s a pleasant person to deal with, to have calls with, and to interact with. So, trustworthy, reliable, and friendly.

I definitely recommend Claire and the team. I’ve worked with a lot of financial advisers over the years, and part of the reason I’ve worked with a lot of financial advisers is because I’ve never been particularly happy with them; there’s always been some downside, it always felt not quite right, or they’re not quite trustworthy. The first time I felt at home with a financial adviser was when I got in touch with Claire, met the team, and really understood what they were going to try and do for me. So, I would absolutely recommend them. I think they’re a super set of people, they’ve got your best interests at heart, and they will do the very best for you and your finances.