Hervé

Hello, I’m Hervé. I’ve been a client of Bloom since the beginning, in 2023, and I see mostly James, but I deal with Jess as well, and last time, I had a meeting with Riz. 

What I need most from a financial planning adviser is help with a strategy to plan for the future. I’m now at the age where retirement is looming, and I’ve got some savings and pensions and things like that, so I needed somebody to help me make sense of those investments and help me plan for the next 10, 20, or 30 years. 

I had a financial planner or financial adviser before, but it wasn’t someone I enjoyed interacting with, and it wasn’t somebody who I felt was giving me the right level of service, and they didn’t have a very personalised approach to financial planning. So, I asked around, and one of the people I asked was the lady who does my tax filing every year. I trust her; she’s very good, and she used James for financial planning. So, I thought, “If James is good enough for her, he is good enough for me, or certainly worth talking to.” And she was absolutely right, of course.

They asked lots of questions about my life, plans, hopes, fears, aspirations, concerns, current financial situation, etc., but also what “good” looks like for me. It was through this that I realised they’re not just technical experts in finance, money, and investment; they really care about the service that they’re delivering. 

I also feel like everything is in one place. I can go and check where it’s at and what’s happening at any moment. I’m getting regular feedback, so I feel like I’m being very well looked after. I feel like I can utterly rely on their expertise, but I look forward to every interaction I have with them because they’re really lovely people. 

For me, the best thing about working with Bloom and James specifically is the fact that I can completely forget about financial planning because I know it’s all done for a reason, and there’s a solid strategy that underpins what we’re doing. I don’t need to worry about the stock exchange; it will look after itself. 

The best piece of advice that they gave me, but I suspect they give all of their clients, is you tailor your strategy around your appetite for risk. Your appetite for risk is a factor of who you are and your personality, of course, but also where you are in your life and what your aspirations are. So, everything is tailored, and then based on that appetite for risk, they build a balanced strategy. 

I would recommend Bloom wholeheartedly to anyone who wants personalised expert financial planning advice because they’re lovely people, they know what they’re talking about, and they do really deliver a fantastic first-class service.