I wasn't terribly happy with my previous advisor. She was good, but she'd moved from several organisations, one after the other, and so there was no continuity.

Put simply, my retirement was approaching very quickly and being a chartered accountant, I'd spent absolutely no time thinking about retirement whatsoever. My financial affairs were probably a bit chaotic.

Bowmore is relatively small compared to some of the advisory firms I've been involved with previously. Their approach is much more personal. I have personal contact with Mark and we hit it off. You need to trust whoever you're going to give your, in my case, relatively modest pension arrangements to because you don't want them to get any more modest or find you've funded an island in the Caribbean or something.

It comes down to personal chemistry to some extent, or at least that's what gets you on board. The difference with Bowmore is that they've followed up with some real insight into what I needed to do, what I needed to think about, and worked out what the disposition of my various assets should be.

They make you feel quite important so, whenever you’re with them, they make you feel like one of their most important clients. Whereas advisors at other firms may struggle to remember your name, or introduce three new people you'd never heard of and then never see them again, this is absolutely not the approach here. With Bowmore, the relationship is consistent, because it's the same people, and there is an appropriate level of chivvying when I need to do something.

The reviews they carry out are very effective, thorough and, pre-Covid, were held face-to-face. They've continued through the pandemic, using videos and whatnot. It's a fairly hands-on experience and I think it needs to be. They've taken the trouble to get to know me and I feel I've got to know them a little bit as well.

The three words that I would use to describe Bowmore are, first, that they are professional. They operate on a very personal level and are truly competent.

The best thing about working with Bowmore is they're great people. You can have a real conversation with them. They're human, responsive and straightforward.

I would recommend Bowmore. They are highly competent and provide a very personal service. They're thoughtful and attend to the details, which some of their competitors are not great at, in my opinion. All round, Bowmore offer a civilised and reassuring service.