My name is Jared Mallinson, I’ve worked with Mark at Ardent for, must be 15 years or so now.
Over the 15 years, Mark’s helped me with financial planning, more short-term stuff as well as thinking about the long term, investments and just educated me really on different options available for thinking about my future.
The most recent thing he’s helped me with is some short-term planning. Looking at options to be able to save to get an extension done on the house.
The best thing about working with Mark is definitely the customer service side of it. He’s a friendly guy, the whole team there at Ardent are friendly. One thing that creeps to mind for me is the ethical side of things that I knew nothing about. So, being able to invest in ethical funds is something that’s important to me, but not something that I’ve ever considered before I met Mark.
We have catchups every year, in person usually, more recently, over Zoom calls. And we look at the financial plan, we adjust it, we make alterations. I can constantly see at any point in time where I am towards retirement. My aims, if I decide to move some of my money to book a special holiday or something, the impact that will have. So, just being able to see and have visibility over my financial position has been a great help towards retirement.
I guess having that visibility makes me feel empowered to make decisions. I’ve got the knowledge now from speaking to Mark of what different decisions will potentially mean to me, my ability to retire at different times. It’s that knowledge that is important to me to know what’s going to happen if I make different financial decisions.
If I wasn’t working with Mark, I absolutely would not feel one bit confident about my retirement plans. One of the reasons that I sought out his advice in the first place was because I didn’t have any knowledge in that area and I wanted someone to be able to teach me what they know and their knowledge in the financial industry. I wouldn’t have a clue if I was coming up for retirement without his advice, then no, I wouldn’t have a clue.
To describe Mark, I’d first of all, say he listens and that’s been absolutely key for me with working with a financial adviser. I don’t want someone to just tell me what they think is right. He listens to what I say, what I want to do in the future, the plans that I’ve got. So, that customer service side really does come out. The friendliness, the friendly approach from Ardent is absolutely brilliant and trustworthy.
I’d absolutely recommend Mark and Ardent to other people looking for financial advice, because they’re friendly, trustworthy and offer quality advice. They really listen to what you want to get out of the process.
