Why choose us

Long term excellence provides you with peace of mind

We are committed to working with you to create a lasting relationship built on loyalty, trust and excellence. That’s why we have Chartered Financial Planning status, the industry’s gold standard, which demonstrates our pledge to providing you with high quality advice and first-class service.

By taking the time to fully understand your financial position today and future aspirations, we can use our Lifestyle Financial Planning Service and sophisticated software to develop a strategy that is individual to you.

We are completely transparent and unlike most firms, publish our fees on the website click here for more information.

We’re Top Rated

We’re proud to say we are included in the VouchedFor Top Rated Guide for 2025, distributed by the Times. This is the fifth year we have been included in the guide.

The purpose of this guide is to help identify the best advisers throughout the UK based on client feedback.

To learn more, please visit our blog post all about our inclusion by clicking here.

We’re Chartered

We’re proud to be a Chartered firm, as awarded by the Chartered Insurance Institute. Chartered status represents the ‘gold standard’ of financial planning. By choosing a Chartered firm, you are working with a business that has proven its technical knowledge and conduct and adheres to industry best practices.

We’re a New Model Adviser Top 100 firm

The NMA Top 100 is a list created to help celebrate the best of the professional financial planning community. We’re absolutely delighted to have been included three years in a row, in 2022, 2023, and now in 2024. We firmly believe this is yet another example of the quality work carried out by our team.

Shortlisted in 2024, Shortlisted again in 2025

We are thrilled to announce that Ardent Financial Planning has been selected for the second year as a finalist for the Professional Adviser Awards in the category of ‘Adviser Firm of the Year – North East’. The Professional Adviser awards are among the gold standard of accolades in the industry, and being acknowledged among the top firms in our region is a testament to the dedication and expertise of our team.

First class service in a clear and understandable way

In the complex world of finance there is a lot of jargon and complex regulations, but we’ll explain proposals in a clear, unambiguous way, providing you with peace of mind about your wealth and the confidence to plan your next steps.

We’re there when you need us, ready to help in a professional, friendly way. This, and a proven track record in high quality advice, are the qualities our existing clients’ value.

But don’t take our word for it, click on to the client stories page to hear what they think.

The Financial Vulnerability Taskforce.

We are proud to be a part of The Financial Vulnerability Taskforce. This is a newly created independent representative body covering the Personal Finance Sector whose ultimate purpose is to promote greater understanding, encourage appropriate behaviours and establish good practice in respect of consumer vulnerability. At Ardent, we are a safe pair of hands and supporting this new initiative allows us to demonstrate that, especially to those who find themselves in vulnerable circumstances.

We’re a Living Wage Employer

Ardent is proud to announce that we are a certified Living Wage Employer, accredited by the Living Wage Foundation. The Living Wage commitment will see everyone working at Ardent receive an hourly wage above the government-mandated minimum. We prioritise the welfare and financial stability of our staff. This helps them flourish both personally and professionally and ensures they can provide the best possible service for our clients.

Other accreditations

We’re proud to have a wide ride of accreditations, qualifications and more:

We’re proud to be Resolution accredited
We’re part of the Equity Release Council
Ruth is a part of the Adviser Forum
We’re members of UK Sustainable Investment and Finance Association (UKSIF)
We’re SOLLA accredited

Our Google reviews

In 2023 we asked our clients to participate in a client survey to make sure we were supplying a service they deserved.

We want to share some of the results with you:

100 %

of clients were very satisfied that we understood their needs

97 %

of clients believe we helped them achieve their financial goals

96 %

of clients would be happy to recommend us to others

We asked our clients “What is the biggest single benefit you get from working with us?” Here are some of our favourite answers:

“Knowing that I am receiving advice that is of a very high standard"

"Trust, reassurance and peace of mind"

"Having someone I feel I can trust taking care of my financial investments"

"Confidence and reassurance that the management of our investments are in very capable hands."

"The continued support, assistance and service, along with the knowledge and experience that you have gained over the years, which has helped in supporting the right decisions for me."

"Clarity regarding my financial position going forward, which has enabled me to retire earlier than I had thought possible."

"Knowing that I have a trusted, dependable, friendly person to discuss my financial affairs with outside of the family."

"Peace of mind that our investments are on track and if the markets change, you're there to help us navigate the ups and downs."

What our clients say

As a company, we strive to give clients excellence. But don’t take our word for it, listen to others who have already worked with us. Click on the following clients and listen to their experience of Ardent and the positive impacts it's had on their life.