Helen Weatherhead Takes on New Role at Vintage

November 15th 2019

Vintage is delighted to announce that Helen Weatherhead has taken on a new role which will support and better the advice process for our clients.

Helen, who has been with the firm for 13 years, will move into the position of head of technical support with immediate effect. The new position will involve her assisting the compliance function in the testing and application of compliant procedures, ensuring that the advice that our planning team give is of the highest quality. She will be the first call for any technical queries about processes and products that our team or clients might have and will play a mentor role to team members who are studying towards their qualifications.

As well as holding the Diploma in Regulated Financial Planning, Helen also holds individual Chartered status with the prestigious Chartered Insurance Institute. The accolade is the mark of those who are dedicated to the financial profession, demonstrating continual professional development and have reached the top of the tree as far as qualifications go.

Helen joined Vintage in 2006 as a paraplanner a role which involves aiding the financial planning team in the analysis of financial information and in the creation of bespoke advice for each client. In 2016, Helen moved into the role of financial planner herself, building her own roster of clients before recently moving into the head of technical support role.

We asked Helen:

What does your new role involve day-to-day?

One of the main things I'll be doing is checking the advice provided by the rest of the team. A fresh pair of eyes can often help achieve a better outcome for the client as two heads is usually better than one at spotting options and opportunities.

I'll also be helping analysts and planners with any technical queries that they have whilst creating the advice for clients, whether its clarification on something like taxation limits, ideas on how to best approach an issue or help explaining a calculation needed to pass an exam.

This means I need to keep abreast of any regulatory and taxation changes and update the team accordingly whether this is through memos, presentations or some other method. While it's everyones job to keep track of changes within the industry, there's updates almost every day which can sometimes become overwhelming. Having a dedicated person, whose role it is to sift through the information and identify the important parts means were unlikely to miss anything. This allows us all to work in unison and also that our clients receive a uniform service from Vintage, no matter who they see from our team.

What makes you a good fit for the role?

I have good attention to detail and, having worked in the financial profession for 13 years, have amassed a great amount of practical and technical knowledge. I'm fairly patient so this helps when talking less experienced members of the team about new concepts.

What are you excited about within the new role?

I'm looking forward to working more closely with the whole team, helping and teaching staff with technical issues to increase overall knowledge. I'm also excited to increase my own awareness of financial services regulation.

Will you still be seeing clients?

Yes, I'll still be servicing my existing clients and will continue to carry out reviews as normal.

What's been your favourite, stand out moment from working at Vintage so far?

I'd say that achieving the Advanced Diploma and attaining Chartered Financial Planner status is a particular highlight.

Is there anything else you'd like to add?

I'd like to thank the partners at Vintage for offering me this new role and for the support I've received since joining the company 13 years ago. I feel very privileged that my skills and contributions are continually recognised by the team.