Tees Business Tees Business Issue 14 | Page 38

38 | Tees Business THE STYLE OF THE PAST, THE TOOLS OF THE FUTURE O ctober this year will mark 30 years in business for Vintage Chartered Financial Planners, meaning the Stockton-based firm has been offering financial advice to clients throughout Teesside for the past three decades. Many have relied on the expertise of Vintage staff to guide decisions on pensions, investments, mortgages and insurance to build and manage their wealth. Despite this impressive heritage, Vintage is committed to innovation, using the latest technology, wherever possible, to compliment the advice given, but never replacing the values which contributed to success in the first place - integrity, quality, leadership and professionalism. It is this ethos which has allowed the firm to stay relevant over its extensive lifespan. While the client remains at their heart, the vision of the business is to be bold and proactive, moving ahead of the times to ensure the best possible service, creating a happy place to work and one that benefits the wider community too. The year ahead is an exciting one for Vintage. Never afraid to do things differently, they recently commissioned successful local artist Abby Taylor to create a one-off work of art, depicting much-loved local landmark Roseberry Topping, a piece which takes inspiration from vintage travel posters of the past but also represents the bright future ahead. The artwork is symbolic of the firm. First and foremost, capturing a place close to the hearts of many Teessiders and the place Vintage call home, in a way which merges both the old and the new - the style of the past using the tools of the future. The image has now become the showpiece of the firm’s new branding, extending across the recently developed website and client-facing literature. The new look isn’t the only area in which innovation is rife. Both clients and staff benefit from the use of the latest technology across a number of areas, from viewing accounts online to the way the advice is formulated. Vintage will shortly release their updated client portal, named Vintage View. While clients have had access to an online system for a number of years, the updated system has enhanced functionality and will give users a more holistic picture of their financial assets, including integration with bank accounts and the ability to track and categorise spending. The firm also makes use of cash-flow software which allows financial planners to model and test numerous scenarios. This enables a planner to see how someone’s spending power or wealth might change throughout their lifetime, thus enabling more informed recommendations. The outputs from the software are shown in meetings to demonstrate the options available to the client. The next innovation, currently being trialled by Vintage, is a new generation of tablets which replace the need for paper notebooks often used in meetings. While Vintage has had an iPad available in reception for some time, the new devices recreate the experience of pen and paper in a digital format, creating both a clear audit trail and contributing to the firm’s mission to reduce waste wherever it can. Other innovations include the use of optical recognition software and QR codes allowing the firm to effectively scan incoming and outgoing post, automatically storing it in the right place without the need for human intervention. This goes above and beyond the recently introduced General Data Protection Regulations, meaning that data is kept more secure than ever before and only seen by those who absolutely need it. Despite all this, Vintage isn’t just investing in the future. They also invest heavily in