“Fortitude have given me confidence that everything’s going to be ok.”

Juleen:

Hi, I'm Juleen, this is my husband, Simon. We've been clients of Fortitude for eight years, and our adviser is Sam Colby Butcher.

Simon:

When I first got in touch with Simon at Fortitude, my main issue was understanding how much I had in my pension plans, and whether I was in a situation where I could retire early or if I was going to have to continue working.

I read an article in the Times on VouchedFor that recommended independent financial advisers. And when I looked in the area where my office was based, I found Fortitude, read the reviews on them, and other case studies and thought, these are the right guys for me in terms of the portfolio that I had.

Juleen:

After Simon’s initial meeting with Neil, I went with him for a joint session. Neil just seemed to be a really nice guy that wanted to help, so he was the right person.

Fortitude has been able to give us the reassurance that we needed by actually being able to predict roughly what kind of lifestyle we would be able to have in the future once Simon retired, and how we could manage the money.

Simon:

Working with Sam in Fortitude, just gives me the confidence that we're on the right track, that we know where we are month in month out, we know where we are for the future and it kind of gives you that assurance that everything's going to be alright.

Juleen:

Three words to describe Sam from Fortitude might be “understanding”, “listening” to our questions and giving us answers, being “realistic”, and he's totally trustworthy.

Simon:

The best thing for me is that he gets where we're coming from. He understands us; we understand him. He explains everything in detail. The plan we have lasts until I’m 100 or something like that, which is reassuring to know that we can actually get that far. Although I doubt I'll get that far, that's for sure – I mean, I race motorbikes as a hobby!

One of the best pieces of advice he's given me is just to trust him. When the stock market's going down, a lot of people say “Oh, I need to sell my shares because I need to get out”, whereas Sam advises to “Just sit with it. The market will come back. It will be all right.”

Would I recommend Sam and Fortitude? Definitely! Without a shadow of a doubt. He has given us confidence in what we want to do in my early retirement, and that we will be all right for the future.