A 30-minute watch.

James King is the MD of Tavistock Private Client, and here sits down with Lee Robertson to chat through a wide range of financial adviser business issues, from investing in the firm for growth, choosing platforms, where the adviser adds value, industry headwinds, and his thinking is on fees.

In structuring the teams, James points to the ideal “pyramid, with the IFA at the top”, and goes on to outline how the team around an adviser can work well, and what number of clients he thinks is “ideal” before transitioning new ones to new advisers.

He also touches on how he went about choosing Praemium as their platform during a change in permissions from advisory to discretionary, and that while dealing with platforms is vastly simpler, “knowledge of products has gone a little bit”.

In growing the business, James accepts that investing in qualified advisers is costly but that by around year 3 you start “winning”. He adds that considering the average age of an IFA is around 56, managed transitions can be a more sure-footed, albeit slower, way of taking on books of business that are more likely to be retained.

Lee rounds the interview with a chat about the ‘fat’ in the industry’s fees and where savings could be made, and how RDR and Mifid regulation have been a “good development”.

In case you missed SharingAlpha’s Oren Kaplan, he chats with Andy Brown on how they are benchmarking fund selectors. We also have an interview with FE’s Stephen Mitchell on fees.