From time to time, it’s worth stepping back and reminding ourselves what we’re actually here for.
At Town Close, financial planning has always been about people, not products. All money decisions are life decisions. They come with emotions, trade-offs and uncertainty, and that means everything we do needs to be human first – with your numbers serving your life, not the other way round.
That idea shapes how we think about the business, the team, and how we plan for the future.
Strengthening the foundations
2025 was a big year, even if some of the work happened quietly in the background.
One of the most significant changes was the launch of the Town Close Funds. Moving from model portfolios into a fund structure allows us to keep things simpler, cleaner and easier to manage over the long term. The process was more involved than I initially expected, but over a series of tranches we successfully moved the relevant assets across, and the funds are now bedding in well. We’re already making improvements, including switching out some ETFs for cheaper options, which is exactly how this should work over time.
Just as important as the technical investment work has been what’s happened with the team.
Martine joined us last September and has brought real strength around operations, processes and internal flow. Her focus is making sure that everything around the advice feels smooth, consistent and well supported, because while good advice is crucial, day-to-day experience matters just as much.
Zoe has also grown enormously over the past few years. Many of you will already have worked with her, and you’ll know the care she brings to meetings. She’s increasingly involved not just in client work, but in shaping how we do things as a business. That gives me more space to think longer term, which is exactly how it should be.
Behind the scenes, the wider team continues to keep everything moving. We’ve deliberately built a team-based model so there are no single points of dependency. When you contact us, the message is seen, acknowledged and dealt with by the right person, without you needing to work out who that should be.
What clients actually tell us matters
One thing that came through strongly in the discussion is that for clients, this isn’t just about money.
For people who are retired or close to it, it’s about choices, lifestyle and peace of mind. For younger clients, it’s often about reassurance, structure and knowing they’re broadly heading in the right direction, not about having everything “perfect”.
Our job is to meet people where they are, make conversations feel comfortable, and explain things in a way that feels calm and clear. If someone leaves a meeting feeling less foggy than when they arrived, that’s a good day’s work.
Looking ahead to 2026
In many ways, 2026 is about more of the same, but done better.
We want things to feel clearer, calmer and more proactive, so you’re never left wondering what’s happening or whether something has been missed. We’ve added to the adviser team with Naomi joining us, which increases capacity and gives more breathing room across the business. It also strengthens long-term continuity, which really matters in a firm built for decades, not quick exits.
There will also be more work going on around systems, technology and AI. Not as a way of cutting corners, but as a way of helping us do our jobs better, much like word processing once did. Most of this won’t be visible to you, but it should show up in how smoothly things run.
Overall, the aim for 2026 is simple: simpler, calmer and more human interactions, and a structure you can genuinely rely on while you get on with your life.
As always, if something feels unclear or could be better, we genuinely want to hear about it. This only works if we keep learning and improving together.