War for talent
“The battle amongst employers to recruit and retain the best quality talent continues to intensify,” said Richard Wilson, partner and commercial leaders of Mercer’s consumer business.
“Mercer Jelf Financial Planning has, in part, developed these services in response to increasing demand from employers to facilitate impartial guidance and financial advice for their employees from a trusted source.
“This can cover employer-sponsored benefits as part of a broader employee engagement strategy, and extend further into an employee’s wider financial affairs, overall leading to a happier and more productive workforce,” Wilson said.
New offering
The services offered by Mercer Jelf Financial Planning are:
Executive Financial Counselling – A diagnostic service that employers can provide for their high earners, executives and senior managers. It gives them access to a financial planner to discuss their financial situation and help identify any areas such as such as pensions, investment and protection, where attention may be required.
Financial Advice – This advice service can be wide-ranging or specific to a particular event-driven issue or programme, such as changes to rewards or benefits, changes to pension tax allowances, or leaving service through retirement or redundancy. It can encompass a high level of technical financial planning advice on just about every aspect of preserving managing and building wealth.
Retained Wealth Management – This holistic financial planning service is designed to help individuals develop a financial plan and maintain it on an ongoing basis. It helps them understand current picture of their finances, define their future objectives and timescales, and then build a personal plan to help them achieve it, with review points along the way. The client is supported with face-to-face advice and reviews, and an ongoing programme of engaging communications.
Combined proposition
Acquired by Marsh & McLennan Companies in December 2015, Jelf Group’s financial planning team has been brought together with Mercer’s to deliver the combined proposition.
Jelf’s original financial planning business operated from the core locations of Bath, Bristol and Reading. It provides financial advice to high net worth individuals, business owners and senior executives across the UK.
The combined Mercer Jelf Financial Planning business employs around 100 staff; works with over 2,500 individual clients on an ongoing basis, and in addition to the above operates from London, Manchester, Leeds and Edinburgh.
Mercer Jelf Financial Planning, as a firm, holds Chartered Financial Planner status, and many individual advisers hold Chartered status in their own right.
