My name is Darren Long, and I’ve been working with Future Start for about a year and a half.

There were several things I needed to solve. Firstly, I hadn’t done a will. I’m now 56 and I’m getting to an age where you start thinking about these things. But it’s always the inevitable that puts you off doing them. I also had a number of properties that were scattered all over the place, and I wanted to make sure that they were safe, both for my family and for the future, from our point of view of all of my portfolio. Finally, I just wanted to put my financial business in order. I was looking to see whether, over time, I would change jobs or my role. I wanted to make sure that I was preparing myself for the future. It was a number of things that propelled me to start working with Jonathan, and absolutely start looking at that financial planning. Also ensuring that I will have a happy outcome when I go into retirement.

The reason I chose to go with Jonathan was more because, when I met him for the first time, I got a level of confidence that I hadn’t with other people that I’d met. He was very knowledgeable and very understanding, he didn’t feel like somebody who was pushing me down a road that I didn’t want to go. I got a good feeling from the first time I met Jonathan, and certainly somebody that I wanted to work with, rather than I had to work with.

Looking into the future, I now have a level of confidence, where before, it was one of those inevitable things I kept putting off. I was really worried that I’d get to a point in my life where I’d regret not planning for my future. The key thing is that we all have several things that we need to do, but like most humans, were not always great at doing those things. Even when they’re planning for the future so that you have a happier and easier life in the future. I think, having peace of mind is really good. I know now that I have a will in place, I know that my properties are in trust, I also know that my wife is secure, and my family are secure. For me, that means an awful lot. But it also means that I can now plan for the future knowing that I have a plan in place, that walks me towards a retirement stage that I want to get to at some point, not for a while, but certainly in the future. I think that’s the peace of mind that Future Start has enabled me to have by planning my future in advance, and now not having to worry about the things I should have done, rather than I have done.

There’s no doubt in my mind that I probably wouldn’t have got to where I got to, without having somebody like Jonathan.

Jonathan tries to make it as easy as possible to help you along the way. Not only do you have to start looking at all your past financial details, but you have to start thinking about what you want for the future. Like all of us, we always put off today what we probably should do today. Jonathan helped me to really focus on what I really needed to plan for, for the future. That is something which in this day and age with so much complexity to what you need to do financial planning wise, and also looking at your portfolio of properties and assets. It’s great having somebody that you can trust and somebody you want to work with, to enable you to do that.

How I feel now I’ve got a plan in place, I’m actually a lot happier. I know that I’ve got a future where I can see my end goal. I know that I have my properties securely tied up. I know that my financial dealings are all clearly laid out. I know that I can do an annual review with Jonathan by the side of me so that ensures that I can update it if my circumstances change, and I alter my job. And I know that it’s peace of mind, not just for me but it’s also peace of mind for my wife as well, to ensure that our assets and our various portfolios are properly itemised and clearly identified for the future.

I think the single best thing about working with Jonathan, he’s just a nice guy. A guy I really enjoy working with and somebody that doesn’t feel like a pushy salesman. He feels like somebody who is incredibly knowledgeable. Some of the things that he took me through were so complex, but he tried to make them as simple as possible. Having somebody like that, you build confidence. Having confidence means that you just trust each other, and you trust that actually what he’s advising and how he’s advising. Really, he’s setting you up for the right place in the future.