who we are
future perfect provides financial life planning and investment advice with expertise based upon the highest level of qualifications and many years of experience from a husband and wife team.
We offer a very personalised and long-term service to a select group of clients. Our longest standing client has been with Nick since 1988.
We are totally independent and not linked to or owned by any financial services company.
future perfect has always been at the forefront of developments in financial advice. We were very early adopters of financial life planning in the UK and have offered this service since 2005.
All investment advisers are nowadays obliged to charge you an explicit fee for their work (rather than take commission), but we’ve been working in this way since 2005.
Nick Crowe & Sue Royle
Nick Crowe
I graduated from Durham University in 1985 with an economics degree and have over 28 years’ experience providing financial advice. Sue and I started our own independent financial advice business in 1997 and re-launched it as future perfect in 2005.
I became a Certified Financial PlannerCM in 2004. It’s recognised as the highest possible qualification for financial planners and even today less than 3% of advisers in the UK have this certification. I also qualified as an Advanced Financial Life Planner in 2011.
When I started using cash flow forecasting software in 2004, I was blown away. This was the point at which I became a passionate advocate of financial life planning. The first ‘clients’ to use it were, of course, Sue and me.
We finally had the opportunity to answer the biggest question. Would we have enough money to live the life we wanted?
Now we could see the impact of financial decisions – such as a major house renovation or choosing private education for our children – over a lifetime and not just today.
This experience profoundly informed our lives and shaped the services future perfect now offers.
A few of my favourite things
- Sue and our children – of course
- Kynance Cove, Lizard, Cornwall – the most stunning beach and setting
- Aston Villa – a tough job, but someone has to do it
- My Sonos system – a world of music instantly available – Ray LaMontagne, Eels, James Vincent McMorrow, Ben Howard, Ryan Keen & Rodriguez, a few current favourites
- The 2012 London Olympics
- Watching our children play sport
- Walking on Caer Caradoc, near Church Stretton (where I grew up)
- David Attenborough – a legend
Sue Royle
I graduated from Loughborough University in 1988 and then joined Unilever’s marketing graduate training scheme. I followed a career in marketing, rising to the position of Marketing Director for a cable TV company until joining the financial advice industry in 1997, when Nick and I started working together.
I’m responsible for compliance and client communication at future perfect and also undertake the research and analysis required to support our recommendations to clients.
The thing I’m proudest of is launching our investment advice service. Some of our clients have been following this investment approach for over six years and so have been through the worst of the 2008 financial crisis. All of them have had a successful investment experience.
We understand the level of investment risk they’re comfortable with, we’ve provided them with realistic expectations about the returns achievable and our portfolios have delivered. That clients say that they can ‘just forget about it’ is, in this instance, the greatest compliment.
A few of my favourite things
- Nick and our children – of course
- Being on the Helford River, Cornwall
- Yotam Ottolenghi – what a star, what a cook, love his recipes
- The Southbank – Royal Festival Hall, The National, Tate Modern, a riverside walk – a great family day out
- The beaches of L’île d’Yeu – spectacular, beautiful, peaceful
- Thomas Heatherwick – such creativity can only be marvelled at
- Turquoise – reminds me of the sea and sunshine
- Cornish artists/ceramicists – Cyril Croucher, Charlie O’Sullivan, Karen Shapley and Stephanie Pace, a few favourites