An Interview with Dominic Lacey

What do you do for Tilney?

I'm a Director and Chartered Financial Planner at Tilney. My role, in simple terms, is to help clients refine what they want to achieve in life and put them in the best financial position to do so. To this end, I advise on how best to structure their finances, working closely with our investment managers who preserve and grow their portfolios. While I advise a broad spectrum of clients, I commonly work with business owners, entrepreneurs and their other trusted advisers.

What do you love most about your role?

As a private client practitioner, I am genuinely interested in people. I enjoy building relationships with clients and understanding their idiosyncrasies. During lockdown, I have found that clients have been more eager for a general chit-chat and I believe the current situation has given me the opportunity to deepen these relationships.

How has your business adapted in light of COVID-19?

We moved to home working ten days before lockdown and thus far it has worked really well, with few IT hiccups. The main way we've had to adapt is the speed, frequency and manner of communicating with clients. A key role of ours is giving our clients peace of mind and with things changing quickly, in March especially, they relied on us to communicate in a way that informs while providing reassurance.

Why did you join PCD?

I joined PCD 5 years ago now, simply to meet likeminded practitioners with whom I hoped to build working relationships and I'm happy to say that it has been fruitful. Meeting new people in different disciplines also helps challenge your perspectives on advising clients which is important.

Have you attended a PCD webinar? What did you think?

I should probably answer "yes loads!" but I've honestly not found much time in lockdown beyond helping clients, their families and friends. PCD has put on some interesting content which I was sorry to miss and so I will be joining a webinar soon.

My top tip for working from home is...

With home working, it's harder to separate work and home life and I've tried to build a routine to manage this. It sounds really boring, but every day I put on a work shirt and head out to grab a coffee (now some shops have opened) to at least maintain the semblance of getting ready for work and having my 'commute'. Getting regular exercise also allows good thinking time and helps deal with stress.

On a weekend, I am most likely found...

Strolling through Greenwich and Blackheath with the wife, noticing so many new things about the place I've lived for so long. More recently, searching out the pubs doing takeaway pints!