Chris Jude

Chris Jude, a 72-year-old psychotherapist and counsellor from London, first sought financial advice following her divorce, when she was looking to save for retirement. Over the years she has found that her financial decisions have helped shaped her lifestyle and given her choices that, she believes, would not have ordinarily been open to her. Today, she is looking at buying her dream property, a treasured holiday home, passed down through generations on her ex-husband’s side of the family. 

Personal Goals

Most people, I am sure, would associate financial planning with numbers and spreadsheets, but this is just focusing on the process and not the outcome. For me, it has never been about accumulating money for money’s sake, but about realising myself and my full potential through savvy financial decisions; in my book, that’s what money is for.

Lifestyle Choices

Financial planning, done well, should help shape and form your life at each stage and that’s exactly what I’ve found. When I started working with Maria around 10 years ago, I needed to build capital and now she’s there to make sure there’s enough in the pot as I start to decumulate and enjoy the fruits of my labour. 

I am still working, because I love my job and with Maria’s guidance I’ve been emboldened to think of my own needs and aspirations. When my ex-husband said he was selling his mother’s house in Ireland I just knew that I had to do everything in my power to keep it in the family, as so many happy memories had been made there with my children. 

Dream Property 

The cottage sits on the Flaggy Shore, one of the most northerly parts of County Clare, Ireland, surrounded by breath-taking views. The poet Seamus Heaney captures its magic beautifully in the poem Postscript: 

And some time make the time to drive out west

Into County Clare, along the Flaggy Shore,

…And catch the heart off guard and blow it open.

A piece of my heart remains there and with Maria’s help my dream of owning the cottage is turning into reality. She has bent over backwards to find the right options for me to release equity in my London home to secure the house in Ireland. At every step of the way Maria has been there to back me up and has clearly laid out my finances detailing everything that I need to take into consideration, in a way that I can understand. 

Rapport Matters

I trust Maria implicitly and I never feel judged on how much or little money I have compared to others or how I choose to spend it. 

Personal finance, by its nature, is deeply intimate as you’re effectively inviting someone into a very private part of your life and you need to feel comfortable with that. My advice to others considering appointing a financial adviser is to bear this sense of intimacy in mind in your search and make sure you find someone who you can connect with. 

What is it like working with Maria?

Empathy lies at the heart of her approach. Most importantly, Maria is friendly, kind and really, really good at her job. 

Investing ethically is really important to me and I always feel that my values are understood and responded to.

My generation of women are not particularly financially literate as we grew up in a man’s world when it came to managing the family finances, even our reduced married women National Insurance contributions reflected that. Maria takes her time to ensure that I never feel intimidated or rushed; she goes at my pace and understanding.

Our regular financial review meetings, whilst thorough and informative, more closely resemble two friends getting together for a catch up. 

From a Woman’s Perspective 

Maria is from the same universe as me and that really matters – we have common experiences as professional women. She just gets me and it’s quite something to not only understand someone’s dream but help them to realise it.

The value of an investment with St. James's Place will be directly linked to the performance of the funds selected and the value may therefore fall as well as rise.  You may get back less than you invested.