Born and raised in Eastbourne, Kim won a scholarship to a local school and excelled in music, languages and the performing arts. These remain a passion and influence to the present day.

Following an early career in accountancy, Kim moved into financial services in 2000, starting as an administrator and quickly progressing to paraplanning while gaining her financial planning qualifications. 

In 2003, Kim side-stepped into an advisory role as an Independent Financial Adviser, but ultimately always felt happiest as a paraplanner, so moved into an in-house paraplanning role in Tunbridge Wells in 2004.

Within another 5 years, Kim had become a Fellow of the Personal Finance Society, Certified Financial PlannerTM and a Chartered Investments and Securities Institute (CISI) Accredited Paraplanner. Having reached a point of rapidly running out of exams to take, she moved into outsourced paraplanning in 2012, ultimately looking after a team of paraplanners and several financial planning firms, while providing consultancy services to various other providers in the industry.

An experienced writer for the financial press, and occasional public speaker on all things paraplanning, Kim has won multiple Paraplanner of the Year Awards and now sits on judging panels to others that are entering awards in this field.  She is also a member of the CISI Paraplanner Interest Group, as has been influential in the resources, training and and events that are now available to the next generation of paraplanners in the community.

As one of the industry’s earliest adopters of the ‘paraplanner’ job title over 20 years ago, and having worked in administrative, advisory, in-house and outsourced paraplanning roles, Kim is ideally placed to recognise the individual skills required and displayed by people working in different areas of financial services, and to help others in their own career journeys. 

Kim has made it her mission to continue to pass on the considerable depth of her experience and knowledge as her legacy to the industry, and to those looking to join it, not only through her volunteer work as a mentor and Paraplanner Interest Group member for the CISI, but also as a regular helper and supporter of the Initiative for Financial Wellbeing (IFW). 

Contact Kim directly by emailing kim@goparaplanning.co.uk or call 07725 462403.

Ralph, like many of us, ‘fell into’ financial services at 18 years old, after being marched into the offices of NPI in the mid 1980s by his aunt, who decided that it was ‘about time he got a proper job’.

Fortunately for him, Ralph found that he was rather good with numbers, had a flair with technology, and was very natural and comfortable in working with and managing people. An ideal combination, when you work for a life assurer!

By the early '90s, Ralph had been head-hunted to move into private practice with an independent financial planning firm, where he met - and later set up his own business with – two of his colleagues. As early adopters of cash flow planning and fee-based charging, the company was very successful and grew organically into a lifestyle financial planning business, with Ralph as Practice Manager, Corporate Client Administrator and Compliance Officer.

Fast forward 20 years, they sold their company to facilitate the early retirement of one of Ralph’s business partners. 

This gave Ralph a golden opportunity to think about life, his goals, plans and ambitions. These days, he’s looking to continue supporting advisers on an outsourced basis, helping with their practice management and administration tasks and enjoying the variety of working with multiple companies and advisers, without having to do the long daily commutes to the office. 

Ralph’s considerable experience, logical approach and friendly nature make him easy and pleasant to work with. An immensely practical and multi-skilled individual, Ralph takes care of the financial, technological and legal aspects of running our business.

Outside of work, Ralph is a major petrol-head and has amassed an array of cars and motorbikes (much to Kim's annoyance!). He loves keeping fit, target rifle shooting, listening to podcasts, building his ever-expanding vinyl collection and everything ‘James Bond’.

Contact Ralph directly by emailing ralph@goparaplanning.co.uk or call 07801 191294.

Vicki joined Kim and Ralph at Go Paraplanning in June 2021 achieving her ambition to become a pure career paraplanner (and to work with a lovely team of outsourced paraplanners!).

 

Initially starting her career as an administrator for a financial services provider she quickly realised that this was a profession she enjoyed, and which gave unlimited opportunities to develop. Since those early days, Vicki has witnessed considerable changes to financial services through the eyes of product providers, direct sales teams and independent financial planners. Vicki has a thirst for knowledge and has studied throughout her career and became a Certified Financial Planner in 2015 and a Fellow of the Personal Finance Society in 2020.  

 

Working right across the financial services world, Vicki became aware that ultimately, the ‘paraplanner’ role was where she could give the most back to the profession. Enjoying delving deep into technical detail and helping to communicate these difficult financial concepts motivates her and provides inspiration to continually improve.

 

Outside of work, Vicki enjoy s walking, running and gardening, especially if you can grow it and eat it. Ever an optimist, she is always looking forward to tomorrow and what may be in bloom.

 

Vicki is incredibly excited be working with Kim and Ralph to look after the amazing Go Paraplanning clients! 

Contact Vicki directly by emailing vicki@goparaplanning.co.uk or call 07842 312941.

Alyson joined the Financial Services profession in 2010, having completed a degree in law and the Diploma in Legal Practice at the University of Edinburgh. Her career began in the local office of a medium-sized Scottish advice firm as part of its new graduate traineeship, where she worked ‘from the ground up’. 

While studying for CII/PFS exams, Alyson gradually built-up experience and was promoted to a new junior paraplanner role and then to paraplanner. With the guidance of more experienced team members, she become involved with increasingly complex planning areas, supported by more exams. 

 

After completing the Advanced Diploma in Financial Planning and achieving Chartered status, Alyson moved into outsourced paraplanning in 2016. She considers herself a ‘career paraplanner’ who never wants to stop learning and developing.

 

With a particular interest in trusts and estate planning thanks to that law degree, Alyson is passionate about writing reports in plain English which explain complicated topics simply and that clients might actually want to read!

 

Alyson joined the Go Paraplanning team in April 2023, where she enjoys working with our clients and continues to build on her knowledge and experience.

 

When she isn’t in her home office in the Scottish Borders, where she lives with her husband and Black Labrador, Alyson enjoys cooking, baking, sewing and growing vegetables and is a voracious reader. In the winter, she can be found curling at the local ice rink.

Contact Alyson directly by emailing alyson@goparaplanning.co.uk or call 07749 497825.