David & Sharon, Coleraine

Sharon: 

Hi, I’m Sharon Schindler and this is my husband, David. We have been clients of Dukes for about 10 years.

David:

I mainly got in touch with Dukes because some members of my family were already a client and thought he was doing a good job for them. So, I jumped in as well.

Sharon: 

We had money in different places, but it was all a bit disorganised. We really needed help from Dukes to put everything in one place and manage it better, so that we could get an overall picture in a one-stop shop.

We had been with another financial advisor before joining Dukes, but weren’t happy with the service we received there. Family recommendations helped us decide to go with Dukes.

David:

The first thing Dukes helped us with was gathering the various different things, such as ISAs and pensions, under one umbrella. We’ve also had a couple of different mortgages through Dukes, and some other types of investments as our circumstances have changed.

Sharon: 

Dukes have been able to help us with our retirement plan. We are kind-of retired now, and they have been helping us forecast our spending, look at our different investments and consider how they will work for us in the long term.

David:

Dukes makes us feel we’ve got someone looking after our money. We don’t have to look at it every day, we’re sent quarterly reports, and our advisor is always looking to move investments into better products as he sees fit.

We went through quite a comprehensive forecasting scenario where we tried to forecast our spending, what we had and how long it would last. Once everything was made up in diagrams, facts and figures, it gave us the confidence to live the way we’re living and know that the money should be good. We’re now confident in what we’re doing.

Sharon: 

The three words that I would use to describe Dukes are professional, experts in their field, and knowledgeable.

David:

The best thing about working with Dukes is knowing you’ve got somebody who’s constantly keeping an eye on what your investments are doing. They’re always looking at the market, and if the products are not doing well, they’ll switch out into a better performing product.

Sharon: 

I would recommend Dukes to other people who have investments to make because they listen to what you want to do with your money. That is, how you want to invest it, the types of companies you want to invest in, whether those are ethical or sustainable, or whatever field you want to invest in. They will do that for you.