Good Egg awarded March 2024
About Switchfoot Wealth
Switchfoot Wealth provides independent financial advice and wealth management services for private clients, businesses and fiduciaries. It believes that “all financial planning should be sustainable financial planning.”
Summary of findings
The Good Egg criteria is divided into industry/ customer impact, environmental, social and internal. Switchfoot Wealth was rated as having a “High Positive Impact” overall.
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Read the full report here.
Industry/ Customer impact findings
The company has a great deal of knowledge and experience in assisting older clients through their ties with the Society of Later Life Advisors (SOLLA). SOLLA are a not-for-profit organisation that aims to connect people with accredited Later Life Advisers who understand the needs and issues that older clients face. Seb (founder/ director) is a member of the SOLLA Advisory board working on the topic that “climate change is a later life issue”. Switchfoot are represented in a working group within the Personal Finance Society (PFS) focussed on developing guidance, expectations, and support in the development of sustainable
finance.
The company also places focus on vulnerable clients such as past victims of pension scams and those who may be future victims of LPA (lasting power of attorney) abuse. Switchfoot helps business owners build resilient plans that interconnect their business and personal finances.
Clients can easily book a 30-minute free call/meeting with a representative through the “Book a call” option on their website.
Environmental findings
The company was founded with the intention of making sustainable finance the default and states that it is the originators of sustainable financial planning. This is an approach that considers climate impact and risk on the entirety of a client’s financial plan alongside the investment choices that they make.
Switchfoot states that it has developed a sustainable first CIP – Central Investment Proposition. It does not ask people to opt-in to sustainability, but to opt-out. The newest version of this is 1.5 aligned with a credible pathway to net zero for the funds and following Science based Targets Initiative (SBTI).
Social findings
Switchfoot states that one investment selection that it has as part of its CIP, Tribe Impact Capital, have holdings in funds that are focussed upon social problems. It also emphasises its work with SOLLA, and the Transparency Taskforce is centred around social problems linked to vulnerable people in society (for example, the elderly).
Internal (Staff/policies/offices) findings
Everyone at Switchfoot is expected to be always furthering their education. The company funds exams and support, provides study time and employs career changers, training them in financial planning.
Switchfoot pays the real living wage for a family with London weighting as a minimum. A further budget of £50 per worker per month for ‘personal protection policies’ such as life cover, income protection or critical illness insurance is also made per individual.
Switchfoot Wealth Good Egg Final Report
Comment from Switchfoot Wealth:
“We’re delighted to have become a “Good Egg!” This external validation of our practices and mission to make sustainable finance the default, complements well with being B Corp certified. We look forward to the opportunities it presents to spread the word regarding sustainable financial planning.” – Independent Financial Adviser at Switchfoot Wealth, Steven Day.
Panellist comments:
“This is a positive, small company that seems well set up and with its heart in the right place.”
“I like that the CIP will be 1.5 aligned – with a credible pathway to net zero for the funds and following the Science-based Targets Initiative (SBTI). Seems to be a good organisation with good values and practices. I love the sustainability by default approach, and the lack of a lower band for client wealth.”
“They are eminently suitable for a Good Egg award.”
More on Switchfoot Wealth from Good With Money:
Directory: Switchfoot Wealth