Steve Martin CFP™ Chartered MCSI
Director
Chartered Wealth Manager
Certified Financial Planner
Steve, 46, is originally from Ayr in Scotland but moved to Altrincham in 2003 now lives full time in Spain. He is a Chartered and Certified Financial Planner (CFP™) as well as a Chartered Wealth Manager, a holder of the Investment Management Certificate and is a former Assessor of the CFP™ licence.
Steve founded Smart Financial Planning Limited in 2008 and serves as it chief executive. He also founded Smart SSAS, a pension trustee business in 2011 and Smart Divorce, a divorce specialism in 2018 and released the Change The Future programme in 2020. In 2021 he launched Smart Financial International to support clients moving out of the uk into Europe.
He was Chair of the Manchester branch of the Institute of Financial Planning for 5 years before standing down in 2015.
Steve is married with two children, is an Ironman Triathlete, a keen runner and a CrossFit level 1 coach and is a committed fund raiser for the CF Warriors and the Cystic Fibrosis trust.
Steve has over 20 years’ experience in the profession, having been a Partner and Managing Director of previous firms.
Steve specialises in advising business owners as both a financial planner and a business consultant as well as expatriating UK nationals.
Steve and Damien host the Financial Life Coach Podcast
Damien Rylett
Director
Chartered Financial Planner
CEO, Brunel Capital Partners, Pilgrim Financial Planning and CEO of IronBright Investment Management.
A former IFP Branch Manager and Conference Chairman who has spoken at a number of events on Practice Management.
Damien established Brunel Capital Partners, a Bristol based financial planning firm in 2011. He is responsible for mentoring and developing the firm’s young, upcoming financial planners. Having acquired Pilgrim Financial Planning, a Somerset based IFA practice in the summer of 2016, Damien is overseeing the firm’s transition from a traditional model to a comprehensive financial planning offering. Damien is also CEO of IronBright Investment Management, a DFM built by financial planners for financial planners. Both Brunel and Pilgrim are Chartered Financial Planning firms.
Damien has been delivering Lifestyle Financial Planning for the past 16 years and now uses his wealth of experience to coach and train other advisers and financial planners.
An experienced sports coach, Damien is able to transfer the skills acquired in this arena to the financial planning world to help advisers and planners be the best they can be and deliver their service with passion, integrity and empathy.
Damien and Steve host of the Financial Life Coach Podcast
Tamsin Caine MSc., CFPTM Chartered MCSI
Trainer
Head of Financial Planning – Smart Financial
Tamsin joined Smart Financial in January 2015. She had 15 years’ experience in financial services in businesses from a small family company to a large PLC. Since meeting Steve Martin about 10 years’ ago, during his time as chair of the local IFP branch, Tamsin had wanted to work with him, providing lifestyle financial planning to clients. Having secured her dream job, she soon discovered that transforming from a traditional transactional IFA to a lifestyle financial planner was not as easy as she had anticipated. However, 2 years’ on and too many role plays to count, she is now helping others through the academy and mentoring several new and existing planners.
Having completed a Masters in Financial Planning and Business Management at Manchester Metropolitan University in 2015, Tamsin now works as an Associate Lecturer at the university in the Accounting and Finance department.
She now uses a combination of teaching at the university and coaching skills developed on the rugby field to help to develop successful lifestyle financial planners.