Colin Low, managing director at Kingsfleet, speaks about the importance of community after winning two awards at the EADT Business Awards 2024.
Kingsfleet is a chartered firm that provides personalised financial planning for private clients and trusts.
It was founded in 2010 by managing director Colin Low, with the objective of providing high quality independent financial advice at a reasonable cost and supporting the people of Suffolk.
It works with individuals to establish their clients’ needs before putting together a plan of suitable investment arrangements, which are then monitored and reviewed during the working relationship.
Kingsfleet has five core values running through it – to be virtuous, knowledgeable, dependable, compassionate and meritocratic.
These attributes helped gain Kingsfleet its B Corp accreditation in 2022.
“We came to realise that our focus is not solely on profit, but rather on people, planet and purpose,” Colin explained.
“Therefore, around 95% of our recommendations utilise sustainable investment funds, which is very different from the rest of our profession.”
Kingsfleet won two awards at the EADT Business Awards 2024, including the Customer Excellence Award, sponsored by Greater Anglia, and the Small Business of the Year award. Colin said this felt “quite overwhelming”.
“It’s something that we have applied for on numerous occasions and, whilst we have been delighted to reach the final four, we just weren’t quite good enough.
“However, to come away with the two awards, especially when we look at the quality of the other businesses that we were up against, was astonishing,” he added.
“I still keep checking the award trophies to make sure that we really did win them both on the same night!”
The award wins have helped boost the Kingsfleet team, with the judges’ comments on its client-focused approach providing a lot of encouragement.
“We really do focus on our clients, so we don’t often have time to pat ourselves on the back,” said Colin.
The award wins also allowed Kingsfleet to re-focus on what it does and how it does it, specifically when it comes to the local community.
“Wealthy people in Suffolk are far from ostentatious, they are typically understated, community-spirited and humble,” said Colin.
“We want to work with and support that type of attitude as we believe strongly that it’s not the accumulation of wealth that matters but rather how it is used for the good of others.”
Kingsfleet supports work in the community through local charities, in the past supporting Suffolk Mind, Homestart in Suffolk and St Elizabeth Hospice. It is now looking to grow its two charitable funds held with the Suffolk Community Foundation.
One of these supports educational causes in Suffolk (Kingsfleet was named after the primary school Colin attended) and the other is the Gary Gladwell fund, which supports causes that engage children in sport and play. It is named after one of Kingsfleet’s team, who passed away suddenly in April 2022.
But it doesn’t stop there. “We will always look to engage and support local causes wherever possible.”
Going forward, Kingsfleet will look to keep improving what it does, keeping costs to a reasonable level, improving efficiency and embracing the latest technology, processes and now, AI.
It has also begun bringing work back to the business that was previously outsourced to Suffolk businesses, such as bookkeeping and transcription services. Kingsfleet is thankful for those businesses’ valuable support as it has helped the firm on its growth journey.
Colin said: “We have grown organically to this stage, and we see no reason why this needs to change.
“As our client base continues to grow, so does the level of client referrals. Satisfied clients introduce new friends and colleagues and satisfied professional contacts introduce new potential clients.”
For more information, visit kingsfleetwealth.co.uk
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