Pete Hodgson

Hi, my name is Peter Hodgson. I’ve been a client of de Mellow’s for 13 years, and my adviser is James Burgess.

When I first spoke to James, I wanted to consolidate my pensions, and I was worried about their growth. I was worried about one pension I had that was actually losing money because of the management charge on it. So, I wanted advice on how I’d grow that as well, but the key thing for me was my retirement.

I found out about de Mellow when my previous financial adviser retired, and he passed me to someone else, another financial adviser. I didn’t really get the service I was looking for, so I asked my wife at the time if there was anyone she knew, and she had used de Mellow a number of years back when she got a mortgage and was very satisfied with them. So, I started the conversation with de Mellow to see if they would look after and have a conversation about my pensions.

When I met with de Mellow, I met with James, and I felt he was a safe pair of hands. There was a lot of trust there, and you generally look at the individuals you’re dealing with, and he gave me warmth, which I wasn’t getting previously. James took me on and has advised me up to today.

I had a life insurance product with another company, so it didn’t really pay out what I could expect for my age. It would be used if I had an illness; it would just pay money if I couldn’t work. So, we looked at that, reassessed it, and took out critical illness cover instead. That was done four years ago, and I thought at the time, “Yeah, okay, I understand what you’re saying, but I’m very healthy, so I don’t really think I need that, but I’ll absolutely take your advice, James.” And literally, two years ago, I was diagnosed with prostate cancer, so that cover paid me a lump sum, and I would never have got that otherwise. Even though it was difficult times, that lump sum did come in handy.

Working with James in the future makes me feel very strong, and the key is communication. We have regular meetings. At regular meetings, we assess and look at where the retirement fund is going to go, whether we need to change that around, whether we need to change the portfolio mix that it’s in, but we have that regularly reviewed.

I don’t have any issues. If I need to pick up the phone to James with a query, I will, and I don’t have any issues with that. Or I can email James, and I know he’ll respond, and that’s very important to me.

I would absolutely recommend James and the de Mellow team. For me, I know it’s a bit of a cliche, but James has put an arm around me and the family when we’ve needed it. He’s always been there for us as well. So, it’s not just always about the finances. There are other things you can bounce off him, questions you can bounce off him. James has become more of a friend over the period I’ve known him, and that goes back to the trustworthiness; you know that they are looking after your finances for you.