Meet James Curry, rockwealth’s newest team member, who’s bringing honest, transparent financial planning to the Lake District
James Curry has seen the financial advice industry from every angle. He’s worked as a business development manager selling funds, witnessed the inner workings of major consolidators, and experienced firsthand how the pursuit of profit can sometimes overshadow client interests. Now, as the founder of rockwealth Lake District, he’s determined to do things differently.
“Based on my background and qualifications, I have a very specific view of what best practice looks like within financial planning,” James explains. “I wanted more freedom to be able to provide advice for my clients in the manner which I feel serves them best.”
From active funds to evidence-based investing
James’s journey into financial services began in 2014 with an internship at a financial planning firm. He then spent several years on the other side of the industry, working first as a business development manager at Zurich, selling investments and platforms to financial advisers, before moving to Whitechurch Securities, an ethical investing specialist based in Bristol, for whom he covered the Midlands region for nearly four years.
It was during this time, working within the active fund industry, that James began to question the conventional wisdom. “My journey has taken a few years and is the result of me reading lots of academic research,” he reflects. “The more research I read, and conferences I attended, the more I realised that active management is not the best solution for most of my clients.”
The claims made for active management, particularly that it would perform better during market downturns, simply weren’t borne out by the evidence. “The last five years have been a very good test of that, and ultimately they haven’t met up to the claims,” James notes.
This research-driven approach led him to obtain his Chartered Financial Planner qualification, after which he decided to move into advice. He joined a large independent financial advice firm and began advising clients in March 2020. It was hardly the gentlest introduction to financial planning, as that was when markets experienced one of their sharpest drops in history as the scale of Covid-19 pandemic became clear.
“It was a fascinating time to learn because all the behavioural stuff you read about suddenly became very real, very quickly,” James recalls. The experience of guiding clients through that turbulent period reinforced his belief in evidence-based investing and the importance of behavioural coaching.
The Lake District move
In 2021, James and his wife made a life-changing decision. They’d always loved the Lake District, visiting regularly to go running and hiking, but had assumed they’d have to wait until later in life to make the move. The shift to remote working following Covid changed everything.
“Due to everything being online following Covid, we were both home-based so we decided to make the move, and it has worked out better than we could have hoped,” James says. The couple now live in Cockermouth.
In 2022, James moved to a North West-based firm that had recently purchased a local business from a retiring adviser, giving him the opportunity to work more closely with his new local community. However, he soon found himself constrained by the limitations of working within a large corporate structure.
The consolidation challenge
James’s experience reflects a broader trend that’s reshaping the financial advice industry. Consolidation, where large firms acquire smaller practices, has become “probably the biggest trend within financial planning” and “the thing that’s going to have the greatest impact on clients over the next decade”.
This wave of consolidation is being driven by two key factors: an influx of American private equity money taking advantage of the weakened pound, and an ageing population of financial advisers nearing retirement.
While consolidation can bring benefits such as improved training and standardised processes, James identifies three significant risks for clients: costs, independence, and advice quality.
“Generally, consolidators tend to be some of the most expensive advice firms in the market as they are usually private equity backed and ultimately need to pay a return on investment,” he explains. These firms often charge a standard 1% ongoing advice fee, plus additional transaction costs. Costs that can have a direct impact on clients’ ability to meet their financial objectives.
The independence issue particularly concerns James. Many consolidators launch their own investment products or platforms and then encourage their advisers to recommend these over market alternatives. “While the FCA definitions may allow for this, I don’t feel that you can truly provide independent advice when you have a vested interest in one option being more profitable than another.”
Perhaps most troubling is the impact on advice quality. James believes he can properly serve a maximum of about 80 families while still providing excellent service. Yet it’s becoming common for consolidators to assign 150-200 client families per adviser. “There are only so many hours in the day,” he observes, “and unfortunately, financial advice doesn’t scale particularly well because it’s a people business.”
Discovering rockwealth
When James began considering setting up his own practice, he had a clear vision of how it should operate. “When I was looking at setting something up on my own, a firm that reflects who I am and what I believe in, the design I came up with was rockwealth,” he laughs.
Having spotted rockwealth on his LinkedIn feed, James was impressed by conversations with the firm’s financial planners. “I really liked their culture and their real desire to do the best job possible for their clients in an honest, transparent, compassionate way. This was backed up by the evidence-based investment philosophy and the fixed fee charging structure which I agreed with.”
For James, joining rockwealth offered all the benefits of running his own practice, the freedom to provide advice according to his principles, combined with the support and expertise of a like-minded network of professionals.
The case for fixed fees
One of rockwealth’s most distinctive features is its fixed-fee charging structure, which contrasts sharply with the percentage-based fees used by around 97% of the industry.
“The percentage-based charging models never made sense to me, as it doesn’t take me ten times longer to look after a client with £10m, than a client with £1m,” James argues. “Fees should be based on a combination of the time required, and the value added. These are ultimately dependent on the complexity and needs of the clients and should be charged as such.”
The financial impact for clients can be substantial. Since most clients will be invested for 20, 30, or even 50 years, the difference between percentage and fixed fees can amount to “hundreds of thousands into the millions, particularly when you factor in the compound growth of those fees, the money you no longer have.”
As James puts it: “This can be the difference between having an acceptable retirement, or a great one.”
A new chapter
For James, joining rockwealth represents the culmination of a decade-long journey through the financial services industry. He’s seen how the pursuit of profit can distort priorities, witnessed the limitations of active management, and experienced the constraints of working within large corporate structures.
Now, based in the heart of the Lake District, he’s able to offer something different: genuinely independent advice, evidence-based investment strategies, and transparent, fair pricing. For clients across Cumbria and beyond who are thinking about their financial future, it’s an opportunity to work with an adviser who’s seen the industry from every angle and chosen to put their interests first.
IFA and Financial Adviser in the Lake District, Cumbria
rockwealth Lake District is an evidence-based and fixed-fee Independent Financial Adviser situated in the Lake District.Interested to work with us?: Begin your financial journey with us through an Initial Discovery Consultation, completely free of charge and without any obligation.
Discover us at: rockwealth Lake District, Victoria Hall, High Sand Lane, Cockermouth, CA13 9NA.