Every month, we pose 7 questions to a Chamber member. This time it’s Paul McCormick, Director & Senior Financial Advisor at Gower Financial Services.
1. Who are you & what do you do?
I help Guernsey people manage their money, either directly myself or through the team of experienced Financial Planners at Gower. This can mean anything from advising on protection products such as life insurance, regular saving into pension or investment accounts, through to managing already accumulated wealth. Either way, by combining a range of investment solutions with financial planning services, I help local people meet their financial goals. As a Director, together with the executive team, I also help steer the strategic direction of the company and ensure regulatory compliance.
2. How long have you been doing this?
I first started out in Financial Planning in 2000, took a change of direction a few years later, but after returning to domestic financial services in 2012, I’ve been helping people with their money ever since.
3. How did you get into this field?
I chose to pursue and stick with a career in domestic financial service because I enjoy meeting with clients everyday and being their trusted adviser.
4. What’s the ‘why’ behind your work?
What drives me every day is helping people make sense of their finances. From pensions to investments, I enjoy turning complex products into simple, useful insights — and building long-term, trusted relationships along the way.
5. How do you approach problem-solving?
I find that any task or challenge is more easily handled when broken down into smaller pieces. I will generally take time to understand the challenge in front of me and will quite often reflect on it overnight, rather than rich into a task, which I find very helpful. Then I will draw up a list of stages to work through and cross them off as I go. In addition, I firmly believe in asking questions and asking for help from all of colleagues. We have an open culture of trust at Gower, and it empowers everyone to shares issues and challenges to get them resolved more easily. Teamwork is so important in all walks of life and when you have a team you can trust then it’s easier and tap into other peoples varied experiences to help get you where you need to be with any challenge.
6. What book, mentor or podcast has shaped your thinking?
I don’t have a specific mentor, but a hard work ethic was instilled into me by my parents at a young age. My father always used to advocate putting your hand up to do a job if a job needed doing, and this turned out to be very sound advice, putting yourself forward, going the extra mile gets you noticed, and the rewards generally follow. I have always benefited from studying and have found that every time I’ve done this, I’ve been able to move forward in my career and have got a good return on the investment of time and effort.
There is a speech that I find particularly inspiring, it’s a bit dated and has some explicit language, but for teamwork and leadership, Al Pacino’s ‘Inches’ speech from the film ‘Any Given Sunday’ works for me, particularly when I’m faced with a significant challenge that needs breaking down.
4. Tea, coffee, or something stronger?
All of the above, but coffee in the morning is the most important to get me going!
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