Valentine’s Day is fast approaching. Flowers, chocolates and love hearts are filling almost every shop. For an industry built on long-term relationships, Valentine’s Day should surely be the private wealth sector’s favourite holiday.

Relationships are at the core of wealth management. Handing over their money, clients are essentially entrusting advisers with their futures. Given this is such a personal and important topic, clients have to feel really comfortable with their advisers before allowing them to look after their finances.

Commitment issues will be far from the minds of wealth managers as they aim to keep clients for the long haul, ideally looking after multiple generations of one family.

Just this week, Hugo Bedford, JM Finn’s chief executive, told me about the importance of relationships to his firm.

For the most part, the firm is very successful in developing these relationships. Its client turnover numbers are low and satisfaction scores are high.

Every other year the firm undertakes a rigorous client satisfaction survey in which it is benchmarked against nine of its peers.

In its most recent survey, JM Finn came out on top, scoring 86 percent on areas including trustworthiness, transparency and sensitivity. This compares to a 2021 benchmark of 76 percent

Having worked at JM Finn for over 15 years himself, Mr Bedford certainly practices what he preaches when it comes to long-term relationships.

For clients, love and money are very hard to separate. From pre-nuptial agreements, to post-nuptial agreements and even Wills – finances infiltrate all aspects of relationships. Succession disputes and marriage breakdowns form the basis of many private wealth professionals’ workload. If not managed correctly, these disputes can become nasty and drag on for years. 

It is not all bad news, however. Relationships, like marriage, can have positive financial benefits. 

For example, the HMRC marriage allowance allows individuals to transfer £1,260 of their personal allowance to their husband, wife or civil partner. This reduces their tax by up to £252 in the tax year.

Partners can also share financial rewards together. My dad always jokes he married my mum for her pension. She is an NHS doctor, so the pension is not too shabby… 

Combining assets successfully can help preserve wealth throughout generations and allow families to achieve any financial goals they may have.

Whether love or money is your focus, Valentine’s Day is certainly a holiday for wealth advisers.