The new Kirk Ella Investments Ltd website has now been launched. www.kirkellainvestments.co.uk

The website still has many of the sections from the previous website, including lots of valuable content, however as well as having a design overhaul we have added the following features.

• Social Media integration – The Twitter feed and Blog feed is now on the homepage, which over time will provide valuable snippets of information at a glance.
• Testimonials section – We receive a number of testimonials from our clients in the form of thank you cards, emails and hand written thank you letters, and we will try to feature a number of these on the website. Obviously the names will be omitted for data protection reasons.
• Our People page – Although met with some resistance from staff that are afraid of cameras, we decided to publish mug shots of the staff at Kirk Ella Investments together with a link to their email address, and a brief profile.

Obviously there is plenty of other content, and this will continue to increase as we add news articles and updates.

We also have our Facebook Page, Twitter Account and LinkedIn account. Please visit and “like” the Facebook Page.

Facebook Page

Click here and click “like”, if for any reason the link doesnt open, just visit www.facebook.com and search for Kirk Ella Investments.

Twitter Account

http://www.twitter.com/kirkellainv

LinkedIn

Click here to visit the site. Please note, to view profiles on LinkedIn you need to have an account yourself. They are free to create, and open up plenty of networking opportunities with business people all over the region and the world.

Shane Beardsley

This is something I have really wanted to get off the ground for quite some time now, and I made the decision this week to make a start, so I have decided to publicise the details of our Facebook page, Twitter account and my LinkedIn profile. Some people use one, and some people use all the above, so if you are interested in following any of the above, or joining my network of contacts then please feel free to follow the links provided below.

Going forward, I am planning to use the Facebook page to pick out some of the important articles I come across in the media that may be relevant to my clients, which will then in turn be automatically posted to my Twitter and LinkedIn profile.

I will still be using the blog on our website (soon to be new and improved), and these will be longer more tailored articles that I think will be if interest. I will also be continuing to send these monthly newsletters to maintain a regular contact to the clients that subscribe.

Facebook Page

Click here and click “like”, if for any reason the link doesnt open, just visit www.facebook.com and search for Kirk Ella Investments.

Twitter Account

http://www.twitter.com/kirkellainv

LinkedIn

Click here to visit the site. Please note, to view profiles on LinkedIn you need to have an account yourself. They are free to create, and open up plenty of networking opportunities with business people all over the region and the world.

May I start by wishing you a Happy New Year!!!!!

January is typically the month of “New Year’s Resolutions”, in most cases making them, and in some cases making and subsequently breaking them. Whether it is to go to gym more, lose weight, get fitter, stop smoking, stop drinking, or manage your time better to list but a few. However, one we hear a lot is “we must get our finances in order”, the sub-category to that may be just to do an annual review to find out what they have, and whether it is working for them, to review their life cover and critical illness cover, or just to get a handle on their investments. It is astonishing how many people we meet that have various investments and life policies all over the place and they genuinely have no idea exactly what they have or what they are for.

So, it may be late to make these resolutions now, but putting that to one side, if you or any of your contacts want to have a free review of your savings and investments, mortgage, or life and protection products then please do not hesitate to call or to give out our number.

This month I am having a bit of a “social media” month, in anticipation of our new website which should be ready to launch early next month.

“Word of Mouth”
The best form of advertising?

This is a phrase many of you will have heard coined on more than one occasion…”word of mouth is one of the best forms of advertising”. True?

Some of you reading this blog will already have been referred to me and my business by a friend, family member, or colleague! In fact, as a business we hardly do any advertising, and most of our new clients come to us as recommendations from other clients! Afterall are you more likely to use someone that has been recommended to you by someone who has experience of that persons work?

For the last 8 years I have been one of a group of local business people who meet regularly and get to know one anothers businesses, with a view to building a network of professional people that we can all comfortably refer people to that have expressed a requirement for a particular product or service! I for one would rather use an electrician that has been referred to me by a friend that has used that persons services, over picking up the yellow pages and putting a pin in the page!

I only mention this now, in case any of you reading this article are involved in a local business, or know of anyone that may benefit from meeting the other members of our group. If so, please drop me an email or give me a call to discuss.

Shane Beardsley
Managing Director / Independent Financial Adviser

I think it is safe to say that it has been a turbulent year! in fact one of the most turbulent years in modern history! there is hardly an industry that hasn’t been affected in one way or another by the stock market and currency fluctuations, inflation, interest rate changes, credit crunch, recession…. and I certainly don’t believe we have seen the end of it.

All I can say is that although it all seems like bad news, (and I cant even remember the last “good news story” I read in the papers, or heard on the evening news), I can assure you that THERE ARE good things still happening.

In fact, can I ask that people email me on shane@kirkellainvestments.co.uk with “good news” stories, or “success stories” from the past year, in particular business related. Any particularly good ones received will be published in the New Year! Let’s spread some good cheer!

Personally I am looking forward to the New Year; there are several exciting opportunities for me and my colleagues, as well as the various companies I am involved in. For example the New Year sees a new member of staff starting at Kirk Ella Investments, her role is to assist me in particular to enable me to spend more time with businesses and business owners, looking at the complicated area of Pensions, Key Person and Shareholder Protection.

So before I finish I would like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas, and a PROSPEROUS New Year…… see you next year!

Shane
Managing Director / Independent Financial Adviser

It has been nearly 2 months since he joined the team here at Kirk Ella Investments Ltd, but Grant Dymond has taken the bull by the horns in what can only be described as “turbulent” times in our industry. He has joined the established team of highly experienced Advisers based at our offices in Kirk Ella.

Having several years of working in a Bank environment, he has moved across to provide clients with independent financial advice on a range of services from Investments and Pensions to Mortgages and Life Protection.

As far as firms of Independent Financial Advisers go, we dont fit the bill as the typical firm, we have always believed in treating our customers fairly, even before that phrase was being coined in the press, as a small firm we have tight controls over compliance and since we rarely recruit, and Advisers rarely leave, we have a very consistent approach to financial advice.

Should you want a review of your finances, please do not hestitate to contact us on 01482 658989 to arrange a consultation.

Shane Beardsley
Managing Director

Last November, much to my surprise, I received a phone call from the BBC, asking if I would be prepared to come into the studio for Fridays breakfast show and pass comment on a recent report regarding “Occupation Pensions” and “education in the workplace”

It meant I was privy to the findings of the report, and it definitely raised some very interesting points:

71% of workers say their company teaches them nothing about pensions
53% of people do not expect their current employer’s pension alone will pay them sufficient income in retirement.
58% of people in defined contribution pensions do not understand that they could get a better pension if they shop around.
85% of people do not realised they could get a better pension if they are a smoker or are in ill health.

So, in short, if you are an employer, or  even an employee concerned about your retirement, please do not hesitate to contact us for a financial review.

Shane

Blogs? … everybody seems to have one these days; some people have them to improve their search engine rankings, some people have them to entertain the regular visitors to their website, in fact everyone has a different reason for adding a blog to their website. To be honest, at this point I am not entirely certain why we have added one to our site apart from to open up the possibilities available to companies willing to learn new things.I suppose it helps that I am a Director of Kirk Ella Investments Ltd, but also a Director of EYE Web Solutions (www.eyewebsolutions.co.uk) web design agency aimed at businesses, and EYE Focused (www.eyefocused.co.uk), a web design agency aimed at Schools, Colleges and Universities. Blogs seem to be more and more popular to all manner of clients.

Anyway, whatever the reason, I will be attempting to post on a regular basis with news on our business, comments on industry news, in fact anything that relates to us as a business.

Shane.