Family values key to Acumen’s success

Successful businesses have always been at the heart of Angela Maher’s family. Her grandparents were highly respected farmers in West Lancashire and as a child, she saw her dad take over a failing motor business, transforming it into Ormskirk Ford. At the age of just 21 her older son Andrew Frampton established Harmonics Music, a music shop and music school in Crosby, making him the youngest music retailer in the country.

Now for Angela, that legacy looks set to continue. Founded by Angela in 2006 but with roots that go back to the early 1990’s, Acumen Financial Partnership is now a 20-strong team managing £300 million of clients investments with her younger son Daniel Frampton, a former Sub-36 award winner, joining the business in 2018 as an apprentice.

“We have a close knit team of advisers and support staff all with a range of different experiences,” says Angela. “Daniel was a natural fit for a business which already had a real family feel and traditional values. I’m very proud of how the business has grown - we have an eye for talent and have trained a team who have come from all sorts of backgrounds, supporting them through their exams and developing their careers, since we opened the doors 15 years ago.”

Acumen has always been a huge part of Daniel’s life and he remembers how hard his mum worked to build the business which moved from Maghull to bigger 4,600 sq. ft premises in Burscough in 2017. “I remember the old offices as I used to go there after school and do my homework” says Daniel. “It’s a bit different now! During lockdown, I decided to knuckle down with the aim of adding as many qualifications as I could to broaden my knowledge as much as possible.” This dedication will lead to Daniel becoming one of the youngest ever to achieve Fellowship of the Chartered Insurance Institute in the UK.

Acumen director Jon Landy says along with the other younger members of the team Daniel has brought fresh ideas and a real buzz to the business. “I’m proud we’re training the advisers of the future by creating an environment where they feel confident and able to contribute to the business as it grows. We are bucking the trend in terms of the traditional image of the industry in other ways too, with 5 of our 10 advisers being female.”

Daniel hadn’t initially considered a career in financial services and had thought about pursuing a career in engineering but a work experience day with an investment management company changed his mind. He says “It’s an amazing industry. Working closely with individual clients from absolute beginners to experienced investors we focus on straightforward explanations of what for many people can be pretty complex matters. It’s a real privilege to earn the trust of our clients and we never take that for granted. Just seeing the difference we can make, improving investment returns, saving tax, helping them make the most of their hard earned savings, making sure they make the right decisions, at the right time really can change lives.”