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Our Story

The Story of The Private Office

TPO was established in 2008 in response to the increasingly impersonal nature of “mass market” advice.

A key objective of our business is to have significant positive impact. 25% of our future value will be gifted to environmental charities Restore Our Planet. All employees are shareholders in the company, which motivates our people to help make the planet a better place, by ensuring the advice we offer our customers is excellent. 

Many members of our team have worked together for more than 20 years, providing financial services to private clients, families, and owner-managed businesses.

In the last 10 years, we have grown out from our traditional homes in Yorkshire and London to have strong client links now throughout the UK.

2008

TPO was established in Yorkshire with the goal of providing independent, personalised wealth management advice.

2013

To strengthen the presence in the south, our London office was opened.

2014

The first issue of TPO Insight magazine was released in the summer.

2016

TPO acquired Westminster-based PQR Financial Planning in October.

2017

A permanent office in Bath was opened.

2018

On 3 April, The Private Office LLP and PQR Financial Planning Limited merged to become The Private Office Limited.

2019

In April, TPO acquired SRLV Financial LLP, expanding our reach to the music, media, entertainment, hospitality, and corporate sectors. 

In October, TPO acquired John Lamb Wealth Management, a well-established firm of financial experts and planners based in London.

TPO Wealth, our secure client portal, was launched, providing our clients with anytime access to their financial information online or via the TPO Wealth app.

TPO developed investment platform TPO Invest in partnership with Hubwise. TPO Invest provides access to a variety of investment products and improves our ability to deliver the highest standard of service to our clients. In addition to our TPO Invest services, our advice includes assets held outside of TPO Invest where appropriate so that our financial advice always remains independent and with the clients best interests at heart.

What is the difference between independent and restricted advice?

2020

In response to the coronavirus pandemic, our teams transitioned to working from home to minimise the spread whilst also maintaining our high standard of service. We continued to support our clients by replacing face-to-face meetings with phone and video conferencing. During this time we avoided having to furlough any colleagues and held virtual team building events to keep everyone connected.

TPO developed a successful webinar programme to share our financial planning insights across a variety of topics.

Click here to see our upcoming events or watch our previous webinars.

2021

TPO was recognised as one of the Top 100 companies in the UK by Best Companies.

Our response to the ongoing COVID 19 pandemic won Partner, Dean McSloy, the COVID-19 Response Award at the Unbiased Trusted Professional Awards 2021.

Click here to see other awards we’ve won recently.

2022

TPO staff numbers grew to over 200 across our three offices.

TPO was listed as a Vouched For top rated firm for the third consecutive year for continued excellent client service.

TPO was named 'Chartered Financial Planning Firm of the Year', at the Personal Finance Society Awards 2022/23.

TPO achieved a three star accreditation from Best Companies. We were also ranked:

  • No. 49 in the Top 50 Best Companies to work for
  • No. 34 in the Top 50 Best Companies to work for in London
  • No. 20 in the Top 25 Best Companies to work for in Yorkshire and Humber
  • No. 9 in the Top 10 Best Companies to work for in Financial Services
  • Top 5 ‘Most Improved’ companies

2023

TPO was listed as a VouchedFor top rated firm for the fourth consecutive year. 

In September we were named as a finalist for 'Chartered Financial Planning Firm of the Year 2023/24’ at the Personal Finance Society’s Personal Finance Awards 2023/4.

We ranked 12th in the Top 20 UK Advice Firms in the FT Adviser's Top 100 Financial Advisers 2023 list.

TPO reached over £2bn in assets under management.

Our client portal, TPO Wealth, reached over 1,800 users. It gives clients easy, secure access to their financial information, including investment performance, and provides a safe way to communicate with their adviser and store personal data. 

Find out more about TPO Wealth.

2024

For the fifth year in a row TPO has been named a VouchedFor top rated firm.

Our CEO, Stuart Phillips, won 'Outstanding contribution to the advice industry' at the Professional Adviser Awards in March.

March's Professional Adviser Awards also saw financial planning graduate, Estella Peto, winning 'Newcomer of the year'.

Take a look at some more of our recent awards and achievements.

In September we started working with Pacific Asset Management (PAM) as our core investment partner. PAM brings a significant additional level of investment research, expertise and capability, which we believe will provide material benefits to all our clients.