Behind the scenes at Newark Wealth

The story of a business built on grit, heart, and the occasional bottle of gin!

If you’ve ever wanted a peak behind the curtains at what goes on at Newark Wealth, you’re in the right place!

A different kind of office

It's easy to assume that financial services is still the world it once was - stuffy, formal, male-dominated, all suits and jargon. But spend five minutes with the team at Newark Wealth and you'll quickly realise it isn't.

That's no accident. Mike and Heather built this business precisely because they wanted something different - a firm where people actually enjoy coming to work, where clients feel like people rather than portfolios, and where the culture is something worth talking about. Having come up through a more traditional corner of the financial profession, they knew exactly what they didn't want Newark Wealth to be.

For example, when someone has a birthday at Newark, they get a gift and the day off. It's a small thing, but it matters. When trainee paraplanner Aaron Robb recently celebrated his birthday, he left the office with a rather fine bottle of his favourite gin. "It's just something we do," says Heather Kiriakakis, director and co-founder. "We want people to feel valued here - not just as employees, but as individuals."

Twice a year, the whole team takes a day out together - and the office closes entirely. "We didn't want team building to mean dragging people out for an evening away from their families," says Heather. "So we do it properly, in the daytime, all of us together."

It's a small distinction that says quite a lot about how Newark Wealth thinks about the people who work there. And in a world where younger professionals are increasingly selective about where they work and why, this sort of culture really counts.

The new Glasgow office

You may have heard that Newark Wealth has recently opened an office in Glasgow. It's exciting news - and a reflection of a business that continues to grow. But for clients who've been with the firm since the beginning, one thing won't change: Newark Wealth remains rooted in Kilmarnock - this is home. Glasgow is simply what happens when a business is doing well and wants to reach more of the people it can genuinely help.

"We're growing," says Mike Kiriakakis, director and financial adviser. "But we're not changing. The values, the approach, the relationships - that's who we are."

Backing the next generation

Last September, Mike and Heather took the team as well as their son Alex who is finishing school, to New Blood, an industry event run by the Lang Cat specifically for the next generation entering financial services. It was, they say, exactly the kind of thing they wish had existed when they were starting out.

"We wanted him to see that this industry is not what people assume," says Mike. "When you walk into a financial planning conference today, you're just as likely to see chinos and jeans as you are a collar and tie. It's changing. There's room for all kinds of people, and all kinds of paths."

That matters to Mike and Heather personally. Because their path was anything but conventional.

How Newark began

Mike first entered financial services in 2004, and by 2007 both he and Heather had joined a large, well-known financial services firm – Mike as associate partner, Heather as his administrator and paraplanner. It was at this point that Heather gave up her job in Glasgow to work alongside him. Technically self-employed, with no guaranteed salary, this was a significant leap of faith.

It was also a different world! An environment of formal dress codes, high-end stationery, and a particular kind of client acquisition that felt a long way from the advisers they wanted to be. They both learned a great deal, but they also knew, fairly early on, that this wasn't their world.

A pivotal moment came when a senior figure at the firm - clearly seeing something in Mike - took him for breakfast at Claridge's in London. It was a generous gesture, (the new suit Mike wore for the occasion went on the credit card!) but as impressive as it was, it crystallised something: this wasn't the route they were meant to take. Their ambitions lay elsewhere.

What they wanted to build was something more personal. A business where clients weren't defined by the size of their portfolio, where relationships mattered more than transactions, and where good financial planning was accessible to people with real lives and real goals - not just those with serious wealth to manage. They wanted to know their clients properly. To be the kind of advisers who remembered what was going on in someone's life, not just their investment strategy.

Over the years, they gained a variety of experience across the profession before taking the step that had always been the goal: becoming ‘directly authorised’ - meaning fully independent, regulated directly by the Financial Conduct Authority, and free to recommend solutions from across the whole of the market - and in 2017 they founded Newark Wealth. Every stage of that journey taught them something, but it was always leading here.

"It wasn't all plain sailing," says Heather. "There were times when I had Manos, who was a baby when we first started, sitting in front of the television so Mike and I could work. But we believed in what we were doing."

That belief has been borne out. The firm has grown steadily, authentically, and on its own terms - without ever compromising on what made Newark Wealth worth building in the first place.

A boutique business with a plan

New clients sometimes ask Mike and Heather what the long-term plan is. Will they sell? Retire? Walk away?

The answer is no. Newark Wealth has a succession plan in place. The business is built to last - and to stay in the right hands. It's something they're genuinely proud of, and something that sets them apart in an industry where consolidation and acquisition have become increasingly common.

"We're a boutique business," says Mike. "We always have been. We don't take on every client - we take on the right clients. And the first meeting is always at our expense, because we want to make sure we're a good fit for each other. That's always been our way."

From a breakfast at Claridge's they weren't quite ready for, to a new office in Glasgow they've absolutely earned, Newark Wealth has always done things on its own terms. Built slowly, properly, and built to last.

If you'd like to find out whether we might be the right fit for you, we'd love to have that conversation. Come and say hello at our Kilmarnock office, or visit us in Glasgow. We'd love to see you.