“You only live once. But if you live right, once is enough.”

Dominic founded Xentum in 2004 after becoming frustrated with the limitations of traditional financial services firms. He wanted to be part of a new breed of lifestyle financial planners whose central goal is not simply to accumulate wealth but to help every client use money to improve the quality of their lives.

A people person with an innate curiosity to solve unarticulated problems and uncover what makes life worthwhile for each family he works with, Dominic epitomises the ‘you first, money second’ approach to financial planning. This is now the DNA of Xentum; every member of our team has the same passion and belief in the power of what we do.

“By helping clients gain clarity and control over their financial present and future, they can make the best choices about how they spend their time and focus their energy. This is the essence of true financial freedom.”

Outside the office, Dominic enjoys travelling, reading, mountaineering and, with his wife Wendy, renovating Moss Wood, their beautiful tea plantation-style home.

Graduating from the University of Manchester with a degree in Social Anthropology and Archaeology you might not expect Financial Services to be the obvious choice. For Laura, however, earning her Advance Diploma in Regulated Financial Planning and becoming a Financial Planner made perfect sense. As she explains, it’s all about people. She loves to help people make sense of their goals and objectives, and then to help them structure their finances to make those goals achievable. She’s a big admirer of Sir David Attenborough, and like Sir David she’s outgoing, optimistic and authentic.

Laura plans to one day visit Peru and fly over Machu Picchu, and this adventurous attitude is reflected in the advice she’d want to give her 16 year old self. In the wise words of Mark Twain: “Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbour. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”

Jonny joined the Xentum team in 2018, bringing with him his vast experience of providing wealth management and financial planning advice to high net worth individuals. Having built and sold two businesses himself, Jonny is a Chartered Financial Planner with a difference. His comprehensive financial services history and wider business background means he understands his clients’ perspective from first hand experience.

If you ask him what the best invention of all time is, he’ll tell you it’s bread. Sliced bread doesn’t even get a look in; you can’t improve on perfection after all. Jonny loves mediterranean food, and loves to travel to anywhere that speaks Spanish. If you find yourself with him on the costa del sol, you get the bread ordered, he’ll sort out the olive oil and balsamic vinegar!

Rachel joined Xentum in 2018 and is pleasure to be around. Rachel is a highly skilled paraplanner with a raft of experience in financial services. Nothing ever seems to be a problem.

Rachel loves to travel, and holidays play a huge part in her life, her dream holiday is an Alaska Cruise to visit Glacier Bay National Park. The National Park has wide range of wildlife from grizzly bears to the humpback whales.

A closet computer geek (who knew), Rachel puts the Internet as the greatest invention and Alan Turing someone who she admires for developing the modern computer and obviously because he was from Manchester.

Joining the team with an extensive background in client support and financial administration, Lyndsay brings an ability to look at the bigger picture to her role as Technical Assistant. She finds building relationships with her colleagues and achieving her personal development goals to be particularly rewarding. Hardworking and positive, Lyndsay counts her greatest achievement as being strong enough to put others needs ahead of her own, and supporting people when they need it most.

Her outlook comes in part from her greatest inspiration, her late grandfather, who she describes as “the most hardworking, loving and humble human being” that she’s ever met. A woman of strong family values, her fiancée is also her best friend. So much so that given the opportunity to invite any two people to a dream dinner party, one would be John Travolta (her favourite actor of all time) and the other would be her fiancée. For the record, she’d be singing “You’re The One That I Want” to her fiancée, not Mr. Travolta!

Claire has been with us since 2004, making her one of our most experienced team members. A cornerstone of our office team, reliable, compassionate and honest are three words that best describe Claire.

If Claire was to throw the dinner party of her dreams, Audrey Hepburn and Alan Carr would be her two guests of honour, bringing class and comedy to the table. Greek food would be on the menu, although she would not be serving any moussaka due to her aversion to aubergines.

Rachael claims that in her first ever job in a café she was never properly shown the equipment, so had to make pots of tea out of coffee rather than boiling water. How she managed this we do not know, but it might explain the strange tasting cups of tea she serves in the office!

Thankfully, Rachael is much better suited to working in financial services than she is to the hospitalities sector. A natural organiser, Rachael is a valuable member of the Xentum team.