Financial services firm crowned one of the UK's bestÂ

A MAN who started a financial planning firm from his spare room says he is delighted to have seen his company grow and to pick up a prestigious national award.Â
By The Newsroom
Published 8th Jan 2019, 14:16 BST
Updated 10th Jan 2019, 14:49 BST
Jason Eldrid, left, set up Sheraton six years ago and he has now won a prestigious national award from the Financial Times with, right, Frankie Davis - a University of Portsmouth Business Studies intern now with Sheraton Picture by: Malcolm Wells (181221-1101)Jason Eldrid, left, set up Sheraton six years ago and he has now won a prestigious national award from the Financial Times with, right, Frankie Davis - a University of Portsmouth Business Studies intern now with Sheraton Picture by: Malcolm Wells (181221-1101)
Jason Eldrid, left, set up Sheraton six years ago and he has now won a prestigious national award from the Financial Times with, right, Frankie Davis - a University of Portsmouth Business Studies intern now with Sheraton Picture by: Malcolm Wells (181221-1101)

Jason Eldrid, from Southsea, started Sheraton six years ago '“ after a career working for insurance companies in London and Reading.  

Jason, 50, said: '˜I thought I would come back to my roots and six years ago I set up a financial services company helping people who are in or near retirement. We started from scratch and now we have up to 70 clients and we are helping to make sure they don't run out of money in their retirement.' 

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Jason opened an office in Wickham last Sepetmber, near to where his father Terry also ran an insurance brokerage. 

Jason Eldrid at Sheraton in Bridge Street, Wickham Picture by: Malcolm Wells (181221-1028)Jason Eldrid at Sheraton in Bridge Street, Wickham Picture by: Malcolm Wells (181221-1028)
Jason Eldrid at Sheraton in Bridge Street, Wickham Picture by: Malcolm Wells (181221-1028)

He has recently hired his first employee intern Frankie Davis, who is studying Business Studies at the University of Portsmouth.

And he topped off a successful year by being named the '˜At-retirement Planner of the Year' at the Money Management Financial Planner Awards, run by The Financial Times. The eighth annual awards were held in London and Sheraton was the only representative winner from the south coast. 

Jason said: '˜These awards have been going for a long time. I thought we'd give it a go. It involved us having to send a real-life financial plan in and a 400-word explanation.

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'˜Then we were invited up to an interview at the FT building to answer questions on a further relevant case study. 

'˜I can confirm that this is probably one of the most stressful things I've ever had to do.' 

However Jason stood out to the experts '“ including Jacqueline Locke the deputy head of financial planning at the Chartered Institute of Securities and Investment,  previous winner and chartered financial planner Robin Keyte and Dan Jones, editor of Money Management '“ as he was declared the winner. 

He said: '˜We were delighted to be shortlisted last year as it is a national award scheme. Then we were shortlisted again this year and we were surprised to actually win. I have never won anything in my life!

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'˜We are now trying to share our positive news. We are not a large firm, just me and Frankie and my dog Rigby, so it feels great to have won. We had a business plan for five years and we are ahead of that so we are positive for the future and looking forward to a busy 2019.'  

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