How we’ve helped Ben

My name is Ben Richards. I’ve been involved with Lawrence Clarke for more than 20 years now, and I deal directly with Larry.

We first contacted Larry because we had just bought a small stationery business in Southampton. It had seven or eight members of staff and a couple of directors, and we were naive and needed help in the financial area.

When we first spoke to Larry, we were seeking advice and expertise. We were new to it but determined to grow our business. We were pretty certain that we’d end up having more staff as we grew the business and we wanted some guidance on how to look after our staff and ourselves.

Members of our golf club recommended Lawrence Clarke and Larry to me, as they were also dealing with Larry at the time. The first time I met him, I didn’t need to see anyone else; he was the person for us.

The reason we knew he was the one for us was not only did he have some gravitas, but he had a huge smile on his face, and you just knew that you were in safe hands.

The feeling I get from having spent all these years working with Larry and his team is reassurance and credibility.

Twenty years after I began working with Larry, I know that both in business and personally, my financial situation is much better than when I first started as a naive 27-year-old.

The three words that I’d use to describe Larry are dependable, reliable, and professional.

The best bit of advice that Larry ever gave me was about putting money aside when we sold the business for school fees and long-term planning of education.

I would have no problem recommending Larry and Lawrence Clarke to anybody, particularly if they want an adviser they can trust and enjoy doing business with.