Meet the Team – Advisers
James Todd
Operations Director / Financial Adviser
James has worked in the Financial Services industry since 1996, starting his career as a mortgage administrator for a large estate agency business. Learning the ropes, James quickly progressed to become a mortgage adviser, before qualifying as a Financial Adviser in 2001 with the Halifax Bank. Having worked within the Money Options Group for the past 10 years, James was appointed as Operations Director in December 2015 with his role overseeing RetireInvest and Mortgage Options, both companies owned within the group. As well as running the group businesses, James resumed his role as a Financial Adviser within RetireInvest and holds the qualifications of DipPFS, CeMAP and focuses his expertise in the areas of pensions, investments, and personal and corporate protection.
Living in Harrogate and married with 4 children, James spends much of his spare time on the football touchline watching his twin sons play for their local team or as a taxi service for his two teenage daughters.
Rachel Picker
Financial Adviser
Rachel has worked in the financial services industry since 2001, building successful relationships with clients over the years, seen as their trusted advisor, building confidence and working with them to achieve their financial goals. Rachel began her career at Alliance and Leicester as a Financial Adviser, then moving to work for AXA within the Britannia Building Society then The Cooperative Bank as a Senior Financial Adviser.Rachel then spent some time building up a successful IFA business at Opal Financial Management, but then decided to specialise working for Chase De Vere giving BMA GPs and Consultants specialist Financial Advice.Following on from there Rachel moved to work as a Pension Financial Adviser, where she specialised in retirement planning both advising the retail and commercial sector, successfully helping individual clients on a personal one to one basis to advising large blue-chip corporations. Rachel is very passionate about leading the way with helping to build awareness around ‘Women in Finance’ and ‘Insuring Womens Futures’.
Rachel Lives in Newark on Trent, outside of work she loves spending time with her family, her two boys keep her very busy, playing football, cricket and sailing.
Paul Boutle
Financial Adviser
Living and working in Lincolnshire for the past 30 years, Paul has worked in finance since 1982. He spent 30 years with TSB and Lloyds Banks in a number of roles on his career path from cashier to personal manager, and finally Financial Adviser. After taking voluntary redundancy in 2012 he took up a role as a Financial Adviser with St. James’s Place and then moved to RetireInvest in late 2014. He has spent the last 10 years exclusively as a Financial Adviser and is DipFA and CeMAP qualified. The main areas in which Paul specialises are pensions, investments, and personal and corporate protection.
Married with three children, Paul is keen on most sports, whether playing or watching, but is equally happy to go down to his local to socialise.
Steve Fowler
Financial Adviser
With 17 years’ experience as an adviser, Steve has worked for Prudential, Co-Operative Insurance and Adams Financial Services. He began his financial career as the “the Man from the Pru” before moving to the Co-Operative Bank where he spent 5 years as a Financial Adviser.
Steve lives in Lincoln and primarily deals with the Lincolnshire area. He works with a diverse range of clients who are attracted by his down to earth approach and straight forward interpretation of their financial planning needs, addressing both their current priorities and advising on future aspirations, making certain that all tax advantages are used and explored.
In his spare time, Steve enjoys keeping fit and watching Lincoln City.
Jake Millar
Financial Adviser
Jake has worked in Financial Services since 2009, starting his career as a customer adviser with the Halifax Bank.
From there he progressed to becoming savings adviser for the branch, then subsequently presented with the opportunity to study for his CeMAP qualification & start his new role as a Mortgage Adviser in 2014. Leaving the bank in 2016, Jake became a highly successful Mortgage Broker within one of the UK’s largest national estate agency networks. Holding his client’s hand & navigating them through the complex house purchasing process.
With Jake’s desire to offer his clients more specialist services, he obtained his Diploma for Financial Advisers through the London Institute of Banking & Finance in 2019. Where he then enjoyed a short spell as an Independent Adviser before joining RetireInvest in 2020. Jake takes great pleasure in solving his client’s financial conundrums & offering a truly bespoke service, tailoring recommendations to meet his client’s every need. Jake believes in building rapport, trust & mutual respect enabling him to work in strategic partnership with his clients & aid them in reaching their financial goals.
Jake lives in Retford which ideally places him to deal with his client base which broadly encompasses Nottinghamshire, Lincolnshire & Yorkshire. In his spare time, he enjoys keeping fit & going on walks with his Dogue de Bordeaux, Arnold.
John Hinson
Financial Adviser
As an experienced Financial Adviser, John started his career at Prudential in 1999. He has also worked for 10 years at Barclays where he provided quality financial advice on a wide variety of areas, especially the mitigation of inheritance tax and investment planning. During his time with Barclays John won many awards for his work with clients, culminating in a reward trip to Oman in 2008. He has worked under the Quilter Financial Planning network since 2011, catering to the needs of a growing base of clients. His aim is to continue providing present and future clients with top quality advice with the support of a dedicated team who are there to help him provide the best possible service.
John very much enjoys taking time out to walk the local fells with his sons and dog. He is also an avid reader and enjoys an active lifestyle.
John Thomson
Financial Adviser
John has been a Financial Adviser for over 30 years, and in that time he has undertaken various roles.
In 1988 he began his career as a District Agent with ‘The Prudential’. Over the following 13 years John was also a Training & Competency Manager before ending his time with ‘The Pru’ as a Sales Manager. Throughout this time John quickly learned that good quality advice together with excellent service provided the perfect client outcome – something that he still strives to achieve today.
After leaving ‘The Pru’ John became a Financial Adviser with Quilter Financial Planning Solutions Limited before moving over to RetireInvest Ltd. This has provided him with the perfect opportunity to offer a truly holistic service to his clients. John now concentrates his efforts in providing Pension and Investment advice and his continued focus is to provide a quality and valued service within the RetireInvest team.
Peter Harold
Financial Adviser
Peter has worked in Financial Services for 47 years starting as a junior with NatWest Bank in his home town of Leicester before taking voluntary redundancy as business manager at Lincoln, Smiths Bank branch.
A Financial Adviser for nearly 20 years, Peter built up his own business from his bank client base before acquiring Adams Financial Services in 2009. This business was absorbed by RetireInvest in 2016.
Although Peter, at 65, is taking things a bit easier these days, he remains passionate about client service. ‘Our business is about relationships, identifying clients’ needs and recommending solutions. Great service isn’t difficult – it’s about doing simple things really well, like responding to e-mails and phone calls promptly. Client satisfaction is not enough to distinguish us from the competition, we need to delight clients.’
Peter lives in Market Rasen, Lincolnshire and his interests include restoring and sailing classic yachts and model railways, interests shared by many of his clients.
