“Fortitude has enabled me to live the life I want to live.”

My name is Shaun Cadwallen, and I've been with Fortitude now for almost three years. My adviser is Richard Peters.

When I first got in touch with Fortitude, I wasn't actually sure whether I was in a position to retire or not, to be honest. I have this hope in my head that maybe I could retire in the next couple of years and that's why I went to speak to them, just to see where I stood and whether I had enough funds in my different pension plans to retire.

I was advised by a colleague who was talking to Fortitude and was due to retire. He said good things about them: they were very thorough and a safe pair of hands. I did a little bit of due diligence on them online and then I made an appointment to go and see them.

What I actually found when I went to see Fortitude is that they were really engrossed in me, in terms of: what did I want to do? How did I see my future? What bucket list did I have? How did I live my life? They really looked at my aspirations as much as anything else. Since I've been with Fortitude, I feel an awful lot more confident that my funds are being invested, looked after and managed very wisely. That's probably the most important thing to me. I am not a gambler, so I really wanted a safe pair of hands to look after my funds.

If I had to sum up Fortitude and my adviser in three words, it would be that they're reassuring, a very friendly company to deal with, and certainly very professional. The best thing for me working with Fortitude is that I can contact them any time. They're very quick to get back to me and they don't leave me hanging. I always find that they're very concise and always very professional with the way they deal with me.

Something I've learned since I've been working and talking to Fortitude is that I have a life to live, and they enable me to do that. While it's very important to me that I have a secure future, I really don't want to be the richest man in the graveyard. That's why I'm happy with the way things are working out financially.

I would certainly recommend Fortitude to anybody. In fact, I already have, and I’ve told people about this at the places I used to work and other colleagues as well. I would recommend them because, like I said, they're a safe pair of hands, they’re an incredibly knowledgeable company if you've got any questions, and they're very swift to answer them. They're also good at looking back and showing you how things change within the market, so that gives you good peace of mind.

I find that the whole team at Fortitude are very professional. Obviously, my adviser is the one I deal with on a regular basis, but the whole team get behind that and you feel really that you're part of a much bigger family of advisers and professionals.