We travel back to Gibraltar for our latest Sovereign Story. Today we feature Paul Firth-Murison who is a paraplanner at Sovereign Wealth, joining the team a year ago. Passionate about travel, he tells us he has had to allow his prized possession to gather dust for a while. We were intrigued…
Paul is an “early twenty-something” proud Gibraltarian through and through. He completed his A-Levels at Gibraltar College in 2018 and was all set for a career in accounting. University beckoned and it seemed that his path ahead was clear.
Instead, Paul changed tack and at eighteen, decided to enter the workforce directly and to this day, he has absolutely no regrets about his decision. It has allowed him to pursue his (rather expensive) passions but let us not get ahead of ourselves. Back to his early days at work.
His first job was at Taurus Insurance Services where he became a Claims Adjuster. At the same time, he began studying the Chartered Insurance Institute exams gaining his Cert CII, Insurance in February 2020. This gave him a background in the legal and regulatory aspect of the business together with the claims handling and underwriting processes too.
In fact, Paul has not stopped studying since he left college. Leaving the insurance world for the investment side of financial services in early 2020, he has continued his CII studies working toward his Dip PFS (the Diploma in Regulated Financial Planning). Covering a wider range of topics, his knowledge has thus expanded to cover regulation & ethics, investment principles & risk, taxation and financial protection. He is keen to complete this element of his studying thus gaining his diploma later in the summer. This will equip him with the knowledge and tools he needs to be able to provide meaningful advice in a regulated environment.
Following two years working for other investment firms in Gibraltar, Paul joined Sovereign Wealth in April 2022 as a Paraplanner. He has been pleasantly surprised at the extent to which he has been able to use his business development and customer relationship skills together with proven financial planning expertise. He works closely with Simon Bartlett whom he credits for teaching him a great deal. As a Paraplanner, administration consumes most of his time at present and he recognises that there is a lot to learn. However, he enjoys the opportunity to interact with clients and is looking forward to increasing his exposure to real life situations as his career starts to take off.
Most of the clients with whom he deals manage their affairs through a pension or trust and he was particularly pleased to have visited Sovereign’s Guernsey office recently. This gave him an opportunity to put faces to names and he hopes to travel for business a great deal more in the future.
We were already aware of his love of travel. He recalls his trip to North Macedonia at the tender age of 18 that has fuelled his appetite to see more. As he says, even as a proud Gibraltarian, “there is more to the world than a small rock”.
However, Paul has an even greater passion – for two wheels. He already has a “motorbike collection”. “Oh really”, we sighed “go on then, tell us”. He admitted, a little awkwardly perhaps that the first is in fact “just a scooter” allowing him to get round the Rock of Gibraltar quickly. The second though is more impressive – a 321cc medium size machine – capable we are told of doing over 100 mph (160km/hr) although not on Gibraltar’s roads we hope!
That makes two. What of the third? This prized possession has had to stay under wraps for the present – because it is a Yamaha MT09. An expensive piece of kit, Paul admits, and again with an almost 900cc engine capable of leaving most others behind. And the reason he cannot ride it yet? With a sheepish grin he admits he is just, well, a bit young – at least according to insurance companies. He cannot wait to organise the required cover later in 2023 and start riding into nearby Spain and Portugal on days out. He is desperate to try the mountain roads where the MT09 has a brilliant reputation for its handling.
We really enjoyed meeting Paul. It was a real pleasure to get to know a young person who is passionate about his work, studying for the future and thus of course benefitting his clients. Away from work too, he is enthralled by his love of travel and bikes. Enjoy the MT09 Paul, for as Harley-Davidson put it “God didn’t create metal so that man could make paper clips”. Thank you for your time and the very best of luck.
