Leabold Summer Newsletter 2022

Summer 2022
Newsletter

IN THIS ISSUE
Page 3 - Summer Update
Page 4/5 - Investing in Nature
by Derek Lavington
Page 6-8 - Q&A with Husain
Barwaniwala
Page 9 - Keith Conquers Pen y
Fan by Stephanie Lewis
Page 10/11 - May I Introduce you
to Someone? by Graeme Delf
Page 12 - Leabold Day Out:
Well-being Retreat at Coed Hills
by Erin Nash
Page 13 - New Adventures

S U M M E R U P D A T E
What a whirlwind of a summer it's been so far! The weather
has been unpredictable at best - if it's not a heatwave, it's
a storm. Our social calendars have been jam-packed with
everyone making up for lost time after two years of on/off
lockdowns, and we're still adjusting to it.
So far at Leabold, 2022 has brought us various shifts and
changes. We won't waste any time in diving into all the
news of these past two quarters...

INVESTING
IN NATURE
By Derek Lavington
- Director/Compliance Officer
Foraging refers to the practice of gathering wild food, typically
plants and fungi rather than animals. I guess the first question
that should be answered is why forage?
I can’t say that I forage out of any grand environmental ideal,
rather it’s reflective of my instinct towards thrift. Although
financial services may have a reputation for excess and
ostentatiousness, that’s not the Leabold way and it’s certainly not
my way. Unlike many in the industry, I come from a modest
background where the importance of hard work and
conservation was impressed onto me from an early age. Hence,
I’m fairly allergic to waste and constantly vigilant for opportunity.
Doesn’t matter whether it’s tax savings, charges or returns on
financial products. The same applies if I see free firewood or a
good second-hand car for a fraction of the price of a new one.
Fact is that no one ever got rich by wasting money.
Anyone who has recently taken a trip around Tesco can’t have
failed to notice the increase in cost of just about everything,
including food. However, to be fair, things like pre-packed veg
have always been ridiculously expensive for what they are. For
the cost of a plastic bag of mixed salad leaves, a packet of
seeds, along with some patience, care and attention will typically
yield you a ridiculous amount more.
The usual excuse is that people don’t have the space or time to
grow stuff, something I appreciate given I’ve a fairly full-on
career. However, this is where the opportunities for foraging
loom large. All you need is a plastic bag, a walk in the country,
and a little knowledge.
One of the easiest things to forage are stinging nettles. They are
also one of the healthiest things to eat, tasting just like spinach
when cooked, plus they are hardly difficult to find. Just cut the
tops and boil them and use as per spinach - simple as that.

There are so many other abundant weeds that you can also use, dandelions being one.
Everything on them is edible, from the flower to the roots. If you use the leaves for salads, make
sure they are young, likewise you can boil the root as a vegetable. Common plantain leaves
(again if young) make a good salad leaf, as does ‘jack by the hedge’, which lends a nice garlic
tang. Add to this ‘fat hen’, ‘chick weed’ and ‘ground elder’, and you can produce a salad
superior to anything coming out of a plastic bag. Particularly in Wales, there are so many
different wild plants that are easily available and prepare. It’s just a matter of knowing what
and where.
Even as a long-time forager, I love to go on foraging sessions with others and learn their
insights. Back in March, I was pleased to go on session run by Kim Butts in Bute Park in Cardiff. I
was kind of surprised by just how much wild food could be found in a municipal park near the
city centre. Yes, there was the obvious stuff such as daisies and plantain, but I also learned
about frying hogweed tops in batter, and discovered an ocean of wild garlic. It’s also worth
knowing that the exotic magnolia booms from the many different species in the arboretum are
edible and taste slightly of ginger.
So impressed was I by the experience, I arranged an away day for Leabold at Coed Hills, where
Kim took us foraging through the woods and then used the collected plants to prepare a dinner
for us over an open fire. We were also given a masterclass in woodcraft by Barry Rowels,
teaching us multiple different ways to prepare fire out of door and how to cook a chicken in an
open fire using only a beer can and some tin foil. To commemorate the day, everyone got a
quality foraging knife engraved with a message to remember the lovely day.
You probably wouldn’t expect a
financial services firm to spend a day
out in the woods doing these kind of
things. More often than not, awaydays
are at fancy hotels. That’s not to
say that the staff at Leabold aren’t
partial to being spoiled on occasion,
but we also understand the need to
be grounded and appreciate simple
pleasures that can give as much if not
more enjoyment. After all, investing in
nature is just as important as investing
in our finances.

HUSAIN'S JOURNEY
AT LEABOLD SO FAR
By Erin Nash - PR & Marketing Manager
So, what is the qualification that you recently received?
Investment Management Diploma – it has two primary examinations; investment management
and UK regulations & professional integrity. So, I recently completed the exam in UK regulations
& professional integrity. Out of the two, I felt like this one was the toughest so I thought I would
get that one out of the way first.
And what does that mean for your career in financial services? What will that move you
towards?
In the UK, the FCA which is a regulatory authority for finance, have a set of qualifications that
are to be acquired by financial professionals. So, for someone to have a career in financial
management, it is important to have one of these qualifications before you go deeper into the
industry. It helps you to grasp the ins and outs of financial services and know what you’re doing
before you move forward with your career. Basically, it’s a starting point for me. However, you’ll
also find qualifications that are easier to attain than this so I wouldn’t say that it’s an entry
point for everyone but that’s how I see it for myself. People who have never studied or worked
in finance before could take something more basic, but since I’ve been studying finance [at
university] for the past three years, I’m able to start with this one.
And you’re aiming to work towards becoming a qualified paraplanner, is that right?
Yes.

So, what does being a paraplanner actually entail? What will you be doing?
Okay, so, the role of a paraplanner depends on the organization. It’s not a set of rules that
every company has for the duties of a paraplanner but working at Leabold, the primary
function of a paraplanner is to work on financial adviser reports. So, the reports we send to our
clients are drafted and analysed by paraplanners. Apart from that, they have additional roles
here at Leabold, including forming the tools that are used for such analysis and analysing funds
that we recommend to clients. A lot of background work goes into the advice reports, and this
is what the paraplanners do at Leabold.
You mentioned that there will be a second exam. Is that your next step or is there other things
you need to do before you take that exam?
Yes, that’s the next step for my qualification. Once I’ve passed these two exams, I will get the
qualification certificate and will be a qualified financial professional in investment management.
The second exam that I will take will probably be in the next two or three months, but I feel
good about it because most of the things in this exam, I have already studied during my degree
so I’m just brushing up for this one.
I know some people struggle with taking exams, but I guess since you’ve recently left university
and you did a Masters, maybe it’s not so bad for you. So, how do you feel about exams in
general?
Well, if you’re asking about taking examinations, during my masters I barely took any exams.
Since covid hit, we couldn’t take exams in person and doing them online wasn’t very optimal for
everyone. The reason being that there was a chance we could record the examinations and
copy each other. Since we had a very large group of students in just one particular course, we
didn’t have so many supervisors for each individual. And so the examination module was
switched to report based modules so we would work on researching topics. So, I haven’t
actually taken exams in two years but I did take a lot when I was doing my Bachelor’s degree
and there’s a strategy I always use when taking an exam. So, what I do is before I even study a
particular chapter, I study how important that chapter is towards the examination. For instance,
if I take the example of the UK regulations exam that I recently took, there were three chapters
which made up almost 50% of the material in the entire exam. So, out of ten chapters that I had
to study, those three were the most important. So, my strategy is to focus on the topics that will
help me score more overall. For this exam, you had to have more than 70% to pass, which is a
difficult job.
Yes, that’s quite high.
t’s like getting a first class in my master’s degree, so it was tough getting
more than 70% which is why I used that strategy. Apart from that, what
I do is I tend to study the chapters that interest me the most as they are
quite easy to recollect when taking an examination. Other than that, I
just study like a normal person!

But you don’t get too stressed about exams?
No, don’t get me wrong, I do get stressed about exams.
Yeah, I think everyone does!
Doing well in exams doesn’t take away the stress, in fact I find it makes it worse because if I
haven’t failed an exam in a long time, I feel pressure to not fail in the future. If I’ve been able to
manage a lot of exams before, I should be able to manage the ones I do for Leabold. It kind of
sets my whole tone at the organisation. That’s what I was feeling before the examination, but
thankfully I passed it. And there’s nothing wrong with failing, it’s always good to learn from your
mistakes so even if I had failed, it might have been difficult to face my seniors, but that’s the
reality. You have to accept it and move on, you have to keep trying until you succeed.
That’s good advice. Is there anything else you want to say about the exams or the qualification
in general?
So, something I noticed is that in the past, I would study a particular module and then take an
exam based on what’s in those books, so you kind of know what’s going to be asked. But when I
sat my first exam in this qualification, it was entirely based on practical examples. So, you had to
make a judgment on what kind of regulation would apply, it wasn’t direct questions, it was case
studies where you would need to analyse the regulations in each situation. It was very different
to exams I’ve done in the past and I think the organisation that sets these exams has a very
unique approach in that sense.
Yes, it’s very practical, showing how you would apply the knowledge in real life.
Yes. When I took the exam, I had about 80 questions and I wasn’t confident about more than
50% of the answers I’d given because they were all based on my best judgement, I had to make
judgement calls. So, even if someone fails an exam like this, it’s not because they didn’t study
well, it could be because somewhere in their mind, they made the wrong judgement.
It's all about experience, I guess. The more you work in financial services, the more you’ll be
able to answer that kind of question.
Exactly.
Since this interview took place, Husain went on
to pass the second exam with CISI and has
successfully completed his Level 4 in Investment
Management. We are very proud of him!

KEITH CONQUERS
PEN Y FAN
By Stephanie Lewis
- Financial Adviser
We would like to congratulate one of our clients, Keith Griffiths on completing a climb of Pen Y
Fan mountain on the 25th March. Keith and his colleagues at PK Safety in Ystrad Mynach
decided to take on the challenge in order to raise money for Air Ambulance Wales, an
organisation that relies entirely on charitable donations and receives no government funding.
This was completely out of Keith’s comfort zone, but he was keen to raise as much money as
possible and prepared for the climb by using the exercise bike at work during his lunch breaks.
We're blown away by his motivation!
They raised a phenomenal
total of £2,066 for Air
Ambulance Wales and Keith
assured us that everyone
involved had a great day. In
fact, Keith enjoyed it so much
that he has since repeated
the climb twice, and the
company plan to undertake
further charity fundraisers
later in the year.
Well done all!

MAY I INTRODUCE
YOU TO SOMEONE?
By Graeme Delf
- Financial Adviser
Can I introduce you to someone, please? Just to put a bit of perspective on the news and
possibly things we take for granted. I have recently been introduced to Mariia and I think her
story will be interesting to you. Mariia and her son Robert and husband Nazar are refugees
fleeing Lviv in Ukraine. Although he is male and of an age and health to fight in the war, Nazar
was allowed to leave as Robert is autistic and non-verbal, and therefore the family is allowed to
stay together to provide the required assistance and support that Robert needs.
They are being hosted by a family who live near me, hence the introduction. Sarah, the host,
was able to talk me through the process of how Mariia and her family got out of Ukraine and
how they linked up with Sarah’s family.
Despite the best efforts of the
government, it seems that the
best way for Ukrainian families to
get taken in by UK families is via
initially making contact via
Facebook. This is what happened
with Mariia and Sarah – they got
into conversation and agreed
that they were a good fit for
each other.
Mariia then undertook the
‘minefield’ of paperwork required
to get a Visa for her and her
family. This was not easy and
took so long that Sarah needed
to get her MP involved to speed
things up. Once the visa and such
were finalised, the family were
able to get a bus to the Polish
border. From there, Sarah was
able to arrange a flight to Luton
for Mariia and family.

Whilst all of this was happening, Sarah had to get her house approved by the council who
visited their home to oversee the arrangements that would be in place and the quality of the
accommodation that the family would receive. (It is worth noting that any host only needs to
provide a single room for a family to receive £350 per month – although, thankfully most hosts
are able to provide more, and access to the whole house)
Sarah thinks of it that she and her family are now sharing their home and facilities with Mariia,
Nazar and Robert. They often eat meals together and are enjoying the shared experiences.
Robert is in the local primary school and has already made friends. Mariia and Nazar both had
to leave high-end jobs in the catering industry when they left Ukraine, but are both working now
in local businesses. Their skills and experience mean that they should be working at a higher
level, but at the moment they are willing to take whatever they can!
I also believe that they really want to go home to Lviv as soon as they can – to the rest of their
family, but they won’t talk about that at the moment.
Sarah told me that the private Facebook group Sunflower Sisters Ukraine/UK | Facebook was of
massive assistance all through the process.
You may also want to look at the following sites for assistance, or to assist -
Homes for Ukraine scheme: frequently asked questions - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
How can I offer a UK home to Ukrainian refugees? - BBC News

LEABOLD DAY OUT:
WELL-BEING RETREAT
AT COED HILLS
By Erin Nash - PR & Marketing Manager
After we visited Coed the first time, I went away
feeling more inspired and creatively refreshed than I
had in a long time - buzzing with ideas for projects
and articles. Even in job positions that don't feel
particularly 'creative' there are often things that we
get stumped by and sometimes the simple act of being
a new environment and switching off can make a huge
difference.
In April, the Leabold team enjoyed a Day Retreat at
Coed Hills where we learnt bushcraft skills, went on a
foraging walk through the beautiful woodland, and
had a nourishing home-cooked lunch - all whilst
connecting with each other on a fresh and deeper
level.
We decided to organise this event because even
though it is not always practical to shake up your
routine and do something new, it's important to step
away from our desks and get out in nature as much
as possible. This is something we've started valuing
more as a firm after Derek and I visited Coed for the
first time last year. So, it was only fair we let the rest
of the staff step out of the office and experience this
magical place for themselves.
It's fair to say everyone really enjoyed and left feeling
lighter than when we arrived. We're looking forward
to doing something similar again in the future!
Pictured is the cake (made by Kim from local foraged
ingredients) that we enjoyed with herbal tea and
honey from Coed's bees. Delicious!

NEW ADVENTURES!
We recently said a sad goodbye to
Tesni, who has been an integral part of
Leabold’s administration team since she
joined us in 2019. The team rallied
together and gave her a lovely send
off with all the essentials - flowers,
chocolate and wine! We'll miss her
greatly, but we wish her all the best in
her next role and look forward to
seeing what she achieves next. We
know Tesni will go on to do big things!
Another valuable member of our team, Victoria, is currently on maternity leave after welcoming a
beautiful baby girl named Mia. We are so happy for Victoria and her growing family!
To take on the administration duties of Victoria and Tesni, we recently recruited two new
members of staff, Courtney and Emily, who are starting their careers in financial services and
already doing great work here at Leabold. We can't wait to see how they will progress.
Keep up to date with us on social media.

Thank you for reading our
Summer 2022 Newsletter!
We hope you enjoyed, but if you wish to unsubscribe,
please email marketing@leabold.co.uk
Leabold Financial Management
Limited, registered in England
and Wales. Company Registration
No. 05173817. A wholly owned
subsidiary of Leabold Financial
Management Holdings Limited,
registered in England and Wales,
Company Registration No.
8296996. Authorised and
Regulated by the Financial
Conduct Authority.