Welcome to the second edition of the BlueSKY bulletin. In this quarter’s bulletin, we take another look at what’s been happening with the BlueSKY team over the last three months.

In this edition, you can read about this quarter’s exam success, receive a thank you from the Burghfield Santas and discover some other stories from the BlueSKY team.

Professional standards – Exam success

The team continues to achieve exam success, and we congratulate every member of our staff who strives to improve their technical knowledge and has passed exams or assessments this quarter.

Natasha has just passed her R02 (Investment) exam with an unbelievable mark of 96% (she has promised Rob and Jeremy to do better next time!)

She has one more exam and one written assessment to complete before she is awarded the Diploma in Regulated Financial Planning.

Well done, Natasha, on another great exam performance.

BlueSKY embraces new technology

In the financial services industry, things change at a rapid pace, and we need to ensure we keep up with advances in technology. This helps us to service our clients more quickly and efficiently and allows us to future-proof our business. 

Over the last 12 months we have made the following changes:

• Moved our back-office system to a new cloud-based platform
• Moved all our data from a very old server to a brand-new cloud-based infrastructure using Microsoft SharePoint and Teams
• Implemented a new financial checking solution to ensure we comply with the UK money laundering regulations.

Educating a profession

Many of you will be aware of the relationship that BlueSKY has with solicitors in the field of pensions and divorce. This is a long-established relationship going back 20 years and BlueSKY is very much seen as an expert in this field.

In the last quarter, Rob and Jeremy have been “on the road” providing in-house training to several firms. We are also in the middle of our autumn webinar series. Our webinars are intended to educate and are always well attended. The feedback we get from hosting the webinars is hugely positive and helps to cement relationships with solicitors and mediators.

Slam dunk (part 2)

Neil takes his basketball very seriously (his wife might say “too seriously”), and he has recently passed his Basketball England Level 1 coaching qualification. 

This is a nationally recognised coaching qualification and involved numerous online learning modules with an in-person coaching session where Neil was, shall we say, slightly more mature than literally everyone else on the court. 

It’s not all work, work, work at BlueSKY

Natasha and Ralph meet up at Oktoberfest in Reading.

Jack with his partner Ruth take a well-deserved city break in Copenhagen.

Rob spent a restful week in Tenerife with his family.

Santa does exist

As part of our ongoing commitment to our local community, BlueSKY supports the “Burghfield Santas”. 

This is a local group of people who raise money for the Thames Valley Air Ambulance (TVAA). Over the past 10 years, they have raised more than £250,000 for a very important charity and we are proud to have contributed in a small way to their fundraising efforts. 

As in previous years, rather than sending Christmas cards to our clients, we have again elected this year to donate to TVAA.

New addition to BlueSKY staff

We are pleased to announce a new addition to our team. Her name is Tilly and she likes to steal slippers. 

Nicola, our Head of Paraplanning, is constantly removing garden items from her front room back into the garden where they belong.

Get in touch

If you’d like to find out how our financial planning service can benefit you, please get in touch.

Email info@BlueSKYifas.co.uk or call us on 01189 876655.