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Clear Vision.Bespoke Advice for our Clients.

About Brigstow Independent
Financial Planning Limited (Brigstow IFP)

Brigstow is the original name for Bristol, meaning a meeting place near a bridge, this bridge is now known as Bristol Bridge.

At Brigstow IFP we work with you to build a tailored financial plan, focused on the things that matter to you and your family, helping to meet your aims and aspirations. We pride ourselves in making things clear and simple to understand.

The one certainty when implementing any plan is that our lives and the world around us will change over time. We understand that making the initial recommendations is only the start of your journey and believe it is vital that this is reviewed regularly.

Brigstow IFP has four principles, which we see as the cornerstones of our business:

  • Clients come first.
    This means making sure the needs of our clients are at the centre of all our decisions.
  • Independence.
    We have a desire to provide independent financial advice, centred around the most appropriate solutions for our clients, available from the whole market place.
  • Professional portfolio management.
    This needs to be extensively researched and subject to ongoing scrutiny.
  • Security.
    Our association with Vision helps to provide security, more of this below.

As an owner-managed business we can focus on providing the highest levels of service to our clients but also understand the importance of size and security. We are therefore an appointed representative of, and supported by, Vision Independent Financial Planning Limited, a national network of independent financial advisers. This ensures our regulatory demands are being met and monitored to the highest standard, within an ever-changing regulated environment.

About Us

Giles and Dean met back in 2009, when they joined regional IFA Chartwell Independent Financial Planning. In 2011 Chartwell was sold to Close Brothers Asset Management (CBAM), soon after becoming a firm of restricted advisers.

Leaving CBAM in 2024, after becoming friends as well as colleagues, and having a shared vision of returning to being independent financial advisers they established Brigstow IFP.

Both are Chartered Financial Planners and have been advising clients in all aspects of financial planning and wealth management for over 25 years.

Dean at Bristol bridge

Dean Blake AFPS

Director and Chartered Financial Planner

I can’t believe I am looking back at 40 plus years in financial services! During this period, I have worked for large insurance companies, a national accountancy practice, as well as smaller IFA firms and more recently a large merchant bank.

However, I am now so pleased to be returning to where I have always been at my most content, as an independent financial adviser for a small firm. I am even more excited that I’m continuing my journey at a firm being established with a long-term colleague and friend.

Some may wonder why after 40 years I am not happily retired? To put your mind at rest, it is not due to poor personal financial planning but a genuine enjoyment in what I do.

My wife, Tracy, is joining Brigstow IFP, looking after the financial side of the business and providing administration support. Tracy’s spent the last 35 years working for local IFA firms, both as an administrator and office manager.

We moved to the Wiltshire countryside back in 2021 and love to travel and get away in our motorhome when we get the chance. Our cycling now involves battery power, but we still look forward to a walk under our own steam!

Giles at Bristol bridge

Giles Maine AFPS

Director and Chartered Financial Planner

I have worked in financial services since 1987, spending over 25 years as a financial planner for two UK banks, two national IFAs and a regional IFA firm. Throughout this period, I have experienced not just the many market and economic cycles that have taken place, but also the financial advice sector moving from a product driven industry to a qualified profession where clients can increasingly have confidence in advice. Since my early days advising at NatWest, I have always remained laser focused on my clients, the service I provide to them and upholding the privileged trusted adviser status they place on me.

As Chartered Financial Planners, establishing Brigstow Independent Financial Planning Limited is the next chapter on our journey, returning to being independent, where we continue to focus on these values, along with the passion and drive we both share in advising our clients.

I enjoy working with clients on their own journeys, ensuring they remain ‘financially fit’ through the many transitions in life, be it working and accumulating for financial freedom, exiting and selling a business, moving into and throughout retirement, not to mention the inevitable bumps in the road that happen along the way.

Outside work, I enjoy spending time with wife Jo and dog Dexter, utilising our campervan to explore the UK coast and Europe, running, walking and bodyboarding. I like a good game of social golf, or some would say just another good walk!

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