Meet the Team!

A few weeks ago we wrote about how, at Magenta, the team is working hard to break down some of the issues surrounding financial equality and empowerment, working hard to educate and support women to understand their finances better. This week, the team have spent some time answering some questions to help you to get to know them a little better and discover more about their feelings towards financial equality and female empowerment.

Gretchen Betts

Gretchen is a Certified Financial Planner and Chartered Wealth Manager. Gretchen holds a BA (hons) in Ceramics and when she is not working, likes experimenting with all types of art and craft, including felt making, painting and crochet.

She enjoys spending time with her family and friends, travelling to explore new places and entertaining her Persian cat, Basil.

1.  What is your role? – Managing Director.
2. Who was/is your inspiration in business? – My father and Julie Lord.
3. What does equality mean to you? – Being given a fair chance to take part and succeed.
4. How important is financial equality to you? – We should get paid for the job we do, how well we do it, based on our experience. It shouldn’t matter what sex we are, just how well we do the job.  But the issue is bigger than that – it’s financial resilience that women seem to be struggling with – and we need to encourage better education and financial savvy amongst women, who (generally) are still the people who take career breaks/ part time hours, or lower paid jobs to manage the family life. We need to ensure that, despite these choices or their situation, there is still some financial equality between them and their male partner, that their pension still gets funded, that they have savings, that they could manage if they find themselves alone.
5. What’s your pet hate? – People starting a query with “This may be a stupid question, but”.
6. What’s your guilty pleasure? Cheese and wine.
7. Name one song that if someone listened to its lyrics, they would know you better – Carry you home by Ward Thomas.

 

Julie Lord

Julie is a Certified Financial Planner, a Chartered Financial Planner and a Chartered Wealth Manager. Julie has 2 daughters – Mary and Annie and lives in Chepstow.

She is a keen skier, golfer and cyclist and loves travelling. She plays tenor saxophone in the Chepstow Big Band and loves all types of music. Last year she gained her motorbike licence and also learned how to do tricks on a trapeze. She has also recently taken a music theory exam and achieved her MSA rally driving licence!

1. What is your role? – CEO and client happiness specialist
2. Who was/is your inspiration in business? – I don’t have one – I think I figured it out for myself.
3. What does equality mean to you?  – Everyone gets the same opportunities- it is then up to each of us how we choose to use them.
4. How important is financial equality to you? – It is a nice ideal but will never happen because some will work harder than others and so deserve to be paid more.
5. What’s your pet hate? – Rudeness and poor grammar!
6. What’s your guilty pleasure? – Pleasure should never be guilty.
7. Name one song that if someone listened to its lyrics, they would know you better – I don’t think anyone has written that song yet – perhaps I will write it myself one day!

 

Valerie Binding

Valerie has over 20 years’ experience within financial services as an administrator. In her spare time she enjoys going for long walks along the coastal paths of West Wales and arranging exotic holidays for her and her husband, Graham and they have recently been to China, Hong Kong, San Francisco, Iceland and Finland. She recently became a Grandmother for the first time!

1. What is your role? – Administrator
2. Who was/is your inspiration in business? – Bill Gates
3. What does equality mean to you? – Being treated equally and fairly.
4. How important is financial equality to you? – Quite important, if doing the same job you should be treated the same, but also appreciate that some people have more experience and/or qualifications and they should also be rewarded for this.
5. What’s your pet hate? – the toilet seat being left up.
6. What’s your guilty pleasure? – Holidays and more holidays!
7. Name one song that if someone listened to its lyrics, they would know you better. – Que Sera Sera.

 

Mandy Whitburn

Mandy has worked closely with Julie since 2002 and holds her Diploma in Financial Planning. She initially trained as a medical laboratory scientific officer and has an HNC in medical microbiology. Mandy lives close to the sea in the West Wales countryside and, when she is not working, enjoys her beautiful surroundings, her 4 grandchildren, various crafts and is a member of her local book club.

1. What is your role? – Office manager
2. Who was/is your inspiration in business? – Julie – she has encouraged me throughout the last 16 years to gain qualifications I never thought I could.
3. What does equality mean to you? – Equality is a mutual respect for one another.
4. How important is financial equality to you? – This is unimportant in a relationship as long as both of you are happy with the situation and appreciate the role each of you has. Who brings in the money is irrelevant.
5. What’s your pet hate? – Mispronunciation of words.
6. What’s your guilty pleasure? – Buying wool!
7. Name one song that if someone listened to its lyrics, they would know you better. – Always look on the bright side of life by Monty Python

 

Rebecca Tuck

Rebecca thought she wanted to pursue a career in marine biology and went to study at Plymouth University where she gained her power boat licence and a healthy fear of deep sea diving.

It subsequently emerged that she is a very analytical and prefers the more rigid discipline of financial planning and she attained her Regulated Diploma in Financial Planning in 2015. In her spare time, Rebecca enjoys music festivals with friends, imagining herself on Broadway and discovering new films with her husband Miff.

1. What is your role? – Paraplanner.
2. Who was/is your inspiration in business? It’s a little out of my field, but I think Elon Musk is great! Watching the SpaceX Falcon Heavy launch gave me butterflies like I imagine people in the 60s must have felt. Given how tiny we are in the big scheme of things, it’s great to see someone bringing genuine innovation back to space exploration.
3. What does equality mean to you? – Equality is ensuring that individuals are treated fairly, with equal rights and opportunities, without any form of prejudice or discrimination.
4. How important is financial equality to you? – I believe 100% in equal pay for equal work. Within a household, though, it is likely that you will each adopt different roles (different careers / looking after children etc.) which will result in inequality of income, but this is not an issue in itself as long as each of you is happy and money is shared fairly.
5. What’s your pet hate? – Rudeness. People should be kinder to one another.
6. What’s your guilty pleasure? – Anything by Bad Lip Reading!
7. Name one song that if someone listened to its lyrics, they would know you better – Arcade Fire – Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains).

If you are interested in speaking to the team about your financial planning, please get in touch on 01656 760670.