Kildrum's Natalie spearheads Welsh finance firm's expansion to Edinburgh

Natalie Ferguson (27) has been recruited by Hadlow Edwards Wealth Management, to run the company’s new operation in Edinburgh.

Hadlow Edwards is part of St Jame’s Place Wealth Management, which looks after funds worth a total of £79.8bn, and Natalie was selected for this role after training at the prestigious St James’s Place Academy.

Natalie said: “It’s a marvellous scheme but lots of hard work.

“The interview stage alone took three months and then I spent another six months training with the academy, which has just finished.”

The Edinburgh move is part of expansion plans which have already included the opening of a new London Mayfair office and the takeover of the Oswestry-based Ellett Wealth Management.

Natalie said: “It’s really important to have a base in Edinburgh, which is the financial hub of Scotland and a very important location for the firm. From there I can easily reach places across the country like Glasgow, Aberdeen and Inverness.

“I’ve just started my new job and I’m already loving it. I think that because I’m still relatively young to be a financial adviser it will also give me the chance to provide many years of care for my clients and their families.”

Former Cumbernauld High School pupil Natalie initially had her sights set on a career in fashion. Leaving school at 17, she initially studied fashion design and marketing at North Glasgow College. When the 2008 financial crisis hit, she decided to alter her goals.

She said: “I’d intended to be a fashion designer or buyer in London but then came the crisis of 2008 and it looked like that wasn’t going to be a viable proposition after all.

“I decided to go into the financial services sector and first got a job with part of a major life insurance group in Edinburgh. I started on the admin side and then moved up to the accountancy department, becoming a relationship manager looking after platinum clients.

“After a couple of years there I joined another major financial group as a retirement relationship manager based in Stirling, helping to design the best pension solutions for meet people’s needs.

“By my mid-twenties I’d moved to another job in Stirling, this time with IFDS, working on behalf of St. James’s Place Wealth Management as senior support manager for the Liverpool area.

“Although I was based in Scotland I’d go down to Liverpool about once a month to see clients.”

When’s she not hard at work Natalie falls back on her artistic background as an enthusiastic amateur painter.

She added: “I specialise in portraits of my family and friends and am often asked to do them as presents for friends who are getting married.”