After leaving school, Chas joined the Royal Navy (Fleet Air Arm) as a helicopter engineer, based at RNAS Culdrose in Helston. After serving his country, and with a young family in tow, he left the service in October 1990 and had a brief foray into estate agency.
He had successfully applied to join Devon & Cornwall Police, but they had in place a year’s recruitment freeze. With a mortgage to pay and mouths to feed, Chas had to find something to pay the bills and he found himself working for Lloyds Bank in their financial services division. When the time came to join the police, Chas realised that he quite enjoyed what he was doing for Lloyds and he decided to stay and further his career there.
He enjoyed 16 successful years, regularly making the top ten of Lloyds advisers nationally. But all good things come to an end, and as the bancassurance world started to change, Chas was looking for alternatives.
At that time, around 2006-2007, US stockbroking giant Edward Jones had begun what was to be an ill-fated foray into UK financial services. They spent vast sums recruiting advisers and opening offices only for the great financial crisis to hit in 2008. Chas enjoyed success at Edward Jones, but he was working solo in an office in Branwell’s Mill in Penzance and he missed the camaraderie of working within a team.
Around this time, I would pop in on Chas in a thinly-veiled attempt to woo him to join us. While he had been a tied adviser for Lloyds, Chas realised that if ever he lost a piece of business, it was always to the longest-established independent firm of advisers in town – Jacksons Wealth Management. While Chas had many other options after Edward Jones, he opted to join Jacksons as a self-employed adviser in July 2009.
Moving forward five years to 2014, Chas was invited to buy into the company and join the board of directors. Since then, Chas, in partnership with Pete Matthew, Roger Weeks and Mike Caffry, has been an integral part of building the company to its current position, now with a team of 20, and growing strongly.
It’s fair to say that, like so many of our clients, Chas has found the idea of retirement challenging. He has loved his career and the thought of not having the structure of work and the team around him every day, was scary at first. But having wound down over a few months during summer 2024, he now feels ready to call it a day.
Here are some words from the man himself:
I feel very fortunate to have stumbled into financial services 33 years ago but realised very quickly it was where I wanted to be. I have enjoyed building professional relationships with people of all ages and from all walks of life, helping them to protect and plan their futures. It has been challenging to step away but this confirms how much I have enjoyed this industry. But now, age 61 feels about the right time!
I also feel very fortunate to have been part of the Jacksons success story over the past fourteen years – it’s scary how quickly time flies by! If you are an existing client of Jacksons you will already know how wonderful our people are; if you’re not, then come and join us!
One of the reasons we have continued to grow a successful business is down to our team. From Advisers to Client Relationship Managers, our people are the foundations of the business and I will miss working with each and every one of them.
However, it’s time to step away, change gear and open a new chapter. You’ll notice I haven’t used the R-word! Annette and I are looking forward to more boating over the summer months, caravanning down to warmer climes during the winter, where there’s very little rain, and welcoming our first grandchildren due early in the New Year.
OK, it’s Pete here again.
Working with Chas has been a joy. He has been a perfect business partner, working with me to grow the business and challenging me when needed. He’s the one who encouraged me to take a day a week to work on Meaningful Money, when he perceived that I was being stretched too thin.
It’s a blessing to work with a business partner who complements me very well. Chas and I think differently in some things, but the combination has been effective, to be sure.
I will miss the camaraderie of having Chas in the next door office, but there’s one saving grace. Chas was the one who suggested we hire our amazing Practice Manager, Sharon Bray. She and I together have big plans for the future of Jacksons and without Chas, we’d likely never have met.
So, Chas leaves Jacksons in good shape, and in good hands, and we all wish him well for a long, happy and healthy retirement.
Chas Cox
Jacksons won't be the same without you Chas. Wishing you all the very best for your next chapter. Fair winds and following seas!