Matthew Allen

Hi, my name is Matthew Allen. I’ve been working with Citygate for probably about five years now, and I’m in the very fortunate position that it’s actually Guy Skinner that looks after me.

Some of the issues that I personally face are that I’ve just been through a divorce. We had two or three properties. So, for me, my financial situation started to get quite complicated. What I really wanted was some clarity around the numbers and in terms of what was going to happen with my pension. I engaged Guy to come in and give me some support.

I heard about them through one of my colleagues. I also worked for a company called the CFO Centre, where we worked with lots of growing and scaling SMEs. I was so impressed with what Guy was doing with the business that I introduced him at my company’s team meeting, where he actually presented to a number of my CFOs. As a consequence of that, Guy also looks after a number of my clients; he looks after me now, and he also looks after a number of my CFOs.

Guy really struck a chord with me, not just because of the passion that he brings to the table, but more importantly, what I really loved about Guy was that he just simplified everything. Everything is kind of like a stickman drawing. Finances can be very, very complicated, but he makes them very, very simple, and that’s really why I engage with him.

Now I can see my financial future through graphics, through really, really detailed charts in terms of timelines. In terms of timing, I know when we need to start triggering this and when we need to start triggering that. It’s nice to have a plan; for me, I’ve always been a planner. Realistically, before I worked with Guy, I didn’t really have a plan; I was running in the dark, which can be a little bit scary. Guy basically came in, sorted all that out, shone a big light on the issue, and I know exactly where we’re heading.

I feel safe and secure. I feel like Guy has my best interests at heart, and he gives me good, solid, sound financial advice. When I do deviate off-piste sometimes, he’s quite quick to pull me back in line.

For me, the three words to describe Guy would be open, honest and transparent.

The best thing about working with Guy and the rest of his team is that I’ve got confidence, and I’m very, very relaxed about my future in terms of where I’m headed, but also what my retirement path looks like and therefore what I can do as and when I retire.

I would definitely recommend Guy and Citygate, and in fact, I do. I refer them to a lot of my clients, especially those that are looking to exit their businesses and are just about to come into some financial wealth. The more forward planning you can do around taxes, the better.