A talented young financial planner has become one of the youngest in the UK to achieve a top qualification known as the gold standard in his profession.

At the age of just 27, Gwyn Edwards of Wrexham-based Hadlow Edwards Wealth Management has passed his Chartered Financial Planner exams.

Gwyn runs the London office of Hadlow Edwards which is a Principal Partner Practice of the FTSE 100 Company St. James’s Place Wealth Management, one of the UK’s largest wealth management organisations which looks after client funds of £83 bn.

It’s a mark of Gwyn’s achievement that according to the latest Chartered Insurance Institute (CII) figures, which oversees the Chartered Financial Planner qualifications, only 17 per cent of the 25,000 financial planners in the UK hold the title. The average national age for achieving the qualification is 47.

He also has the distinction of being part of only the second father and son duo within St. James’s Place to have the prestigious qualification. His father, Medwyn Edwards, who founded Hadlow Edwards with joint owner Warren Hadlow in 2000, already holds it.

Gwyn heads up Hadlow Edwards’ Mayfair office which was opened by the firm last year because of increasing client numbers in the capital and south east region.

He studied for his advanced qualifications alongside his high profile day job and it is now the end of a four-year journey to reach the top.

Gwyn said: “I began working towards the exams for the Level 4 Diploma in Regulated Financial Planning in 2013. At the same time I was studying for the qualification I was also working as a trainee financial adviser, which at times was quite demanding but I achieved it about a year later.

“In the summer of 2015 I then began studying for the next stage, which is the Financial Planning Advanced Diploma. That took the best part of two years and involved four exams, the last one being in April this year.

“I passed the exam and obtained the qualification and now have the title of Chartered Financial Planner.”

Gwyn added: “Gaining all the advanced qualifications certainly involved a long and intensive period of study.

“In the weeks leading up to the exam for the advanced diploma I was working during the week and then revising every weekend.

“I know that most people in the industry who have the qualification get it in their thirties and forties and at the stage of having families and children, so I can imagine how hard it was for them doing all the necessary studying on top of having a full-time job.

“I was very lucky that my partner Nia Beynon was very understanding and supportive.

“Given my age I think being a Chartered Financial Planner will help give me a bit more authority when it comes to dealing with clients and help them to feel more comfortable with me.

“After all, people could be putting their entire savings in my hands and trust is the most important thing in this business. I think the title, along with the extensive training to achieve this, will help strengthen that as far as I’m concerned.

“It’s also good that both my dad and I now hold the same title and that I got it at an earlier stage in my career than he did!

“I’m relieved that all the studying is over and I’m very proud to be a Chartered Financial Planner as having the qualification gives me a sense of satisfaction.”

Gwyn is a former Llandovery College student and won a scholarship to the prestigious Carmarthenshire independent school due to his prowess on the rugby field.

After a spell of living and working in New Zealand with two friends, Gwyn decided to forge a career in the same industry as his father.

Although his playing career was cut short by injury, he still turns out regularly as a centre for his local team in West Hamsptead, UCS Old Boys RFC, and says he is currently training hard for the new season.

For more information about Hadlow Edwards go to www.hadlowedwards.co.uk