The history of Richard Jacobs Pension & Trustee Services
As a family-owned business, the Richard Jacobs Pensions team has been supporting the people, communities and businesses of Staffordshire for over 40 years. Here’s our story.
1971 – Richard Jacobs begins a career in finance
Richard Jacobs, our principal owner and adviser, started his career in the insurance industry in 1971. In 1973, Richard began supporting clients to reach their financial goals, specialising in pensions – for Richard, this was the start of something special.
1992 – Richard Jacobs Pension & Trustee Services Ltd is founded
Inspired by how he’d been able to help clients while working at financial advice practises, Richard sets out on his own and establishes Richard Jacobs Pension & Trustee Services Ltd.
Richard quickly becomes a familiar and trusted figure in the Staffordshire community, supporting hundreds of people, families, and businesses to get their pensions sorted.
2000 – Kate Barnard joins Richard Jacobs Pensions
After handling all aspects of the business by himself, Richard realised the business could help more people if he had more hands on-deck. Kate Barnard joined in 2001 as the company’s new Business Manager.
2007 – Richard Jacobs Pensions becomes a family affair
In 2007, Richard’s daughter Emily joined the business to provide a greater range of financial services to our clients. Emily soon qualified as an Independent Financial Advisor, helping people looking to save for and access benefits at retirement.
2015 – We open our new Corporate Services Department
In 2015, the team welcomed Sarah Gorton, who used her 20 years of experience in the financial sector to establish Richard Jacobs corporate services department. We began to support even more businesses, providing a wide range of services from pension autoenrolment schemes to company insurance.
2018 – The team continues to grow
By 2018, the Richard Jacobs Pensions team grew to welcome Gemma Lovatt, Sarah Gorton, Sean Hurst, and Jessica Ashley Smith.
2021 – Richard hands over the reins to a new generation of leadership
In 2021, Richard stepped back from heading up the business and entrusted it to his daughter, Emily and Business Manager Kate. Having been an integral part of the team for over 30 years between them, they were primed and ready to take on this new leadership role and continue to provide our clients with the level of service they’d come to expect.
This also marked an exciting new era for the business, as it became one of the few financial advisory services with an all-female leadership team. As of 2023, the majority of our team are women – a rare thing in the financial world – and we continue to provide accessible, intuitive financial support to every client who trusts us to do so.