For over 30 years, Wise Investment have provided unparalleled financial expertise to their clients – many of whom are based in the Chipping Norton area.
Throughout the years, the company has sponsored a wide variety of charitable ventures in Chipping Norton – the Chipping Norton Theatre, Katharine House Hospice and Chipping Norton Literature Festival have all received time and resources from Wise Investment in recent years.
Alexandra Rae, CEO of Wise Investment, is passionate about preserving the arts and culture sphere within the local community – leading by example and volunteering her time to valuable causes. We chat to Alex about the firm’s client and community-orientated approach.
Q: What have been some of your recent community initiatives?
A: Supporting our local school, Chipping Norton School, in any capacity we can is an extremely rewarding endeavour. As an employer advisor, I frequently have conversations with the school to determine how we can assist the students – we've organised mock interviews, interactive finance workshops and facilitated work experience.
Groups of students have been welcomed to our office to ask our employees questions, enabling to gain some ideas for future careers and how to prepare. We hosted an art exhibition for students in our office for Art Week, a major event locally for arts and culture. During the course of the exhibition, several students managed to sell their artwork – an incredible achievement for such young artists.
We’ve partnered with Chipping Norton Theatre for over 10 years. Since the Covid pandemic, the theatre has spearheaded a project supporting local families and children who may struggle with the daily essentials – primarily food. Wise Investment offered to cover the costs of the food, and the project has grown considerably since its inception, from 15 kids to 150 now attending regularly.
Q: How do you encourage your employees to engage in charity work?
A: We strongly encourage our employees to support worthy causes within the local community – everyone is entitled to at least one day each year to volunteer. Myself and several other members of the company will be working on a project with Katharine House Hospice, helping out in the gardens and doing whatever we can to assist.
Our employees are more than welcome to find a charity that they are passionate about, and perform charity work individually or within groups of their choosing. Flexibility is crucial to our approach, as it allows our employees to aid issues that are important to them.
Alongside our individual and group charity projects, we do undertake company-wide initiatives with other organisations. For example, our work with Chipping Norton School and The Woodland Trust allowed us to get involved in a tree-planting project that will have a major positive impact on the environment.
Q: Can you tell me about Wise Investment’s sustainability programmes?
A: Wise Investment supports local businesses and organisations as much as possible. Sustainability doesn’t just apply to environmental concerns, although we do calculate our total carbon emissions and have made an effort to offset our footprint every year. We’re currently looking at replacing our heating system that runs on oil, and introducing an environmentally friendly alternative.
The success of our fellow businesses in the Chipping Norton area is just as vital to achieving our sustainability goals. Where possible, we look to local suppliers to source our equipment rather than ordering in bulk from international suppliers such as Amazon. It’s important that our clients and our neighbours know that the community is at the heart of everything we do.
Q: What separates Wise Investment from other financial advisors?
A: One of the major aspects of our business that makes us unique is that we are employee-owned. This is quite unusual in the financial services sphere – mergers, acquisitions and instability for employees and clients are common occurrences within the wider industry.
As we are owned under trust, our clients can rest assured that we are geared for long-term success. Having no external shareholders, our staff are committed to the profitability and sustainability of our business.
As independent financial advisors, our approach is open, honest and straightforward. Nurturing client relationships throughout the years is one of our primary goals – delivering positive results for our clients is closely tied to our ethical business model. Trust is one of our most vital core values, and we want to be on-hand to help our clients with their finances throughout their lifetime.
For more information about Wise Investment, their services and charity endeavours visit wiseinvestment.co.uk or call 01608 695100.
