He said: “When you’ve actually made a difference to someone’s life and people have thanked you, that is always nice.
“Some clients have said, you know, look, I don't worry about this because I know you're worrying about it.”
He gave the example of one client who died aged 92, whom he had worked with for almost 30 years.
As well as managing investments, started by her husband who died when the client was 70, Farrall arranged savings for her grandchildren, by putting aside cash at birthdays and at Christmas.
He said: “When one of the kids got to 18 and said ‘what is all this money?’ I could say ‘that’s your granny’.
“His mother said you should thank Steven for getting your granny to do it.”
How easy is it to retain the families of clients?
“The world has changed. People don’t necessarily live in the same area these days and people retire out to places,” Farrall said.
“So it's more difficult to retain these clients, but we do what we can or we will make sure they're going the right way if we can’t.
“But that's been a nice thing to see over my lifetime, to actually see that sort of work is good.”
What would be your advice to someone wanting to start their own business?
Philosophy is key to success when setting up an advice firm, said Farrall.
He said: “Really work on your philosophy and make sure you're absolutely clear what your thinking is about, what you're doing.
“Make sure you're informed and then have principles and be aware your principles will cost you money.
“You should always do the right thing.”
Farrall said doing the right thing meant there should be no need to worry about regulations as the advice should automatically fall within them.
Do you see the need for advice growing?
“This job is becoming increasingly necessary,” said Farrall.
“Anybody with any moderate amount of wealth needs some guidance.”
However, Farrall said providing financial support has become more challenging as more regulation is being rolled out.
He added: “The problem now is regulation is such a burden.
"It is a question of how do we deliver a good support service for people on modest incomes.”
If you own your own advice firm and would like to feature in the Coffee Corner interview series, get in touch at tara.o’connor@ft.com.
