Scuba diving enthusiast Peter Ditchburn has said there are parallels to be drawn between financial planning and leading underwater tours.
In 2022 he became a qualified divemaster shortly before setting up a pair of businesses under the name Deep Dive.
He said the principles of keeping people safe and avoiding distraction could be applied to both, being a master diver and financial planner.
Deep Dive Financial Planning, an appointed representative of 2plan Wealth Management, focusses on estate planning and retirement planning.
At the moment Ditchburn’s clients consist of 35 families and he has just hired his first employee, an advice associate.
How did you get started in financial services?
Ditchburn landed a job at Nationwide after finishing university where he got his first taste of financial services.
From there he went on to do qualifications in mortgage advice and financial planning.
He said: “I'm probably one of the last people to get a job by printing out their CV and handing it in at banks on the high street.
“I was just really looking for a job in a high street bank doing bank accounts, credit cards, loans, that sort of thing as an introduction to the basics of giving advice to people.
“It was obviously financial advice but from there it was a natural progression from enjoying getting to know people and helping them organise their finances, getting more involved with the high level.”
He went from a mortgage adviser at Nationwide onto being a financial consultant.
It was after completing his chartered qualifications that he decided to move on to be a financial planner with Openwork for five years followed by four years at Buckingham Gate, where he focussed on estate planning.
What makes your firm different?
“Deep Dive is two companies doing estate planning and financial planning," said Ditchburn.
“The estate planning business is about legal frameworks, so discretionary trusts mostly, but more importantly the planning with the discretionary trusts - how to use the deeds of variation, how we use gifting strategies.
“That tends to be sort of the introduction to Deep Dive because it's quicker, we don't need to deal with letters of authority, we don't need to deal with product providers, it's literally just a conversation with me, a couple of weeks of thinking about the options, writing a report and then implementing what it is we're doing.”
Ditchburn said from this process, clients can then use Deep Dive’s financial planning services.
He added: “The financial planning side of things sort of follows on from that because it's more involved, it's more regulated and it takes more time.”
Where does the name Deep Dive come from?
Towards the end of his time at Buckingham Gate, Ditchburn realised a ‘bucket list’ dream of becoming a qualified scuba ‘divemaster’.
He did a one month intensive course, which involved three or four dives a day.
