Mark Whitaker

Hello, I’m Mark Whitaker. I’m the managing director of Whitaker Tankers, and in my 40 years working for Whitakers, Forrester Boyd has always played a big part in that picture. More recently, in the last 25 years, we’ve had a relationship with Forrester Boyd Wealth Management and Dale Regan, in particular.

Over the last 25 years, they set up a new pension scheme for Whitakers, and during that time, we’ve had advice on how to improve that pension scheme, particularly with some of the flexibilities that have become available in the last few years. So, Dale has given us advice on how to make the pensions work in the most efficient way for our staff.

We particularly enjoy working with Dale because he keeps us apprised of what’s going on in the world of pensions, and he is always very open to being questioned. A lot of the people who are working on board the ships don’t particularly concentrate too much on pensions until they’re getting into their late 50s, and then all of a sudden, they have a lot of questions to ask. Dale and his team have always been very open to talking to our staff when they’ve got worries or they want to start planning for the final part of their working lives and entering into retirement. So, they’ve been particularly good with that aspect.

Our pension has changed from a final salary scheme into a money purchase scheme, and there have been quite a few challenges along the way in trying to achieve that. Dale has been very good at navigating us through that process, which at times has been tricky but we’ve always found solutions rather than problems.

It feels like they are part of the Whitaker team, and they are always open to being challenged. They don’t get upset if they’re challenged; we’ve always had good results, and they’re very open if they think that we should be doing things in a different way with our pension funds; they’re very happy to tell us so, and we have always taken their advice.

From my experience working with Dale Regan, I would say he’s always enthusiastic and forward-thinking, and he is very easy to talk to; he doesn’t bog us down with technical jargon. The thing that I really like about Forrester Boyd and the reasons why we are still working closely with them after 25 years is that basically, they just do what it says on the tin; they provide top-quality advice. They’ve provided us with some very good investment advice and also looked after our pensions, and that is the reason why we are still dealing with them after 25 years.

We have the right people giving us the right advice in a world that isn’t our day-to-day bread and butter. The pensions and the investments – it’s nice to know that they are being looked after by somebody who we have confidence in and trust.

I would have no hesitation in recommending Dale Regan and his team to anybody who is looking for investment advice or pension advice. They are very easy to talk to, and we believe that their advice is sound, and it certainly works for Whitaker Tankers.