About us
Our founder, Guy Myles, shares his story of how Flying Colours came to be, and what our bright future looks like.
My story
In 2000, I co-founded Octopus Investments which went on to become a market leader in asset management with over 50,000 customers. Today, Octopus is also well known for its off-shoot business, Octopus Energy, an award-winning energy supplier.
Octopus grew successfully by working with financial advisers. For many years, I was responsible for building the relationships and helping design the investment products we offered to them. Working closely with advisers, it became obvious to me how valuable advice is, but frustratingly, this is not widely recognised.
The gap between the reality and perception of advice is the widest I’ve seen in any profession. High quality advice should pay for itself easily and improve your chances of achieving your financial goals.
But most people still see it as an unnecessary cost or even a source of risk itself. Sadly, the advice profession itself is responsible for this. Many advisers maintain high ethical and technical standards, but there have been a number of mis-selling scandals linked to advice firms, which has undermined trust in financial advisers.
I could see a clear opportunity to create a new business which would deliver high quality advice and customer service through a team of passionate and capable people.
Flying Colours
Alongside two colleagues from Octopus, I founded Flying Colours in 2014 with a clear mission: to provide access to quality financial advice that helps people to understand their financial objectives and provide them with a plan to enjoy a brighter financial future.
We wanted to learn from our experience at Octopus to develop a new way of providing financial advice. A way that puts you, the client, at the centre of what we do and delivers genuine value for money. We’ve achieved this by developing a strong culture which focuses on building lasting relationships with you.
We’ve recruited highly skilled experts who are as passionate as we are about delivering our mission. Our experienced independent financial advisers are supported by a skilled operational team, and all of us are dedicated to helping you fully understand and achieve your financial goals.
We’ve invested heavily in technology by employing a team of in-house developers to create our own back-office systems. These enable us to work more efficiently so that our people can focus on what they do best: getting to know you and creating a financial plan that will help you achieve your goals.
Good investment management is the backbone of any effective financial plan, so we also have experienced investment professionals on hand to support our advisers.
Looking ahead
After years of testing, evaluating, and adapting, I’m confident that we’ve found the best strategy and operational model to achieve our mission. By working with lots of different clients, we’ve learned what we do well, where we need to bring in external expertise, and where we bring the most value.
Most importantly, we’ve found the most effective way to combine our technical expertise with our relationship-building skills. We’ll continue to invest in our people and technology to deliver exceptional financial advice, and that’s my personal promise to you.
If you like what you’ve seen so far, and you’d like to join Flying Colours, either as a client or a member of the team, please do get in touch. We’d love to hear from you.
Director and Group Chief Executive Officer, Flying Colours
Chris has provided peace of mind enabling us to now retire early. He has taken the time to get to know and understand us, helping us to develop and adapt our strategy. We have an open and transparent relationship with him which builds trust. He is personable and tailors solutions to our needs.
I’ve been absolutely delighted with the advice and support I’ve received from Maxine Clarke. She took the time to understand my goals, explained my options clearly, and helped structure my retirement plans. I now feel fully informed, supported, and confident about my financial future.
Luca encouraged me to take a step back and look at the bigger picture – how much risk am I prepared to take, how much income do I really need for my day‑to‑day expenditures, what are my plans for retirement. Luca worked through all the steps of the process at my pace, patiently explaining all the jargon as we progressed.
Chris took the time to understand our goals, provided clear explanations of approaches and a thoughtful, well-structured follow up note. Chris' approachable nature and attention to detail was first class. Following our interactions we now have a much clearer understanding of the relevant aspects to our estate planning.
Liv patiently understood our circumstances and conducted the due diligence required to provide very transparent and exceptionally professional advice. He struck a great balance on long‑term investments, pensions, insurance and retirement. I found Liv very knowledgeable, confident, and personable.
Tom expertly guided me through the complex and time-consuming process associated with consolidating several company pensions. Tom has also provided advice on a number of other financial benefits I was previously unaware of.
Ross gave me a lot of very useful information. He explains everything in a clear and concise way and doesn’t fill your head with jargon you may not understand. He keeps it plain and simple. Ross helped me understand how I could claim back overpaid tax and money I had been paying for a service with a previous pension adviser that shouldn’t have been charged.
From the initial meeting, George was able to understand my concerns and present options for how I could move forward. At no point did I feel any pressure, and I felt from the outset that I wanted to establish a long‑term relationship with George.
Russ guided me through the process of assessing current and future demands on my finances and the selection of appropriate pension investments. Throughout the process Russ has been very patient and explained clearly different options with their risk/benefit profiles. I have found his manner very supportive.
I had several meetings with Freddie to discuss my medium‑ to long‑term goals, my appetite for risk, the kind of retirement I would like and at what age. We then walked through my current finances in detail, and Freddie presented the gap between where I am now and where I would like to be, and proposed some changes that could help me achieve my goals in future.
Liviu has provided us with invaluable help regarding our pensions and how to best plan for our retirement. He has always made time to explain our options and fully answer any concerns we had. He has always gone the extra mile to ensure we were comfortable with the decisions we made and was endlessly patient.
I cannot tell you how much it has meant to have Russell Bruce’s advice. I no longer worry that I’m not doing enough to feel financially secure and confident about the future, and that has made a huge difference for me. I find him very easy to talk to; he has a lovely professional, friendly manner. I’ve already recommended him to a family member.
I’ve been a client of FC for almost 10 years and it’s proved to be one of the best financial decisions I’ve made. The advice, care and detail given to me has always been fantastic both from my advisor Billy and the whole FC team. I have recommended their services multiple times before and wouldn’t hesitate again! A brilliant company!
I asked Billy outright, if Flying Colours would make us that fee back in the first 12 months of managing our pensions. He told me it would and I’m happy to say he was right. We’ve got to know him really well and we completely trust the advice he gives us; advice which, over the years, has covered way more than just our pension.