Deck the halls with Die Hard movies
So here we are, inexplicably, in mid-December, and as FLP quietly clocks up its tenth year in business, it feels like a good moment to pause, take stock, and move – some may say lurch – towards our annual shutdown for the Christmas break.
Even I am starting to feel mildly mellow and festive. This has been greatly helped by the spoils of a Christmas hamper received by Mr FLP, some of which have “found” their way onto my desk. Nothing oils the wheels of nostalgia like a jar of chocolate almonds. And perhaps a mince pie.
Festively watching Hans Gruber get his comeuppance…
2025 has been another big year here at FLP HQ. Not only have we welcomed another person into the fold, when Joe, our trainee paraplanner, joined us in June, but the company also celebrated its 10th birthday in a very low key way earlier in the year.
Low key it may have been, but that doesn’t make it unimportant. Ten years in business feels less about milestones and more about trust. We’ve welcomed new clients every year, but the OG are still with us — and that’s something I’m incredibly proud of. It’s a privileged seat we sit in when our clients continue to share their lives with us, and the longevity of those relationships is something we’ll never take for granted.
Founding and running a small business mainly involves being brave, and wearing a lot of hats. I wore all of them for 9 years. Not quite 500, for Dr Seuss lovers, but sometimes it felt like it. Then along came Rebecca in September 2024 to share the hats – and one of my very few regrets is that I didn’t recruit sooner. Hindsight bias is a wonderful thing, of course, but recruiting the right people remains one of the biggest challenges for most businesses. Our values and culture shape everything we do, so diluting that with the wrong hire is simply not an option.
So what’s changed in the last 10 years? On the surface, lots of things. Technology has been the biggest shift. It’s allowed us to make our processes more efficient for everybody, run meetings online, and enables me to be in France for 10 weeks each year with minimal disruption. The fast pace of innovation is exciting, even for old timers like me.
Regulation, too, is a constantly moving feast. Client expectations now go way above and beyond the traditional transactional advice of yore – and rightly so. The industry as a whole continues to move towards consistently better outcomes for everyone, which can only be a good thing.
Underneath it all, though, not so much has changed. We’re not reinventing the wheel, here. Human behaviour doesn’t really change – the social and cultural overlays of the current era have an influence, but the fundamental worries remain remarkably consistent. Will we be ok? Do we have enough? Will Wales ever win the 6 Nations again?
2025 has been a year of consolidation for this small but mighty firm. Our foundations are strong, and we’re excited about the next phase of growth, building on the hard work of this year — right after a well-earned break.
Nadolig Llawen. Peace and Love. Die Hard is a Christmas Movie.