And just like the very successful investment contrarian he proved to be over the following 46 years he launched his asset management business at a time when practically no one else did.
It was 1975 and the year that the UK stock market had reached an all-time low that it has never seen since. A time when new investors were very few and far between. Undaunted he moved into an office space given to him by his old Linlithgow Academy school friend and former Hearts and Scotland football legend, Donald Ford.
Donald had a thriving accountancy practice in Linlithgow High Street at that time.
Alan set about building a huge personal bank of industry and investment technical knowledge by immersing himself in business books to give himself a competitive edge. This thirst for “knowledge” never left him and inspired many of the articles that he wrote regularly for the financial press. This increased “knowledge” allied to his original actuarial training ensured that, unlike most in the industry, he better understood and identified the flaws in the technicalities behind some of the financial scandals of the 80’s and 90’s long before they reached the attention of the media.
THE ULTIMATE FINANCIAL FAIR PLAY CRUSADER
Such was his passion for the other strands in his corporate DNA such as “integrity” and “fairness “that it drove him to expose these scandals to a much wider audience, one which was way beyond his own customer base. He was the first person in the industry to expose the huge Equitable Life scandal and the first to shout down the poor value represented by endowment mortgages.
He went on to expose the smoke and mirrors that would eventually lead to the poor performance of one of the industry’s then bestselling investment products …the with profits bond. And his affinity for maths enabled him to publicly challenge the workings of the split capital investment trust. Workings that subsequently proved to be totally flawed
All four of these are now recognised as amongst the biggest financial product scandals of all time. It is therefore to Alan’s enormous credit that he challenged them all in public before anyone else.
These media crusades often created dangerous enemies for him amongst the giant inscrutable financial institutions behind such scandals but despite threatened court action against him Alan’s constant pursuit of customer protection remained undaunted.
He became a regular commentator in all the UK financial press and broadcast media where he always put his points across in a language all readers, viewers and listeners could understand. A communications skill almost unique in this industry
And he always did so with the consumer’s best interests at the heart of everything he wrote or said. And he did it all with a wonderful sense of “fun”.
Those who were privileged to receive copies of his regular “Letter from Linlithgow” each month would laugh out loud at his writing, especially when he often referenced his Grannie McKay’s sayings to make an important point. But the laughter would soon turn to utmost respect as readers began to understand his very important messages on how best to protect and grow their wealth.
Alan would also have made a great stand-up comedian. He had a wonderful dry wit and great comic timing. Any time spent relaxing in his company would always end in tears…tears of laughter. He was very much in demand as an after-dinner speaker and proudly claimed to be the only individual ever to give the main speech in the same year at the two significant historical events that were local and always very dear to him …the Linlithgow Marches and the Bo’ness Fair.
