Meet Marc Westlake – Our Managing Director
By Rebecca Scaife
Published on: September 8, 2022
Our Managing Director Marc has worked as an Independent Financial Planning Consultant since 1994. Today he is a specialist in Portfolio Management, Pensions and Tax & Estate Planning.
Marc has a Bachelors Degree in Economics, Politics and American Studies from the University of Leeds and The Pennsylvania State University along with string of other industry related qualifications. He provides complex financial planning solutions to a small cohort of our clients.
Having grown up in the UK, Marc began his career as a financial planning consultant with a high street bank. Realising quickly that expert financial planning is built on trusted relationships with clients over many years, Marc recognised that the banking model cannot deliver this fully to clients. He moved on and built his experience with specialist financial planning businesses across the UK.
Having his head turned by an Irishwoman, Marc moved to Ireland in January 2008 and set up a fee-based financial planning business, Global Wealth. He recognised the opportunity available to deliver impartial financial planning to clients, without the inherent conflicts that are built into the commission-based approach favoured by other Irish financial advice businesses. Marc’s experience of moving to Ireland gave him first hand experience of the financial implications of moving to a new country (read his top financial tips for moving to Ireland here). He is therefore expertly placed to advise foreign nationals who are moving to Ireland and non-domiciled individuals.
The benefits of further education and participation in professional networks has always featured very highly on Marc’s radar. He places a lot of importance on staying informed of developments in the financial planning profession across the globe. He is certainly one of the most, if not the most, qualified specialist financial planners in Ireland.
Marc is a co-founder and former board director of the Society of Financial Planners in Ireland. He has lectured in the Diploma in Investments & Capital Markets at the Dublin Business School and is an associate faculty member for the National College of Ireland’s Diploma in Personal Financial Planning.
Marc is also a registered Trust & Estate Practitioner and a member of the prestigious Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (www.step.ie). He works closely with Estate Planning Lawyers in Ireland to assist clients in managing their wealth transfer to the next generation.
When not working, Marc can be found standing on the side line of rugby and GAA pitches, and along with his family, he’s also a frequent visitor to his favourite bolthole in West Cork. A keen musician, he can often be heard banging out a tune on his electric guitar and there are very few songs that Marc cannot play by ear.
