Most over-55s who have used the Pension Freedoms - introduced in 2015 - still place huge value on the regular income from the State Pension, a survey has found.

If you’d told me 10 years ago that Paraplanners would don warpaint once a year and happily gather to chew over technical issues in a giant teepee in Northants I might have suggested you’d been smoking the peace pipe a bit too long.

AFH Financial Group, the wealth management firm led by a Chartered Financial Planner, has acquired two IFA businesses in the South for a total of £7.2m.

The two takeovers, subject to performance targets being met, will add a combined £215m of Funds Under Management to AFH, pushing AFH's total FUM above £5.6bn.

The two deals, one in Twickenham and one in Hemel Hempstead, will be followed by more acquisitions, says AFH, which recently raised a £15m war-chest to help it become what it calls the “leading Financial Planning-led wealth management firm in the UK.”

The first deal covers Mulberry Independent Financial Advisers of Twickenham. As part of the deal four advisers, including the founders and current directors, will join AFH together with support staff. The firm will add £170m of FUM. The maximum purchase price for Mulberry is £5.3m, dependent on the performance of the firm during the earn out period.

The initial amount paid for Mulberry was £2.3m with the balance payable in cash over a 26-month period.

AFH has also acquired AE Garment Independent Financial Services based in Hemel Hempstead, to add £45m of FUM.

The maximum purchase price for AE Garment is £1.9m with an initial sum paid of £1 million in cash on completion. 

Further sums will be payable in cash over the next 26 months, subject to performance targets. Following the acquisition, Tony Garment retired from the business with his clients allocated to existing AFH advisers.

Chartered Financial Planner Alan Hudson, chief executive of AFH, said: "The announcement of these latest acquisitions follows our recently completed £15m placing in July 2019.

“Notably, the acquisitions have been completed on attractive, value-enhancing multiples, in line with our business model and those negotiated in previous transactions. We continue to undertake due diligence on the pipeline of acquisition opportunities that were referenced in the placing announcement and look forward to updating the market in due course 

"As we continue to build AFH into the leading Financial Planning led wealth management firm in the UK, we are primarily focused on driving the organic growth of our business by providing professional and cost-effective services to our clients and, in-turn, enhancing profitability.

“Following the placing the company retains significant levels of cash and remains well placed in this period of economic and political uncertainty to continue its record of delivering profitable growth and enhanced shareholder value."