Meet Paul

Paul is accessible and has his finger on the pulse

Hi, I’m Paul Topping. I live in Sri Lanka, and I’ve been associated with people within the company since its conception.

I think 20 years ago, there were opportunities if you were leaving England and working abroad, to actually operate your pension scheme outside of the UK. So, I was really driven by the fact that I wanted to move my pension completely out of the country and put it somewhere where it was more flexible and where my benefits to my partner, my wife, were more easily gained.

I found out about Ascenta because I was working with Paul Charles, who was in a previous company. I was quite happy to see Paul’s development of his new company. When you’ve been working with someone for 10 years, you trust them, and it’s good to work with them. The communication is good. So it was really, for me, a no-brainer that I would continue with him in his new organisation.


What I was really looking for was a way of securing someone to manage it in the way I wanted it managed, and that it would be safe and also accessible. So those were the key things, and really, I’ve only had two advisers in 20 years, and they’ve both served me very well.

I did have the opportunity of purchasing some properties in Sri Lanka. It was the right time to do it and Paul helped me. I used some of that pension for investment in property, and the reverse of that, when I’ve sold land or properties, I’ve also needed somewhere to put the financial benefit that I gained, and Paul is pretty good at that because he understands what I’m trying to do and what services he can provide.

My three key words are honesty, energy and availability. From a perspective of advice, I’ve always found him to be giving me options. I like options. I don’t want somebody to say, “Well, this is what you’ve got to do.” He would say, “You’ve got some choices. Do you want to do this? Or do you want to do that?”

There’s quite a big age gap between me and him, which I like because I think you’ve got to have people who are younger and feel the pulse of what’s going on, and certainly, he does that. But the accessibility has always been good.

When you live in a country like Sri Lanka, there are times when there are opportunities for investment locally. I need someone as interested in that as I am, and Paul is; he follows what’s going on. He can talk about Sri Lanka and the things to avoid, and in many cases, in my mind, on a very level-headed basis.

I have recommended him, and I will recommend him in the future.

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