Vanessa Townshend FPFS

Office:

Preston

Vanessa is a highly experienced Chartered Financial Planner who joined Perspective in October 2025 following an acquisition.

She began her career in 1998 on a graduate scheme at an IFA firm in Guildford and has since developed extensive experience across all areas of financial planning.

She is a Fellow of the Personal Finance Society, a Chartered Financial Planner and a SOLLA accredited Later Life. Vanessa specialises in retirement and later life planning, advising individuals, attorneys and trustees on retirement, investment and inheritance matters. She also holds the STEP Foundation Certificate in trust and trustee investment and was named Personal Finance Society Retirement and Later Life of the Year in 2018/19.

Vanessa provides advice tailored to each client’s goals and preferences, focusing on their lives rather than just their finances. Her approach is relaxed and conversational, building clear, flexible plans over time, and she particularly enjoys the variety and depth that comprehensive financial planning brings.

Check out Vanessa’s VouchedFor profile here.

How do you like to spend your time outside of work?

I am married with two teenage children and two cats and I like to spend time pottering at home. To balance the mental stimulation of work, I enjoy any combination of swim, bike, run and gym. I have competed in triathlons of varying distances, from sprints to the full IronMan. I can regularly be seen at my local Parkrun, volunteering and/or running.

What’s an interesting fact about you?

Having studied International Business and Japanese at university I can speak, read and write Japanese (although I am a little rusty these days!)

What is one thing on your bucket list?

I did a tandem parapente for my 30th birthday and loved it – I intend to book a week’s course to learn to parapente and fly on my own.