It was a case of party hats and popping corks replacing pie-charts and spreadsheets for local financial services startup KO Financial which celebrated its first year’s trading this week.
The Athlone-based consultancy was established one year ago by two local financial services experts, David O’Shaughnessy and David Keenan, who joined forces in 2022 with a view to providing a state-of-the art financial consultancy service for the Midlands region. O’Shaughnessy is perhaps better known to those outside financial services as a former Westmeath GAA star and Leinster champion, while Keenan hails from a renowned Athlone family with a distinguished history in League of Ireland soccer.
“We’re delighted with our progress in the first year. We sensed there would be a real demand for the sort of financial services consultancy that we are offering locally but we were surprised by the volume of interest and take up in our first year of trading,” David Keenan said this week.
KO Financials’ initial focus has been on advising on three core services that are in high demand in the region among companies and individuals alike: pension planning, investment advice and life, income and illness insurance services.
Of the three services offered, Keenan notes that, despite the spike in living costs this year, the vast volume of their current workload remains in pension planning.
A recent Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC ) survey found that one in ten people between the ages of 45 and 64 do not have a pension, and that pension ownership amongst 45-54 are lower this year than last due to rising living costs but it also found that 69% of those surveyed still said they would be happy to pay into a compulsory pension scheme.
“While pension planning can be a daunting and often confusing process and is becoming increasingly so, more and more companies and individuals are now waking up to the fact that it makes real sense to start your pension sooner rather than later,” Keenan said.
O’Shaughnessy stated that KO Financial would be happy to help those looking for advice with regard to starting a pension plan.
“We deliver value to our clients by crafting comprehensive strategies that help them to effectively plan for their financial futures and guide them towards their specific financial goals. All they need to do is to contact us with any queries which they may have.
“We would also like to take this opportunity to thank our current clients for being part of our incredible journey over the past year. We look forward to many more years of delivering excellence in financial consultancy to you and to welcoming future clients to KO Financial,” O’Shaughnessy concluded.
For more information on the services offered please visit the KO Financial https://kofinancial.ie/ or contact the business directly for a free consultation with Directors David Keenan at 087 6702149 and David O’Shaughnessy at 086 3814776.
