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A Haverhill financial expert has been giving advice through a number of workshops to help local students budget for adult life after they leave school.

Up to 200 senior pupils at the town’s Samuel Ward Arts and Technical College attended five workshops laid on by chartered financial planner John Merriman, pictured.

The sessions covered a wide range of financial planning issues and processes, including setting objectives, budgeting, taxation, expenditure and the need to save early for later life.

The workshops were set up after John attended a recent business exhibition at Haverhill Leisure Centre.

“The College was represented at the exhibition, and in conversation I expressed the view that youngsters today were generally ill-prepared to look after themselves financially when they left school,” said John.

Samuel Ward then approached John to run some sessions for their sixth form students. “I kept it very generic, covering the key areas they would need to consider for their financial futures, including things like financing a car and buying a house,” he said. “Hopefully, they were able to take some useful pointers for the future away with them.”

John (63) has worked in financial planning for 40 years and recently became a Partner of the St James’s Place Partnership, the sole advisory channel for St James’s Place Wealth Management, one of the UK’s leading wealth management companies.

He is well known locally in basketball circles, coaching the game and still playing regularly for the Cambridge Cougars Basketball Club. He is based at Calford Drive Haverhill, and can be contacted on 01440 710436.