An Announcement from SGWM

SG Wealth Management are deeply saddened to announce that founder and Managing Director Stephen Girling, has passed away at his home in Norwich.

Married father of three Stephen was taken ill last month and died peacefully, surrounded by his family.

Having started in financial services in 1978, Stephen went on to jointly launch SG Wealth Management (SGWM) in 2001, developing it into the successful East Anglian business it is today, with 37 employees.

Stephen was well known throughout the region for his charitable and community activities, as well as being a respected voice in the financial services media.

SGWM’s Chairman, Dr Andy Wood OBE DL, has been in constant contact with Stephen’s family since the popular businessman first became unwell.  He shares the following message:

 “As you can imagine, news of Stephen’s passing has hit all of us extremely hard within the business, and we send our condolences to his wife Rachel, his children, and all who knew and loved him.

I can say from both a personal and professional perspective that he was an incredibly special man who brought a lot of guidance, kindness and opportunity to many.

We of course understand that our clients might be conscious of the pivotal role Stephen has played at the helm of our company for more than two decades, so we want to allay any potential concerns you may have as to the stability of operational activity at this time.

Thanks to Stephen’s conscientious professionalism and his capacity to develop a hugely talented and competent team of experts in their field, we already have in place a strong leadership team.  Our clients can be assured that we are working as hard as ever on delivering same level of service and support you have come to expect of us.”

While it had not been a matter of wide public knowledge before now, the company’s management team had been actively looking at succession planning for SGWM, with a view to Stephen passing on the baton of the business in 2024.

Mr Wood concludes: “Stephen and I were already in discussions around his intention to step away from the business at the early part of 2024 and worked closely on creating a process through which we had been undertaking valuable governance and resilience work for much of 2023.  As a result, we are able to be confident of smooth continuity even in these unexpected circumstances.”

We ask for your understanding during this period and will be keeping our clients and partners abreast of any updates.

There will be a Thanksgiving Service for Stephen on Tuesday 16 January at 3.30pm at CityGates Church (formerly known as Surrey Chapel), 2 - 6 Botolph Street, Norwich NR3 1DU.  Refreshments will be served in the church following the service and the family welcome along everyone who wishes to join them in celebrating Stephen's life.