Future Proof: Ted Dwyer, founder, City Life

It was the failure of his family's five-generation business after 160 years that made Ted Dwyer determined that his own business would not suffer the same fate.

Dwyer & Co was set up in Cork in the 1820s as a wholesaler, importing everything from tea to men’s shirts, and distributing them to shops around the country. By the time Dwyer’s brother George began working there in the 1960s, there were so many branches of the family involved that there was no clear leadership or direction. The business closed in 1981.

Upon leaving school, Ted Dwyer decided to start his own company rather than follow his brother into the family business. “It was never a difficult decision,” he says. “I knew that things were not going so well. I had been talking to my brother and seen him leaving the business.”

Dwyer set up his own company, City Life, a Cork-based wealth advice firm, in 1971. The circumstances weren't easy. "All I was doing was surviving for the first 10 or 15 years," says Dwyer. "The Seventies and Eighties was a very difficult business environment in Cork."

An agile business
Having learnt the importance of having an agile business that can adapt and survive, he was prepared to make hard decisions where necessary. "If you don't have a business that can change to a new way of doing business then it will fail."

One of Dwyer’s early moves was to narrow the scope of his business to focus on financial planning. “When we started, we were doing general insurance, auctioneering, building society loans, pensions. A couple of lines were not successful and we owed the bank £100,000 when our limit was £50,000. We had to take some serious decisions and concentrate on what was important.”

Another major shift was the introduction of up-front fees for clients; a move he says has helped the firm ride out recent economic difficulties.

“Around 15 years ago we looked at how business was done. We had to take on the life companies. We decided to charge fees so that, if someone wants a pension, 100 per cent of their money will be invested.

“We’ve gone through the last few years without having to let anyone go; we wouldn’t have been able to do that without the fee structure.”

The firm now has €150 million under management and prides itself on transparency. “In our reception [area] is a list of what we charge for everything we do. Having lived through years of cloak and dagger stuff, it is very refreshing.”

Now 67, Dwyer started the succession process for his own business a decade ago when his hearing began to fail. He has four children, three of whom have established careers outside the financial sector. The fourth, Eamon, studied commerce at UCC and was the obvious choice, despite living in Australia at the time.

Power struggle
Dwyer says the decision to pass on the business to only one of his children was not just a matter of convenience: it also resulted from the power struggles between previous generations of Dwyers.

“Our plan would be to leave the business in a clean way to one branch of the family and keep it as a small, clean family business. You can look after other family members in another way.” Managing Eamon’s entry into the business was a challenge. “It was difficult enough at first because there were more experienced people in the business. After a few years, I gave him shares. As soon as he got shares, it was not just my business; it was also his. The psychology changes.”

Soon after joining the firm, Eamon qualified as a financial adviser.

Four years ago father and son returned to college to complete their chartered financial planning qualification. Eamon is now managing director.

Dwyer no longer draws a salary but continues to bring in business for City Life and is paid on results. He also works with other small family businesses to help them survive down the generations, advising on issues such as protection and retirement planning.

Handing over the reins of the business he ran for 40 years has not been easy. “Not extremely hard, but a little bit. The biggest decision . . . was that I would no longer be managing director of City Life. But I feel a lot of pride that Eamon is going out and doing work that I was doing 10 years ago, and probably doing it better.”