Tell us about your role at Citywide

I joined in May 2026 as a Director of Financial Planning

My intention is to collaborate closely with advisers and advisory team to elevate our client services, deliver thoughtful, high‑quality financial planning and ongoing support, which is meaningful, personal, clear, and focused on long‑term outcomes.

Building trust, providing clarity, and maintaining consistently high advice standards will be the core to everything I do.

Can you tell us a bit about your background – what were you doing before?

I was born in Slovakia and came to England before my 20th birthday to stay for a while and work on my English language skills.

That was some 25 years ago.

I have worked in the UK finances services industry for over 20 years. Coming through the ranks from administrative support to technical analysis to junior planner and eventually sitting in front of clients.

I fell in in love with a role where your main purpose is to serve and help clients live the best versions of their lives. I am qualified financial planner, chartered wealth manager, and a certified financial coach. The coaching element helps me meet the clients where they are at that very moment, explore their values, goals and focus on what matters to them as individuals.

It has been a squiggly journey of learning growth and connection to a place where I thrive.

WHY do you do what you do?

I love honest conversations about how people feel about their money, what wealth really means to them, exploring what is possible and being part of their journey, seeing them flourish in their future.

What made you choose Citywide?

Pure alignment in our core values, ambition to grow, always striving for excellence in outcomes and service for our clients.

In what ways is Financial Planning about more than money?

Money is deeply personal. In the UK money is still a taboo, we do not like to talk about it and sometimes we do not even look at it. That reluctance has its roots in a lack of education about money from an early age. Basic home economics, budgeting, building blocks of managing wealth, long-term savings, and importance of pensions—none of these are treated as essential life skills in the way that they should be.

My mission is to first educate and then to help clients understand what money really is: one of many useful tools in creating their true wonderful futures.

We talk about the critical life junctures and helping clients to navigate them. What might these look like, and why might people want financial planning help?

New Family, Promotion, Retirement, Bereavement, Separation, Business Exit, these are all critical junctures in life.

Financial planning creates a blueprint, a roadmap to clarity and confidence, a good planner becomes a sounding board, a trusted thinking partner, a guide walking alongside you so you can be in control on your finances and make well informed decision aligned to your personal goals.

We are thinking about choices and trade-offs this month, what advice might you give someone who is making a big decision?

Discuss the problem and circumstances with a trusted member of family, a pragmatic friend or a professional to clear your thoughts and provide guidance.

Write down your vision, your mission, your dreams, and your options.

Write down all your fears, worries, issues, and your options.

What is ‘a life well-lived’ mean to you?

Be unapologetically true to yourself.

Stop playing it small.

Live the best version of your day aligned to your own values, your goals, follow your dream, take the risks.

Spend your time with people that bring the best out of you, bring you joy and fill you with abundance.

You specialise in working with women — what is important in those conversations?

The money conversation with women is rarely about the actual money.

How we relate to money, the language we use and the meaning we attach to money is where the transformation happens.

The education, the understanding, the clarity, the confidence to manage their own money is often missing. Women often incorrectly believe that money is too difficult and hard to manage and simply something they cannot get a handle on. It is not true, and I am glad to see a shift away from this narrative and move towards genuine financial literacy and inclusion.

I want to empower women to feel in control of their financial decisions.

I am particularly interested in family law. I am a member of Resolution and have supported many women during separation and divorce, navigating them through the process and helping them to take control of their new futures.

And a bit more about you – what do you enjoy doing outside of work?

I love spending time with my family, my husband and I share two teenage children and a sweet labradoodle, Pablo. I love being in nature, I love cooking and entertaining, a good laugh with friends is a medicine for the soul.

What three things are you most looking forward to as you look to the future here?

Elevating excellence of our client service proposition, collaborating with a talented team of colleagues to deliver modern, highly personal, goal specific plans for our clients and their families.

We are building something special here …

Finally, what would you rather, more time or more money?

Time

We’re happy to welcome Petra into the Citywide team. You can learn more about her here.