How we help with
Financial planning
Our Process
Financial planning is a very personal matter. No two people have identical circumstances, ambitions and needs. What’s more, needs often change over time and everyone’s financial situation is different.
The advice we give you is also unique and individually tailored to suit your particular needs. So how do we develop a financial plan specifically for you? – these are the stages of the Financial Planning Process that we will follow with you;
Discovery
• Complimentary initial meeting with one of our qualified Financial Planners.
• A chance to ask questions and understand our service.
• Opportunity for us to find out what help you require and to identify your needs and objectives.
• Information about how we charge for advice.
Analysis
• Gathering of information about your existing financial arrangements.
• Completion of a risk profile analysis assessing your views & experience of investing and the associated risks.
• Analysis of your current arrangements and a comparison against other products from the ‘whole of the market’.
• Lifestyle Cashflow Planning analysis;
• A key part of the planning process centres around Lifetime Cashflow Planning which helps us plan and adapt to real life events, before, during and after they happen.
• We use interactive Cashflow Forecast software that allows us to help you visualise your financial future, test different scenarios and instantly understand the impact of key decisions on life events along the way.
• We produce a bespoke forecast for our clients that help project the values and sustainability of your finances when taking account of your expenditure needs and assumptions around different factors such as inflation, investment returns and age at death.
• If you have investable assets of £100k+, contact us for a free personalised demonstration of our Lifetime Cashflow Planning analysis.
Planning
• Once the analysis is complete, we develop a practical plan designed to help you meet your objectives, which includes;
• Recommending an appropriate blend of products that can meet your needs.
• Preparing a detailed report outlining our recommendations.
• Meeting with you to explain and discuss the recommendation in detail.
Implementation
• Handling of all fund and policy administration on your behalf
• Processing application forms to set up any new products.
• Liaising with product providers to ensure the smooth transition of assets from any of your old policies across to new one’s.
• Administration for any new single or regular contributions.
• Setting up any withdrawals from existing or new products as necessary.
• Assistance with setting you up online access for any new products as necessary.
• Provide regular updates to you keeping you informed of application progress.
• Provide confirmation of all actions taken on your behalf in writing.
Review
• Regular reviews to keep you on track to meet your objectives.
• Assessment of your current circumstances and any changes to your plans that are needed.
• Regular updates and information regarding your holdings.
• Ongoing support with correspondence and administration issues.
Case Studies
Keith & Felicity
Keith & Felicity have approached us for advice in relation to their finances. They have a number of different Savings, Investments and Pensions and would like a full review to assess whether they are on track to retire in 5 years time. We reviewed their various policies and recommended a number of changes, this involved;
- Tidying up their Savings, Investments & Pensions to create a more easily manageable financial plan.
- Changing their investments to align with their appetite for risk.
- Reducing the charges they were paying for various products.
- Improving the tax efficiency of their holdings by using tax allowances and ‘tax-free’ investment vehicles.
We also ran through Cashflow Forecast projections to show them how the changes we’ve recommended will put them in a better financial position so that they could retire when they wanted to. Our regular review service gave them peace of mind that their finances were being actively managed to ensure the success of their plans for retirement.
Giles & Anne
Giles & Anne were retired and drew income from their Final Salary Pensions which covered the bulk of their monthly outgoings. They also both had Investments and Pensions that hadn’t been reviewed for some time and needed advice to draw a regular income that would help fully cover their expenditure needs.
Having recently retired they also wanted to travel more and spend some of their hard-earned money on enjoying retirement. They approached us for advice to help them assess the most suitable solution for drawing a regular income and taking ad hoc lump sums. We ran through their options with them and set up a suitable plan that would minimise income tax and give them more flexibility with their Pensions so that they could draw ad hoc lump sums.
We also used Cashflow Forecasting to show them how their Pensions and Investments could be used through retirement to ensure they did not run out of money. This gave them peace of mind and financial freedom to enjoy retirement and do the things that they had planned for.
Become our next success story
Send us a message and start your journey to financial freedom today.