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What You Can Expect From Us

We Follow a Simple Five-step Financial Planning Process.

Step 1 : Discovery Meeting

This is a no-obligation meeting where the cost is borne by us. Before you incur any costs it is important to establish, right at the outset, whether we can deliver for you. After all, it is in nobody’s interests to have someone paying for a service which has little value to them. Equally, you will want to be sure that we are the right people for you. During the Discovery meeting we will aim to:

➤ Understand your current circumstances

➤ Establish your general aims, needs and objectives

➤ Establish any concerns you might have

➤ Obtain basic details of your existing assets and policies (if you have any)

➤ Obtain relevant personal details (we will hold this information on a Personal Financial Questionnaire)

Upon completion of the meeting we should be in a position to let you know if/how we can help you. It is possible that all you might need is some simple guidance (rather than formal advice) and if this is the case we will aim to provide you with some basic information to help you handle things yourself.

Most people that approach us for help tend to need formal advice and this involves providing you with our Financial Planning Service. We charge a fixed fee for this Financial Planning Service and we will let you know how much it costs, and what we intend to do for you, before seeking your agreement to proceed.

Step 2 : Research

Having gained an understanding of your general aims, needs and objectives and got a feeling for your overall financial position we will need to explore things in greater detail. This might involve some or all of the following:

➤ Establish detailed objectives/goals and prioritising them where necessary

➤ Discuss/challenge any perceived unrealistic aims or expectations

➤ Obtain full details for any existing plans/policies that you already hold

➤ Identify if/how your existing plans can be utilised

➤ Carry out financial projections (cashflow forecasts) – these are often very important in retirement planning

➤ Develop a bespoke financial plan

➤ Identify potential risks to the plan

➤ Establish your attitude to, and understanding of, investment risk

➤ Establish your capacity for loss (ie. the amount by which the value of your assets could fall without having a detrimental impact upon your financial plan)

➤ Develop an investment strategy which takes into account your preferences (if you have any)

Step 3 : Analysis and Advice

With all the information gathered during the first two stages we should be in a position to discuss any potential solutions/recommendations. These will take into account your specific aims/needs/objectives and your views/opinions, as well as the hard facts obtained to date. We may also highlight any previously unidentified needs which we feel you ought to be aware of.

You will be provided with a ‘Suitability Report’ which will list all of our recommendations together with the rationale behind them. In addition to this report you will receive all the necessary product and investment information relating to the recommendations made. Where the recommendations include a portfolio of investment funds, the portfolio will be tailored to take account of your risk profile and any preferences you might have regarding styles of investment management. Tax efficiency is also likely to be very important.

Once you have read the report we will contact you to discuss it. This is to ensure that you have understood our recommendations and why these recommendations have been made. You will therefore have the opportunity to discuss any aspects of the advice that we have given to you.

When you are happy to proceed we will, with your permission, move to the final stage.

Step 4 : Implementation

Your Suitability Report is likely to contain a number of recommendations which aim to help you achieve a positive outcome. This may involve some generic financial planning, keeping any existing plans as they are, making some changes to your existing plans, or putting in place one or more new/replacement plans.

If you wish to proceed with any of our recommendations we will prepare documentation for you to sign and return to us. We will then deal with all relevant product providers to implement the recommendations – with minimal administrative involvement by you.

Step 5 : Review and Ongoing Servicing

More often than not we find that clients’ financial needs and objectives change over time due to changes in lifestyle, circumstances, health and expectations. Also, legislation is regularly being amended and this can have a potentially serious impact on your financial arrangements, especially where taxation is concerned. In addition to this, economic and investment conditions can change rapidly.

It is therefore unsurprising that most of our clients choose to benefit from our Review Service. This is aimed at ensuring that your financial plan remains on track and it gives you the best chance possible of continuing to meet your longer term aims and objectives. Our Review Service normally incorporates the following:

➤ A meeting, at least annually, carried out face to face, virtually or by phone (your choice)

➤ A reassessment of your circumstances, aims, needs and objectives

➤ The provision of up to date valuations of your investments

➤ A review of your financial forecasts, where appropriate

➤ A review of your investment strategy and the funds held

➤ Discuss and implement changes to your plans, where appropriate

➤ Written confirmation of matters arising from your review

➤ Year-round day to day access to us (to respond to, and deal with, any queries which you might have)

➤ Ongoing support with correspondence and administration requirements

➤ Liaise with any other professional advisers you may have (eg. Accountant / Solicitor)

➤ Discussions regarding ‘hot topics’

➤ A quarterly newsletter