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1. What is financial planning?
2. What is the financial planning process?
3. Who can benefit from your services?
4. What is "Fee-Based" financial planning an why is that important to me?
5. Do you offer only "comprehensive financial planning" or do you cater for "one-off" engagements?
6. Who can use the term "Financial Planner".
7. How much will your services cost?
8. I already have professional advisers (an accountant and/or solicitor). How will you work
with them?
1. What is financial planning?
Life is full of choices. Each choice that you make will inevitably have an
impact on any goals that you may have. Financial planning is a
process of enabling you to meet your life goals through the proper
management of your finances. Life goals can include buying a home, saving
for your child's education or planning for retirement. For more detail refer to
this page.
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2. What is the financial planning process?
The financial planning process consists of six steps that help you take a "big picture" look at where you are financially. Using the six steps, you can work
out where you are now, what you need in the future and what you must do to reach your goals.
The six steps consist of:
1) Establishing and defining the client-planner relationship
2) Gathering client data, including establishing your goals
3) Analyzing and evaluating your financial status
4) Developing and presenting financial planning recommendations and/or
alternatives
5) Implementing the financial planning recommendations
6) Monitoring the financial planning recommendations
For more information about financial planning and the process have a look at this
booklet.
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3. Who can benefit from your services?
Anyone can benefit from our services if they are genuinely seeking to plan for
their future. Example situations where one might benefit from our services
include:
Young Families
When couples marry (or live together) they are combining two independent
lives with the potential for conflicting priorities. Adding children to this
situation adds further financial pressure and stress. Planning priorities can
be identified so that the family is protected and expenditure controlled via
budgeting. Accurate budgeting should help to reduce stress as income and
expenditure is controlled. Future plans including potential education costs
can be identified and a suitable plan developed to save towards these
costs.
Retirement Planner
Planning for retirement is not merely a question of how much needs to be
saved out of today's income. You should address how you wish to live your
life in retirement, how much that is likely to cost and what you are likely to
receive from the State by way of pension. Once this has been done it is only
then that the question of how much needs to be saved can sensibly be
calculated.
Divorcing Spouse
Divorce is the opposite of marriage in that joint finances need to be
unravelled to leave two independent financial lives. Each party to the
divorce will have different needs and goals. Working with a solicitor handling
the divorce and gaining a knowledge of the financial requirements of the
spouse following that divorce enables this often difficult process to be
achieved.
Bereaved Widow/Widower
Bereavement is often a traumatic time and some comfort can be gained
from dealing with a trusted adviser who can alleviate some of the financial
worries, by ensuring that the assets inherited are invested properly to
provide a secure income and any reporting to the Inland Revenue is taken
care of. This is often done in conjunction with the solicitor who is
administering the estate.
Trustees
Trustees now need to comply with the Trustee Act 2000 with regard to trust
investments. They need to ensure that the investments are properly
diversified and are suitable taking into account the beneficiaries of the trust
and their tax status.
The "Estate Planner"
Inheritance tax is levied on the value of an estate above an annual threshold
(£300,000 for 2007/2008). By careful planning using lifetime gifts, either
outright or by trust, and also by careful drafting of wills it is possible to
mitigate and, in some cases, avoid this tax altogether. This area of
financial planning may involve careful liason with your solicitor and
accountant and also consideration of your financial requirements and the
impact that any proposed gifts might have upon your lifestyle.
Small Business Owner
Many small business owners reach a stage where their business is
established and the next main concern is passing on the business to the
next generation. This could involve gifts, either outright or into trust where
careful consideration of the potential tax effects needs to be made. This
would involve liasing with your accountant to obtain share valuations and
other relevent information prior to a suitable strategy being
recommended.
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4. What is "Fee-Based" financial planning and why is that important to
me?
"Fee-based" financial planning is a hybrid between the two main methods
by which financial advice is currently paid for by consumers. Advisers
either charge for their services by receiving a commission from product
providers once a product has been sold or they charge only a fee for their
services.
We offer a combination of these two methods. We will charge a fee for
our services but always offer a client the option for some or all of these
fees to be paid by any commission that might be received from a product
provider.
The commission taken will not be more than our fees.
So, why is this important? By offering this "hybrid" we remain unbiased in
the advice that we give. We do not have to "sell" a product simply to
generate commission. Any product recommendation will be purely on the
basis of what is best for a given client taking into account their
circumstances, needs and goals.
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5. Do you offer only "comprehensive financial planning" or do you accept "one-off" engagements?
No, we do not only offer "comprehensive financial planning". We will
provide advice on a "one-off" basis where required. However, it is
important to appreciate that each financial decision that is made may
affect several other areas of your life. Where possible we will always try to
look at the "big-picture" even when advising on a "one-off" basis.
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6. Who can use the term "Financial Planner"?
Anyone can describe themselves as a "Financial Planner". In fact, as the
benefits of financial planning are becoming better understood many firms
are now re-branding themselves as "Financial Planners" in an attempt to
reap the rewards. However, only those advisers that have taken that extra
step to obtain the "Certifed Financial Planner" licence can use that
description. You should therefore ensure that anyone holding themselves
out as "Financial Planners" have the relevant qualifications and
experience. and are either "Certified Financial Planners" or "Chartered
Financial Planners".
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7. How much will your services cost?
The cost of our service will depend upon what you require us to do for you,
the time spent and the complexity of the assignment. We will always
provide you with an estimate of our likely fees at the end of our first
meeting. It is then up to you whether or not you wish to continue and
appoint us to advice you.
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8. I already have professional advisers (an accountant and/or solicitor). How will you work with them?
Where you have a professional adviser we will always work together with
them to ensure that any advice that is given does not conflict with any
advice and plans which they may already have put in place for you. Where
you have a professional adviser you remain their client for the services
that they normally provide to you. We will not accept instructions to carry
out work on your behalf from you where this would normally be performed
by your professional adviser. In this way we intend to remain professional
in our dealings with your professional advisers so that they have no
objections or reservations in dealing with us as they can be confident that
we will not take work away from them! On the contrary, where our advice
requires their services we will refer you back to your professional advisers
for them to implement that advice.
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