Frequently Asked Questions
1. “I want to treat my children fairly but they all have completely different financial needs and circumstances. Can I chat this through with you?”
Yes of course you can – and we have lots of experience that comes from having worked with numerous families. We can happily share all of this wisdom with you to help you make the right decisions for your family.
2. “I’m getting divorced but my partner used to deal with all the money stuff. I don't know where to start when it comes to handling my divorce settlement. Can I talk with you?”
We understand that it’s about much more than the money and that it’s often a very emotional time. But don’t worry, we’ve got specialists on the team who will guide you through in a way that is really helpful – but isn’t patronising.
3. “I'm about to receive a large inheritance but frankly I don't know how to handle it. What do I need to do?"
First, relax and don’t make any hasty decisions. If this is potentially a life changing amount of money for you, it’s important to take a step back and not feel pressured into making impulsive choices.
First, we’ll help you make sure that the money is parked safely so that you don’t need to worry about hurrying into any investment arrangements. Then we’ll work with you to ensure the money is put to the very best use.
We also do get that this can be a very emotional time – and we totally understand that you’ll want to make sure that the person who gifted you the money would be proud of the decisions you make.
4. “I've always seen my business as my pension, surely I don't need to invest in anything else?”
We understand where you’re coming from. This is a big gamble though, because you’re ‘backing just one horse’ – and that horse may lack a lot of tax efficiency.
Here’s a different way of thinking about it: When you make investments in shares, you’re investing in different businesses where other people are working to make profits in which you can share – without you having to put in any blood, sweat and tears of your own. Not only has this got to be better than carrying the whole burden on your own shoulders but you’re also reducing your risk.
Indeed, one of the biggest risks you and your family face if you solely back yourself and your business is the gamble that market conditions and the right buyer will be present – just at the moment that you want to sell up.
We can help by taking a holistic view of your business and personal finances and ensure that you’re properly prepared for all eventualities.
5. “I'm now getting a bit fed up with my job – can you help me escape?”
Yes.
This is a common question that we are asked by both existing and potential clients. Whether you’re working for somebody else or running your own business, at some point it’s likely that you’ll want to do something else. Often, the clients that we are most able to help are at exactly these crossroads.
We not only understand all of the financial considerations – but we’re also experts in the emotional rollercoaster that people in this situation can often experience.
6. “I’m busy ‘building’ but I really don't know when I'll be free to start enjoying it – what do I need to do?”
This is another common question that we’re asked. When you’re busy earning, buying a house, having children and building a career, it’s really easy to forget to stop and take stock of where you are – and to determine whether what you have financially is getting you where you want to be in life.
One of the comments that we often hear from clients is that spending time with us has given them some breathing space – where they can ‘press the pause button’ on life and examine everything from a fresh perspective.
7. “What makes you different?”
Most financial advisers are good at the ‘logic’ of money. We refer to this as the ‘Science of Money’. However, in our experience, the ‘emotional’ side of money is every bit as important. We refer to this as the ‘Heart of Money’. Focusing on the ‘logic’ of money is only doing half a job. Anybody that thinks investments and economics are purely logic-based has probably never invested money before. We always take the ‘Heart and Science of Money’ into everything we do with clients – and thanks to our new partnership with Olivia Stefanino, creator of the tried and proven ‘Money Types’ emotional profiling system, we’re now able to share an exciting suite of powerful tools with you that takes financial planning to a whole new level.
8. “Who do you work with – do you work with people like me?”
While we work with a broad range of people, in the main our clients fall into four distinct groups:
- Business owners, directors and people running their own professional practices
- Senior corporate employees
- People who receive an unexpected – and unplanned for – sum of money, especially though an inheritance or divorce settlement
- People with enough money for themselves who now want to create a legacy for their family
9. “I love your approach but I already have a financial adviser/ investment manager, how could I still work with you?”
Sometimes, we’re appointed to work for clients where they have an existing financial adviser and/or investment manager who doesn’t practice lifestyle-focused financial planning.
As we work on a fee basis, we can solely carry out this aspect of our work for you, leaving your existing financial adviser and/or investment manager to implement any investment advice.
10. “Why is it so important to understand my ‘Money Types’ emotional profiling score?”
Armed with your unique ‘Money Types’ combination score, we not only understand your approach to money, but we also have a much better understanding of who you are and what really makes you tick. This means that we can ensure that your financial plan is truly personalised to you.
In addition, we’ve found that the ‘Money Types’ really play an important role when it comes to our work with couples for two reasons…
Firstly, it creates a ‘common language of understanding’ and secondly, we can ensure that both parties are fully ‘heard’ and that their needs and wants are taken fully into account when we build their ‘Financial Freedom Map’.
Oh, and the ‘Money Types’ isn’t only illuminating, but you’ll find them intriguing and fun too.
11. “Do I really need a financial planner or can I just do it all myself?”
While you could possibly do it all yourself – the only people who might actually want to are those who have the time, knowledge and patience to do all their own research, build their own lifetime cashflow model, implement their own investments and keep track of everything.
And even then, the danger is that they don’t know what they don’t know.
Also, they wouldn’t benefit from our extensive experience of working with lots of different clients and the ‘cross pollination’ of knowledge and perspective that occurs as a result. Sometimes our role is to protect clients from themselves!
12. “Can you help me reduce my tax bill?”
Yes – we often can!
Whenever we build financial plans for clients or provide associated investment advice, tax efficiency is automatically built-in to our advice process. This means that wherever possible, we’ll help you to reduce income tax, capital gains tax, inheritance tax, pension lifetime allowance tax and any other taxes. You name it and we’ll have thought about it!
13. “What’s the best investment?”
To be honest, there’s no such thing. Every investment has advantages and disadvantages, which means that there’s no such thing as the perfect investment. Really, there’s only the ‘most suitable’ investment for any given client and situation. We’ll work with you to carefully establish the investment structure that will best help you achieve your goals.
14. “What does working with you involve? "
In order to build your ‘freedom map’, we first need to collect some information about your financial circumstances – and happily, we can make this easy for you because we can do a lot of the legwork on your behalf.
Once we’ve got all the necessary information and conducted a thorough analysis, we’ll agree a date for our first financial planning meeting together.
In this meeting, we’ll discuss your desired lifestyle and your plans for the future with you. We’ve also created some fascinating and fun tools too, to ensure that you get the most out of the whole experience.
We’ll also start taking a look at your ‘numbers’. Of course, there’s lots to take into consideration – as well as your desired current and future lifestyle, we’ll also use our sophisticated software to ‘strength-test’ your finances to age 100.
We’re also able to help you see what the financial impact would be if you suddenly had to face ‘unforeseen circumstances’ like losing a job, or needing long term healthcare.
At the end of the meeting, we’ll have agreed the overall strategy for your lifestyle financial plan, which will enable you to make the right decisions moving forward.
When we’ve looked at everything with you – and after you’ve had some time to digest it all – we’ll then agree the best way forward, provide you with any necessary ‘official’ financial advice and set things up accordingly for you.
15. “Do I have to have a lot of money already to become a client?”
You don’t need to have a lot of money to invest in order to benefit from financial planning. Typically, most of our new clients have a minimum household income of £100,000 per year and/or a minimum of £250,000 that they’re looking to invest.
16. “How do you get paid?”
That’s always a great question – and there are two elements to consider: initial fees and ongoing fees (which we’ll answer in question 17).
When it comes to initial fees, the way most financial advisers work is to charge between 3% and 5% of the amount you invest in share-based investments (so somewhere between £3,000 and £5,000 per £100,000 invested). On this basis, most financial advisers would be expecting a client to invest as much money as possible.
We think this creates a conflict of interest.
How do we know whether you need to invest any money in shares at all? What if you could actually afford to spend more on ‘living the dream’? What if you’d prefer to buy a larger house? What if investing in property – a buy to let – would suit your personality better (especially if you love DIY!)?
In order to eliminate the potential conflict of interest, we simply agree and charge an initial fixed fee based on the work involved.
17. “How do you charge if you were to look after us longer-term?”
The majority of people that we work with go on to become ongoing clients – and we meet with them at least annually. Often the clients that choose to come under our umbrella for the longer term prefer that we charge a percentage of assets under management – once they’ve decided that they do want to invest money.
Not only does this seem to be the simplest and most easily understood way of charging but it also ensures that all our interests are aligned.
In some specific circumstances, a fixed fee for ongoing work does seem to make more sense – and of course, we’re happy to discuss all the options with you.
18.“Do we need to commit to working with you every year?”
No.
However the vast majority of the clients for whom we work on an initial project do choose to become ongoing clients.
19.“Do you offer a ‘fee guarantee’? "
Yes!
When we take on a new client, we realise that it’s unlikely that you’ll have worked with a financial planner like this before – which means that you won’t be able to assess the value of our work together until you’ve experienced it.
We know it’s great value because we’ve done this work with many other clients before, which is why we’re prepared to take on the risk, rather than ask you to do so.
Our fee guarantee is simple – if you don’t value the financial planning work that we do together, then we’ll refund any initial fees paid.
Get in Touch
Ready to get started with your own 'Freedom Map'?
Contact us here… or call us on 01928 622328
