Accountants, solicitors & lawyers
Our professional clients, such as accountants, solicitors and lawyers often have relatively complex financial lives.
Many are business owners, perhaps with multiple partners, where competing ages, priorities and outlooks can create complications.
However, the fundamentals of sound financial planning are no different.
How can we help?
We’ll start by understanding you;
What’s important to you?
What are your aspirations for the short, medium and long term?
Do you face any immediate financial challenges?
We’ll then review your current financial situation and build a plan to deliver your objectives. In the context of a financial plan, we can provide specific assistance with:
Retiring early: If retiring early is important to you we will build a plan to help you do just that. We spend much of our time helping clients answer two fundamental questions:
- When can I afford to retire?
- Do I have enough money to retire?
We use financial forecasting software to answer both while building a plan to deliver your financial objectives.
Creating a flexible retirement: Of course, many of our clients phase into retirement, continuing to work on a part-time basis. If that is your chosen option, we can factor that into the financial plan we create for you.
Annual Allowance: Pension contributions are still one of the most tax-efficient ways of saving for retirement. However, the amount you can pay into a pension, and claim tax-relief, has become more restricted over the past few years. This is especially true for people earning over £110,000. Where appropriate we will show you how you can maximise pension contributions, and consequently tax-relief while explaining other options you may have to save for your retirement.
Lifetime Allowance: The amount you can hold in pensions, including Defined Benefit arrangements, before you start to pay tax charges, has been reduced by successive governments. We advise all our clients on how they will be affected by the Lifetime Allowance and the options they have.
Existing pensions: It’s likely that you will have multiple pensions. We will help you understand the income these are likely to produce in the future while ensuring they are arranged as efficiently as possible.
State Pension: While living solely on the State Pension probably isn’t something you would find attractive, it’s guaranteed and inflation proofed nature, meaning it acts as a sound foundation on which to build your retirement plans. We’ll help you understand how much you will receive, when it will be paid and how it fits into your overall financial plan.
Savings & investments: We will review your existing savings and investments to ensure they are held as tax-efficiently as possible, in a way which reflects your attitude to risk and delivers your financial aims.
Helping your children: As the cost of university education rises, and it becomes harder for many younger people to buy their first home, many of our clients want to provide financial assistance to their children. However, we know that some, while eager to help, are nervous about how making a large gift or loan will affect their own financial future. Using sophisticated financial planning software, we can show you how helping your children will affect your personal finances. This will allow you to make an informed decision.
Estate planning: Hopefully you have many years ahead of you. Nevertheless, it’s still sensible to plan for the unexpected. We will advise you on the steps you need to take to ensure your assets are distributed in accordance with your wishes when you die. When appropriate, we will also provide advice on the options for minimising the amount of Inheritance Tax (IHT) paid by your beneficiaries when you die.
Mortgage finance: As a business owner finding the right mortgage isn’t always as straightforward as it seems. Whether you are a first-time buyer, moving home, remortgaging or looking to invest in a Buy to Let property our partners will recommend the right mortgage for your needs. They will process the application too, removing some of the hassles from what can be a stressful time.
Commercial property purchase: Many of our clients prefer to own their surgery premises rather than leasing from a third party. We can help to arrange the commercial finance necessary. Where appropriate, we can also advise on the benefits of using a self-invested pension, such as a SIPP (Self-Invested Personal Pension) or SSAS (Small Self-Administered Scheme) to buy the property.
Value of advice
We know the value of high-quality, independent, financial advice. Each and every day, we witness first-hand how it benefits our clients.
However, research has also quantified the benefit of taking advice:
- People who work with a financial adviser boost their assets by an average of £41,099 (Source: International Longevity Centre: The Value of Financial Advice Report July 2017)
- The same research found that taking financial advice leads to higher incomes in retirement:
- All ages: £773 more per year
- 65-79-year olds: £1,100 more per year
- Aged 80 and over: £1,300 more per year
- Those people who work with a financial adviser save, on average £98 more per month, creating an additional income of £3,654 each year in retirement (Source: Unbiased)