Our Service Proposition

Service Proposition

THE PLANNING STAGES THAT WE FOLLOW:
Our six-step process is based on the Institute of Financial Planning’s internationally accepted method in the United Kingdom. Each step is discrete and chargeable in its own right, if desired.

Stage 1 - Identify your needs and objectives

As a first step, we will arrange a no obligation introductory meeting with you. At this meeting, we will explain to you how our service works, how we will be paid and how we are committed to treating you fairly. We will also discuss your financial aspirations, needs and objectives and we will provide clear and succinct answers to any questions you may have. We will then ascertain and agree on whether our service will be right for you.

Stage 2 - Gather Information

If it is agreed that our service would be of benefit to you, we will use a structured questionnaire to establish all of the facts relating to your current financial situation, circumstances and your future aspirations. We will also ascertain your appetite for investment risk and capital loss. At the end of this process, we will prioritise your key objectives, and agree on your desired timescales for achieving each objective.

Stage 3 – Analyse and evaluate your situation

Using various assumptions and forecasting, taxation, budgeting and investment analysis techniques, we will analyse your information to assess your current situation and determine what you must do to meet your goals. Depending on what services you have asked for, this could include analysing assets, liabilities and cash flow, current insurance coverage, investments or tax strategies.

Stage 4 - Develop and present Financial Planning recommendation and/or alternatives

We will offer Financial Planning recommendations that address your goals, based on the information you provide. We will go over the recommendations with you to help you understand so that you can make informed decisions. We will also listen to your concerns and revise the recommendations as appropriate.

Stage 5 - Implement the Financial Planning recommendations

Together we will agree on how the recommendations will be carried out. We may carry out the recommendations or serve as your financial and life planning coach, coordinating the process with you and other professionals such as lawyers, accountants or stockbrokers. You can usually implement our recommendations either in whole or in part.

Stage 6 - Monitor the Financial Planning recommendations.

The best laid plans need to be reviewed every now and then, to ensure that they remain relevant and fit for purpose. Because of this, we will agree on who will monitor progress towards your goals. If we are in charge of the process, we will report to you periodically to review your situation and adjust the recommendations, if needed, as your life changes.

The information gathering and lifestyle analysis carry no cost to you and you bear no obligation to carry on with the remainder of the process.

Construction of Financial Plan

Your financial plan will include the preparation of the following financial statements:

 Income and Expenditure – We will look at income and expenditure both for your current situation and for the future. We will work with you on budgeting if required.
 Net Worth – We will calculate your net worth by looking at your assets and your liabilities.
 Cashflow forecasting - We will prepare your cashflow statement and model different 'what if' scenarios to bring to life the information gained from the analysis of your lifestyle and your personal financial audit.
 Risk profiling - We use industry standard risk profiling tools to determine your level of risk profile using behavioural psychology and subtle questioning. We then assess the results from this exercise with the information we have learned about you through the lifestyle analysis, your personal financial audit and our risk based discussions, to accurately assess your risk tolerance. We will compare this to the investments you may already have in place and use the results to determine the risk level of any future investments you make.
 Determination of suitable tax strategy - Using the detailed information we have for you we will recommend an appropriate tax strategy.
 Recommendations on any actions you should take. - All our advice and recommendations will be impartial and based on your particular situation. You will not be obligated to implement any of our recommendations.

Our fee for this service: Between £500 and £4,995*, depending on your circumstances and the complexity of the work undertaken. Quotes are provided after an initial consultation which is free and without obligation.

*VAT may be chargeable; we will inform you prior to any chargeable work whether or not VAT is applicable.

Implementation of your financial plan

Should you choose to instruct us to implement your financial life plan, which may be in full or in part, we will undergo in-depth and thorough research and analysis to establish the best possible options for you.

We will provide written confirmation of any specific recommendation we make and we will process the paperwork and manage the project to completion on your behalf.

Where investments are concerned we will utilise our Investment Process – a robust and systematic approach to investing that is based on tried and tested models. We will always take into account the information contained in your financial plan.

Fee for our services

1. Implementation Fee:

Usually to a maximum of 3% of the initial investment (lump sums) and a maximum of 50% of first year’s contributions (regular investment contributions). You are free to write a cheque to meet the cost of our service or we can collect our fees through products that we recommend by way of “adviser charging”.

2. On-going Services:

Please see below details of our on-going service options.

On engagement for the construction of a Personal Financial Plan we will ask for a commitment fee of £500 which is offset against any investment in the Financial Plan.

Thereafter, we offer chargeable services as followed.

Services that we deliver to you:-