Our Financial Planning Process

We use the following systematic consulting process for uncovering your most important goals and for designing and implementing appropriate solutions.

1. Initial Consultation. Before commencement of any engagement we will have an initial consultation to determine your requirements and whether we are best positioned to assist you. Our initial consultation is without obligation and no fee is payable in respect of this service. Following this initial consultation we will ask you to provide some information about yourself to prepare for the Discovery Meeting.

2. Discovery Meeting. At our Discovery meeting, we seek to find out more about you. We examine your current situation, the goals you would like to achieve and how we can maximise the possibility of achieving those goals. This helps us identify the challenges you face in achieving all that is important to you. Before moving to the next stage, which is preparing a Financial Plan for your review, we will ask you to sign a Letter of Engagement with us which outlines our approach, our standard services & fee schedule, and our terms and conditions.

3. Financial Plan Meeting. At this meeting, we present our diagnostic of your current situation and our recommendations for how we can help you bridge any gaps in order to reach your goals. This plan may also include a suggested referral to a third party for specialised advice on some aspect of the plan implementation (e.g. specific legal or tax advice). Following discussion with you, we will seek your commitment to this plan, as it forms the foundation for all of our future work together.

4. Plan Implementation Phase. Once the plan is agreed we move on to plan implementation. This can be the most complex part of the process. Some aspects of this stage are relatively straightforward. We will review all your existing mortgages, pensions, life assurance and investments to ensure they are in order. We help you organise all that paperwork. Depending on your requirements we may need to put in place certain legal structures such as trusts, partnerships or company structures. This will typically involve working with other advisers such as your lawyers, tax advisers, actuaries, accountants or other specialist advisers as required. This can be time consuming and require multiple meetings and consultations. Nonetheless this is key to establishing a sound plan for the medium term. A key part of this phase is establishing your investment plan and policy.

5. Monitoring Progress. The key to ensure the success of your plan is consistent implementation and ongoing monitoring. As time passes your circumstances will change and new challenges will emerge. We will work with you to manage and adapt your plan as required.