Wealth Management

You are looking for ways to manage your wealth more efficiently or with a better focus on your objectives.

Financial planning is an ongoing process to help you make sensible decisions about money that can help you achieve your goals in life; it's not just about buying financial products. It might involve putting appropriate wills in place to protect your family, thinking about how your family will manage without your income should you fall ill or die prematurely, spending money differently, but it involves thinking about all of these things together i.e. your 'financial plan'.

We help you to create a sound financial plan in six steps:

Establish your goals in life – short, medium and long term
Work out what assets and liabilities you have
Evaluate your current financial position – how close are you to achieving your goals?
Develop your plan – create a “route map” for achieving your different goals
Implement your plan – make the changes and make it happen
Monitor and review your plan at least annually and make adjustments when needed

By developing your financial strategy, we will help you to manage your wealth in a way that suits your present needs, aims, and attitude to risk.

We will help you to create and enhance your wealth, minimise your liabilities and ensure the taxman gets no more than his fair share. You may have very specific objectives in terms of a target amount and timescale, or you may simply want your assets to work more efficiently for you than presently.

Unbiased Advice

Our recommendations encompass a wide range of financial products. As we are fee-based, there is no bias toward commission-generating products and we are holistic in our approach. For example, National Savings & Investments products and Investment Trusts are actively considered where appropriate.

Risk Management

An assessment of the risks which may affect the success of your plan such as ill health or premature death will be undertaken. You will then know what contingency plans may be made to ensure that the plan stays on track and your wealth remains secure. We also advise upon the transfer of assets to your intended beneficiaries.

Asset allocation and Attitude to Risk

Asset allocation is the term given to how assets are allocated to different assets classes. There are four basic classes of asset – cash, fixed interest, property and equities. Each of these classes can be sub-divided.

There have been various studies in recent years as to the relative importance of asset allocation, stock selection, market timing and other factors in the success of investment performance. It is now widely accepted that diversifying a portfolio in line with the attitude to investment risk is of utmost importance to the planning process.

Rather than ask clients to declare themselves a low, medium or high risk investor which is too open to interpretation, we take a more involved approach and use psychometric questions to help determine a client's appetite for risk. Following this, we develop an asset allocation to match the client's understanding and experience of risk.

Reviews

Your wealth management strategy will be reviewed periodically (at least annually) to determine what adjustments should be made. We take the time to understand your relationship with your money:

Ethical or ‘Socially Responsible’ investing

This form of investing is no longer at the fringes of financial advice in the UK. An increasing number of investors are becoming aware that they can invest ethically without compromising returns. We seek an understanding of your investment criteria at an early stage of the Optimal Planning Cycle and revisit your areas of interest at each review meeting.

Whilst the options for investing ethically or environmentally are broadening, it is not always possible to get a match between your attitude to risk, your objectives and your ethical concerns. Where this is the case, we will highlight the compromises that may be made within your Wealth Management Strategy and guide you as to the risks and benefits of different approaches.