How your financial planner helps you get maximum value out of life
Tell me what you want, what you really, really want
In the last article, I discussed the importance of emphasising people over products, explaining that as a financial planner, I’m here to guide you through your financial journey, not just sell you an ISA or a pension.
When people come to see me, they can sometimes still be very product-focused. But to get maximum value out of any advice relationship, you need to think about what these products can help you achieve.
That’s why one of the first things I ask is “What’s your overarching financial priority?” What do you really, really want?
Everyone’s priorities are slightly different. It could be wanting to set up your kids for the best possible start in life, or simply retiring with “enough”. But it’s always something meaningful – you can guarantee no one’s saying “What I really want is comprehensive life insurance”.
What does maximum value look like for you?
You’ve chosen a financial planner, so then what?
One of the first things I try to do is set a baseline. To optimise your financial plan, it’s a good idea to know how things look now. Having a really solid grip on your current household expenses gives us a good idea of what you’re likely to want to spend in retirement.
People are sometimes surprised when we ask them to list their current expenditure, but it’s actually very easy to underestimate. One client, for example, buys two newspapers a day. Not an unusual or outlandish expense, but it adds up to £2,000 a year. These are the sort of amounts you can forget about when you’re making your assumptions, but that need to be factored in.
From here, we then start to set out a plan we believe will give you maximum value. Not based around a particular product, but targeted on achieving your overarching financial priorities (plus any other sub-priorities you may have). Importantly, they’re based on some tangible figures on what your life looks like right now.
Then, as planners, we can start to look at your overall wealth and the potential gaps you might need to fill. Where might you need to make savings? What are you willing to let go if you need to?
Are there any windfalls, such as inheritance, that could come into the picture later?
This is where it gets interesting
A financial plan, by and large, should transcend any outside factors.
Even when markets go up or down, the plan usually stays more or less the same. Take the most recent General Election as an example. We don’t know exactly what Labour’s first Autumn Statement will include, but even if there are a few surprises, we don’t expect to have to tear up your plans and start again.
But a plan does need tweaking from time to time. Just like you can’t go to the gym once and expect to be fit for life, a financial plan can get out of shape if it’s left unwatched for too long.
This is the reason why we carry out regular reviews. We’ll look at what’s just happened over the last time period, how your investments have performed, what’s worked well and what hasn’t. But, for me, the really interesting part is projecting where you are on your journey, making sure you’re on track and looking at what tweaks we might need to make that help you meet your priorities.
Live life to the full – whatever it is
The author and TV producer Richard Osman made this point to his followers on X:
“When people say ‘live life to the full’, they are usually telling you to go on adventures, to say yes to opportunities and to embrace new experiences. But I do think that living life to the full can also mean watching the darts with a cup of tea while the cat sits on your lap.”
The point is that we’d all probably say we want to have financial security, and not be worse off in retirement than we are during our working life.
But what this actually looks like can be quite different from person to person. Maximum value is making sure your plan gives you whatever your version of living life to the full is.
Get in touch to find out more about how your financial plan can give you better value