Director & Chartered Financial Planner delivering financial planning advice in a language everyone can understand.
Like Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs – a model for understanding what motivates and fulfils us as humans – the Financial Planning Hierarchy illustrates the various stages which can guide us towards our financially secure future. We start with an emergency fund saved at...
Like Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs – a model for understanding what motivates and fulfils us as humans – the Financial Planning Hierarchy illustrates the various stages which can guide us towards our financially secure future. We start with an emergency fund saved at the beginning of our career and end with the management of the estate we leave behind.
Latest research finds that while 68% of UK adults believe it’s important they leave an inheritance, the study highlights future retirees are sacrificing their inheritance plans to support other generations.
The decisions you make around your NHS Pension are some of the most important you’ll encounter as there’s no opportunity to change your mind once you’ve taken your pension.
Whether it’s wanting flexibility in retirement, or making that career choice, I’ve not yet met a single NHS client who felt confident with the information they’d been given relating to their pension.
In its simplest form, our Visual Cashflow Plan illustrates how much money our clients will have available to spend at anyone time throughout their lives.
You’re nearing the end of your career, you’ve saved for an adventurous retirement, and suddenly life throws you a curve ball. This is what happened to Sue last October. Here she shares her personal story with us – a reminder that health and wealth are most definitely a partnership to be valued.
When imagining your long-term future – in my experience more difficult in your 20s and 30s – we should include how many years we could spend in retirement. Women today have a 1 in 4 chance of living to 94, and men to 92*. How are you doing on your current journey? And what can you do to resolve any gaps along the way?
*ONS figures July 2024
Our Chief Investment Officer, Justin Onuekwusi, sat down with Lauren Hardy at Portfolio Adviser for the latest ‘View from the top’ interview series. He tells of how he has set about achieving the primary goal of achieving good client outcomes through a relentless focus on transparency, advocacy and clear communication.
I wanted to explore the future of pension planning in the UK. Oh no, I hear you say, this is just because you’re in the business of selling pension plans. While of course this is true, I also feel strongly about sharing my expertise and knowledge to encourage younger people to take responsibility for their financial futures as soon as they’re able. And so this three-part series explains what the Government is responsible for today, along with their plans for the future, and what we can all do about ensuring we don’t need to work until the bitter end.
Good advice – really good advice – has the power to change your life. Sometimes in momentous, memorable ways, and sometimes in quiet, gradual ways. We devote this issue of The Investor – our 120th – to the invaluable advice that’s passed on to us from trusted sources throughout our lives.
All Chartered Financial Planners need to satisfy rigorous criteria, but anyone who’s read my story knows my formal education was interrupted by having my son Josh at 18. Gaining chartertership was my way of proving to myself that I had the ability to go the full educational course.
A key factor when you create a thriving business is what happens when you retire or semi-retire? This is a recurring topic for anyone wanting to understand what needs to be put in place for business succession planning. Although Helen has quite a few years to go, here she explains the various options open to her when the time comes.
Almost one million UK families will have multiple generations in retirement at the same time within the next 10 years, a new study1 by St. James’s Place reveals. As a result, retirement income is expected to stretch across multiple generations, causing many...
View our factsheet guides to maximise on your tax allowances before 5 April 2025.
A Client’s Story: “After discussing my options in detail with Gemma, I realised my current company pension, like most generic employer-provided Defined Benefit schemes, assume you will use your fund to buy an annuity and progressively de-risk your investments as you approach retirement. This is not necessarily appropriate if you have a mixture of pension pots or intend to use your investments on a draw-down basis, in which case a significant proportion of your pension remains invested for 20 years or more.”
Gemma Darcy, Director of Darcy Financial Planning, has been advising clients for over 20 years. She tells us why understanding her clients’ lifestyle choices is the key to delivering the best service.
High income child benefit tax charge (HICBC) is nothing new, introduced in 2013, it made those earning over £50,000 liable for a tax charge. However, from 6 April 2024, this figure rises to £60,000.
“Inclusion, Diversity and Equality is important to me and my co-leadership role of the GE Women’s Network Renewable Energy UK&I allows me to support the improvement of gender within the organisation”
In our pursuit of a fulfilling life, our focus is often on accumulating wealth. However, managing our health – both mental and physical – is equally important for a happy future. Toni Jordan shares her experience of marrying her perfect partnership between health and wealth, emphasising the need to prioritise wellbeing alongside financial planning in preparation for retirement.
‘I met Gemma at a national Pulse conference for GPs,’ recalls Kiki. I was really confused about the changes to the NHS Pension Scheme, and also needed advice about income protection.
Like Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs – a model for understanding what motivates and fulfils us as humans – the Financial Planning Hierarchy illustrates the various stages which can guide us towards our financially secure future.
When I took the leap to start my own business five years ago, the importance of creating a meaningful brand identity was not a high priority. At the time, I’d been an adviser in the financial services sector for over 14 years; going it alone – albeit with the power of St. James’s Place behind me – felt like a brave move.
A comment made by one of my clients recently, drove home the message that to ensure a happy future, managing our health is as important as planning our wealth.
It was the unplanned birth of my son, Josh, at the age of 18 that changed my life forever.
‘We met Gemma at a local networking event a few years ago’ John begins. ‘After a brief conversation we felt she immediately understood the perceived risk of the world Kay-Leigh and I were in.’ ‘A meeting was arranged to discuss our financial needs, where Gemma...
As a Chartered Financial Planner, Gemma has satisfied rigorous criteria relating to professional qualifications and ethical good practice. It means you can be confident that you are dealing with one of the UK's leading advisers, wholly committed to providing you with...
Categories