FINANCE
If your mind has
started to turn towards
your retirement or
investments recently, it
may be time to approach
a financial planner for
some guidance.
Profile
of a planner
Helen Weatherhead (pictured), financial planner at Stockton-based Vintage
Chartered Financial Planners, explains the benefits of seeking financial advice…
Why work with a financial planner?
Whether you want to think about retirement,
starting a pension, investing a lump sum or
how your finances fit together as a whole,
getting advice isn’t as scary as it may seem…
the right financial planner can make all the
difference.
Financial planning goes a step beyond the
more traditional route of seeing a financial
advisor for advice on just one specific issue.
Planning is much more holistic and involves
looking at your assets as a whole. This way
you can make sure that all your decisions
support each other and help you achieve the
things you want to.
It’s also about preparing for the
unexpected, making sure your assets
are protected should the worst happen.
Many clients come to us without a clear
understanding of just how easy it would be
for things to go wrong, so we help them to
put the right defences in place.
What process would a potential client go
through?
Some people are put off seeking advice
because they worry they will be bewildered
by jargon or told what to do with their
money. In fact the process is really much
more collaborative.
It’s a case of starting with a simple fact-
finding meeting. These are at no cost to the
client and a chance for us to get to know
one another and discuss what the client’s
expectations, aims and objectives are. After
that, the team will gather information from
your providers to pull together an overview
of your financial picture. From there, we
begin to analyse the data and form our
advice.
We make use of a process called cash
flow modelling that helps create a map of
the inflows and outflows at various stages of
your life, which then allows us to test various
scenarios and mak e suitable decisions based
on the information we’re presented with.
The modelling gives you a great indication
of things like whether you’ll be comfortable
in retirement. This also gives you further
freedom in showing whether you can afford to
do the things you want, such as large one-off
expenses, holidays and gifts.
How do you choose the right financial planner?
If you’re looking for a planner, there are a
couple of things you should consider. We’re
really lucky, as many of our clients recommend
us to their friends, colleagues and family, so
this might be a great place to start if you’re
unsure. Ask around to see if anyone you know
has had any good (or bad) experiences.
Having the right planner makes a huge
difference to the outcome. Take your time,
explore all the options and make sure you
find someone you can trust. Investing is a big
decision and at the end of the day they’ll
be looking after the money you’ve worked
hard for.
Vintage are Chartered financial planners. They provide bespoke financial advice to individuals
and business owners using traditional values and are currently celebrating their 30th year in
business. For more details visit vintage-fp.com.
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