Financial curveballs
Scott Gallacher
Rowley Turton
First grandchild
Scott Gallacher , director and chartered financial planner at Rowley Turton , had a client who wanted to reduce her working hours when her first grandchild came along so she could be available for childcare . “ She was in her early 50s and had been widowed at quite a young age ,” he says . “ When her husband died , she received life insurance payouts so she had a lot of money in cash .” From a financial planning angle , Gallacher says reducing the client ’ s working hours wasn ’ t ideal because her investments wouldn ’ t have generated a high enough return to see her into retirement and beyond . However , after reviewing her portfolio , he urged her to take a higher-than-normal level of risk to make the numbers work . “ The most important thing to her , having lost her husband , was to spend as much time as possible with her grandson , and that was non-negotiable ,” the director says .
“ Had she pursued the normal , very low-risk process she initially preferred , such as being in cash , she was essentially guaranteeing she would have run out of money in her 70s or 80s . We ’ ve looked after that client through at least two market crashes and never had any issues , because we ’ ve explained everything from day one . “ When market risks have hit and the value of her portfolio has fallen back , she ’ s not been too concerned because she knows that is normal .”
Issue 88 - October 2022 / 41 /