Financial Planning

What if you could look into your financial future?

Managing your money effectively not only means making sure you’ve enough each month to cover your regular expenses, but it also means you’re keeping an eye on the future, whether that’s setting money aside for your retirement or helping out your children or grandchildren. But life can change in the blink of an eye, so how do you plan for that?

It starts by looking at your income, whether that’s from your job, pension, or investments, and then understanding how much you’re spending on things like your mortgage, household bills, and entertainment. By keeping track of this, you can make better decisions now and for your future, helping you to avoid unnecessary surprises, and ensure you’re spending and saving what you can afford, ideally in the most tax efficient way.

At TPO we use a tool called Cash Flow Forecasting. In simple terms, it’s about giving you control over your finances so you can live comfortably now, be prepared for unexpected expenses, or changes in circumstances and still have a secure future to look forward to.

So, whether you would like to help your children on the housing ladder, tick off your bucket list, renovate your home, cover the cost of later life care or simply retire earlier than you thought you could, check out how cash flow forecasting can help you look into your financial future to see what is possible tomorrow, today. 

Get in touch to book a free initial cash flow forecast consultation.

Arrange your free initial consultation 

What is financial planning?

Financial planning is a professional service for individuals, families, and businesses, who need assistance in organising their money. It involves looking at someone’s financial affairs with the aim of achieving their financial and lifestyle goals more effectively. 

Financial planning is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme.

The importance of financial planning 

There are several life events that could result in a need for financial planning services:

• Starting a family 
• Marriage/Divorce
• A change of career
• Approaching retirement
• Receiving an unexpected lump sum, such as an inheritance
• Tax liabilities, payments or refunds.

A financial planner, also sometimes referred to as a financial adviser, is someone who looks at a client’s entire situation - a ‘holistic’ approach. They help identify objectives and help ensure the client is best positioned to help achieve their goals. The financial adviser will then present a detailed recommendation which will likely include certain products and solutions. 

In most cases, a client will seek financial advice for a particular reason often linked to a life event. The value of speaking to a trusted financial planner comes from looking at the bigger picture. A skilled financial adviser can build a financial plan for clients that helps them achieve their life goals, and sometimes even achieve a lifestyle they didn’t know they could afford.

Take retirement for example, a good financial planner will take a look at all of the assets, liabilities and goals throughout retirement, to work out how much money they will have and if they can fund the type of retirement they want. If there is a shortfall, the financial planner will work on ways to ensure the shortfall is mitigated, for example, by advising the client to make more pension contributions before retirement, or looking under the bonnet of their current pension to check that the underlying investments are suited to their needs.

Some clients will enter an ongoing agreement with their financial planner. This means their plan is regularly reviewed and revised if circumstances or goals change. This helps clients stay on track. Of course, financial planning is not free, so there has to be a value for the client.

The alternative to using a financial planner is to ‘do-it-yourself'. Clients need to ask themselves if they have the skills, experience and time to research and make their own financial planning decisions, as well as wanting the responsibility of taking onboard their family’s wealth and future security.

Financial planning vs wealth management 

We have explained what a financial planner is, so what makes them different to wealth managers?

Wealth managers manage client investments portfolios by just looking at risk levels (such as low, medium, high) in isolation, whereas financial planners offer a more holistic approach to managing money, taking into account broader financial planning structures and objectives. Wealth management is the broad term given to a service that focuses on investing and managing client’s ‘wealth’. Ordinarily this is not focused on financial planning, but on the firm offering the service, and can range from investments only to more broad services including tax, estate and retirement services being offered too.  

Many ‘wealth managers’ now partner with financial planning firms, and it is becoming increasingly popular to see wealth management firms establishing their own financial planning arms, which for the investment management service provided, is only made available through their in-house investment management services.

The line between financial planners and wealth managers is becoming blurred however, as now financial planning firms like The Private Office can also offer discretionary model portfolios. On the flipside, wealth management firms are increasingly offering financial planning advice to complement their investment management services; this is why the terms are often used interchangeably.

You can find out more about the wealth management services that TPO provide here.

How much does financial planning cost?

The cost can differ between firms all around the UK. It is important to work out what type of firm you are talking to by identifying the following:

• Are they independent or restricted?
• How do they charge - fixed-fee vs percentage?
• Does the firm have corporate chartered status? 

For example, The Private Office is an independent, chartered firm that works on a fixed-fee basis.

Our approach to fees is simple – we aim to ensure that clients are clear about the services being provided, and the fees they are required to pay for those services. We aim to agree fees that represent fair value, both to ourselves and our clients. This provides a solid foundation for a successful long-term relationship.

Before we provide you with our advice, we will add together all of the costs and charges payable, so that you can clearly see and understand the overall costs of our services and recommendations.

Transparency is key, particularly where fees are concerned. Fees will be detailed in monetary terms, and agreed by you in advance.

Some financial planning companies base their fees on a ‘contingent charging’ model. This refers to fees that relate to you following their advice or course of action such as investing capital. A typical implementation fee will range from 1-5% of assets invested. For example, £1 million invested would cost between £10,000-£50,000 contingent fees. 

For more information about TPO’s fixed fees, please click here.

Our financial planning services

We describe ourselves as holistic financial planners at The Private Office. Holistic financial planning considers all aspects of a client’s personal circumstances and financial position in order to identify the actions that need to be taken to meet their individual financial goals.  As financial planners, we aim to avoid the potential pitfall of looking at financial decisions in isolation. If consideration is not given to the wider picture, a domino effect can begin and one course of action could affect another aspect of a client’s finances.

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) does not regulate cash flow planning, estate planning, tax or trust advice.

No matter how complex your financial situation may be, we will find the best solution for you, whether it's our TPO Direct, TPO Premium or Family Office service.

We offer a number of financial planning services including:

• Personal financial planning
• Investment portfolio management
• UK and specialist pension planning
• Tax, estate, and inheritance tax (IHT) planning
• Legacy and succession planning
• Long-term care planning
• Expert / professional witness cases
• Clinical negligence / catastrophic personal injury planning
• Corporate financial planning 
• Entrepreneurial planning
• Media, music, and entertainment solutions
• Alternative and esoteric investment advice
• Charity investment management

We conduct a full investigation of your distinct investment and planning needs. This investigation allows us to help you better understand your future goals and provide a tax-efficient, tailored plan based on market research and financial modelling.

Our advice is centred on fully informed analysis, providing advice that is right for you.

Working closely together does not need to end after our plan is actioned, we offer an ongoing review service for clients who want their plan monitored on an annual basis.

If you believe any of our services would suit your needs, please get in touch.

Arrange your free initial consultation 

The value of your investments can go down as well as up, so you could get back less than you invested. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future performance.

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) does not regulate tax, estate and cash flow planning.