Accounting & Wealth Planning Services

Colin & Julia hadn't sat down and talked about what a favourite future looked like for them. What did they both want from life? This vision needed to be decided before we looked at the money.

Age: 55 & 55. Profession: Insurance Company CEO & Teacher. Primary Goal: Decide whether Colin is to work another five years.

Colin and Julia had two daughters. One 27 and married with one child. The other 25 with autism needing a lifetime of support. They owned several properties, some they rented out.

Colin was an Actuary and confident in running his investments. He had been offered a 6-month contract and then permanent employment to age 60. They tithe 10% of their income to charity and support a school in Cambodia; education is vital for them both.

Colin & Julia hadn't sat down and talked about what a favourite future looked like for them. What did they both want from life? This vision needed to be decided before we looked at the money.

They had a lifetime of financial commitments for one daughter. They wanted to factor in future inheritances. Consolidate properties. But what they wanted to know is, did they have enough already? Or would Colin have to work for another five years for them to be comfortable? They were also considering buying a holiday home in Asia, hoping to help local schools and charities.

Colin had the following questions:

• Should he finish his current role?
• Should he sell or rent out the properties?
• Consider family gifts, bypass, and potential inheritance.
• When to purchase the holiday home.
• When to crystallise pensions.
• Possible defined benefit pension transfer.

Colin had been an old work colleague of his planner and knew he was a competent professional with integrity - someone he could trust.

The first step was to sit Colin and Julia down together to hear them describe their values and gifts and agree on a common favourite future. Knitting together favourite futures for a couple strengthens a marriage. It wasn't difficult. They had much in common. Spiritual life and social justice were high on their priorities as was an enjoyable, varied, and healthy life.

What stood out most was their desire to serve others. Colin was drawn to a quote which they both found relevant: "Your talent is God's gift to you. What you do with it is your gift back to God."

Once the favourite future was clear, we tackled a few practicalities with the Action Plan. Mainly, these were around coping with "sandwich generation" responsibilities in the UK when travelling to Asia. We then modelled the lifetime cash flow and looked at various "what-if" scenarios to explore the alternative roads ahead.

As they approach the next stage of life, they want an expert to help them make strategic decisions with their money. They also wanted help navigating taxes in retirement. But most of all, they wanted help with the entire picture.

We were not just talking about decisions on financial assets here. Major life choices had to be made. Consideration of other assets. Property. Occupational pensions. Major business decisions. Practical solutions were required for some very challenging problems.

A comprehensive plan was put together that met their needs:

• Please describe in detail their favourite combined future.
• Listing actions they both needed to take to overcome significant obstacles.
• Looking at the base plan cash flow of remaining in work to 60 or leaving now for Colin.
• Considering meaningful projects for both Colin and Julia.
• Looking at buy, sell, and rent decisions on properties and calculating taxes.
• Looking at Lifetime Tax Allowance implications versus Inheritance Tax implications of timing pension crystallisation.

We looked at the defined benefit transfer and decided it was worthwhile referring this to a specialist authorised to deal in pension transfers.

Colin and Julia decided to make adequate care provisions for their daughter and her father, quit Colin's job immediately, and moved abroad to Asia for their "Young-Old" life phase, to manage educational projects for charities, to return to the UK later in life.

The defined benefit transfer was referred to a specialist, and after careful analysis, Colin transferred to a defined contribution pension. After 12 months, the specialist agreed to allow Colin to self-invest his portfolio.

George was in negotiations with his business partner about retiring. George wanted to know how important his business assets were in supporting the lifestyle they were both accustomed to.

Age: 64 & 64. Profession: Director and Co-owner of a Pharma Co & Home keeper. Primary Goal: 

To know if their financial future was dependent on the proceeds of the sale of the business or not.

They owned several homes for work and leisure, one they rented out. George liked to collect supercars.

George & Angela had a son, Paul, aged 32, who was an LBGTQ environmentalist. George was not expecting to have grandkids.

George was referred to his planner by Mary's stockbroker (see case study 3). The stockbroker ran half of George and Angela's financial assets. The other half had been run by an IFA who had lost significant sums in what turned out to be rather a reckless attempt to correct a risk anomaly and time the market, switching from stocks to bonds at the foot of a market crash.

George was in negotiations with his business partner about retiring, and potentially his partner buying him out. The conversation was tense, sensitive, and protracted. George and Angela had substantial financial assets and property assets. For the negotiation, George wanted to know how important his business assets were in supporting the sumptuous lifestyle they were both accustomed to.

Retirement appeared to be a cliff edge for George. He was worried about spending all his time with Angela. Their marriage wouldn't survive it. Especially if Angela knew how much they had in savings. He was worried that she might do as other friends had done and filed for a divorce. George wanted to exclude Angela from the financial planning meetings.

George told his planner, "I'm not going to take matrimonial advice from my financial adviser."

George's questions were:

• He felt intimidated and bullied by the rather aggressive response from his IFA when expressing his concerns and was consequently reluctant to raise a complaint.
• He didn't want to place all his financial assets with his stockbroker but wanted to maintain the existing mandate with them as he appreciated the relationship.
• He wanted a lifetime financial forecast with the business asset excluded from the base plan and included with various valuations in "What-if" scenarios.
• He wanted to assess the impact of a more lavish lifestyle, gifts to his son, care fees for them both in later life, and an ambitious property development project would have on his capital. Would his capital outlive him and Angela?

The first step is I insisted that Angela join us for the goal-setting sessions. Both George and Angela described their values, talents, and what their favourite future looked like, while the other listened without interruption. Later commenting on their thoughts. At the end of the goals session, we could piece together a common favourite future that was inspiring for both in retirement.

The critical component of the favourite future was purchasing a holiday home in Florida and a new build project of their ideal forever home in the UK. George was unsure if he'd like to spend time playing golf with Americans but was willing to give it a go.

Another plan component was to set money aside for George to pursue a meaningful project with Paul.

Working together with their financial planner, George and Angela wanted to explore:

• Pursuing a complaint against his IFA and feeling supported in the process with facts and figures.
• For comparison purposes, the possibility of self-investing financial assets outside the stockbroker's discretionary mandate exists.
• George wanted to stress-test the outcome of the whole financial plan over a wide range of scenarios and market conditions to give him confidence and peace of mind over the results.
• Consider the tax implications in the life and death of their decisions.
• The environmental impact of their investment decisions, every £1 you invest is a decisive vote for the change you want to see in the world.
• Being able to see and understand all options removed a lot of worries. They could move forward with their plans, confident they would be well looked after.

The solution adopted by George and Angela helped them in many ways:

The complaint was eventually referred to FOS and upheld, and a satisfactory compensation payment was made to George.

The plan took the pressure off George's exit negotiations with his business partner; he waited for his best deal. During covid, his pharma company's valuation skyrocketed, and he and his business partner agreed to a very lucrative sale to a Dutch company that left George and Angela with twice the net worth they had anticipated.

George studied all the evidence-based investor materials provided over a long period. It gave him the confidence to self-invest. He directly chose Vanguard ESG Developed World All Cap Equity Index Fund with Vanguard to avoid excess charges. George wants his planner to teach EBI to Angela and Paul should anything happen to him.

Though his self-investment has outperformed his discretionary manager, he retained him as he values the relationship.

George and Angela remain happily married in their retirement. The American golfers were more fun than he had anticipated, plus there are many Brit ex-pats in Florida.

George is still trying to get Paul interested in conscious capitalism and a meaningful joint project. It's a work in progress.

George and Angela have the capital they cannot outlive over many scenarios, giving them the peace of mind to enjoy their retirement.

Today, George and Angela are having the time of their lives. They travel between their home in the UK and their house in Florida, visit new golf courses, and spend time with their son every chance they get.

They are confident that their financial plan is sustainable and that they can both relax and enjoy life on their terms.

Mary wanted to make sure she didn't outlive her capital, but she also wanted to leave a legacy for her kids and grandkids. She also wanted to make substantial gifts to charity. She needed a second opinion.

Age: 67. Profession: Retired & Volunteer. Primary Goal: Lifetime gifting whilst not outliving her capital.

Mary was a divorcee, the granddaughter of a wealthy stockbroker. She had two daughters, both married with children. Her late grandfather's firm managed her significant assets.

She held significantly more wealth than her friends, but she wanted to live the same lifestyle. Mary is a woman about town, living comfortably, alone, owning her own home, and volunteering for a local charity.

Mary wanted to make sure she didn't outlive her capital, but she also wanted to leave a legacy for her kids and grandkids. She also wanted to make substantial gifts to charity.

She'd been working with an IFA for the previous ten months, who had suggested a trust where she takes income, and the money passes to her kids on death. Some medical underwriting was involved, and she was frustrated with having to see doctors dragging on.

Carol was frustrated because:

• She didn't want more income.
• She wanted to see her kids and grandkids benefit now when they needed it most.
• She was fed up with the invasive medicals.
• She wanted to keep the money invested in her granddad's firm.
• She didn't know how much to give away and what to keep.
• She knew seeking a second opinion from someone her stockbrokers recommended was the right choice to ease her mind and create a plan that worked.

The first step for Mary was to sit down with someone who would listen to her concerns and devise a solution that met all her needs.

Once her requirements were documented, a personalised succession plan aligned with her values and priorities could be created.

In collaboration with her planning professional, Mary was able to:

• Produce a lifetime cash flow forecast, producing various "what-if" scenarios for her to select her favourite future.
• Create two family trusts for her daughters, with income retained within each trust.
• Dispense with the invasive medical questions and examinations.
• The trusts could make discretional lifetime gifts to kids and grandkids to help put them through school and college.
• The trust assets were held in a lifetime bond to ease tax reporting, with investments managed by her stockbroker.
• She made other gifts to charities.
• She was comfortable that she could maintain a cosmopolitan lifestyle consistent with her friends and was confident that she held sufficient assets not to outlive her capital over many scenarios.

The level of gifts was within her nil rate tax band, so there was no tax to pay. One of her daughters got divorced, and we were able to keep the gift outside of the marital estate in a settlement. Survival after seven years would leave no death tax to pay. The arrangement gave peace of mind to three generations of the family.