Case Studies

Case Study One

Rob and Catriona* wanted a full review of their finances.  Rob owns a small business and Catriona is an administrative assistant in a GP surgery.  They have a young son, Matthew, aged four.  We completed a review and created a financial plan for their future.  Now they know that they can afford to retire when Rob is 60 and at the same time maintain their current lifestyle.  They are now funding to provide a sum at Matthew's 18th birthday in case he chooses to study at university and should enable him to complete his course without resorting to loans.  Should either parent die or be unable to work due to disability, they now have sufficient insurance in place to cover the lost earnings and to maintain their current lifestyle.  They are building a contingency fund for emergency expenditure.  One of their goals was to buy and renovate a property in the south of France.  They are now saving for this in a tax efficient way and should be in a position to purchase a project property in five years.  Rob and Catriona are happy knowing that should the worst happen their family will be secure financially and all being well they should achieve financial freedom and independence at a known point in the future. 

Case Study Two

Colin and Sandra* approached me with approximately £500,000 of investments held with a range of providers.  None of these investments had been reviewed by a financial adviser since the inception in the early 1990s.  Some had performed well, some had not.  The clients had reams of paperwork and wanted to know what they had, what they should do with it and were keen to avoid a large build up of paper statements going forward.  The plans were carefully analysed and reviewed.  Annual tax exemptions were utilised where possible.  One unit trust in particular had accrued a large capital gains tax liability and while this should have been monitored and dealt with each year in the past, we put a plan in place to ensure that their ISA allowances will be utilised for the next number of years, fed by the unit trust in question.  Some investments were wholly invested in emerging markets and certainly did not match their risk profile nor have any regard to an asset allocation.  The clients now have two providers instead of seven and instead of receiving huge volumes of paper can now log in online to our client site constructed for them to monitor and review their investments.  The new investment strategy has been tailored to match their attitude to risk and an asset allocation model has been put into place.  Use of a cash flow model showed what investment returns they need to ensure that their money doesn’t run out in retirement and to ensure that they don’t take any more risk than they need to.
 

Case Study Three

Charlie* approached me for advice on planning for his retirement.  He had a considerable sum on deposit in the bank and some previous pension schemes from past employers.  He had a good level of income and was keen to plan for his future.  Using cash flow modelling we created various scenarios to show him what would happen if he was no longer able to work and to show him how essential it was to have an income protection plan in place.  The cash flow model scenarios showed how much he needed to save so that he could retire at age 55 and what level of investment return he needed in order to achieve his goals.  By doing this we showed him that he didn’t need to invest as aggressively as he thought and could afford to take a more balanced approach with both his lump sum investment and ongoing pension contributions.  He now knows that he can maintain his current lifestyle and that by investing for the future he should be able to sustain this lifestyle in retirement.  He knows that his portfolio of pensions and investments are on track to meet his target retirement age and income. 
 

Mark and Emily* had a large inheritance tax problem caused by the value of their investments and their main residence.  We worked alongside their solicitor to deal with the issue of their home and solved this problem for them.  Mark had a large annual pension from accumulated from years of working as a NHS consultant.  It was clear that he would be a higher rate tax payer for the foreseeable future but Emily was a non tax payer.  We created a tax efficient income stream for her and at the same time managed to get a lot of their invested wealth out of their estate for inheritance tax purposes immediately, with the remainder becoming a Potentially Exempt Transfer (PET) and therefore outside of their estate after seven years.  We used pension planning for Emily to reduce Mark’s income tax bill as she was employed by him as an administrative assistant at that time.  The clients mitigated their inheritance tax bill considerably and enjoyed some income tax breaks at the same time.

James runs a successful dairy farm and is married Jayne with two young sons.  James was keen to plan for his early retirement to avoid working into old age as his father had done.  He wanted to be out of the family farm by age 55 so that one of his two sons would have it for himself.  James and Jayne now know how much they need to accumulate to afford a comfortable retirement without recourse to farm funds by age 55.  There is now a regular savings commitment in a well diversified investment portfolio which is on track to enable them to achieve their goals.  Jayne runs a B&B business from the family home and since she enjoys it she wants to build a retirement dwelling close by the farm which would allow her to continue with this business once they leave the main farmhouse.  James and Jayne now know that this is affordable and achievable within their timescale.  James was particularly concerned about what would happen if he were to suffer a critical illness which would render him unable to work.  We were able to model various catastrophe scenarios with him and their lifestyle is now protected by implementing a comprehensive insurance plan.