Later Life Investment Planning

During your later years your ability to build up additional wealth tends to reduce because you have moved from paid employment to the years when you will be living off the wealth you have created.

You will naturally want to make the best of your pensions and investments, but you will also have other things on your mind such as:

• “Will I be able to do the things I wanted to do and still pay the bills?”
• “Will I be able to afford long-term care?”
• “Can I afford to give some support to my children or grandchildren?” ... and
• “How much inheritance tax will have to be paid when I’m gone?”

Trying to answer these questions can be a little daunting, especially when you are uncertain how to invest to get the most out of your money now that maintaining and inflation-proofing your income is probably more of a priority than pure capital growth.

There will never be a time where maintaining the appropriate balance in your finances is more important.

A change of investment focus

You may need to:

• change your investment focus from capital growth to the production of income
• reduce investment risk to avoid sudden sharp falls in value
• switch investments to save tax.

We understand the financial pressures of later life and are both qualified and experienced to provide you with the independent financial advice you need. We will take all the time necessary to listen to you to learn your hopes, fears and needs for now and the future.

Our advice for our more elderly clients will naturally broaden to encompass the issues surrounding long term care and estate planning, and how your investments would be best placed to support all your needs and the needs of those you love.

Our discussions will always consider:

• Why are you investing and what do you hope to achieve.
• Appropriate investment risk. Here, balance is vital. Too much risk and you may lose money - too little risk and your returns might be too low to support your needs.
• Your capacity for loss. This is an exceptionally important area to consider because you no longer have an employment income.
• Timeframe. Your investments should be constructed according to the timeframes appropriate to your needs and your years. We will help you to achieve the right balance between shorter and longer term investments and monitor any changes that need to be made through our on-going review services.
• Tax efficiency. Can this be improved to help you to keep more of your savings or more of your income?
• Particular contracts/investment products that will add value to your portfolio or provide you with the income and security you need.
• What compensation is available if things go wrong.

We will also:

• Manage the paperwork and help you to put everything in place.
• Support and advise you by means of our regular review services and maintain on-going contact to keep you on track.

We will take the time you need

There is no clock running in the background during our client meetings. We appreciate how difficult it might be to consider these issues and it is important that we have a clear picture of your needs and that you have a clear understanding of our advice. You will always remain in full control and, if you have little experience of investing, we will support you and help you to gain the confidence and understanding that you need.

Regular reviews are essential

We do recommend that you review your position regularly, at least annually, so that we can deal with changes as they occur and, if you take advantage of our Investment Planning or Wealth Management on-going service then you will always have your adviser available on the telephone should the need arise.

Please just give us a call for a friendly initial talk about your requirements