You may be looking to take control of your financial future and feel that financial planning would help, however, there may be several reasons why you are not willing to employ us (or another financial planner) to help you.

You may wake every morning and think ‘RIGHT! Today is the day I finally get myself that financial plan I have been promising myself’. You may not!

If you have been considering it but have been put off, we would like to understand why this may be the case.

Below are 5 common challenges that we hear from people in your position and our views on these.

1 – We cost too much 

Our fees aren’t for everyone and not everyone we meet and talk to are either able or willing to commit to our minimum fee of £2,500 for a financial plan. We also charge a fixed, recurring monthly fee for the ongoing management of that financial plan.

We see this ‘cost’ as an investment in your future and one that will more than pay for itself over the years that we will work together, but we would say that, wouldn’t we!?

Our clients agree, so if you wanted to speak to any of them we would be happy to put you in touch with people in a similar position to your own so you can ask them what we are really like. This may help you to decide whether we are the right firm for you.

We believe that price is only an issue in the absence of value.

What we mean here is that the price is not really the issue, it is the absence of value, either real or perceived, that will put you off.

That means it is our responsibility to articulate to you what it is that we do and how this is likely to help you. Before we ask you to commit to a fee we will explore with you what would make our relationship a mutually beneficial one.

We are selective with who we work with, we want to enjoy coming to work and one way to do this is to work with people we get on with and who see value in what we do for them.

We have been in business for nearly 20 years and we ask our clients every year for feedback on what we do for them.  We are constantly told that we provide clarity, direction, and peace of mind.

We can help you to understand your finances and help you to make better financial decisions.

By charging these minimum fees our need to work with hundreds of clients diminishes, this means we can provide a far more personal service to the small number of new clients we take on each year.

This in turn allows us to develop close relationships with our clients, we become personally invested in their lives and more often than not we become friends.

2 – We’ll just flog you something 

Unfortunately, there are still advisers that are targeted and rewarded by selling a product to you. This represents a conflict of interest that we are simply not comfortable with.

If an adviser or firm only gets paid following the sale of a product, the likely outcome of your experience with them is that you will always end up with a new, ‘better’ product.

You may feel at the end of that process that you haven’t really been  listened to and that the advice suits the adviser more than it suits you.

Given the clear link between this sale and the adviser or firm receiving payment it is understandable why you may feel like this.

Our fees are our fees. We are paid these whether there is any need for a product or not.

By charging you a fee, we are working for you. Not to sell you a product you may, or may not, need.

We simply act in your best interest, always.

Whilst we may recommend that you use a product to get you closer to achieving your goals, our fees are not dependant on this and so you can rest assured that any recommendation is designed to get you closer to your desired outcome.

We use financial forecasting software which helps to visualise the potential impact of following or not following our advice. You can therefore make informed decisions about the actions you take.

3 – We’ll bamboozle you with jargon 

ISA, GIA, LTA, MPAA, SIPP, SSAS, EIS, VCT, APR, BPR, IHT, CGT, CRITICAL YIELD, NEGATIVE YIELD, VOLATILITY, TOLERANCE, OOMPAH LOOMPAH STICK IT UP YOUR JUMPER!

These are all financial services jargon or terms and whilst you may be familiar with some of these, we assume that you are lucky that your daily lives are not filled with this particular set of jargon!

There are advisers out there who will try to justify their costs through ‘complification’.

Not an actual word (yet!) but means that they will try to prove how clever they are by throwing a load of jargon and acronyms at you.

Our view is that financial planning should be simple, not always easy, but simple.

That means that we need to fully understand what we are recommending and that we have clearly explained this to you in language that you understand.

By doing this you will have a clear picture as to why we are recommending a course of action and you are then more likely to follow our recommendations,  getting you closer to your desired outcomes.

If an adviser feels that they can only justify their cost by making things more difficult or by trying to impress you with the number of acronyms they know, we suggest you move on to someone who can simplify things and make them relevant to you and what you are trying to achieve.

4 – We’ll make you feel guilty about what you spend your money on

We believe an effective financial plan should include a detailed analysis of your finances. This means we will ask you for specific detail about what you spend your money on.

This is not so that we can judge you or criticise you for the number of holidays you take, the number of hand bags you own or how much you spend on gadgets or coffee each month.

This is so we can understand what you spend your money on now and whether this impacts the likely success of your financial plan.

If your spending is impacting on your ability to save for your desired future lifestyle we will simply discuss with you what your priority is.

It is likely that you will make your own decisions on whether that spending remains a priority or whether you would prefer to reduce this expenditure in return for paying your future self.

We are not a ‘fun sponge’!

We understand that we are here once.  We can’t come back next time and do the things that we always wanted to do, the key is balance.

Very often we hear that once our clients feel that enough is being set aside for their desired future, the peace of mind acts as an enabler for them to enjoy the here and now more.

Before they had a plan, they thought that their lifestyle and expenditure favoured the here and now over their future, they can now live the life they want to now knowing they are also paying their future selves by having a plan in place.

5 – Financial Planners are all dull!

This is a very common assumption and to be fair there are a quite a few grey men, in grey suits representing our profession.

That said there are also loads of brilliant, amusing, genuine and passionate people within our profession, the trick is finding the person or firm that aligns to your own beliefs, values and motivations.

If you can relate to someone based on this, the chances are you will have a long and prosperous relationship with that person.

If you are keen to take control of your financial future and finally take that leap of seeking advice only to be faced with someone called Geoffrey, who looks and smells like a geography teacher, who tries to impress you by rattling off a load of jargon, the temptation may be to put it off a little longer.

Don’t!

Persevere, you owe it to your future self to work with someone that you get on with, that you look forward to meeting, can have fun with and that you feel you can be truly open with, during the good times and the bad.

It is your future, take care of it!