Financial Planning for Individuals
Personal finance planning to help you achieve the best results
As an independent financial planning firm, you can be reassured that the advice you receive from us is truly our own and is not restricted to a limited number of product providers or solutions. As such, we focus on building an overall plan that is bespoke to each individual and focused only on achieving the best results for you.
If you’re looking for personal finance planning, book an initial appointment with one of our team today, and see how we can help you. You can also contact us via email on [email protected] or call us on 0800 832 178.
How our personal finance planning services can help you
Lifetime Financial Forecasting
Financial forecasting, also known as cashflow planning, projects current assets and income and balances them against current and future expenditure and liabilities. This is increasingly being seen as the best way for clients to make the most informed decisions on their personal finances.
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Investment Planning
We help people to understand their investment options, create a personalised investment strategy for them and build a portfolio that meets their investment objectives.
Retirement Planning
With the increase in our life expectancies coinciding with a low interest rate environment and the demise of high-quality Final Salary related employer pension schemes, the burden falls on each of us individually to save for our future retirement.
Personal Protection
We don’t give a second thought to insuring our homes, personal possessions, pets and cars, but have we got our own lives properly insured, should the unthinkable happen?
Financial Planning on Divorce
After a home, a pension fund can be the second largest asset owned by a family. On divorce or dissolution of a marriage, you can split pensions several ways but achieving a fair resolution of all the financial issues can be a very stressful process.
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Inheritance Tax
Today, even modest estates will be affected by IHT but the well-advised can take steps to significantly reduce the liability or even remove it altogether. The trick is to plan well in advance.
Later Life Planning
Healthier living and medical advances mean we are all living longer and more active lives. However, it is also likely that towards the end of our lives we may require very expensive residential and/or nursing care.
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We have a four-step planning process
In order to create a plan that’s truly reflective of where you want to be, we’ll take you through our four-step planning process. Firstly, we’ll explore your aims and objectives at our discovery meeting and once we know where you are headed, we can devise a plan tailored to your ambitions. This can range from a very complex multi-faceted plan right down to simply using your ISA allowance each year.
Step: 1
Discovery Meeting
Our personal finance planning process starts with our initial discovery meeting, which as the name suggests, is all about getting to know you, your circumstances and gaining an understanding of your goals for the future and what your drivers are for making those goals a reality.
Therefore, our first meeting is about finding out whether we’d like to work together and establishing what you’d like to achieve with your savings and investments. This initial meeting is at no cost to you and we ensure that we allow plenty of time to discuss the matters that are important to you.
Step: 2
Financial Forecast &
Analysis Report
Following the discovery meeting, we can begin to put together a bespoke plan of action. In most cases, this means providing a comprehensive Financial Forecast & Analysis report which uses sophisticated cashflow planning software to help identify all opportunities and threats in relation to your long-term goals. However, if the advice you need is relatively straight forward and this stage is not required, we can go straight to providing a focused advice report.
We will use the analysis from your Financial Forecast and Analysis report to discuss, prioritise and agree what specific advice is required and the next steps to help you achieve all your long-term financial planning objectives.
If you are forecast to be on track, this work will quantify what additional flexibility you're likely to have in the future, i.e. can you afford to retire earlier? Spend more? Take less investment risk? The sooner you know this information, the better equipped you will be to take advantage of the possible opportunities.
If you are forecast not to be on track, this work will identify what your options are to help rectify this situation.
Step: 3
Implementation
It’s time to put your financial plan into action. This could involve changes to your existing savings and investments, or potentially setting up new solutions to support your long-term objectives. We will provide bespoke recommendations in the context of the analysis from your Financial Forecast and Analysis Report to help you achieve all your long-term financial planning objectives.
Step: 4
Regular Reviews
Children, grandchildren, new careers, new governments - life can bring about many unexpected twists and turns. Change, whether personal, political, economic, or legislative, can impact both your circumstances and your financial plan. Regular reviews enable us to address all these changes and ensure that your plan remains up-to-date and relevant. They also enable you to benefit from any new solutions that are developed as your plan progresses.
“James continues to be my financial planner and I hope always will be, he is not only extremely knowledgeable and capable (and infinitely patient!) but also kind, compassionate, understanding and supportive. ”
Kate Wood, Wiltshire
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Transparent and Fair Fees
We will always clearly communicate the fees applicable to any work we carry out on your behalf, and will not proceed until these have been agreed with you. We regularly compare our fees against the wider market and are confident that we provide a very competitive fee structure for fully independent financial planning.
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Our People & Qualifications
Our firm has held the coveted Chartered Financial Planning Firm status (see video below) for several years, so your financial planning is taken care of by one of the most knowledgeable and highly qualified teams in the profession. View our team now.
We have offices based in a range of locations across South West England including Salisbury, Southampton, Exeter, Taunton, Torquay, Truro, Poole, Bristol and Plymouth.
Personal finance planning FAQs
Can I do financial planning on my own?
Although it’s possible to do financial planning on your own, those who use financial advisers benefit from more integrated planning over the long term. Our team at Francis Clark Financial Planning will create plans bespoke to you so that you can achieve your financial ambitions.
