financial
planning
Independent Financial
Planning
Where in the world can you get financial advice you can
really trust?
If you are looking for unbiased advice, backed by reliable
investments, then you should spend some time looking at our proposition.
Financial Advice has developed so much over recent years
that it now covers a huge spectrum of financial planning opportunities.
Many of these areas are becoming increasingly complex. All the more reason
why you need to find an adviser you can work with.
Putting your interests first
If your relationship with your financial adviser is successful,
you'll work together for many years. We're truly dedicated to staying
with you for the longer term, not simply because it's in our interests,
too.
Whatever your financial goals or personal circumstances,
the service has been designed to give you the information and advice you
need.
Delivering tailored financial solutions
We are dedicated to helping you achieve your financial
and life goals by recommending excellent solutions and products from trusted
institutions whether they are UK based or offshore. To that end, we've
spent many years seeking solutions we are happy to recommend, as well
as financial partners that share our vision and priorities.
As a firm, we do not have 'a typical client', nor do
we have a single style of delivering advice. Our clients encompass a wide
and diverse range from all walks of society, income levels and asset bases,
and our advice ranges from the provision of specific investment advice,
to a more holistic approach to a person’s financial planning.
We also provide flexibility in the way we are paid for
the advice we give and the work we do, so if like us you have a preference
for fees rather than the more traditional approach of taking commissions
on products sold, we can accommodate you.
In meeting new clients we will look to conduct a comprehensive
analysis of their circumstances. By establishing in detail your aims and
objectives, and thoroughly understanding your current situation, we provide
advice on the products and services that will help you reach your goals.
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Financial Planning
Financial planning is an ongoing, continuous process,
running throughout a person’s lifetime. Planning for the future
or for your children and grandchildren’s future can even start before
birth through the creation of trusts, and the benefits can last well beyond
the grave through effective estate planning.
We take a balanced view of your financial needs now and
in the future. So we can help you plan effectively, providing you with
the advice you need when you're working, and help you when you finally
retire. We make the effort to understand your medium and long-term plans.
How long will you be working? Are you aiming to retire fully, or gradually
over a few years? When will you need your funds to be available in the
coming years? We will advise you accordingly.
Although we seek to provide individual holistic advice,
a number of financial planning areas feature widely across our range
of clients. These areas are the more mainstream subjects of financial
planning: Pensions, Investments
and Protection.
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Pensions
Look at all of your pensions: As part of a structured
pension review, you will need to consider the impact of your existing
pension arrangements on your retirement needs. This may not be straightforward,
with possible entitlements from personal pensions, company pensions and
the basic state pension to be considered. You may also have an entitlement
from the State Earnings Related Pension Scheme (SERPS) or the State Second
Pension (S2P), unless you have already opted out.
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State pension entitlements
Understanding your pension entitlement: Your potential
state pension benefits can come in up to three parts, depending on your
age. These are the basic state pension, the graduated pension based on
contributions from April 1961 to April 1975, and more recently, SERPS
or the Second State Pension.
Your basic pension: To obtain the maximum basic state
pension you will need to have paid, or been credited with National Insurance
contributions for approximately nine tenths of your anticipated working
life. If you want to find out about your own National Insurance contribution
record you can apply for a pension forecast from the Department of Social
Security (DSS) using form BR19.
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Other entitlements
Death Benefits: This very important feature of most Occupational
schemes is often overlooked in financial planning terms, and in conjunction
with a review of your protection needs, can often result in cover being
purchased independently.
Obtaining the advice you need: Things get more complicated when we start
looking at pension planning outside of the state provisions. Any advice
we may offer is dependent on whether you have been employed or self-employed,
contributing to a personal pension or occupational pension.
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Protection
A review of your cover may save you money: Most people
put off reviewing their life assurance and protection needs for as long
as possible, but as you get older, the risks of death or serious disability
increase, and taking advice about life assurance and protection needs
should become a priority. Even if you feel that you have sufficient cover,
you may find that a review of your insurance might save you money. The
cost of life insurance has fallen dramatically in recent years, so topping
up your cover, or replacing existing cover might be cheaper than you think.
Because of the nature of the contracts, we spend some time each year reviewing
the insurance cover for our cars and our homes (buildings and contents),
yet very few of us make regular reviews of our personal insurance needs
to reflect our dependants changing needs, or our own needs should we become
seriously ill or injured.
Whilst it is important to ensure that the risks are covered,
and that you are adequately insured, it is equally important to ensure
that you are not paying premiums needlessly. Being over insured means
paying higher premiums than necessary, money that could be better employed
elsewhere. Our client reviews seek to ensure that you only pay for the
cover you need, and we bring to your attention any shortfalls in cover,
or situations of over insurance.
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Investments
Are your insurance policies held within a trust arrangement?
If not are you aware that any benefits may well end up inside your estate,
and potentially subject to a 40% Inheritance Tax charge. There are many
reasons why you might not want to place certain policies within a trust
arrangement, but outside of those, it makes sense to leave as much of
the benefits to your beneficiaries rather than the Inland Revenue. Our
review of your policies will bring to light any planning opportunities
that might arise in this area.
Investments
The flexibility of alternative investments
Whether through breaks from work, or periods on non-pensionable
employment or a variety of other reasons, many people are realising
that they need an alternative strategy for their income in retirement.
There are many reasons why the flexibility of more accessible investments
would make them an attractive alternative for someone saving for retirement.
However, rather than get sucked in to the next investment fad, you could
consider making long-term investments in consistently high performing,
low charging products from stable companies to build a nest-egg for
your retirement.
Arranging a balanced portfolio of investments
MD Financial Services can recommend a portfolio of
investments from appropriate investment houses, across a range of risk
profiles and time periods. We work with you to understand your objectives
- for example, educating your children, saving to purchase another
property, or any other purpose.
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Estate planning
Few of us like to think about dying, but equally few
of us could live with the thought that we have not made adequate provision
for family and friends who survive us.
The legislation that governs passing on your estate
to your chosen beneficiaries requires you to plan well in advance. Since
none of us knows when we shall die, this means making the necessary
provisions now.
The earlier you make the arrangements, the greater
your chance of taking full advantage of the tax opportunities available
and thereby maximising the amount that goes to your beneficiaries. Nothing
is more demoralising than the thought that a substantial slice of the
wealth you have worked hard to accumulate will end up in the Government's
coffers!
It is equally important when planning to transfer your
estate that you make adequate provision for yourself and your spouse
in your later years. Striking this balance calls for considerable skill
and foresight - and a detailed knowledge of the tax regime.
We provide a discreet estate planning service that
includes:
