Private Client Services
We provide full advice and recommendations across the entire spectrum of financial services to help you to construct the most appropriate personal and family financial planning portfolios.
Jump to : Protection / Retirement Planning / Investments & Savings / Tax Mitigation Planning
An adequate protection portfolio forms the foundation stone for all aspects of financial planning. Once you've covered the unforeseen events that no one can control, you can then start to plan your future on a more secure footing.
However, your needs change as you go through the various "stages of life" - a single person with no dependants has entirely different needs from a couple with young children, or someone approaching retirement.
As many of our long standing clients already know, our aim is to be with you throughout these various 'Lifestyle' changes and to regularly review your needs and, when or if required, adjust your portfolio accordingly.
With ever increasing levels of longevity, it is becoming more and more important to plan adequately for retirement. A plan that may be put in place in your early twenties, may have to provide retirement income well into your nineties and maybe beyond. Therefore, try to think of 'pension planning' as one of the longest investment commitments that you are liable to make or need, and not just simply "Oh, I've got some sort of pension so I'm OK".
Because of increasing costs & liabilities, many employers are cutting back on the provisions from their occupational pension schemes, and the onus is now far more on the individual to take responsibility to ensure that he or she has made an adequate provision for income in retirement.
The investment advice and strategy required to build your pension 'pot' differs substantially from the advice and strategy that is subsequently required when you eventually start to draw your retirement income. With specialist skills in both the Pensions and Investment Portfolio Construction areas, we work with you over the years through regular reviews, to try to ensure that you reach your retirement objectives.
In addition, the Government's recent changes to pension legislation which took effect from 6th April 2023 will now have a major impact on how many people can plan for retirement.
Are you fully aware of how the latest changes in the Lifetime Allowance and Annual Allowance will affect you? - Contact us to arrange to review your existing arrangements. As Retirement Planning Specialists we can help to ensure that you are taking full advantage of both the current and future rules governing pension planning.
A PENSION IS A LONG TERM INVESTMENT. THE FUND VALUE MAY FLUCTUATE AND CAN GO DOWN. YOUR EVENTUAL INCOME MAY DEPEND UPON THE SIZE OF THE FUND AT RETIREMENT, FUTURE INTEREST RATES AND TAX LEGISLATION.
By using a holistic financial planning approach, we will take into account how your investments interact with your other financial arrangements, and ensure that a properly balanced portfolio is constructed, using a sophisticated variety of asset allocation tools and planners.
In addition, prior to providing any investment advice, we will establish with you some key considerations such as (a) Time - the length of time that you wish (or are willing) to invest for - for instance, most equity based investments should be looked on as being a commitment for at least five years or more; (b) Risk - we will establish a clear understanding of your understanding of investment risk and whether your existing arrangements actually match your current attitude to risk or not; (c) Inflation - inflation will always have an impact on the real returns achieved by any investment, and especially if these gains are also taxed either within the investment or in the hands of the investor; (d) Tax - your current and future tax status will have an impact on the returns from different types of investment, both during the investment and upon any (full or partial) surrenders or encashments. In addition, there are many annual tax exemptions and allowances, which if utilised properly can boost the overall net returns on your investment quite substantially.
THE VALUE OF INVESTMENTS AND THE INCOME FROM THEM MAY GO DOWN. YOU MAY NOT GET BACK THE ORIGINAL AMOUNT INVESTED.
The best way to reduce exposure to any tax liability is to plan how best to mitigate it, BEFORE it occurs and not afterwards. We provide specialist advice on (a) Inheritance Tax Planning - safeguarding your wealth so that it can be passed to future generations is a priority for the majority of people, but the recent rise in house prices has now caught many unsuspecting people in the Inheritance Tax net. We will advise you on how best to reduce or cover any liability with a variety of different techniques, including the use of appropriate trusts; (b) Capital Gains Tax - many people finish up paying capital gains tax unnecessarily through failing to plan properly in advance of a gain being realised. We can help you to try and legally avoid future liabilities. We may also be able to help you to shelter an existing liability and may even be able to help you to reclaim back tax that you have already paid. (c) Income Tax - once again, we may be help to help you reduce your exposure to income tax, especially at the current Scottish Higher and Additional Rate levels of 42% & 47% respectively.
If you are concerned about any of these areas, please contact us to arrange an initial consultation. (Under the terms of our FCA authorisation, we are not authorised tax advisers as such, and will provide guidance and generic advice only. However, we do have contacts with a number of accountancy firms who can formally approve (or provide) any specific tax advice, prior to the implementation of any recommendations that we make.)
TAX TREATMENT IS BASED ON INDIVIDUAL CIRCUMSTANCES AND MAY BE SUBJECT TO CHANGE IN THE FUTURE.
INFORMATION IS BASED ON OUR CURRENT UNDERSTANDING OF TAXATION LEGISLATION AND REGULATIONS. ANY LEVELS AND BASES OF, AND RELIEFS FROM TAXATION, ARE SUBJECT TO CHANGE.
THE FINANCIAL CONDUCT AUTHORITY DOES NOT REGULATE INHERITANCE TAX PLANNING, TAXATION AND TRUST ADVICE.
You will be given an 'Important Information About Our Service' documents at the start of any interview, which gives full details of our charges and services in the above areas. This is also known as an Initial Disclosure Document and its provision is a mandatory requirement for all advisers. Following the interview, you will be given a 'Client Agreement' which will clarify the exact fees that will apply for the work to be conducted on your behalf.
