A cohesive strategy for managing your wealth

As business owners ourselves, we understand the challenges of trying to ‘keep all the balls in the air’. While you ensure everything is taken care of in your business, your own personal finances are often neglected – simply due to a lack of time or feeling like there is too much complexity.

Typically your personal finances and business affairs are intertwined, so you need a cohesive wealth management strategy that considers both sides. Using our Lifestyle Financial Planning process we can provide you with clarity on where you are today and the steps you need to take to achieve your goals, both personally and professionally.

Below is a case study that illustrates our process in action. It shows how we helped one of our business owning clients to take back control of their finances and make important decisions about their future.

As business owners, James and Anne* were always incredibly busy. They struggled to find the time to effectively understand and manage their personal finances. With an offer on the table from a prospective buyer seeking to take-over their business, they wanted clarity on their available options, someone to help them plan for the future and establish the best way to eventually exit.

Financially they were incredibly disorganised. Policies accumulated over a number of years, which made sense at the time, although no longer suited their needs. What they needed was a cohesive strategy and an adviser to provide a clear view of their wider financial position.

Anne had an out of date Will and James didn’t have one at all. They realised they would have an issue with inheritance tax (IHT) and the majority of their money was sitting in a deposit account, attracting no interest.

In the initial meeting, Mike mapped out their current situation and what they wanted to achieve. Using Lifetime Cash Flow analysis he explored different scenarios based on their financial priorities. This information was then used to create a Lifestyle Financial Plan.

For the first time, they were able to visualise the future and the impact of their decisions. They decided to simplify. By consolidating their policies and investments into a single strategy, all held in the one place, it made everything easy to understand and monitor.

We introduced them to a solicitor, who updated their wills and sorted out the legal aspects of their affairs. She also helped to initiate various trusts, to avoid IHT and establish an educational fund for their grandchildren.

Regular updates using the Carrington Financial Roadmap process provide the opportunity to adjust the plan to take into consideration any changes in their circumstances or goals.

Three years later James and Anne managed to sell the business and have eliminated their financial concerns. They take comfort in knowing that they can afford to do all the things they want to in life.

To find out more about our Lifestyle Financial Planning process or to arrange an obligation-free meeting, please get in touch.

*To protect our client’s confidentiality the names and some of the details in this case study have been changed.