Facing your financial fears

Facing your financial fears

Facing your financial fears and creating a personalised financial plan for now and the future is the best way to achieve your goals and deal with any worries or concerns. With sound advice, it’s easier than you might think.

Let me tell you about Mike and Sue, a lovely couple heading towards retirement, introduced to me by a local solicitor in Leicester.

Mike and Sue were already working with a financial adviser, and they told me how something about the relationship didn’t feel quite right. Their questions weren’t always answered, and their experience had led them to think they must be ‘low ticket’ clients – perhaps because the value of their pensions and investments didn’t match their adviser’s typical half a million pounds portfolio. Their meetings with the adviser seemed to focus on which product from a limited range of options was a good enough fit for their circumstances. Good market performance meant their investments were delivering a decent return, but they wanted more information and guidance. Their motivation for seeking my advice was to look at their retirement plans.

These are some of the questions they asked me:

1. Can we retire at 55?
2. What income will we have to live on?
3. Will we run out of money in retirement?

As a Chartered Financial Planner, I take the technical aspects of my job very seriously and make sure I’m always up to speed on the latest developments including changes to financial products, taxation, and legislation.

My role has many facets – advice, guidance, investigation, and research. I begin by asking simple questions, following those with another layer of questions. Our first meeting is a fact-finding session, but never an interrogation. Listening effectively, clarifying financial terms and jargon, and checking your understanding are the soft skills that all good financial planners should be able to demonstrate. Sharing your financial worries with me is essential. I need to understand what’s keeping you awake at night so I can help build a robust financial plan, allowing you to live comfortably and enjoy your life.

Let’s go back to Sue and Mike.

In our first meeting, Mike had a moment of revelation! Sue was initially hesitant and a little cautious, but she soon felt comfortable enough to tell me something she hadn’t wanted to share with her husband until that point…  she told us how the thought of having to keep working in her stressful job until the mortgage was repaid was stopping her from getting a good night’s rest.

Asking the right questions meant we had uncovered the most important issue.

Together, we constructed a lifetime cash flow forecast and took time to consider a range of different scenarios. Sue was able to see that she could step away from her pressured role in around 4 years. To her great delight, this timescale was well ahead of her original goal to retire by age 60. Using the same cash flow forecast, I demonstrated how the couple could repay their mortgage in full by the end of the summer. Goodbye sleepless nights!

Financial planning will help you tackle any money worries that are holding you back from achieving your own brighter retirement. Building on your knowledge and confidence is a key part of my process. I’ll make sure you have all the information and guidance you need to make sound choices.

Sue and Mike are confident about their financial retirement plans and feel ready to enjoy the next stage of their life together.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• A great financial planner is skilled at asking the right questions during the information gathering stage. Be open and honest about what’s most important to you.
• Financial security is the key to a comfortable retirement. You’re free to choose who advises you, so ask a financially savvy friend or a trusted professional for their recommendation.
• An excellent financial planner has the knowledge, experience, and skill to help you identify your financial fears and help you create a strategy to meet your aims and long-term financial goals.

If you’d like to build your own brighter retirement plan, I would love to hear from you.

Why not book a FREE Discovery Call with me HERE.

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