Life Plan
Finding Peace with Money
How does the Life Plan Work?
The foundation of a client’s Life Plan is the Draft Plan, a comprehensive but succinct version of the Life Plan which the Life Plan consultant will work with the client to set up as early in the working relationship as possible. This will include both ‘Objectives’ and ‘Plan’ breakdowns for all six components of the Life Plan. This initial process of looking at their ‘needs’ and ‘means’ as a whole and discussing this with their Life Plan consultant, will enable the client to form an early understanding of where they stand and how they should proceed. Are they able to consistently generate a cash surplus from income to set aside each month? Do they have adequate cash funds to fall back on? Have they managed to build this into an effective long-term savings strategy? Are their key long-term needs (such as monthly income at their chosen retirement date) on target to be met? Beyond this of course will be key questions about appropriate and cost-effective borrowing, as well as about setting aside surplus monthly income to cover key risks such as the need to replace income through illness or premature death. And beyond this also questions about appropriate and effective estate settlement and tax arrangements.
Throughout the discussions that take place, however, certain questions will keep coming up. Should your financial decisions primarily be centered around growing your wealth or meeting your needs? Should you put off meeting your needs because of cost when affordability is not in question? Should you consider a more impactful but less controlled and less risk-averse approach to managing your money once it is clear that your key needs are on target to be met? Should you choose your providers (investment providers but also banks, insurers and lenders) primarily on the basis of cost/price/return to you or on the basis of impact to others?
Beyond this process of questioning and considering, the Life Plan client will then be in a position to determine which components of their plan they would like to receive additional assistance and advice on, and what sort of advice they will be looking to receive.
It is at this point that specific referrals will be made to our separate team of ‘Active Plan’ practitioners and consultants. These include specialists in pensions and investments, mortgages and protection, and tax and estate. These practitioners will then provide their own service to the client, enabling the client to move from a discussion about what is important to them to actually implementing changes to their financial planning in line with their needs as well as their beliefs.