In his latest column for Altrincham Today, Jason Moss, an Altrincham-based Independent Financial Adviser (IFA) at Harvest Associates, explains just what an IFA is there to do - and why it pays to speak to one sooner rather than later.
If you don’t already know how an Independent Financial Adviser can help you, you’re not alone. Often people label me as ‘the pensions guy’, but it’s much more than that. It is my role to provide clients with a plan for their futures, providing them with peace of mind.
We start by understanding and helping a client determine what their objectives and goals are.
This is done by getting to know our clients as best as we can, personally and financially.
When advising my clients, I advise on their entire financial situation, and being ‘Independent’ (which not all advisers are) allows me to look at solutions from the entire market.
Clients’ objectives drive my recommendations on their wider financial circumstances.
Objectives aren’t always straightforward, such as planning to buy a big-ticket item, and can often be driven by emotions. The pandemic taught us how short life can be, and this has driven lots of people to want to do something completely different or retire earlier in order to spend more time with loved ones or travel the world.
We start with your end goals
We start with our client’s end goals and review their entire financial situation holistically. This looks at cash holdings, pensions and any investments they might have. Factoring these in is important when understanding the affordability of objectives in later life. We also consider the impact any decisions have on others (spouse, children etc.).
Advice considers the suitability of a product, how it’s aligned to your objectives and whether it offers good value.
Tax efficiency is hugely important to most, and there may be opportunities to gain tax relief upon making contributions, as well as reducing tax when looking at different methods of drawing down from savings/pensions.
We'll look to mitigate inheritance tax
Estate planning is a hot topic and an area where a growing number of clients are worried about the impact inheritance tax may have on their loved ones.
This is an area where we can not only look to mitigate inheritance tax, but also ensure that your estate is in order. We work with other professions, such as solicitors and accountants, as situations can be complex.
We also stress-test against worst-case scenarios, such as the loss of a breadwinner in the household, or what might happen if a member of the family were diagnosed with a critical illness and couldn’t work. What would the impact of loss of earnings be, would modifications need making to the home? These aren’t comfortable conversations, but they need to be factored in.
Don’t wait until it’s too late - be proactive and speak to an Independent Financial Adviser today. If you are unsure about something or have a question, please get in touch.
To contact Jason or for more information, email jmoss@harvestassociates.co.uk, call 07703 341 285 or visit harvestassociates.co.uk
Harvest Associates is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. FCA registered number is 629749. The value of your investments and the income from them may go down as well as up, and you could get back less than you invested.
