Financial Planning

Financial planning is about understanding your goals and objectives and developing and implementing a strategy with a financial plan, giving you peace of mind.

We believe financial planning is a key part of the advice journey to help give the best outcomes, and this is especially important when it comes to retirement.

The terms "financial adviser" and "financial planner" are often used interchangeably, but financial advice and financial planning are two very different things, and it's important for those looking to work with a professional to understand the difference.

Financial advice is focused on the product (e.g. a pension or an ISA), whereas financial planning focuses on the person.

We are passionate about financial planning, and we often say:

"No portfolio without a plan"

It's a key part of our retirement planning process (stage 2 below).

Stage One: Person (Life Planning): Establishing the cost of your current and future desired lifestyle.
Stage Two: Plan (Financial Planning): Building a financial plan to evaluate the feasibility of your retirement goals.
Stage Three: Portfolio (Financial Products): Creating an investment 'engine' to deliver the returns your financial plan requires.
Stage Four: Withdrawal strategy: Constructing a retirement withdrawal strategy and the various 'levers' that can impact the sustainability of your financial plan.

Both Noel and James are Certified Financial Planners, which is considered the global gold standard for financial planning. They have a Level 7 qualification - the same level as a Master's degree.

Below are the six stages of the financial planning process. This process is iterative, and the value is not in the financial plan (which is the output of the financial planning process) but in the ongoing financial planning process itself.

As mentioned, the financial planning process is iterative. Therefore, we see little value in "one-off" financial planning exercises.