The style, content, quality and presentation of personal financial plans varies immensely from financial adviser to financial adviser. So how do you dare to part with your money to enable your financial adviser to produce your initial report?

Well, quite often, financial adviser firms like mine will offer new clients a free initial meeting. This allows you to meet with your potential adviser to see if you could enjoy a long term advisory relationship with them.   The meeting will also allow the adviser to understand what your financial goals and objectives are along with a summary of your current finanical position.

During this initial meeting there is lot of information for you to take on board as you find out about the firm, it’s services, what the services cost, the adviser experience, qualifications and so on. You should also ask them what their personal financial plans look like.  Is it a “one size fits all” or is it bespoke to your own circumstances.  Afterall, this could be the most important piece of work you have ever paid to be done. 

Here’s what ours look like for a typical family that you may have heard of before.

Homer & Marge Financial Plan

Our costs for preparing your initial report start from £500 depending  upon the complexity of your current financial circumstances so please contact us if you would like an accurate estimate andwould like to book your free initial consultation.

High street banks have won their appeal at the Supreme Court over unauthorised overdraft charges.

The Supreme Court ruled in favour of the seven major banks and a building society, which had challenged High Court and Court of Appeal decisions that the charges were unfair and should be subject to regulation by the Office of Fair Trading.

More follows….

It has been a tradition of pension schemes for many years that the earliest age you can get at your pension benefits is age 50.  However, about 3 years ago the rules changed to increase that age to 55 but the change was not immediate.  In fact, the rule change wasn’t to come into effect until the 6th April 2010.  I am finding it hard to believe that this is only 7 months away now!!! 

We are experiencing an increased amount of enquiries from clients and prospective clients who are able to access their pension funds now but won’t be able to do so after April 2010.  They are looking at this for many reasons such as early retirement, loss of employment income, home refurbushments and starting up businesses.  Are you looking to release the tax free cash from you pension fund?  Are you affected by the age increase?

We can advise you on all the different ways you can receive benefits such as an annuity, open market option, phased retirement, income drawdown, 3rd way annuity, with profit annuity etc.  Contact us now for more information and to book your free initial consultation. голова болит секс голова болит секс голова болит секс голова болит секс голова болит секс

Standard Life is to remediate all customers who lost money after the revaluation of its Pension Sterling fund last month (January), at an estimated cost of £100m.

Make the most of your ISA allowance

Whatever your savings needs, you’ll want to make sure you choose the most tax efficient option.  After all, you need your money to work hard for you.  Your valuable annual ISA allowance may have an important part to play in helping you achieve these objectives.

The important thing to remember is that you can’t carry forward your allowance so, if you don’t use it you’ll lose it. 

If your not sure what an ISA or you need a refresher on the guidlelines for investing then your should read the FSA Money Made Clear Saving and Investing  publication.  You can download a copy here.

If you would like to arrange a convenient time to talk through your options with me before the end of this tax year, please give me a call on 02476 251100.

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Scottish Life have developed new software which they are providing free of charge to employers who take out a pension scheme for their staff.  This is an anticipation of the government requirements on compulsory pension schemes for all employers so why not take the initiative now.

If you are thinking of putting in a new pension scheme for your staff or would like to change your existing providers to obtain the software then please contact us on 02476 251100

Want to know more? –  Scottish Life Benefits Administration details are here.

We are all look for valautions on our investments and assetts and pricing any residential property has been difficult of late as valuations have been falling.  However, there do seem to be signs that the valuations have reached a point where they are now acceptable to buyers and investors with cash to hand.

Firstly, one of the most high-profile luxury developments in the UK is to be taken over in a deal worth less than a third of what Icelandic bank Kaupthing paid when it teamed up with property developers Nick and Christian Candy three years ago.  The control of the Noho Square scheme in London’s West End is to be acquired by Stanhope, the property company run by David Camp and backed by entrepreneur Ian Laing.

Secondly, Rightmove yesterday said there were early signs of a recovery in the market with the return of near- record volumes of traffic among would-be housebuyers monitoring the falling market.

So, is this now the time to buy?  We don’t have a crystal ball to help you with this decision on timing but you should be confident that the property you buy now will have cost you about 25% more 2 years ago.

Call us to discuss your plans in more detail.

Everyone should know what they spend each month.  Most of us know what we receive each month.  I’m also sure a lot of people have taken time to do a budget planner.  A budget planner allows you to make sure that your income always exceeds your expenditure.

With some people now experiencing a lower income through the current economic downturn it is time to revisit this exercise to make sure that you don’t fall into the debt trap.  If you want a blank budget planner then contact us and we can email the one we use or you can download one from Money Saving Expert here.

But, once a planner has been done, what do you do with it?  Whether it keeps you solvent or sends you into debt it is worth asking an expert on personal finance for thier opinion.  We can offer you a free consultancy on this.  Call our office on 02476 251100 to arrange a meeting in our Coventry Office.  If this is not geographically possible then please visit IFA Promotion to find a suitable adviser in your area.

What a disaster this is turning out to be.   I speak as an investor, adviser and shareholder. Clients have lost money, advisers feel misled, shareholders worry about management and Standard Life ask for…..patience!!

Forget patience.  If this company was still a mutual organisation (owned by its policyholders) I don’t think it would have ever gone down the route of chasing a fast buck at the beck and call of investors.  And, even it had, I think it would have used its own funds to clean up the mess and financial loss of its wrong decisions and pay a lower bonus to with profit policyholders.

As a result of the wrong decisions I expect no winners.  Clients won’t want to put new money in an organisation whose cash fund loses value,  advisers won’t recommend a company that does not treat its customers fairly and investors will subsequently sell their shares in a less profitable organisation.

So is this goodbye to Standard Life or merely au revior until it changes it decision.  Over to you Mr Crombie.

Please visit our download section to do obtain your free copy of the January/February 2009 edition of E-Smart money, brought to you by Simpson Financial Services, leading financial advisers forCoventry, Warwickshire and West Midlands.

One particularly good article in this edition is headed, “Holding Out For an Early Retirement.”  We have seen an increase in the number of enquiries from people looking to combine an unfortunate redundancy with the possibility of early retirement.  This is an area where we have a lot of experience and we can advise you if it is financially viable.

It is also worth remebering that the earliest retirement age is currently 50 but this changes to an earliest retirement age of 55 on the 6th April 2010.