Services

A holistic financial planning service

Clarke Fencott LLP offers a holistic financial planning service to our private clients. This means that we aim to identify and take into consideration your full financial situation, both now and looking forward into the future. We will start with a full and detailed discussion of all of your financial goals and objectives; for example your life assurance and specified critical illness requirements, your investment needs, your retirement plans, your specific financial requirements such as paying school fees and university costs and so on.

From this initial discussion we will assess what might realistically be achievable, taking into account any related risks, and develop a plan to help you achieve your objectives. This plan will be periodically reviewed (normally once a year) and the review will take into account your current financial position and any changes in your objectives. If necessary your plan and associated financial products will be updated to ensure that your financial needs continue to be met.

Retirement Planning

It is essential that you plan properly for your retirement to ensure that you can retire when you want with the income that you will need. There are many different types of pensions available and the advice offered will depend on your age and circumstances.

Investment Advice

You may have a sum of money that you may like to invest or use to provide a regular income. There are many different investments from which you can choose and some of these are more tax efficient than others. We will help you select the most suitable investment related to your requirements.

Platforms

The ‘Platform’ or portfolio approach to managing investments and pensions is designed to overcome the traditional problem of quickly understanding values when statements arrive at different times and in various formats. Platforms are predominantly internet based, offering the advantages of :-

  • real time portfolio valuations
  • performance review and analysis
  • easy management of asset allocation

We can offer advice on portfolio management and recommend the best platform provider to meet your needs.

Business Assurance

Life assurance is designed to pay out a lump sum of money on the death of a specified person during a specified term. As well as life cover to provide for your family in the event of your death there are likely to be additional life cover considerations if you run your own business. We can give you independent advise as to which type of policy is most suitable to cover certain business related liabilities and we can also find you the most competitively priced policy in the market place.

Director’s Share Protection

In the event of the death of a director of a limited company, it is likely that the surviving directors would want to have the right to buy the deceased director’s shares in the company. Life assurance policies can be arranged to ‘buy-out’ the deceased director’s share.

Corporate Tax Planning

If you run your own business you will be keen to ensure that your tax liabilities are minimised. Certain financial planning tools e.g. SIPPS & SSAS, can be used as part of a corporate tax planning exercise. For example, using your pension scheme to purchase a commercial property can lead to a number of tax advantages. We can offer you independent advice in this area.

Succession Planning

Inheritance tax is a tax that is levied on your estate when you die and your estate passes to your beneficiaries. If you leave your entire estate to your spouse there will be no inheritance tax liability, but there may be a significant liability on the second death. Inheritance tax is levied on the value of your estate above the nil rate band. We can offer you advice to help you minimise your potential inheritance tax liability. This may be by redistributing your assets between yourself, your spouse and your family or by providing life assurance to cover the potential inheritance tax liability utilising a variety of trusts.

Warnings

Pension & Investment – The value of your investment and any income from it may go down as well as up. You may not get back the original amount you invested.

Protection – If premium payments are not maintained, the benefits of the plan will be put at risk. If premium payments cease altogether, the benefits of the plan will cease. The cover may be less than you need if you do not review it regularly.

Estate and Tax Planning – Tax treatment depends on individual circumstances. Both your circumstances and tax rules may be subject to change in the future. Not all areas of Estate Planning or tax planning are regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.