Where are you in your financial lifecycle?
We are fortunate to deal with clients of all ages, each with their own specific financial challenges. However, we also see that while everyone is unique, there are some common themes in relation to the challenges faced by people at different ages.
We’ve set out some of these themes below, but please note they are only a guide to some common challenges and certainly not an exhaustive list, which can only be achieved when we sit down individually with each client.
Starting out: Age 20 – 35
The financial focus of people during these younger years tends to be on saving money, often for a deposit for a house. The focus is then on getting a mortgage and the required life assurance in place, often with specified illness cover too.
As people get married, their attention often turns to getting more substantial protection (health insurance, life assurance, income protection, specified illness cover etc.) in place to secure the financial future of loved ones. As kids come along, many clients look to build education funds for their children and attention starts to turn to retirement planning.
Growing strongly: Age 35 – 50
Typically these are big years for retirement funding – getting money into your pension plan and letting time and your investment strategy get to work. Many of our clients also continually review their protection cover during these years, maybe as their families grow they become a little more aware of their mortality! They want to ensure their family are secure in the event of illness or death.
Where there is excess income over expenditure or there are windfalls, for example inheritances received, our clients also approach us about getting in investment portfolio in place. They look for one that carefully matches their own appetite to take risk.
Tie it all down: Age 50 – 66/67/68
These are the years up to retirement. Hopefully the mortgage is paid off or well on the way there. We see significant increases in pension funding during these years as people look to maximise the tax benefits, and to build the life they want in retirement.
During these years, we also see attention turn to transferring wealth to family members in a tax efficient way. This can entail making sure you are utilising annual gift tax exemptions and getting the correct life assurance structures in place to cover potential inheritance tax bills. All of this needs careful planning, specifically for you.
Ease back – age 68+
Hopefully now you are retired and living off the fruits of your labour. As your earnings have now stopped, our role is help you to use whatever assets you have built up and any income that you have, to make sure you never run out of money.
We hope this gives you a sense of the sort of challenges our clients face at different ages. However this is just a guide – please give us a call and let us find the right solutions for your unique circumstances.