Having spent 17 years working as a Financial Planner in a large Accountancy practice in Belfast, before joining Investec Wealth & Investment (IW&I), many client meetings were held jointly with their Private Client Tax Adviser or Corporate Tax Adviser.

Meeting preparations typically involved reviewing the last submitted annual Self- Assessment Tax Return, set of Company Accounts (https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/ is a useful source) and the hard facts contained in the Financial Questionnaire.

While this provided a snapshot of what had happened in the past, the role of a Financial Planner is to consider what is coming up in the future, coupled with any changes in legislation and how best to meet the client’s aspirations while optimising tax efficiency. A collaborative approach between all professional advisers is the best way to achieve this.

At IW&I, we value and strive to build long-term relationships with our clients and all of their professional advisers so that we can add real value and depth to provide completely holistic trusted advice.

Better client outcomes are achieved when the Financial Planner and the client’s professional advisers fully integrate and collaborate.

The trusted adviser relationship is so important to us because our objective is always to fully understand the needs of the client, explore solutions to their problems, and provide strategies so that they can live the life they aspire to. Better client outcomes are achieved when the Financial Planner and the client’s professional advisers fully integrate and collaborate. By putting the client at the centre of everything we do, we can add true value to this relationship.

While it takes time to build a ‘Circle of Trust’ with professional advisers, we all have something valuable to share – our expertise. This means that we can provide the client with comprehensive advice and solutions while keeping abreast of legislative changes in our respective disciplines.

It is important that the focus is to position the client at the centre of this wheel of professional advisers, who each have a relationship with each other and who have the client’s best interests at the heart of their joint endeavours.

The client’s Solicitor is also an important spoke in the wheel of trusted advisers. It is important that the focus is to position the client at the centre of this wheel of professional advisers, who each have a relationship with each other and who have the client’s best interests at the heart of their joint endeavours.

Often, clients’ financial and personal affairs can be complex and unfortunately death will visit us all at some point. It is therefore prudent to work with professional advisers to know that succession plans are in place through Family Trusts, Shareholder Agreements and Wills.

We have an excellent catalogue of Private Insight articles: Spring 2017 – Anthony Flynn explained ‘What is Financial Planning?’ and Spring 2018 – Ross Combes wrote an article on ‘Financial Planning for Business Owners’ both of which explain the benefits of financial planning and how we can work with your professional advisers.

Knowing the client’s aspirations, hopes, fears and their most important relationships, both personal and in business, makes this ‘Circle of Life’ journey all the more enjoyable  

Over the last 20 years, I have worked with clients at the peak of their career through to later life. Knowing the client’s aspirations, hopes, fears and their most important relationships, both personal and in business, makes this ‘Circle of Life’ journey all the more enjoyable but also makes difficult conversations easier should poor health or tragedy strike.

Our financial planners would be delighted to meet with you and your family, and add value to your financial affairs by working closely with you and your professional advisers. As a large firm with offices throughout the UK, offering independent financial advice, we will consider financial solutions from the entire market based on your specific needs. We can offer niche solutions that integrate with and fully complement the highly regarded Investment Management division.

Finally, we can share with you the results of our ‘Private Client Survey’ in which over 4,000 Financial Planning clients participated and told us their Financial Planning Service Satisfaction is “very high”. This is, of course, excellent news but there is still much work to be done in ensuring all of our clients are aware of the full Financial Planning service.

If you would like to find out more, please contact your local office and ask to speak with the financial planning team.