Lifestyle financial planning. Simply a better way to think about your financial future.
We believe the essence of our job, as financial planners, is to provide you with answers to the following questions:
- How much do I need?
- When will I have it?
That allows you to work out when can you afford to stop doing the things that have become a drag, and start living a life you really enjoy.
We will also be able to calculate at what point you can be confident you will NEVER run out of money and tell you how much you need to earn, or save, or which assets you should then sell to achieve your goals.
Unlike other advisers, we aren’t all about investment products and portfolios, instead we help clients to find real solutions to the problems their future life in retirement will present.
Applying some original thinking to the financial planning process, we have developed a process, in three stages, which is designed to reveal the all-important Truth About Money for each client.
Stage one: lifestyle planning.
This is about getting to know you, helping you identify what’s important, understanding the things you still want to achieve and the sort of lifestyle you want to enjoy for the rest of your life.
We will then carry out a thorough ongoing financial analysis of your current income, outgoings, assets and liabilities, and consider all the resources that may become available to you down the road.
In this way, we’ll have an accurate measure of your net worth and current and future financial status.
Stage two: financial prediction.
Having fully understood your needs, we then begin the process of calculating the cost of the life you want to enjoy in years to come.
Using leading financial planning software, we will produce for you a lifetime cashflow forecast. This will spell out, often dramatically, the reality of your financial future. Suddenly you will see it, understand it and believe it.
We will then model realistic ‘what-if’ scenarios showing the different outcomes that can be achieved using a variety financial strategies.
This is what we call a client’s ‘Truth About Money’ moment and it can often be quite a revelation.
You may find you can retire years earlier than you’d ever imagined, or that you can spend more now and still have life-long financial security.
Other clients may receive an accurate estimate of what assets they need to sell, a business, for example, in order to be totally financially independent.
Stage three: financial planning.
Only at this final stage, and only if your financial plan indicates that you might need a financial or investment product, will we begin to offer actual independent financial advice.
With the complete knowledge we have gained, we will be able to offer truly independent advice allowing us to identify and implement a financial plan that is perfectly suited to your needs.
Most financial advisers see themselves, not necessarily in a bad way, as people who sell investment products.
At HK Wealth, thanks to our three stage process, the possible creation of a portfolio goes at the end of the advising process, and we treat it strictly as just another element in the mix.
