What does a financial planner do?

As with so many seemingly simple questions, there is both a short answer and a long answer to the question: what does a financial planner do? The short answer is that they help you get your finances in order and plan for your financial future – ideally so you can accommodate big events, such as getting married, buying a house, starting a family, supporting your children through education, retirement, and even managing your estate in a tax-efficient way so as much money as possible goes to those you love. The longer answer is a bit more complex than that, because although financial planners deal with finances, the most important thing we do is work with people to help them realise their dreams.

Good financial planners help you plan your best life

A good financial planner will never just look at your finances. They will spend time getting to know you – and your partner, if irrelevant – to understand not only your individual circumstances, but also the things that are really important to you. For example, do you ideally want to be able to pay for private education? Is Private Medical Insurance important to you? What sort of holidays do you like to go on and how often? When might you ideally like to retire? Would you like to help your grandchildren get onto the property ladder?

They will also take time to understand your relationship with money. Are you naturally a spender or a saver (because we are all naturally one or the other)? What was your parents’ attitude money? How has that shaped your behaviours today? How comfortable are you with risk?

If you are in a relationship, they will also help you and your partner navigate potential differences in attitude towards money. If one of you is a spender and one is naturally more cautious and wants to know they have a very comfortable buffer in the bank, this can lead to tensions which can potentially be quite disruptive. Many couples don’t have the expertise to navigate the differences themselves. A skilled financial planner can be invaluable to help you talk through and understand these differences, and help you create a financial route map that reflects both emotional responses to money as far as possible.

Good financial planners are in it for the long-term

A good financial planner is also with you for the long haul. They don’t just create a plan and leave you to get on with it; circumstances, needs and wants all change, so a good financial planner will hold regular reviews with you to assess your current and anticipated situation, and help you refine your plan to reflect any changing needs or desires.

It’s not just our personal circumstances that change; governments, taxes and the markets all go up and down, in and out. A good financial planner will therefore also advise you on significant macro changes beyond your control and advise if your plan needs to be adjusted in response to these.

A recent example of this was Rachel Reeves announcement in her first budget that pensions will become subject to Inheritance Tax (IHT) on second death. Prior to this, pensions death benefits have fallen outside the estate and are not subject to IH. Therefore best advice for estate planning has been to spend other assets before touching your pension, with the aim of leaving as big a pension pot as possible for your loved ones to inherit. Since the change was announced we have been extremely busy advising our clients what this means for their own income strategy in retirement and for their estate planning.

Good financial planners help you ride the highs and lows

A good financial planner will help you plan your finances to accommodate the unexpected. For example, they will encourage you to have three months of outgoings saved in an accessible form, so that you have peace of mind that you would be able to manage if something unexpected occurred, such as being unable to work or being made redundant.

A good financial planner will be there for you when life throws an unexpected curveball at you, helping you to manage your finances prudently to ease immediate stress whilst trying to keep your long-term planning on track as far as possible.

But they are also there for the highs. One of our greatest moments of joy is when we are able to advise a client that they can stop work earlier than they thought, because we have successfully put all the financial building blocks in place. Similarly, our advisers get a real buzz when being able to confirm with a client that they have sufficient funds to put down the deposit for their dream home or can pay for the wedding they have been planning.

Financial planning for clients later in life

Ideally, you will choose a great financial planner when you first enter the world of work, because the magic of compound growth means the earlier you start investing, the easier it should be to achieve your long-term goals without compromising too much in the short term.

But there are many reasons why people put off financial planning. There are also many reasons why you may need to find a new financial planner later in life, for example after a couple of decades of working, or because you’re getting divorced and need advice tailored to your individual circumstances, rather than the joint financial planning that you have had in place previously.

Good financial planners have the expertise to work with clients at any stage in life, reviewing their finances to date, working with them to understand their goals to be able to devise a financial plan that will help support these as far as possible.

If you would like to work with a financial planner who will do all of the above to help you plan for your future with confidence, we are happy to offer an initial no-obligation consultation – call 01732 449 799 to book your appointment. 

Based in Tonbridge and West Sussex, Amanda Redman Financial Planning supports clients across Kent, Sussex, Surrey and Greater London  

The value of an investment with St. James's Place will be directly linked to the performance of the funds you select and the value can therefore go down as well as up. You may get back less than you invested.

The levels and bases of taxation and reliefs from taxation can change at any time.  Tax relief is dependent on individual circumstances.