You’re never going to be completely sure you’re making the best decisions until you have clarity about the outcomes, goals and objectives you’re working toward.
Over the years we’ve met thousands of people seeking financial advice, yet it is rare for someone to come with a crystal-clear vision of their long-term financial goal. Usually, it’s a bit vague.
People may talk about stopping work at a specific age but are unclear about what it means financially. Often the answer to a question about how much income is needed in retirement is based on guesswork. And nobody really factors inflation in.
Imagine how productive our work would be if the outcome was defined with precision. Instead of “I want to retire at age 60” the objective was “to retire in 10 years with an income of £75,000 in today’s money, which after 3% annual inflation increases to £100,793”.
Getting clear on the outcomes is very important, though often plays ‘second fiddle’ when people are mostly paid to manage your money.
The initial time we spend with you is about clarifying your long-term vision. It’s unlikely to be right first time, because in our experience a person’s long-term vision tends to change over time, more so when our circumstances change. Nevertheless, the better we are at defining what your ideal future looks like, the better we are at focussing on achieving it.
With long-term clients this isn’t a one-time planning session. We work alongside them year after year adapting to changes and helping them stay on the right course.
It’s a worrying thing not being in control of things, especially our finances. Yet many people we speak to will say they don’t feel fully in control over matters related to money. And money is one of those areas which can easily trigger irrational behaviours in people.
It’s often a result of not having enough clarity about what their money is doing for them, and not knowing how hard their money needs to work to keep them secure. Too often control is handed over to someone whose only interest is managing investments.
Our Financial Planning approach is different to the traditional Wealth Management service because instead of taking control away from you, we give you the answers you need to make choices.
We don’t expect you to understand every nuance of an investment or tax strategy, but we want to explain things clearly enough for you to reach the right conclusion. Where the traditional ‘wealth manager’ makes investing look complicated to justify an expensive management fee, we strip the complexity away.
Clarity and information alone aren’t always enough for us make confident decisions. And without confidence we’ll feel uncomfortable taking the next step.
When the economy swings from good to bad our confidence is shaken. Increased inflation and taxation may cause us to worry but the biggest threat to our confidence is when our investments fall in value.
Share prices fall with alarming frequency. That can make us uncomfortable and reduce our confidence in Stock market investments. It may lead to holding too much money in interest-bearing accounts which is often a mistake, yet without confidence it’s hard to look beyond a simple deposit account.
We’re often most confident about ‘risky’ investments when things are doing well, and we’re least confident when markets have fallen. Successful investors have learned to be confident when everyone else isn’t, but that’s another story.
To help you invest with confidence we take historical investment returns and using the best and worst periods show how different investment choices have performed historically.
We don’t encourage unnecessary activity when markets rise and fall. Instead of chopping and changing your investment strategy we want you to have the confidence to ‘stick with the plan’. It’s hard to do because the financial services sector and the press seems to react to every market movement. It takes a confident person to ignore the noise, stick to the plan, and ultimately keep more of the overall return. We work to give you that confidence.
Yellowtail are trusted financial planners for UK-based individuals & families who provide the clarity, control and confidence to guide you towards a prosperous retirement and financial peace of mind.
We work with people who are ready to make significant decisions about their financial future. Where a financial plan will provide the guidance needed to achieve the retirement you’ve worked hard for. We provide honest and transparent assessments, evidence-backed strategies, and an empowering, uplifting approach that’s aligned with your values.
