Why you should be thinking about wealth management
Ask yourself why you save. The answer is probably to provide security for yourself and your family – but what does security look like? Most of us have an idea of what we think it means to us but do you have tangible evidence that gives you peace of mind? Are you confident that you are saving enough or have adequate provisions in place to provide for the family? And are you aware of just how much risk you are taking with your investments or in fact what risk you need to take to meet your objectives?
We all face a number of issues throughout our lives. For example:
- Maintaining a good lifestyle in retirement
- Understanding the effects of inflation on our wealth
- Dealing with the possibility of long-term care
- Generational Planning and inheritance tax
Any or all of these issues may be at the forefront of your mind and can be a major concern for many individuals. I expect many people reading this could create their own list of issues and priorities which may be very different from those set out above.
The baby boomer generation has been described as the golden generation living in an age of decent healthcare, innovation and relative wealth. Yet many still have concerns about the next phase of their life.
Wealth has been accumulated by many in an ad-hoc and unstructured way, leading to no clear understanding of what really matters and what is important. This is where lifetime financial planning has an important role to play.
The old saying is we do not plan to fail but we fail to plan. This is very true of our everyday lives; security and piece of mind flows from planning. A well executed plan can provide a clear route to understanding what action needs to be taken.
If you wished to extend your home, how would this work? Would a builder turn up on a given day and start work? He may do, but without a plan would the outcome meet your expectations and would it be legal? With such a project you would expect to agree detailed plans, receiving advice from architects, the local authority and builders until you are happy with what is being created for you. You should take a similarly structured approach to planning what to do with your savings.
What does wealth mean to you? What do you want it to do for you? What would make you happy? You should also consider the opportunities your wealth brings to you and your family. What threats are there i.e. inflation, taxation? What circumstances can you control and what is out of your hands? If you cannot control events, what would be the implication if such an event happened?
A well-structured plan delivered by a highly qualified wealth management advisor can provide a clear audit of where you are and a clear blueprint of where you are going.