A new year, a new broom… One of the great rituals that we all go through, sometimes unconsciously, at the beginning of a new year is the promise of improving certain aspects of our lives. Each year at Acuvest as the 4th quarter rolls around, quite a few of our existing clients and soon-to-be clients contact us, seeking meetings early in the upcoming new year. While they’re seeking help with their finances, sometimes they’re not sure exactly what help they need.
Often when we begin these meetings with them, they are somewhat taken aback and pleasantly surprised at the breadth of the meeting content. While our financial review process naturally includes a deep dive into your current investments and how potentially your strategy can be improved for the benefit of your wealth, the starting point is far from there.
We take this opportunity to set out what it means to be a client of Acuvest and to articulate the real value that we can add. And this begins by really understanding you, your life, your motivations, and your aspirations for the future, in the context of your entire life. Because when we fully appreciate the life that you want to lead, then we can help you make best use of your financial resources and your potential to achieve that desired life.
At the end of the day, financially enabling a desired future life usually comes down to a few simple steps. First of all, it is about having a good sense of what future you are aiming towards, being able to fully articulate your goals. How you will live your life, where you will live, what you will own, where you will travel, what you want to avoid, and many other important and thoughtful questions. Then it is about developing a robust financial plan that will enable the future aspirations to be achieved.
This financial plan will contain a deep dive into your existing financial circumstances, building a clear picture of whether you have, or will have, sufficient financial firepower to achieve your ambitions. Or alternatively what priority to assign to those goals, and the changes that will need to be made to make your ambitions achievable. These choices might include saving more, spending less, a different investment strategy or leveraging tax efficiencies. Maybe it will take all of these, and more! Thankfully for some, having considered the most efficient way to fund your objectives, the focus moves to thinking about how best to invest the residual amount for the next generation, while maintaining alignment with your beliefs and values.
Whatever your circumstances, our process is designed to result in you having a realistic plan of what you need to do to achieve your objectives. As the plan needs to be one you are happy with, if the first run contains suggestions that you don’t like or don’t want to consider now, then we can re-consider and re-prioritise your goals. Are they within reach if you maintain focus, or already attained and giving you the opportunity to expand your horizons? Or are you shooting beyond the stars, aiming for a life that you realistically can’t achieve and that will leave you disappointed in the future?
The numbers won’t lie, you’ll end up with a roadmap that will give you the confidence about achieving your full potential.
At this point, we’ve reached the starting line! Now it’s time for the hard yards to begin.
Now we know where you’re trying to get to and your ability to reach that point, our role is to help you achieve it financially. And we do this by making carefully considered recommendations about every aspect of your financial life. This might include our thoughts on your savings and expenditure approach, how you might be planning to exit your business, tax efficiencies in relation to your money and your plans in relation to gifting and estate planning. And wrapped around all of this is your investment strategy and ensuring this is optimised in line with your values, your risk profile, and your growth ambitions.
Probably the only thing that is certain at this stage is that everything will change as the years progress. For this reason, regular reviews and forward planning meetings are critical. These are the opportunities to review your changed circumstances, your changing objectives in life and how your investments are performing in line with your objectives. Have your investment values changed, are you happy with the level of risk being taken and are their opportunities for you to achieve your investment objectives through lower cost investment solutions?
These are the “bread and butter” of what we do with our clients every year, with both them and us focused on a single end point – helping you achieve your financial goals that will enable the life that you want to lead.
