Our clients trust us to manage over £300 million of their money.
As we value our clients privacy highly, we choose not to show our clients comments or names as testimonies. However we do recognise the important of demonstrating how our clients value us, therefore below is the summary of how our clients rate us
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A couple from Cambridgeshire , who at the time of the initial meeting were aged 55, asked to meet with us to help establish if they could afford to fulfil their dream of retiring early at age 60. They had worked hard over their lives and saved a considerable sum of money, which in total equated to almost £700,000. These savings had accumulated over the years at one or two investments at a time, rather than being part of a structured plan. The result was that these were held across a bewildering 39 different types of savings plan.
Having discussed and established their income needs to support their retirement, a cash flow plan was put in place to release the income at the stages they needed it. This took into account not only the occupational and private pension income taken at 60, but also the additional income shortfall whilst they were waiting for their state pensions to start later in life.
Once the cash flow plan was built, a thorough review of their existing plans was undertaken to establish the most efficient way of achieving it. Considerable consolidation of the accounts held was taken, to ensure a more manageable and cost efficient investment portfolio was held. The new portfolio was built in line with the level of investment risk and cash flow required, whilst taking advantage of cost savings by greater buying power achieved via the consolidation, rather than holding so many investments separately.
Regular reviews will be undertaken to adapt to changing life circumstances and needs, to ensure the plan continues to support this couples' early retirement and lifestyle.
A recently retired client from Suffolk needed to supplement his state pension from his own pension provision. His spouse had very little of her own pension, therefore it was very important to our clients to consider her needs, should he pre-decease her.
The pension fund was £400,000 and having assessed their other sources of income and expenditure, they required a further £15,000 net income per annum.
We helped our clients establish a phased drawdown pension to achieve their target net income figure by taking a mixture of tax free cash and income, thus providing a very tax efficient income stream, retaining all other retirement income options should their circumstances change. This also meant maximising death benefits for the spouse by only taking income from a portion of the pension, with the residual fund death benefits providing return of fund on death tax free to the spouse or family.
A suitable investment strategy to support these objectives was also designed and managed on an ongoing basis with regular client reviews, to ensure these plans continued to meet their needs.
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A Charity in Lincolnshire approached us for advice on their significant investment portfolio. Initially we worked with the trustees to enable them to formulate a documented investment strategy with their long term objectives and preferences in mind. Once this was done we then conducted an in depth review of their existing investments which had been held for a long time without amendment, to establish if these still met their objectives and were the most suitable use of their funds. We identified that not only did the existing portfolio hold more risk than the trustees felt acceptable, but the investments were not as diversified as they could be and some of the investment management costs were not as low as could now be obtained with careful planning.
A new investment strategy was designed in line with the trustees long term objectives. The priorities being to generate some income for charitable distributions, but also being mindful of the long term effects of inflation, therefore ensuring sufficient growth was retained within the portfolio so that the charity could continue its good work for decades to come.
This was achieved via a highly diversified investment strategy, minimising costs through efficient planning.
Quarterly reviews ensure the strategy continues to meet the charities requirements.
An existing client from Cambridgeshire, who had unfortunately recently become a widow, inherited further funds from a relative. These additional funds would have meant a significant inheritance tax liability would be left to come out of her estate on her death, which she and her family wanted to avoid if possible. An income and expenditure analysis was undertaken alongside her trusted family accountant from Whitings Chartered Accountants, to establish what her likely lifetime cash needs were. We established the level of funds she was likely to need for her lifetime, plus a bit extra to cover any unforeseen emergencies and the possibility of any health care that may be needed in the future.
The amount of funds that were deemed surplus to her requirements was established. A Deed of Variation was undertaken with her solicitor and accountant, to pass on this sum, which was therefore deemed to come out of the recently inherited funds, to her family for their immediate benefit. This meant that these funds were out of her estate for inheritance tax calculations saving 40% on a significant sum, her family were able to enjoy the benefits earlier in their lives when it was of real use to them and our client had the peace of mind knowing this inheritance tax issue had been resolved.
Please note that taxation and inheritance tax planning are not regulated by The Financial Conduct Authority.
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A local business approached us, initially to discover more about the obligations facing them to provide Workplace Pensions for their employees as part of the Government's "Auto-Enrolment" project. Having assessed the workforce and determined a schedule of tasks to comply with their requirements, the client took the view that they did not have the time or the knowledge to take on the task themselves and engaged us to assist.
We established a low-cost pension scheme with NEST for the purpose of enrolling all entitled workers and provided the appropriate platform to integrate with the client’s payroll software. This ensured that the correct premiums are collected from the relevant parties and paid over to NEST and that the day-to-day operation and compliance with the Workplace Pension regulations are adhered to without a significant time-burden on the employer.
Whitings Wealth Management questionnaire results from our new & existing clients.
(Please click on the graph to see the question)
1) My adviser provided a detailed analysis and evaluation of my current situation
2) I am happy that I understand how I am progressing to achieving my goals
3) My adviser communicated with me in a clear and unambiguous way
4) I felt that the time meeting with my adviser was well spent
1) I felt that my adviser understood my financial circumstances, goals and aspirations
2) My adviser gave a clear explanation of the potential risks associated with any recommended product or service and took appropriate measures to understand the level of risk I was prepared to take in relation to my goals and objectives
3) I believe that any products or services offered were suitable to my needs and I was given a clear explanation as to why
4) Given my experience, I feel that the company/individual operate in such a way that the concept of treating customers fairly is central to their culture.
Whitings Wealth Management Ltd • 12/13 The Crescent, Wisbech, Cambs, PE13 1EH. UK
Tel: 01945 581937 •info@whitingswm.co.uk
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