FINANCE COMMUNITY EXPERT: Claritas Wealth
The difference between financial planning and traditional financial advice by Tim Walsham, Claritas Wealth.
The difference between financial planning and traditional financial advice
by Tim Walsham, Claritas Wealth
The ‘old school’, traditional method of providing financial advice went something like this.
An initial meeting to conduct a ‘factfind’ and work out what financial products you already have. There would be a relatively superficial discussion around what you wanted to achieve financially in order to establish goals and objectives.
The adviser then goes away and researches those existing products for suitability and prepares some recommendations.
The second meeting would be a presentation meeting where the adviser would go through a report and try to persuade the client to ‘sign up’ to the recommendations and take out various products and maybe switch some existing investments and pensions to be looked after by the adviser.
On an annual basis there would be a review meeting where the adviser would run through the performance of the investments and chat through any changes in your circumstances. There would be some discussion around whether you were on track to achieve your goals but it was all a bit woolly.
All in all, pretty uninspiring.
This is still going on in some quarters of the financial advice profession but there is a better way.
Modern financial planning advice looks a bit more like this –
A first meeting (Discovery) that is much more about you than your money. The adviser will want to know everything about you; how you got to where you are today and where you want to be in the future. What are your hopes, dreams, aspirations and fears? What does a good life look like for you? This initial discussion is a world apart from the old school ‘factfinding’ meeting. It’s all about your life, not your money.
The next step (that is missing from the traditional model) is to construct a financial plan before making any product recommendations. You’ll go through a process where the adviser will look to work out the cost of your desired lifestyle and calculate whether you’re currently on track. If not, what needs to happen to get you on track?
There might be a second meeting to gather some of the hard facts and discuss what scenarios will be created in the financial plan (e.g. different retirement dates or spending levels etc).
The third meeting is where the financial plan is discussed in an interactive way using powerful financial planning software (that understands tax and pensions etc) and can be amended live in the meeting. It’s not a presentation and it has nothing to do with selling financial products.
The financial plan is all about balancing what you spend now versus what you spend later and avoiding regrets.
Advice will be given across all areas of your financial planning, not just investments, e.g. estate planning or position on death or incapacity etc.
Then and only then will financial product recommendations be made. Because the time has been spent to get to know you and understand what’s important to you, we know how much money you need and when you will need it. The recommendations therefore flow out of the financial plan; it’s simply a case of matching the money to when you need it and making sure that the right amount is available at the right time.
On an ongoing basis, the discussions about your life and changes in the wider world will continue. We know that things will change. It’s inevitable but the financial plan can be amended easily to reflect these changes.
The end goal is that you reach a ripe old age, look back and feel like you’ve given life a really good go. The old school traditional financial advice model is really unlikely to do that.
The Post Local Area Donation Challenge
It all begins with an idea.
Can your local community be the top donors and raise funds to enable that community to receive The Post to their door?
We are only able to print and pay for distribution in volumes of 1,000, and so to deliver directly to 1,000 homes, we need to raise £250 and we are aiming to deliver to as many homes as possible in each local area in each borough currently covered by a Post Community Newspaper.
As an example, based on a local area with approximately 5,000 homes, to deliver a copy of The Post to every home in this local area would cost £1,250 per month, requiring a donation of 25p per household, per month - that’s less than a single packet of crisps. This would mean an annual donation of £3 per household to deliver directly to homes every month - that’s less than just one cup of coffee bought at a coffee shop.
The figures given above only work if every household donates and so distribution to every home in any one local area can only be achieved if sufficient donations are received to cover every household.
We know donating is not possible for everyone. And so should only some donations be received, we will focus on using the donations to fund delivery to the streets where donations have been made to ensure at least some homes receive their local community newspaper. Should anyone feel they are able to donate a little more to support those who may be unable to donate, this would be greatly appreciated.
Initially, donations for this ‘challenge’ will run until the end of September 2025 with the aim to deliver door-to-door with any funds raised for October (and beyond if possible).
Can you rally your street/neighbouring streets/local community to get behind this campaign to support residents by ensuring they receive their local Post Community Newspaper?
Which local community will raise the most donations to support their neighbours to receive positive and essential local news and information in print?
We’ll keep you updated on donation totals so you can see which communities are raising the most toward door-to-door distribution for their local area.
Please note: we will use all donations to cover the cost of door-to-door delivery. We need to be able to cover the cost of a minimum of 1,000 newspapers to deliver to entire streets in the area where donations have been made as it is not possible to deliver to just one or two homes that have donated should the cost of that 1,000 not be met.
Heatons and Reddish Bee Trail
Returning over the school Whit Holiday at the end of May, the Heatons and Reddish Bee trail will see local shops and community venues display bee-themed decorations to make a buzz around the local area.
Complete the trail of participating venues, collect the letter in each window, and answer the bee-related question. A fun, free family activity to enjoy while getting out and about in the local area.
Trail sheets available to download here soon, with print versions available to pick up from participating venues.
Trail Dates: 26 - 31 May 2025
Location: The Heatons and Reddish (SK4 & SK5)
Participating Venues:
Reddish Library (Reddish)
Life Leisure Houldsworth Village (Reddish)
Marbury Edible Garden (Heaton Chapel)
FEED (Heaton Chapel)
Supportability (Heaton Moor)
Blue Door Flowers (Heaton Moor)
Blaggs (Heaton Moor)
Art Club (Heaton Moor)
Heaton Moor Park -Tennis Court (Heaton Moor)
Macaris (Heaton Mersey)
Supported by
