From our perspective there are two main reasons you would undertake a review of your finances, essentially a Financial health check.

 

It could be to fully establish your present financial position and decide on the best next steps to suit your circumstances.  Alternatively, it may be a case of seeking reassurance that what you already have in place means you are on the right track for the financial objectives you have in mind.

By working with you through this process, we can also ensure matters are organised in the most efficient and effective way to continue to meet your goals or help to establish a plan for your financial future.

Most people understand their personal finances and how to budget on a monthly or yearly basis but few have the skills or the tools needed to extend this to long term financial planning.

We ask questions about you, your everyday money, any savings and investments, your considerations for retirement and whether you have any insurances and protection in place to help understand where you are now and how we help you with your long-term financial planning.

With consideration of everything from the way you are paid, annual tax reviews and your financial protection to building a portfolio of assets and planning for retirement, we can review your status and help you develop a complete understanding of your current financial position and how this may evolve in the future.

Our Role:

• Clearly identifying financial objectives or issues
• Collecting and assessing all relevant personal and financial data: income and expenditure; assets and liabilities; lifestyle cashflow,; investments; net worth
• Processing and analysing all relevant information
• Constructing a written plan showing how to make the most effective use of your financial resources in order to meet your objectives
• Regular reviews, modifying as necessary to account for changing circumstances

Who would benefit most from a financial health check?

Whilst a financial health check would help everyone, our experience suggests that families with young children and those reaching midlife in particular gain huge benefit from undertaking this exercise.

When children arrive it is one of the most exciting times in your life.  It also brings additional responsibilities and costs.  Kids can have a massive impact on a family’s financial situation. Increased day to day living costs as well as the significant cost of childcare and many other expenses sometimes have to be paid from a reduced family income if one of the parents is taking time off.  This is a time when it is vitally important you have your finances in order.

Making sure you do not have money in poor investments or accounts paying low returns. Establishing whether or not your mortgage is on a discounted rate.  Your protection requirements should also be reviewed to ensure if anything happens to either parent the family will be able to survive financially.  Wills need to be reviewed and plans made for future years – especially if your children may be going to university!

If you have children, as they grow up and start to make their own way your financial priorities change (although the bank of Mum and Dad seldom closes).

We tend to spend our 20s and 30s creating the family home, having a mortgage and possibly a few career changes. We then reach a stage where our financial priorities change as we realise that retirement is approaching.

Have I saved enough money?  Is my pension pot going to be big enough? Is my money invested in the right places?  Should I be paying more to my mortgage?  Will my family be affected by Inheritance Tax?  What do I do if my health deteriorates? 

You can also ask yourself some of these key questions:

• Do you have clear financial goals for the next 5, 10 or 20 years?
• If you do, how confident are you about how those goals will be achieved?
• If you do not, what difference would setting those goals and the knowledge that they are achievable make to your life?
• How are you going to move forward from where you are currently financially?

What's the next step?

At McCrea Financial Services, one of the many ways we can help with your financial health check is by obtaining up to date information on existing contracts and policies that you have taken out over the years. 

When it comes to reconciling and indeed in some cases tracking down existing investments, pensions and policies, we are only too pleased to offer this service.

With this information to hand, our specialist advisers will discuss your priorities and objectives and work with you to create your financial plan which helps to prepare you for the years ahead.

Contact us to arrange an initial free-of-charge appointment by calling us on 0141 572 1340 or by emailing our enquiries team with a few details on what you're interested in.