Our Process
We believe that our approach can be summarised by one simple rule: simply to do what is best for our clients.
STEP BY STEP
How We Work With You
01
The starting point is to gain an understanding of our client’s financial position, of their objectives, and, just as importantly, of their future aspirations, and their feelings towards the things that are important in their lives.
02
We then look to develop a financial plan that is both realistic and practical, and incorporate our cashflow modelling system into this, so as to give a clear picture of how our financial planning will be put into practice.
03
Only at this point do we look to recommend a particular product. Any recommendation from our company will only ever come from a Chartered Financial Planner, meaning that you will always receive professionally qualified advice.
04
We offer a full ongoing review service, including an annual face to face review meeting (or more often upon request), cash flow modelling, and continuous investment analysis to ensure your plan remains on track.
INVESTMENT APPROACH
Our Investment Approach
Your pension represents your life savings, and are the product of a lifetime of hard work. So we don’t want to subject them to any unnecessary risk. And there is no need to.
At Kingsley Financial Consulting, we will only ever place your funds with long standing, reputable firms, who have a strong credit rating, and who have a consistent track record of long term investment performance.
Investing isn’t complicated: quite simply, there are four asset classes you can invest into. These are equities (i.e. the stockmarket), fixed interest (i.e. government gilts and corporate bonds), property (by property we typically mean commercial property), and cash.
Any investment strategy simply involves combining a mixture of these asset classes in the way that is most appropriate for the level of risk you are prepared to take. By diversifying your portfolio across the asset classes, and also geographically, we look to minimise any downside risk.
THE IMPORTANCE
Why Low Charges Matter
Quite simply, there are only ever two things that will affect the value of your pension fund: investment performance and charges.
Recently, the FCA, in the Asset Management Consultation Paper, made the point that over the years the vast majority of investment management firms that have charged excessively for access to their funds have not produced investment returns that have justified their high charges.
Therefore at Kingsley Financial Consulting our approach is quite simple: we look for long standing companies who have produced consistently strong long term performance, and who have made the decision to significantly reduce their charges over recent years. Some companies have reduced their charges, some haven’t. Quite simply, we don’t recommend the companies that haven’t, because there is no research which suggests that this would be in our clients’ best interests.
CHARGES GUARANTEE
Our Charges Guarantee
The total charge of any pension portfolio, to include pension company charge and adviser charge, will never exceed 1% per annum.
The initial charge for any advice will never exceed 1%.
It is your life savings, and it is better that as much as possible of it remains in your fund.
Modeling
Cash Flow Modelling
The major requirement of a pension fund is that it provides you with sufficient income for the lifestyle you require for the rest of your life.
At Kingsley Financial Consulting we take a more scientific approach to this, rather than leave it to guesswork.
We do this via cash flow modelling, whereby we input all your financial circumstances, and model this to ascertain whether your pension fund will be sufficient to provide you with the income you require, for the remainder of your life.
As investment risk means nobody can ever guarantee that your fund will not fall in value, we also provide modelling based upon a worst case scenario, so as to establish how things would look if the worst were to happen.
This way, you can be confident that any advice is based upon a robust process, rather than just on guesswork.
INVESTMENT ANALYSIS
Defaqto Investment Analysis
We use our investment analysis software Defaqto, to ensure that the investment funds and products we recommend from across the whole of the market are evidence based, and fully backed up by consistent performance, over the longer term, and also that they are properly risk managed, and within the level of risk that our clients are prepared to accept.
Our Service Agreement
We have a service agreement in place which outlines the ongoing service we offer our clients, as we believe this is an integral part of good quality financial advice. We also ensure that we adhere 100 per cent to the terms of the service agreement.
‘Would you do this with your own money?’ This is the most important question a financial adviser should ask of themselves, and the answer to this should always be yes. It is a requirement within our company that this must be the case.
FAQS
Frequently Asked Questions
Currently it is 55. However, this will increase from 2028 to age 57.
Generally speaking from a personal pension or defined contribution workplace pension it is 25% of the fund value, although it can be more than this in certain circumstances
Tax free cash payments are not subject to income tax. However income payments are subject to income tax at the marginal rate of the policyholder.
Generally speaking under Flexi Access Drawdown, the pension fund remains invested, and therefore subject to investment risk. The policyholder has the flexibility to withdraw tax free cash and/or income payments as they choose, with no upper limit. These amounts can be varied at any time.
Under an annuity, payments are fixed and are guaranteed and therefore not subject to investment risk. Once in payment under a guaranteed annuity income payments cannot be varied.
If death occurs before the age of 75, then the funds can be passed on to the policyholder’s nominated beneficiaries free of tax.
If death occurs after the age of 75, then the beneficiaries will receive the funds subject to tax at their marginal rate of income tax.
However, as outlined below, with effect from April 2027, pension funds will be included in the estate for Inheritance Tax (IHT) purposes. Therefore, from this date, any pension funds which are in excess of the estate’s Nil Rate Band will be subject to IHT at 40%.
Yes under Flexi Access Drawdown, children can be nominated as beneficiaries to receive pension funds
Yes, as annuity rates are generally based upon life expectancy, if you are in poor health, it is possible to obtain an impaired life annuity, otherwise known as an enhanced annuity, which offers a higher level of income than standard annuity rates.
As stated above, from April 2027 defined contribution pension schemes will be classed as being part of the estate for IHT purposes, and therefore will be potentially subject to IHT, if the total value of the estate including pension funds is in excess of the Nil Rate Band.
Yes, pension funds can be arranged from very low risk to high risk, and will always be arranged in accordance with a client’s attitude to risk, which will be ascertained by completion of a Risk Questionnaire, and other risk profiling methods.
Yes, if you have a number of policies, it is possible to consolidate them into one policy, which can potentially provide simplicity and ease of administration.
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