We pay for your first meeting. This time is to see if we’re a good fit with one another. We’ll explain our costs and services, and see if we can help you with your goals.

To find out if we can help you, we need to get to know you as a person - what you want to achieve, when you expect that to be, and what’s important to you.

If we’re both happy that we are right for you, we’ll agree the best way to start.

Taking the time to understand you lets us build an investment plan that’s tailored specifically to you.

The key to this is creating your own ‘risk profile’. We’ll plan your finances and your investments based on what you want from your wealth and when you want it. We’ll also look at the assets you have already and how much risk you’re comfortable with to achieve your goals.

Whether you’re planning for your children’s school fees in 10 years’ time or your retirement fund in 30, your risk profile is unique to you.

No two financial plans are the same. This is the stage where tailor a unique plan that combines your risk with everything else we know about you and your aspirations.

It may not always be possible to achieve your exact goals at your desired risk level. We’ll discuss alternatives, such as easing your goals, increasing investment, or taking more risk.

After your planning meeting, we’ll formalise our recommendations into your own bespoke wealth and financial planning report.

This will outline the method, strategy and expected results of our plan, as well as detailing the costs.

We’ll agree all our fees with you at the start, confirming how much input you want from us and the amount of work this will need. This lets us budget our time and make sure that your fees accurately reflect what you’ll get from us.

Some investments may only need a simple plan and minimal monitoring while others may be smaller in value but more complex.

Once we’ve agreed the plan and the costs, we can begin to put your plan into action.

We’ll now formally take on all of your existing investments and discuss appointing investment managers where appropriate. You’ll get a copy of your plans and the fee schedules, along with any other information you may need about your account.

During this step, we’ll keep you up-to-date throughout, so you know everything that’s happening and what needs to be done.

Just because you’ve signed the agreement doesn’t mean we drop off the radar – we’ll keep in touch.

Your plan is now set up and running. We’ll keep a close eye on it to make sure it’s performing within the agreed risk levels. If we’re worried about anything or think we need to make any changes, we’ll get in touch.

Every six months, you’ll get a valuation of your account as well as a written investment review, and you can speak to us as often as you like between these updates.

At least once a year, we’ll also invite you to a meeting to talk about your plan and how it’s performing. We’ll run through our investment process again to check that your plan is the best it can be. For us, our advice is an ongoing relationship.

We understand that your goals can change over the years. That’s why we make sure that your plan continues to work for you by regularly monitoring your investments and reviewing your financial goals.