Advice services
What the advice actually is.
Four kinds of work. Each one is explained below, including what it does not cover. If a question sits outside them, we say so before you spend a fee.
01. Lifetime financial planning
A written picture of the life the money has to support: what you spend now, the year you intend to work less, and who relies on you if something goes wrong.
- Covers
- A lifetime cashflow, the savings rate that funds it, and the few risks that would actually break the plan.
- Does not
- A product recommendation on its own. The plan comes first. Investments are chosen only to serve it.
02. Investment advice
Portfolios built for a timeframe you can name. We look across funds, platforms, and cash, then recommend only where the holding fits your tax position and your tolerance for a fall.
- Covers
- Asset mix, fund and platform selection, costs, and how the portfolio is rebalanced when life — not the market headline — changes.
- Does not
- Commission for placing a fund. We do not earn more by choosing a particular provider.
03. Retirement and pensions
The order in which to spend pensions, ISAs, and cash, and whether drawdown, an annuity, or a blend is the calmer path. Defined-benefit transfers are treated as the exception.
- Covers
- Contribution and withdrawal strategy, tax on the way out, and a written note of the option we did not choose.
- Does not
- Moving a defined-benefit pension unless the case for transferring is unusually strong. If it is not, we say so and stop.
04. Protection and estate coordination
Where a plan fails if someone dies, becomes ill, or leaves an estate unstructured, that gap is part of the advice — not an afterthought bolted on at the end.
- Covers
- The cover required to keep the plan standing, and a brief your solicitor can use on wills, trusts, and lasting powers of attorney.
- Does not
- Drafting wills or trust deeds. Legal documents stay with your solicitor. We do not sell cover you have not asked us to consider.
Consultation
Ask for an introductory conversation.
Tell us, briefly, what you want to talk about. In a working practice, Helen replies within two working days to offer a forty-minute meeting — in Marylebone, or by video.
- The meeting is not charged.
- It is not advice, and it does not make you a client.