Case Studies

Client Profile: Dr James Stone – Hospital Consultant

• James is 40 and married with three children aged between 3 and 11.
• He has recently inherited £100,000 and is unsure about what to do with the money.
• He thought about making a large overpayment into his mortgage, but at the same time was also considering investing some of the money to help his children at university.
• The last time he met with a Financial Adviser was many years ago as a junior doctor when he arranged some Income Protection.
• He also arranged some Critical Illness Cover with his bank when he bought his property.
• He started to research the options for himself on the internet but after a conversation with a close colleague, it became clear that he needed to speak to a Financial Planning Professional.
• His colleague recommended James contact Imagine Financial Planning.

The Challenges

• To clearly understand his current and future priorities in relation to the Inheritance.
• To determine James feelings on investment risk and help him understand his options in relation to his unique situation.
• To explore a combination of options relating to either an overpayment into his mortgage account or a lump sum investment towards his children's university fees.
• To complete a Protection and Risk Review to see how he feels about the level of current protection for his family.
• To understand the benefits of working closely with a Financial Planner.

What we did together

• Imagine Financial Planning provided a complimentary initial meeting to explain how our services could benefit James.
• James decided to proceed ahead with a Discovery Meeting during which we discussed his initial thoughts on what he should do with the Inheritance.
• We also explored the impact of premature death and/or disability on his family's future.
• We asked James to complete our Financial Planning Questionnaire which collated all his relevant personal and financial information.
• During the subsequent Financial Planning Meeting, we helped clarify James' priorities and discussed and presented the various solutions.
• An individual Cash Flow projection illustrated the impact of overpaying into his mortgage and investing for his children's future.

The changes in James's life.

• James made a decision to invest £50,000 into an Investment Strategy for his children's university fees utilising his and his wife's tax efficient ISA allowances over the next three years.
• James moved to an Offset Mortgage and linked £40,000 in a savings account to his mortgage. This linked the savings return on his deposit savings to his mortgage interest rate with no tax liability and still provided accessibility to the capital in the event of any unforeseen emergencies.
• After the Discovery Meeting, James decided he really wanted to save for a trip to Australia with his family within the next three years and invested £10,000 of his Inheritance into a separate linked offset savings account with the intention of sweeping spare income each month into this account. James decided he wanted increased the level of security for his family and improve his Protection arrangements. James now has a positive outlook on his finances and feels that his money is linked to what he really wants to achieve for his future.

* These case studies are theoretical and based on a number of clients scenarios to illustrate our advice process *