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Client case study - direct approach based on reputation

Client profile

Mr and Mrs B approached us in 1998, one year prior to Mr B's retirement, having learned of us through his work for one of the regulatory bodies.

Mr B had worked in the City of London for most of his life and Mrs B was a housewife. They lived in a large property close to a main line station on the route into London and had grown-up children and grandchildren.

Following retirement Mr B under took consultancy work for a further 2 years and the combination of both the consultancy income and Mr B's main pension ensured that Mr and Mrs B had sufficient income to meet their desired standard of living.

Investment objective

Their objective on Mr B's retirement was to invest the proceeds of his retirement lump sum and to sell their main residence, reinvesting some of the proceeds for income and buying a smaller property nearer to their family. In addition as both Mr and Mrs B's parents had lived well into their 90's, they were keen to invest initially for capital growth as they were conscious of the effect of inflation on their capital over the next 30 years.

After meeting with one of our Advisers and going through a full analysis of their current financial position including their tax status, their attitude to risk and their objectives, Mr and Mrs B became clients.

Investment

Their initial investment was £100,000 cash. Mr and Mrs B were relatively low to moderate risk takers and therefore it was agreed that a combination of both guaranteed and risk based investments should be used to meet their investment objectives. The investments were established in such a way that through regular maturities on an annual basis, maturing capital could be 'rolled' annually into the Individual Savings Account. This was seen as sound advice as Mr B was likely to remain a higher rate taxpayer for the rest of his life. Further investment has been made over their years with us and as part of the service offered to Mr and Mrs B they have a portfolio with a wide mix of investments and maturity dates. They now have Fixed Rate bonds maturing in the Spring and Autumn each year and regular 6-monthly meetings with their dedicated investment Adviser arranged either at their home or in our London office depending upon their preference.

Client's experience

As the years have passed, Mr and Mrs B have seen fluctuations in their growth portfolios, through the rises in the late 90's, the falls between 2000 and 2003 and the subsequent rises from 2003. However, through establishing a portfolio with a mixture of both guaranteed and risk based investments, they have been able to feel comfortable with their investments as their portfolio has been established in full recognition of their attitude to risk.

Mr and Mrs B have now been clients for over 8 years. They have told us that they are happy with the choice they made to approach us for the management and guidance of their investments and some of the reasons for this contentment and overall satisfaction are listed below.

• They were looking to develop a long-term relationship with an organisation and as such were looking for someone they felt they could trust in the medium to long-term and not just for the first few years.
• They were looking for an organisation with a good reputation, whose advice was based on sound principles, not just flavour of the month investments.
• They were looking for regular face-to-face contact. They were conscious that in the early years after setting up their investment portfolio, there would be changes to their lifestyle and they wanted to establish a portfolio that was flexible enough to allow change if required.
• They were keen to have the ultimate say in the direction that their portfolio would take i.e. how much income they required and what their attitude to risk was, but they wanted to hand over the day-to-day running of their portfolio to a professional organisation.
• They were looking for an adviser and organisation that would speak their mind and be proactive enough to say what they felt was in their client's best interest and not just agree with everything that they said. As long as the adviser did not change the risk profile of their portfolio, they appreciate the honest advice.
• They were also looking to their adviser and the organisation, to keep them informed as to changes in the investment industry and keep them informed about changes to legislation that may well affect them. In particular, they have been appreciative of generic information given to them about changes made to Inheritance Tax legislation in recent Budgets.