The client journey

Financial planning doesn’t need to be complicated. Our simple five-step process will make it easier for you to get where you want to be, and put safeguards in place for any curveballs life might throw your way.

Your experience with us

01

Initial meeting

We start things off with an initial meeting, which is an opportunity for us to simply get to know each other in more depth. We’ll learn more about your circumstances and what you’re looking to achieve, and may gather some more information about your current financial situation.

Of course, this session works both ways! It’s really important that you get to know more about how we work and what we can do for you. We’ll explain our services in detail and ultimately decide whether we’re the right fit for working together. This initial meeting is free of charge.

02

Analysis and research

If we decide to work together, we’ll start to analyse your current situation. This will include a fact-find where we can understand more about your existing pensions, investments and other assets, and identify where we can make improvements.

Armed with the information we need, we’ll then go and search the whole of the market for the most appropriate solutions for your needs. We’re an independent firm, which means you can be sure we’re always acting in your best interests. We’ll then build your bespoke financial plan based on our recommendations.

03

Presenting your plan

Once your plan is complete, we’ll arrange another meeting with you to present our recommendations. We’ll talk them through in detail with visual guides where appropriate, exploring various “what-if” scenarios and how certain choices could affect your future.

You’ll have the opportunity to ask questions and provide your feedback, and we can make adjustments until you’re completely happy with the end product. Of course, there’s no obligation to take our advice at this stage and you’re welcome to simply take your plan away.

04

Implementing your plan

If you’re happy to proceed with our recommendations, we can set about putting them into place. First, we’ll handle any administration and paperwork, completing them in advance where we can and dealing with them on your behalf as much as possible. Then we’ll make any necessary applications, keeping a close eye on their progress.

Every step of the way, we’ll make sure you’re fully informed about everything that’s happening. All you’ll need to do is carry on as normal and watch your plan come to life.

05

Ongoing reviews

Life is always changing, so it’s only natural that your plan should change with it. If you opt in for our ongoing services, we’ll meet at least once a year to revisit your financial plan and see how well you’re progressing towards your goals.

If you’ve had any changes in circumstances or objectives, or if we’ve discovered new options that might get you to your goals faster, we can make these changes. Whatever happens, we’ll make sure we’re working towards the outcome that’s right for you.

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What does life-long financial advice
look like?

If you haven’t thought about how much you can save, and/or how much extra you can earn over your life, consider this timeline:

Age

Move the slider along and see how we can support you in different life stages
Student loans
Marriage/
Children
Lifestyle priorities
House deposit
House purchase
School fees
Promotion
Higher salary
Bigger house
Support children
Phased retirement
Fully retire
Smaller house
Lower cash needs
Long term care
Bequests
20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90

Creating wealth

Ensuring you maximise your standard of living for when you do not want to work so hard.

Protecting wealth

Protecting you and your family’s standard of living against the unexpected.

Property wealth

Ensuring the best arrangements for your home, second home, buy-to-let or commercial properties.

Managing wealth

Making the most of tax-efficient investment opportunities so that money is available when you want to spend it.

Property wealth

Ensuring the best arrangements for your home, second home, buy-to-let or commercial properties.

Protecting wealth

Protecting you and your family’s standard of living against the unexpected.

Business wealth

Helping small and medium-sized enterprises to grow and become more profitable.

Protecting wealth

Protecting you and your family’s standard of living against the unexpected.

Preserving wealth

Preserving the value of your estate for the benefit of your family.

Retaining wealth

Retaining more of your hard-earned money legally and ethically.

The experience has been second too none, we have been kept informed of every step and progress made. Scottsdale staff have been courteous, polite and helpful throughout. We would not hesitate to use Scottsdale again.
Thank you to Ellis, Karen, Donna and staff for all your support through this process.

Mr & Mrs F

Stephen is a professional, knowledgeable, thorough and diligent adviser. He takes the time to get to know his clients and is, thus, able to reflect their values in his product suggestions. Stephen has successfully guided me through various national financial crises, personal crises and redundancy with consideration and confidence, Stephen's outstanding professional abilities are combined with a strong desire to achieve the best results for his clients . I continue to receive trusted, in depth advice at a time and location to suit me. This is the gold standard of financial advice.

Ms S

Right from the ‘get go’ Stephen was quick to put my worried mind to rest, explaining the process, options and benefits of each. His style is warm and open, answering all questions posed without haste or omission, dispensing guidance and direction along the way with no hint of urgency or sales patter. Ultimately after a couple of home visits we agreed on the best way forward, to my complete satisfaction. This was not the end of the story, he still keeps in touch to let me know how the pension is developing and any news of the industry that could affect me directly. In closing, if you are apprehensive about sorting your pension needs, then I would highly recommend him to you. He is honest, hardworking, professional with a friendly warmth that is rarely found in business these days. I am so very pleased I made his acquaintance.

Mr L

Stephen has been offering me financial advice and managing my investments for 8 years. I am always completely up to date with where I stand financially and never afraid, or embarrassed to ask very basic questions – Stephen makes the whole process easy to understand. He has taken the time to understand my attitude to risk and my financial aspirations for the future, so I am always confident that he will advise me in my best interests. On top of all of that, he’s approachable and great to deal with – which makes life so much easier.

Mrs C

After nearly 47 years in the packaging industry my long term employer offered me an enhanced lump sum for my pension. Luckily I have several friends in the village who had previously been in similar positions and they recommended that I talk to Stephen Cooper. He and I had several lengthy meetings after our introduction and in those his advice has always been clear, concise and in terms that I could understand. We covered tax liabilities, capital gains tax and many other issues covering methods to maximise returns on my lump sum. Coupled with this I have always found him timely with his guidance and as a result I recommended to my son that he should attend the last face-to-face meeting I had with Stephen which he did and he found it extremely useful in planning his financial future.

Mr B

Sam is extremely knowledgeable and patient when explaining the options we had for our retirement income after we made the decision to realise the benefits of our capital. He is extremely thoughtful and explained our options fully. His help has enabled us to make decisions on our pension which we were unaware of until all options were explained fully to us and for this we are extremely grateful to him. We cannot fault Sam's commitment to getting to the correct end result.

Mr & Mrs K