Independent Wealth Management Advice for Yorkshire Clients

We advise on building retirement savings tax-efficiently, reviewing existing pension arrangements, and planning for the transition into retirement. This includes advice on defined contribution pensions, SIPPs, workplace schemes and the options available at retirement — including drawdown, annuities and tax-free cash. We also advise those already in retirement on managing income, preserving capital and planning for later life.

We provide advice on investment portfolios, ISAs, general investment accounts and other savings vehicles, based on your financial goals, time horizon and attitude to investment risk. As independent advisers, we research the whole of the market and are not tied to any particular investment provider or platform. All investment recommendations take into account your capacity for loss as well as your risk tolerance.

We advise on personal and business protection arrangements including life assurance, critical illness cover, income protection, relevant life policies, key person insurance and shareholder protection. Protection planning is often overlooked until it is needed — we help clients understand the risks they face and the options available to manage them appropriately.

We help clients consider how their wealth will be distributed on death, the potential inheritance tax position of their estate, and the options available to manage it — including the use of trusts, gifting strategies, business property relief and pension planning. Estate planning involves both financial advice and legal considerations — we work alongside WDS’s tax advisers and, where appropriate, with solicitors.

We review existing pension arrangements to assess whether they remain appropriate for your current circumstances and retirement goals — including the investment options, charges, death benefit nominations and any guarantees or safeguarded benefits the policy may carry. Where a pension contains safeguarded benefits above £30,000, a transfer can only be recommended following advice from a pension transfer specialist.

Where appropriate, we use cash flow modelling to provide a visual picture of your financial future — projecting income, expenditure, assets and liabilities over time to help you understand whether your plans are sustainable and what the impact of different decisions or scenarios might be. Cash flow modelling is an illustration, not a guarantee of future outcomes.

We help clients make use of available tax allowances and reliefs within their financial planning — including ISA allowances, pension annual allowances, capital gains tax annual exemptions and inheritance tax exemptions. Our tax planning work is carried out in conjunction with WDS’s tax advisers where clients use both services, ensuring the financial advice and tax position are considered together.

We offer a free initial meeting to all prospective clients. There is no charge for this meeting and no obligation to proceed. It is an opportunity for us to understand your situation and for you to understand how we work. Following the meeting, if there is an advice requirement, we will explain what work is involved and confirm our charges before any work is undertaken.