Your First Meeting With A Financial Adviser

Thinking about meeting with a financial adviser, especially for the first time, can conjure up all sorts of questions and emotions. We hear them all the time. Will they be really stuffy and formal? Will I understand what they’re saying? Will they think my finances are a mess? Will I know the answers to the questions they’ll ask me?

Firstly, we don’t judge. We don’t expect you to have your finances perfectly in order when we first speak. We don’t expect you to know all your options and be optimising all your allowances: that’s why we’re here. (And, for the record, we’re not all stuffy and formal, either). There is no reason to worry about having all the answers or being overwhelmed with jargon.

What do you need to prepare for your first meeting with a financial adviser?

Once we have agreed to meet, we will send you a questionnaire. The first meeting with Paula Bicknell Wealth is about getting to know each other. It’s vitally important to establish we will make a good team. You need to know you can work with us, and we need to know we can make a difference and help you achieve your goals.

The questionnaire we ask you to fill in gives us basic information about you, your financial situation, and what you are hoping to achieve. It means we get a broad overview of where we should start and the types of questions we will need to ask you. We could ask you these questions in our first meeting. However, if you complete the questionnaire ahead of time, we can both get straight onto the important bits. It will also help you focus your thoughts, and this starts the process off on the right track.

What information do we need?

We will be discussing your financial situation and to do this effectively, we will need certain information:

• Your personal circumstances

In other words, who else do you have in your life who may be depending on you, either now or in the future?

• Your finances  

What are your incomings and outgoings and how fixed are they? Where does your money currently come from, and where is it going?

• Your savings and pensions

You may have savings accounts and pension plans set up already.

• Your investments

You may be an avid investor, you may have investments solely in relation to your employment, or you may have never considered investing. Whatever category you fall into, we need to build up a full picture of your wealth and your approach.

• Your attitude to risk

Financial products and strategies need to match your attitude to risk. This will be determined by many factors, including your personal circumstances and current finances. If you’re not sure what your attitude to risk is, we can help you work that out.

• What you are hoping to achieve in the future

You might want to retire and need to know you will have enough in the pot. You could be planning to put children through private or higher education. You may be planning an exit from your business. What you want to do in the future can determine how you approach your finances now. We can help you determine what your financial goals are and how best to approach them.

At the first meeting we also explain how we work going forward and how we charge if you engage us. There are no hidden costs: we are always upfront and transparent. Working with Paula Bicknell Wealth helps you work out what you have now, ensure you are making the most of it, and plan for the future. We’re here to help.

Are you ready for your first meeting? Please just get in touch and we can get your finances working for you too.