Free Financial Guidance for the Self-Employed

    Shabab Gulfraz
    6th October 2020
    Home » Categories » Business » Free Financial Guidance for the Self-Employed

    The Personal Finance Society is supporting World Financial Planning Week 2020 through established pro-bono programmes this week with a view to providing financial planning advice to The Armed Forces, and free financial education workshops to schools.  At Simpson Wood Financial Services Limited, we already work with the local universities to provide educational guidance, and most recently out of the last four paraplanners we hired, two have been taken directly from the local university with a view to providing training, and a job in Financial Services.

    Our thoughts about how we can do more during World Financial Planning Week 2020 is to provide a complimentary financial planning review, cashflow modelling, as well as guidance on individual financial planning matters for self – employed individuals.

    Although as an industry we welcomed commission being banned at the end of 2012, this has led to less self-employed people taking advice, as they feel they might not be able to afford fees. In reality, this has meant over the last eight years the number of self-employed people taking advice has dropped, which might lead to financial detriment whilst being self-employed, as well as at retirement stage.

    Most people when employed will have some form of pension complying with Auto Enrolment legislation, they might also have death in service i.e. life cover whilst they are working for their employer, and possibly other fringe benefits. All benefits detailed above are normally lacking for the self-employed person, unless they have taken advice, and reviewed their financial affairs. This puts self-employed individuals at a disadvantage because they may not be aware of the implications upon their financial position now, or when they retire.

    For self-employed individuals perhaps 25/35 years away from retirement, the sooner they start planning their affairs, the more rewarding it can be. As an example, someone who is 25, if they start saving £200 per month into a pension, they receive £50 in tax relief automatically per month; therefore, a £2,400 contribution per annum is equal to £3,000. If they save £200 per month until age 65 (£96,000 in pension contributions from their profits), with an assumed growth rate of 4.00% after charges they could have a pension pot worth £285,769.00.

    We regularly come across self-employed clients who at a later stage in their life feel they have neglected financial planning. More to the point, it is usually Financial Advisers who have neglected these clients by initially setting them up within a plan, taken a fee, or commission before commission was banned, and then not followed up on the initial advice they provided. More concerning is the fact the initial advice, might now no longer be fit for purpose, and needs reviewing.

    We believe those that are self-employed, and circa 10 to 15 years away from retirement, who have not received any guidance from a Financial Adviser in a long time, or have never received advice need to review their financial affairs immediately. This is to ensure their financial planning affairs are in order, and a plan is in place of where income will come from, when they retire/sell their business.

    We would welcome any individual or business that feels they require advice on their individual circumstances to contact us directly at: enquires@simpson-woodfs.co.uk, or via telephone on: 01484 534431. Please get in touch during Financial Planning Week 5-9 October 2020 to take advantage of this offer.

    Need Some Advice?

    Looking for some help or a little advice?

    Call today on 01484 534431 or fill in our enquiry form below, and we’ll call you back.

    Labour market challenges remain as wages grow

    The UK labour market remains challenging as employers cut staff numbers and wage growth accelerated, according to the latest data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS). Average weekly earnings…

    IMF upgrades UK’s economic outlook

    The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has upgraded its growth forecast for the UK economy this year. The global institution upgraded its prediction for UK growth to 1.6% for this year…

    SWFS Q & A – Nvidia and tech sell-off

    How has the recent Nvidia and tech sell-off impacted your portfolio? This week, we briefed our clients and financial planners on: ✅ What happened on Monday✅ How our Investment Committee…