Martin and Graham remember the era when review meetings were largely based on reporting that ‘your pension has grown by X% and your investment bond by X%’, followed by a discussion of whether a fund switch was warranted.

Financial planning is now more interesting and engaging for clients in a couple of ways. Firstly, many of our clients’ assets are held on online platforms, enabling them to view their own portfolios whenever they require, rather than waiting for a valuation to arrive. Secondly, lifetime cashflow modelling has transformed the financial planning process for forward-looking advisers.

We believe that the truth about money is not ‘what percentage has that fund grown by?’, but that money is there to support someone’s lifestyle, as life is not a dress rehearsal. We encourage our clients to imagine how their lives would evolve in an ideal scenario, and then build and tailor financial plans around this desired journey. This can be very different for each individual client. For example, some clients may be motivated to maximise the estate that they leave to children. Other clients may want to tick off a ‘bucket list’ and simply want reassurance that their wealth will be sufficient for life. We are not here to try to stop people spending money – our duty is to help people make informed and sustainable decisions.

Cashflow modelling software enables different financial and life decisions to be easily compared – eg the difference between retiring at 60 and 65, different levels of spending in retirement, or the potential impact of care fees.

A financial review is an important element of the journey

Regardless of how much personal or professional change may be a step into the unknown emotionally, psychologically and intellectually, a financial review is an important element of the journey. We use the lifetime cashflow system shown elsewhere on this site to help people understand what their long-term financial future may look like in different scenarios.

We also help them address specific issues such as how their pension benefits could be flexibly accessed to dovetail with reduced working commitments, and whether financial protection arrangements (such as life assurance and healthcare) are needed to replace lost elements of an employee benefits package.