Your annual financial review is much more than an opportunity to look at investment performance. It is a chance to step back, review where you are today and make sure your financial plan continues to support where you want to be in the future.
At Elevation Wealth Management, we believe financial planning should be about you, your circumstances, your aspirations and your priorities – not simply about investments, pensions or financial products. Our personal financial planning service is designed around individual objectives and aims to bring the different elements of your financial life together.
An annual review gives us the opportunity to do exactly that. But how can you get the most from your meeting? A little preparation beforehand can make the conversation more productive and ensure that the areas that matter most to you are given the attention they deserve.
Why your annual review matters
Financial planning is not a one-off exercise. Your circumstances can change considerably over the course of a year. Your income may have changed, your family may have grown, your retirement plans may have evolved or your priorities may simply be different from those you had twelve months ago.
Your financial plan needs to evolve with you. Elevation’s approach is based on providing structured and consistent ongoing planning following initial advice and implementation. The firm’s ongoing service is designed to provide regular opportunities to review financial planning and respond when circumstances change.
Your annual review is therefore an important part of maintaining that relationship. It is an opportunity to ask questions, discuss concerns, revisit your objectives and identify whether any changes are needed.
Start by thinking about what has changed
Before your review, take some time to think about the previous twelve months. You do not need to prepare complicated spreadsheets or analyse your investments yourself. Instead, consider what has happened in your life and whether any of those changes could affect your financial plans. For example:
- Has your income changed?
- Have you changed jobs or started a new business?
- Have you bought or sold a property?
- Have your mortgage arrangements changed?
- Have you received an inheritance?
- Have you had a significant change in your family circumstances?
- Have your children or grandchildren reached an important milestone?
- Have your retirement plans changed?
- Have you started thinking about reducing your working hours?
- Have you experienced any significant changes in your expenditure?
Even seemingly small changes can be worth mentioning. Your adviser can then consider whether they have implications for your wider financial plan.
Revisit your goals
Perhaps the most useful thing you can bring to an annual review is a clear idea of what you want your money to help you achieve. Your financial objectives are unlikely to remain exactly the same throughout your life. You may have previously been focused on building wealth. Now, you might be thinking about retirement. You may have been saving to help your children through university, but are now considering how to support the next generation with a property purchase.
At Elevation, the focus is on understanding clients as individuals – including their financial concerns, aspirations and what they ultimately want to achieve. So, before your review, ask yourself:
What matters most to me financially right now?
It could be retiring at a particular age, travelling more, helping your family, protecting your wealth, reducing financial uncertainty or simply having greater confidence in your future. There is no right or wrong answer. What matters is that your financial plan reflects your priorities.
Think about your retirement plans
If retirement is part of your long-term plans, your annual review is an ideal opportunity to revisit your expectations. Perhaps your intended retirement date has changed. Maybe you now want to work longer, or perhaps you would like to retire earlier than originally planned.
You may also have a better idea of the lifestyle you want in retirement. Consider what retirement looks like for you. Will you want to travel? Move home? Spend more time with family? Take up new hobbies? Continue working on a part-time basis?
These lifestyle decisions can all influence how much income you may need and how your pension and investments should support you. If you have several pension arrangements from different employers, your annual review can also provide an opportunity to make sure you understand how they fit together as part of your wider retirement strategy.
Review your investments – but don’t focus solely on returns
Investment performance is naturally an important part of any financial review, but it should not be the only thing you consider. Markets move constantly. A portfolio can perform differently from one year to the next, and short-term market movements can sometimes create unnecessary concern. Instead of simply asking, “How much has my portfolio made?”, consider the bigger questions:
- Is my investment strategy still appropriate?
- Does it remain aligned with my objectives?
- Has my attitude towards investment risk changed?
- Has my investment timeframe changed?
- Am I comfortable with the level of volatility?
- Are my investments still appropriate for my future plans?
Elevation’s recent investment commentary has emphasised the importance of maintaining a long-term perspective rather than reacting to short-term market movements. Regular reviews can help ensure investment decisions remain connected to wider financial objectives. Your annual review is therefore a chance to put investment performance into context.
Bring your questions
You should never feel that you need to understand every aspect of your financial arrangements before your annual review. In fact, your questions are one of the most valuable things you can bring.
Perhaps you have read something in the news about pensions or Inheritance Tax. Maybe you are unsure about the implications of a change in interest rates or investment markets. You may simply want someone to explain something you have never fully understood. Write your questions down before the meeting.
It can be surprisingly easy to remember something important after the conversation has finished. Keeping a simple list means you can make sure everything you want to discuss is covered. And do not worry if your question seems basic. A good financial adviser should be able to explain complex financial matters clearly, without unnecessary jargon.
Consider your tax position
Your annual review is also a useful opportunity to consider your wider tax position. Depending on your circumstances, this could include reviewing your use of ISAs, pension contributions, capital gains, dividend income and other relevant allowances or exemptions.
The UK tax year runs from 6 April to 5 April, so the timing of your review can also help identify planning opportunities well before the end of the tax year. Elevation’s approach to financial planning considers the different elements of a client’s financial circumstances rather than treating individual decisions in isolation. This can be particularly valuable when pension, investment, tax and estate planning overlap.
The important thing is not to make decisions simply for the sake of using an allowance. Instead, any action should form part of a wider strategy that supports your objectives.
Don’t forget estate planning
Estate planning is another area that can easily be overlooked. Your annual review provides an opportunity to consider whether your arrangements still reflect your wishes. Ask yourself:
- Is your Will still up to date?
- Have your family circumstances changed?
- Have you acquired significant new assets?
- Have your wishes regarding your children or grandchildren changed?
- Have you considered how your wealth should eventually pass to the next generation?
-
Do you have appropriate Lasting Powers of Attorney in place?
These are not necessarily matters that need to be revisited every year in detail, but significant changes in your circumstances should prompt a conversation. Elevation offers bespoke estate planning alongside its wider financial planning services, including trust planning and Lasting Powers of Attorney.
Think about protection
Protecting your financial position is just as important as building wealth. Your annual review is a good time to consider whether your protection arrangements still reflect your circumstances. If your income has increased, your mortgage has changed or your family has grown, your existing arrangements may need to be reconsidered. Depending on your circumstances, this could involve areas such as life assurance, income protection or other forms of financial protection. The objective is not simply to accumulate wealth but to ensure that your financial plan provides resilience when life does not go according to plan.
Tell us what you want from the meeting
One of the simplest ways to make your annual review more valuable is to tell us what you want to get from it. If there is a particular concern you want to discuss, let us know. If you want to concentrate on retirement, tell us. If you are thinking about helping your children financially, starting a business, selling a business, changing your investment strategy or reviewing your estate planning, these are all important conversations to have.
Elevation’s annual review process specifically considers how well advisers cover the areas of financial planning that are important to each client, as well as the wider services available, such as trust planning and Powers of Attorney. The more clearly you can communicate your priorities, the more effectively your review can focus on what matters to you.
What should you bring?
In many cases, we will already hold much of the information required to conduct your review. However, it can be helpful to have details of any significant changes readily available. Depending on your circumstances, these might include:
- Details of new pensions or investments
- Changes to employment or income
- New mortgage or borrowing arrangements
- Details of significant gifts or inheritances
- Changes in family circumstances
- Updated property values
- Changes to your Will or estate planning arrangements
- Any new financial commitments
- Questions or concerns you would like to discuss
If you are unsure whether something is relevant, mention it anyway. It is much better to have a conversation about something that ultimately makes little difference than to overlook a change that could affect your financial plan.
Your annual review is a conversation, not a test
Perhaps the most important thing to remember is that you do not need to arrive at your annual review with all the answers. The purpose of the meeting is to review, discuss and plan together.
Financial planning can sometimes feel complicated, particularly when pensions, investments, tax, protection and estate planning all overlap. Your adviser is there to help bring these different areas together and explain what they mean in the context of your wider objectives. At Elevation, the emphasis is on creating a personal and discreet financial planning service, with structured ongoing planning designed to support clients through changing circumstances.
Make your next review count
Your annual review is an opportunity to step away from the day-to-day and look at the bigger picture. It is a chance to ask whether your circumstances have changed, whether your priorities have evolved and whether your financial strategy continues to support the future you want. So, before your next meeting, take a little time to think about three things:
- Where am I now?
- Where do I want to be?
- What has changed since we last reviewed my plans?
You do not need to have all the answers. That is what the review is for. At Elevation Wealth Management, we believe effective financial planning starts with understanding you – your objectives, your concerns and your ambitions – and then working out how your finances can help you achieve them.
Prepare your questions, bring your ambitions and be open about what has changed. Together, we can make your annual review a valuable step towards the financial future you want.
Elevation Wealth Management Ltd. Registered in England & Wales No. 04794182. Registered Address: Unit 1, Marlin Office Village, 1250 Chester Road, Birmingham, B35 7AZ. Authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. We are entered on the Financial Services Register No. 456358 at www.register.fca.org.uk.