The 4 Cs - Continuity…
When it comes to investing, is continuity really worthwhile?
Welcome to the fourth and final instalment of our mini series of articles that takes you through the four Cs – Competence, Convenience, Coaching and Continuity – that form the foundations of everything we do for our clients here at Engage.
It’s time to consider the idea of continuity. While it is important to make sure everything is in place for each individual, no one is an island. Their estate, their assets will more often than not affect the lives of many people around them – their partner, children, parents. The list of beneficiaries and people involved, who want to have a say, can be extensive and it’s not always easy to get everyone on board. This is where we come in.
The power of bringing everyone along for the ride
From our perspective, it is really important to make sure that those closest to you, that the people you love buy into the financial approach and direction you want to take. This can sometimes take time, but it is well worth the effort. Without this collaboration, it can quickly cause unnecessary rifts that can be hard to repair. It is surprising how many seemingly strong, stable relationships can wobble or even break when money comes into play.
Having everyone on board with the plan can be a hugely rewarding experience and means that the plan is far more likely to work and achieve what it has been set up to achieve.
As a result of this collaborative approach, we often find that other generations of the same family start to come to us for financial advice. We start with one family, but soon their parents move over to us and when old enough, the children come to us too. This is another form of continuity that brings reassurance to our clients and allows us to build a much more complete picture of what life looks like for the people we work with. Having client families that span several different generations serves to deepen our relationship with them and allows us to provide an even more worthwhile, effective service.
Looking to the future
But continuity is not just about the here and now, it is of course about the future, the long term and that means looking at legacy planning. What will happen to your estate when you are no longer there to manage it? How will it be shared out amongst the people who matter most to you? That is worth considering, especially when your estate has a number of different elements to it. You may also want to look at the philanthropic idea of legacy and how you can use your assets to leave a lasting impact not just on the people you know and love but perhaps in a way that is more far reaching.
Having continuity as a core part of how we do things here at Engage allows us to offer a truly end to end service. We’re there at the beginning to guide clients as the right investments and portfolio are put in place. We’re there for the journey as clients reap the rewards of the plan (as well as when things get a bit bumpy, as they inevitably do along the way!) and we’re there for the legacy planning that together affords everyone involved a rewarding, sense of continuity and ultimately gives each client true peace of mind.