Why we conduct all our Annual Reviews at the start of the year…
Why we conduct all our Annual Reviews at the start of the year?
It’s Annual Review time and it’s fair to say that we’re well and truly in the thick of it. Unlike many other financial advisers, all our clients have their reviews between Jan and March, an approach we have been taking for a few years now. It means that the start of the year is a very busy time for us and there’s no denying that it is full on and very intense – so why do we do it?
For us, it’s an opportunity to focus in on one task to improve productivity, performance and efficiency. By committing this time of year just to Annual Reviews, we, as a team, become extremely effective at getting the very best out of each review for our clients. There are no other business distractions to think about and we become very adept at how best to discuss things with our clients, with improved results. In short, it takes us less time to do better reviews. The fact that the tax year ends in April, also makes this a good time of year to make sure that everything is properly in place ahead of that time.
From a client point of view, it is reassuring to know that the Annual Review will always take place at the start of the year – there’s continuity and no guess work. We also always run our assessments based on the calendar year, January to December, which means clients can very easily see how their investments have performed year on year as we will be comparing like with like. Shifting the Annual Review timeframe around can hugely impact how good or bad things look and could be used to show a more favourable outcome in terms of investment performance. Our approach means we cannot do this and gives each client a true, transparent view of how things have really fared over the past year.
Ticking off the financial side of things at the start of the year also allows us to use the rest of the year to see clients about the really important things in life. We can talk more about what they want from life, the goals they have and how to achieve them, as well as any other ideas that they may be mulling over, whether it is a big work or business decision, giving up work altogether or moving to that dream home.
There are of course benefits from a business perspective too. It allows us to use the rest of the year to consider effective ways of growing and improving the business, without having to jump out of this more entrepreneurial mindset to manage Annual Reviews. As a result, we can continue to develop the business and improve the way we do things, which will benefit our clients as well as the bottom line for the business.