Wealth Management

Wealth, just like your health, must be carefully preserved. Your assets need to be protected against the potential threats of erosion by taxation, the effects of inflation and investment risks.
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Whatever your level of wealth, there is nothing wrong in making the decision to prepare a risk aversion strategy. Risk aversion is a reasonable and prudent strategy for anyone who is sure that they already have ample to provide for themselves and their family into the future.

There are plenty of ways of preserving wealth in real terms, protecting against most of the uncertainties that may threaten it and allowing you to sleep at night, but the unidentified risks are a far greater threat to your wealth than tax. • Risk aversion starts with asking oneself a few questions such as: • Is my job secure? • What happens if my employer goes bust? • How secure are my investments? • What happens if a company I have invested in collapses or is unable to meet its obligations? • Is my occupational pension safe? • What happens if an elderly relative has to go into care? • What happens if I divorce? • Do I have enough insurance?

This is just a start, and you will no doubt identify others. It may not be the most motivational task but if you work through the implications of your questions and attach a probability to them, it can help clarify the issues and will form the basis of your risk aversion plan.

Our service is all about helping you with professional wealth management advice to create, build and protect your wealth and minimise your tax liability in a wealth preservation plan which we will develop and monitor over a long-term, on-going relationship.

Building RelationshipsYour financial situation is unique and so are our services. We follow a four-step process to build a relationship and provide quality advice: Our Process for Providing Quality Advice
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1. Understanding YouBy gathering information from you we will find out about any plans you already have in place. Then by exploring your attitude to risk and return, and your hopes and aspirations, we will build a picture of what you want to achieve. At this stage you will find out what to expect from us and how you will benefit from using us.
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2. PlanningWe’ll explore and research various scenarios to make the best use of your existing plans. We’ll then recommend how you can build on your existing plans, so you give yourself the best chance of achieving your goals.
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3. ImplementationLike most of our clients, you will probably prefer us to do the necessary work to put your plan into action. This will save you a lot of time and effort and ensure your plans are set up correctly. We will charge you a fee for doing this, which we will explain to you. Alternatively, you may decide to implement our recommendations yourself, in which case we just charge you for our time and advice.
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4. ReviewNothing stands still, so it makes sense to review your plans regularly. We suggest you do this annually. This way you will find out if your plans are affected by changes to legislation or taxation. You will also hear from us if we have something that we feel will interest you.
Meet The Team - Aaron DixAaron began working at Sterling Financial Services helping out with mortgage-based administration work, before moving into a more specialist role in processing life insurance applications. He is now a qualified mortgage & Protection Adviser, helping secure mortgages and loans from complex cases to first-time buyers making the big step.
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Trust Information
A trust is an obligation binding in a person (which can be an individual or a company) called a ‘trustee’ to deal with ‘property’ in a particular way, for the benefit of one or more ‘beneficiaries’.

Lasting Power Of Attorney

It should be noted that the information contained in this section relates to our current understanding of the law of England & Wales as it relates to Lasting Power of Attorney which is subject to change. Laws in other parts of the UK will differ.

Managing your affairs and lasting power of attorney There may come a time when, because you are incapable of managing your property and financial affairs or personal welfare, you will need someone to do this for you.

You can formally appoint a friend, relative or professional to hold a lasting power of attorney that will allow them to act on your behalf. Lasting power of attorney (LPA) in England and Wales has no legal standing until it is registered with the Office of the Public Guardian. A lasting power of attorney is a legal document that lets you appoint someone you trust as an ‘attorney’ to make decisions on your behalf.

It can be drawn up at any time while you have capacity, but has no legal standing until it is registered with the Office of the Public Guardian.

A registered LPA can, unless the document states differently, be used at any time, whether you have the mental ability to act for yourself or not.

Property and Affairs LPAA Property and Affairs LPA allows you to choose someone to make decisions about how to spend your money and the way your property and affairs are managed.
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Personal Welfare LPAA Personal Welfare LPA allows you to choose someone to make decisions about your healthcare and welfare. This includes decisions to refuse or consent to treatment on your behalf and deciding where you live. These decisions can only be taken on your behalf when the LPA is registered, and you lack the capacity to make the decisions yourself.

How many people should you appoint and whom?

You may not be able to check up on the attorney yourself if you become incapable, so it may be a good idea to appoint more than one person to help prevent abuse of the responsibility. Choose people you can trust to act in your best interests. You should consider how well they look after their own financial affairs and whether you can trust them to use your money to meet your needs. Depending on the complexity of your property and financial affairs it may be a good idea to get advice from a solicitor before making an LPA. You can get further advice from the Office of the Public Guardian about making an LPA.

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Registering an LPA

Either you or your attorney can apply to the Public Guardian to register your LPA. The application can be made at any time after you have made an LPA.

Before the application to register the LPA is made, the people named as being entitled to receive notification of the application must be told by the person who wants to register it.

The Public Guardian will give notice that the application has been received to:

You as the donor The attorney or attorneys Your relatives will not be notified of the application to register the LPA unless you have named them as being persons who should be given notice. Anyone who has been notified can object to the LPA being registered.

Once the LPA is registered it continues indefinitely. The LPA can be registered by the attorney after you have lost capacity.

Lasting power of attorney replaced the enduring power of attorney (EPA) on 1 October 2007. A person given power under an EPA before 1 October 2007 can still use it and apply to have it registered. This person has a duty to apply to register the EPA as soon as they believe that you are becoming or have become mentally incapable of making financial decisions for yourself.

If you have an unregistered EPA and still have the capacity to make decisions for yourself, you can make a Personal Welfare LPA to run alongside it.

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Cancelling powers of attorney

Lasting power of attorney (LPA)

You can cancel your LPA if you have the mental capacity to do so. If there is a dispute about whether your LPA has been cancelled, the Court of Protection has the authority to make a decision.

A Property and Affairs LPA is revoked if you or your attorney becomes bankrupt; bankruptcy does not terminate a Personal Welfare LPA.

Enduring power of attorney (EPA)

You can cancel an unregistered EPA if you have the mental capacity to do so, without applying to the Court of Protection.

To cancel a registered EPA you must show the Court of Protection:

that you understand who the attorney is and what powers they have

that you understand the effect of the cancellation

why the EPA needs to be cancelled

An EPA is revoked if you or the appointed attorney becomes bankrupt

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