Our Approach
Effective planning depends upon our ability to fully empathise with your unique situation. At Fensham Howes, we invest a significant amount of time right at the start of the relationship to identify and understand your personal goals and motivations. It is important that we do this at an early stage because it will enable us to employ our technical knowledge and investment expertise to build the strategy that most effectively meets all of your expectations and needs - both today and in the years to come.
To ensure we achieve this all new clients broadly follow the same comprehensive process. Following an intial telephone conversation, this process has five key stages:
- A "discovery" meeting - where we obtain a picture of your current financial circumstances and your personal goals, objectives and concerns.
- An "investment plan" meeting - normally two weeks after the discovery meeting, where we present our assessment of your current position in relation to your goals, and make recommendations on how we think you can best make further progress towards those goals.
- A "mutual commitment" meeting - normally within a week of the investment plan meeting, where we agree whether it makes sense for Fensham Howes to be formally appointed as your financial adviser with a view to working together over the long term. If we agree to move forward together then we will complete the documentation necessary to put your plan into action.
If, for any reason, either party decides not to proceed then Fensham Howes will not make any charge for work undertaken up to this point.
- A “follow up” meeting - normally 45 - 60 days after the mutual commitment meeting, where we ensure that you are comfortable with the arrangements that have been put in place and provide a summary of progress to date.
- Regular "progress" meetings - where we meet with you on an ongoing basis, provide status reports on your financial position, and review/update the planning strategy in light of any developments in your circumstances since our last meeting.
More information on each of these steps can by found by following the "process" link on the right hand side of this page.
Experience has taught us that the major events in people's lives rarely fall conveniently to coincide with their regularly scheduled progress meetings. An important part of our service is therefore our commitment to react swiftly to help you deal with unforeseen events. The team at Fensham Howes will be available to you throughout the year - providing reassurance and expertise when it is needed most.