Inheritance Tax Planning: Mary’s story
I began working with Ashley because he was helping my mother with her investments. I wanted to work with someone who could look at what was already invested and what would work going forward. But I also wanted continuity.
Ashley understands our family dynamics and knows where I’m coming from. I deal with a lot of things on behalf of my mum and he knows when to involve my mum and when to liaise with me.
Focus on Inheritance Tax
My mother has substantial investments and I needed to know what the best thing would be to do with her money from an Inheritance Tax Planning point of view, given the various options and potential tax benefits.
Ashley brings something more to the table than everyone else – he’s not pushy or into the hard sell. It’s all about first understanding you as a family and what you need as ongoing money in the bank. That for me is incredibly important.
His knowledge is very detailed and he’ll explain all the options clearly before you have to make a decision. And he doesn’t just explain it once – he’ll take questions from my mum and make sure she’s clear on everything before any of us goes any further.
“Unlike with bigger companies, you’re not being passed from pillar to post, so you know you’re going to speak to Ashley every time”
Personalised service
He’s able to tailor something really personal to you – he’ll ask how much risk we’re prepared to take and make sure that everything is aligned with that.
He also adapts the service itself to suit you. For example, my mum isn’t on email, so she prefers face-to-face meetings, whereas I prefer to communicate via email and phone conversations. Ashley combines both.
He’s friendly and trustworthy, but more importantly he’s always available, either with face-to-face or phone calls. Unlike with bigger companies, you’re not being passed from pillar to post, so you know you’re going to speak to Ashley every time. This is a massive benefit because if you have a quick question, he’s on the phone straight away, and then backs the conversation up with emails, which means you have something to refer to later.
Plain speaking
When it comes to investments, some people can be very ‘highfalutin’ but Ashley’s straight-talking and doesn’t make more of something than it is. He doesn’t try to be pompous, he just gives the facts.
We have reviews on an annual basis, which is good in itself because it adds a layer of reassurance, especially for me. I feel I’m the spokesperson for my family and I feel I take a lot of responsibility on, on their behalf. Having someone I can trust and who’s available to help me make decisions takes a big part of the responsibility away.
Ashley is also very proactive. Having that trust in someone, someone who’s making suggestions, thinking about you on your behalf and giving you the facts to buy into things, is really valuable.
He has the full story on everything about us, he’s at the sharp end and knows where we are with things, you don’t have to re-explain it all – he’s always ahead of the game. If something’s coming up, he’s always marking things up for us to look at; so if there’s an investment coming up for review for example, we’re always on it in plenty of time.
He’s very close to us as a family and our investments and keeps a close eye on us both!