During the summer months I tend to conduct the lions share of my existing client reviews. As a business we don’t tend to take on new clients without providing them with the promise of an ongoing service and therefore as our business has grown, our summer months have been getting busier and busier year on year.

The summer months are also one of the most enjoyable periods of the year as it provides me with the opportunity to meet the clients I have looked after for some time and not only ensure they are on track to achieve their financial goals, but also to ensure that they are fully utilising their tax allowances, their investments remain appropriately allocated and to react to any changes in our clients personal circumstances which we may need to take into account.

So, you may be asking yourself why this is so enjoyable.  I thrive on building and developing long term relationships.  It’s fun to regularly see individuals and visit businesses you’ve helped in the past, and this provides me with both personal and professional satisfaction in a number of ways….as well as reassurance for our clients who know they are being looked after.

I also believe that you should have a long term sustainable relationship with your financial adviser in a similar way to you may have with the other professionals you may rely on for ongoing advice and expertise.  Circumstances change both in relation to your personal financial situation and more than likely within your business and reviews are useful to ensure that you are still on track both personally and professionally.  If you also take into account changes in legislation, as well as potential changes in your investment and pension portfolios due to market volatility, I firmly believe that regular reviews with your financial adviser should be a “must do” activity rather than a “nice to do”.

However when we engage with new clients we’re often surprised that their previous experience with financial advisers tended to have been on a one off  ‘transaction based’ basis as opposed to based on an ongoing review and service of their needs.  We believe that  a more beneficial approach for our clients is to ensure we provide an ongoing professional service….as opposed to just a ‘transaction based’ shopfront for financial products.

So, next time you are looking for some independent financial advice, ensure you not only ask the appropriate questions about the service you are receiving today….but also what level of service you expect to receive in the future.