 |
|
 |
|
 |
Our clients are normally busy people who want to be financially organised, who have resources with which to plan but don't have the time or expertise. What our clients say "Fortitude has helped us to define our objectives by laying out clear, alternative scenarios for us to consider before implementing our choices. I had planned to retire at 60 and with Fortitude's help I had the financial security to do so. However, when the time came, I found that I was addicted to work, so I carried on! Our relationship with Fortitude is strengthened through the personal interaction we have with a single Planner - it is so reassuring to have someone who knows what they are doing with money, guiding us on what to do. Each time we leave a Planning meeting, we know where we are, how we got there and how things will be in the future - to the extent that you can know anything about the future." "Fortitude has really helped us to gain a sense of clarity, disentangling and simplifying the myriad of different financial questions and solutions and helping us through them in simple stages. It's not just about saving for retirement, or another ambition, but also dealing with insurance, ISAs, pensions, savings, etc. and looking at how to finance your current lifestyle as well as your future one. Fortitude's structured approach is a massive benefit and it has helped us to understand our financial situation and thus give some comfort on what we could afford to do (or not)." "Fortitude has helped us to define our aims by discussing what we would like to use our money for, and how best to put it to this use. We find the annual meetings particularly helpful and our Planner is available all year round to answer questions as they come up. We have a good relationship with Fortitude and value the personal attention that we receive." "I value the relationship that I have built with Neil and Helen at Fortitude over the years. Their transparency and openness gives me a great feeling of trust in their advice. Having a structured approach to looking at the near, medium and longer term and using assessment tools to more objectively understand my views about risks has helped me to define my objectives. I now have a much better understanding of the financial landscape and have a much better sense of planning for my future. I'm therefore able to make informed decisions, have clarity of the steps to achieve milestones and am more confident that what I am doing will ensure that I am financially secure in the future too." "My biggest result has been to plan and deliver an early retirement. It may well have been possible to retire early under my own planning, but I would never have done it because I didn't have the confidence or experience that Fortitude brought to the planning table. I set my personal targets and Fortitude provided me with a Financial Plan to achieve that target. It was a plan that was affordable, straight-forward and sensible - and has proved so on all three fronts. The annual meetings are a key component of the service and I have found them particularly helpful. They have acted as action times to review and re-organise financial intent and priorities. I live 150 miles away from Fortitude's location and travel to meet with them. It could be 300 miles away and I would still travel to receive the level of service I have enjoyed over the last seven years. You always get a prompt response from Fortitude. It's not all about money, they are quick to stress that life is for living and don't judge your expenditure." "I value the trust that I can place in Fortitude and the reassurance that it gives me, as well as the structured half yearly meetings and the clear demonstrations of financial 'lifespan'. I had a strong artistic ambition but with little or no idea of what income it might generate. Indeed, I assumed it would generate none. I had no real idea whether I could afford such a journey, but Fortitude clearly and brilliantly mapped out a financial path which we continue to follow, without too many alarming (and normally self-induced) detours. My artistic career has exceeded all my expectations but, for some reason Neil STILL refuses to let me buy an Aston Martin DB9!" "The whole service that Fortitude provides fits together extremely well and takes the weight off one's shoulders when dealing with financial matters. They understand what we aim to achieve and are constantly on the trail of how assets are managed and the performance of those assets, giving us great confidence in them. The modelling tools that Fortitude use have helped to show us what is possible and Fortitude has enabled us to get our finances in order, so that we feel much more organised and in control." "The lifetime planning model that Fortitude uses looks at your assumptions and covers every aspect of your finances. It looks at different scenarios and how they impact on your lifestyle. It's a two way process, giving you the structure to focus on your objectives - the more time and thought you put in yourself, the more value you gain from it. Fortitude has helped me to plan for my retirement, as well as putting trusts in place for my family to reduce my tax liabilities. They do not assume that you want to maximise your wealth, but will work to create the appropriate level of wealth to meet your own personal objectives. You have an open and honest discussion with them - they are not trying to sell you products." "When I was considering a change in job and lifestyle, I worked through a clear process with Fortitude which helped me to clarify my goals. I found it very valuable in defining what lifestyle I wanted and whether I could afford it. When you think about it, analysing where you are and mapping out a route of where you want to get to is blindingly obvious, but you rarely make the time to sit down and clarify your thoughts. In my past experience with IFAs they asked me what financial products I had and then sold into the gaps. Although it's not an exact science, working with Fortitude enabled me to get a feeling for whether I could make a lifestyle change and it has settled my mind about how I will achieve financial independence." "Dealing with Fortitude has been a very positive and useful experience. It has made us answer questions that we had not addressed before, facilitating important discussions. The lifetime cash flow tool is very informative and allows us to understand what is and isn't achievable. It enables us to look at possible outcomes and whether or not we want to achieve them. As a solicitor, I have worked with quite a lot of people who are clients of Fortitude and they often comment on how useful the process is and how pleased they are with the service. I am always happy to recommend Fortitude Financial Planning, I like the way they do business and the way they treat their clients."
|