In this series of case studies, based on client testimonials from VouchedFor, FTAdviser speaks to advisers about particularly emotional or complicated financial planning cases to find out how they helped clients at difficult times in their lives.
Adviser name: Ben Lancaster
Firm name: Depledge Strategic Wealth Management
Firm size: 4
The problem: My client, aged approximately 75, had lost her father and husband in quick succession. The former left my client a significant inheritance. The latter always took care of the family finances. She has no children. This left my client with a large amount of money in her current account and feeling overwhelmed and anxious about her finances and what to do.
Ben Lancaster says: "Clearly, this was a very difficult time. Her biggest concern was that her father had left her a significant amount of money and she now had this sat in one bank account.
In addition, she now had the responsibility of managing the assets that her late husband had left behind. These were spread across a large number of accounts and arrangements.
As financial management was always left to her father and husband, the client was very unsure regarding what needed to be done and nervous about taking her first foray into receiving financial advice.
There were questions about tax, how to structure cash accounts, or were the investments in the right place? She felt overwhelmed and anxious.
What were the particular challenges?
There were several challenges, according to Lancaster. He says: "I needed to establish a way of ensuring the client felt comfortable/calm enough to have rationale conversations regarding her finances and what she hoped to achieve.
This challenge was managed by having her close friend join conversations as a support and chaperone.
I did have a quiet conversation with the client separately to make sure she was truly comfortable with this person being involved in meetings, and how they should notify me immediately if this ever changed.
I also needed to explain to the client, clearly, that all of our initial conversations were at my cost and without obligation. She had never taken financial advice before and did not know how it worked - which was another challenge.
So I felt it was really important for her to know that there were going to be no nasty surprises (in terms of being presented with a large bill) or having concerns about how things may work.
I took the time to explain how the process works and how, if we did want to work together, I would provide a proposal in writing and ensure she was comfortable/provided written authorisation before commencing any chargeable work.
How did you approach the situation?
One of the key challenges is that the client would feel overwhelmed and emotional if we covered too much ground too quickly.
I had to tailor my approach to break the conversations down into manageable chunks. I also needed to keep checking if she was ok or felt ok to continue, and continually checked for understanding.
