Good financial planning-Fact or Fiction

GOOD FINANCIAL PLANNING - FACT OR FICTION

By Simon Hannam

Many of you who read this will be associated with providing a suitable playing surface for your designated sport (s), some to an international standard whilst others purely for domestic pleasure. Achieving this requires different strategies as the construction techniques, grass species, weather and your resources varies from site to site consequently the quality of the playing surface reflects this combined with your all important maintenance.

To make some similarities between producing a suitable playing surface and producing good financial planning, I suggest the following similarities are appropriate:

When you first take over a facility it is likely that you will carry out some fact finding and an obvious place to start is with the soil analysis testing for acidity and nutritional values as well as making assessments for drainage. You are likely also to make an assessment of equipment available like irrigation, stocks of top dressing, fertiliser, seed will also be useful. When you have completed your fact finding you may then look at the requirements of the facility, by this I mean are you expecting to have a through put of 5,000 rounds of golf a year or 55,000 rounds of golf a year or similarly 35 or 135 matches per season.

Now you can really start to plan implementing a suitable maintenance programme with aeration, mowing, herbicide, fungicide and fertiliser treatments. You may also build in one or two contingencies for the unknown - like weather.

With regard to good financial planning the above principles remain unchanged.

Upon first meeting a client I would want to establish what plans the client already has, what are their current circumstances and future requirements. I confirm the available resources and usually what are their priorities. This gives me an overall picture of requirements to make suitable recommendations. Plans can be put in place to fulfil the clients needs from a range of product providers. The goal is a happy client who understands their financial position and can then fulfil their long term ambitions.

If you feel you can benefit from this approach then please contact me on the telephone number provided. The benefit of an independent financial adviser is that the product (s) available for the client is not restricted to any provider.

Simon Hannam, Independent Financial Adviser

The Hopwood Ash Financial Planning Consultancy
6 Oxford Road
Newbury
Berkshire
RG14 1PA

T: 01635 43515

F: 01635 31545

Email: simon@hopwoodash.co.uk

The Hopwood Ash Financial Planning Consultancy is a trading style of Hopwood Ash Ltd. Registered in England No.-04084369. Regulated by the F.S.A. Registered Member of the Mortgage Code Compliance Board No.-5559727