Client Report for the Dando family

The written report: A financial plan for Richard and Stephanie.

You should make a judgement about the timescale of this plan, taking into consideration the financial milestones and factors mentioned in the case study.
It should include:
a. A clear breakdown of the couple’s objectives over the short, medium and long term. You should clearly show a financial plan that models the likely changes in the couple’s financial situation from now until the years to retirement, taking into account all of the information in the scenario (you may use excel for this and include as an appendices). You need to determine the key milestones that will change the couple’s income and expenditure between now and retirement and model how these will change their overall financial position. You should consider at least two alternative scenarios you judge possible given the ages of both Richard and Stephanie and their possible retirement ages. (Please note you are not required to re calculate the current net pay of the couple). 10 marks
b. Specific advice regarding the 2014/15 pension reforms. You should make clear to the couple to which pensions they are relevant and what options the couple have as a result. You must provide specific recommendations for Richard as to the final salary scheme transfer, including the advantages and disadvantages of transferring his defined benefit scheme to a defined contribution scheme.
10 marks
c. Advice regarding any issues mentioned in the case study in relation to capital gains and inheritance taxation (provide supporting calculations), estate planning and care planning (please note that Richard and Stephanie would like to know what the potential impact of care costs could be on their future inheritances). You are expected to use 2019/20 tax year in calculations. 16 marks
d. Based upon the couple’s risk profile, recommend two separate investment portfolios of for Richard and Stephanie. You should consider the funds available, clearly showing where these funds have come from (exclude pensions from this). You should also attempt to model the performance of the portfolio and whether or not it is likely to achieve the goals you stated in part a (you must state and justify your assumptions with regards to growth rates and inflation). 16 marks
e. Provide mortgage advice to Olivia. You should identify appropriate mortgage options and comment on their affordability as well as advising Olivia about other costs (both one off and continuing) of buying a property. You should calculate Olivia’s net pay and suggest a possible monthly budget that may help Olivia manage her money in the first year. 8 marks
You should state any assumptions that you make, but you need to ensure these are from robust sources. You need to identify any information that you would need to seek clarification on from Richard and Stephanie. You are the financial advisor and you should treat the information in the case as if it has been gathered from a first client meeting. Additional information and calculations should be included as appendices. However, these must relate specifically to the case study and support the financial plan you produce. Appendices or tables are not included in the word count.
You must base any calculations on the 2019/20 tax year.
Please note this is not an essay, it is a report for the client. You should write to the client in the report. You need to ensure that any sources are referenced in text and at the end in ‘references’. You should use appropriate sections and clearly show this in a table of contents at the start of the report.

The presentation part:
You will be required to append to your report a maximum of 10 slides that would serve as a presentation of the main elements of your report to the clients. There is no requirement to record this. You should include sufficient content in the notes sections of the powerpoint so that it is clear what you would have said in the presentation to the clients
You will be assessed on:
a) Presentation skills: The assessment criteria will include providing a clear set of slides which are appealing and understandable. They should be appropriate to use in a client presentation.
b) Content: Your presentation should be in the appropriate level of detail and is an overview of what is to come in your report. You should therefore consider demonstrating the following:
– Discussion of the couple’s objectives with reference to timescale
– Logical flow and structure of content
– Evidence of research to form recommendations
– Case study relevance and use of up to date material
– Coverage of issues in the case study at the appropriate level of depth to include an overview of key recommendations .