We first seriously considered financial planning in 2012; I was approaching retirement and expected a good pension and lump sum after a career in the NHS.
Helen and I had a modest inheritance, a comfortable standard of living, owned our own property and we realised that many choices were open to us.
Our goal was to continue living a comfortable urban lifestyle, enjoying arts, culture, modest travel and holidays, and securing the future for ourselves and our two adult daughters. Philanthropy was also high on our agenda, we wanted to be philanthropic as we could, using our ‘baby boomer’ advantage to help others less fortunate.
Meeting Sean from Paradigm Norton, we were initially surprised at the detail we talked over, not just about finances, but about our approach to life, our hopes and fears, our individual approach to risk and our thoughts on philanthropy. Sean took all this into account and gave us a proposed financial strategy which balanced all our needs and gave us confidence to go forwards.
Since then we have broadly followed the strategy, making changes as circumstances required. We have always felt financially secure and have been able to help both our daughters with financial life choices. Most importantly we have managed to become quite significant philanthropists, supporting many local charities and initiatives. All this has been with the backing of regular meetings and support from Sean and the Paradigm Norton team. We are now established in retirement and still feel very confident with our financial support and advice.