Often this is when people reach their 50s; having started out living in the short term, with immediate financial concerns of succeeding in a career, family, houses and a lifestyle, they have moved on to accumulating “stuff” for the future because accumulating “stuff” is a good thing to do: ISAs. Pensions, investments, maybe property; what they then realise is that they don’t know what “stuff” they have, whether it is good “stuff” or bad “stuff”, what it is actually going to do for them, how it is going to do that and importantly, whether they have enough “stuff” or still need more.
What they think they need is a full review and a plan; what they find they need is someone to help them articulate what the plan needs to be able to do for them and then a full review, a plan and a process for ensuring the plan remains on track.
This covers a wide range of possible scenarios from divorce, through the shock of a Pension Savings Statement, to receipt of an inheritance. Often it requires a level of technical expertise that they don’t have themselves and have neither the time nor the inclination to gain. Sometimes it is just that issue that needs sorting but often it leads on to wider questions of financial planning once the immediate concern has been addressed.
Never be afraid to focus on the immediate concern first because, until you have addressed this, you won’t be in the right mindset to look past it and begin to picture the longer term objectives that you need to achieve.