Case Study - The Importance of Income Protection!

A recent meeting with a client once again highlighted the importance of having protection in place from the inability to work. Unfortunately this was a very severe case in which the client will not be able to work again.

Mr X was a healthy 47 year old with no previous medical problems who believed he had a mild chest infection. However sadly it was much worse and he was diagnosed with a very serious illness, which has meant he has to have both his heart & lungs replaced. This is a very extreme case in terms of the severity of the illness, but not an uncommon consequence as many people are not able to work due to ill health.

What makes this whole scenerio worse is that he had no protection in place to cover him against this situtation as he felt it was NOT needed. This means he has no money apart from his jobseekers allowance & associated disability benefits. He has also been given one month's wages from his employer as a gesture for his 15 years in employment, but this still a very small amount. As you can imagine he is very distressed about this, but he has recieved no councelling, which if had cover could also have been given to him.

There are a huge variety of protection policies available, which can be tailored to individuals circumstances. For example someone who is married with 2 kids & a mortgage will require a different plan to someone single with no mortgage. In the above case there were no dependents, but this is obviously a huge factor when choosing your plan.

Here at Reeves Independent we would gather a full fact find to fully understand your whole situation and research appropriately from this. This would then enable us to present to you the best options in respect to protecting the wellbeing of you & your family in the unfortunate event of ill health or even death.

For a FREE no obligation chat about your requirements then call 0191 281 9862 or e-mail info@reevesifa.com NOW!

Retirement Planning & Investment Survey

As I hope your aware Reeves Independent is holding a Free Investment & Retirement Clinic next Friday 1st of July, so we thought we would do a quick survey to coincide with this.


If possible could you take 30 seconds to complete our survey


http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/GRFXGK5


Everyone who does it will be entered into our Free Prize Draw, which is £50 towards a meal for 2 paid for by us at a restuarant of your choice

Once you have completed it e-mail info@reevesifa.com to inform us you have done so & your will be put in the draw!

Also follow us on twitter at http://twitter.com/#!/reevesifa

Case Study - The 'Super' Cautious Investor

A recent meeting with a prospective new client demonstrated the problems that can be caused by failure to do anything about planning for their future.

At 53, Mrs X has had a successful public sector career, enjoyed a nice lifestyle and has been lucky enough to experience some of lifes privileges. Despite being a high earner nothing has been saved or invested for the future. With her core career now over she is faced with working on minimum wage till she collects the state pension at 66 or 67 years of age.

After engaging in a preliminary discussion it became evident that the core reason for not investing over the years was the unwillingness to trust organisations and people that potentially were to invest her money. Does this sound like you? This mistrust resulted in no action being taken over many years and the situation of where she is now.

Why did she not Invest?
No pensions were taken because of the Maxwell scandal, no investments were made because she was scared of the risk of losing all her money and no savings were made because of the low rates of interest that would see inflation eating away at the savings made.
On top of all the investment risks she was worried that she may not reach retirement age as she had the terrible experience of people close to her dying prematurely.

What happens next?

The role of a good adviser is to talk clients through the potential financial risks that they may have to face and the ways in which one can protect yourself and your family. After that the clients can make their decisions from the various options presented to them

Developing a diverse range of investments that are appropriate to the individual clients needs and wants in their life is the only prudent way to plan. There are always risks involved.

For the 53 year client all is not lost, she still has time and options to improve her position - if she is prepared to act upon this!

Reeves Independent are proud to offer generic financial & retirement planning services that have provided innovative solutions for many clients over 16 years!

For a FREE initial chat to discuss your retirement plan & investments call the office on 0191 281 9862 or contact us on info@reevesifa.com to book an appointment NOW!

Free Investment & Retirement Planning Clinic!

Here at Reeves Independent we understand how important it is to get your retirement plan in order sooner rather than later. A major part of this retirement plan could be actively trying to make more from your investments, which would have a positive impact on when you can retire and how good a retirement you can actually have. 

Additionally as we all know from the media at present that the Government are reviewing and possibly changing the pension system. Proposals may mean that people will have to work for longer whilst making higher pension contributions. Could this be you?

So we are offering a FREE Investment & Retirement Planning Clinic

Date:           01/07/11

Time:          09.00am - 16.00pm (Hourly slots available)

Venue:        Reeves Independent, 47 St Georges Terrace, Jesmond, NE2 2SX    

Contact:      info@reevesifa.com or 0871 271 1280

It is an opportunity to come and have a chat with one of experienced team to ask them any questions you have about your own investments and discuss retirement strategies and options!

We are booking out hourly slots so e-mail the team to book a place NOW!

If you have any further enquires then please contact us!

It must be stressed this a free initial meeting - further meetings may incur a cost. However this will be discussed at a future date.

The Importance of Retirement Planning - Now rather than Later!

The current economic situation has resulted in a number of hard decisions having to be made, especially with respect to retirement planning. This is the not just the case at family & business level but significantly at government level.

The present problem of an ageing population with inadequate financial planning is not a new one, its been around since I started in the finanicial services industrty in 1991. It would seem to me that it has taken this recession to kick start the Government to really wake up to the problem. This had resulted in a number of new key initiatives, which as we know have not all been popular.

Firstly have had the increase in the state retirement age. Therefore people in their 20’s will not get their state pensions until 68 years of age at least. Secondly the abolishment of the maximum working age will be welcomed to many who can’t afford to retire . Additionally the auto enrolment of qualifying employees will see people being entered into pension schemes that they might not want. Furthermore the compulsory employer pension contributions have not go down well with the companies that we run schemes for.

The public sector looks like it will not escape either. Lord Huttons report suggests that public sectors workers are faced with later retirement , lower pension and greater contributions. We will find out further developments over the following few weeks I'm sure.

Never has it been more important to address your own retirement plans and move with the times. If you are serious about your retirement Reeves Independent offers a thorough retirement planning service, which includes the following;

• A comprehensive fact find to ensure we have the whole picture
• Goal setting & a full analysis of existing investments and assets.
• Presentation of alternative options & strategies

Contact the office for a FREE no obligation appointment on 0871 271 1280 or e-mail info@reevesifa.com NOW!

Frequently Asked Questions?

Here at Reeves Independent we get asked a lot of different types of questions regarding financial matters. At present we are dealing with a number of divorce cases, where the following question has been asked;

Before I got divorced my ex husband sorted out all of our investments but I do not really know what I have got. It’s confusing. How can you help?

It is fairly common to see one member of a family taking the lead with the family finances and then for what ever reason they are not there to do so. It’s not just devorce where this occurs, serious ill health and bereavement can also have the same effect.

The first thing that we do for all new clients is find out what they have got. This often involves taking away a bundle of paperwork which we wade through and put it into some form of meaningful shape. We would then normally get authority to deal direct with the provider to get up to date valuations and other relevant items.

Then a detailed report is produced, which will list everything that you have and will help you understand what you have got and how it matches your needs.


Finally, we will present a range of options about the best course of action for all your finances.

If you relate to the above article and would like some advice & help to get your finances in order then contact 0871 271 1280 or e-mail info@reevesifa.com to speak to one of our experienced team NOW!

Reeves Independent's Quarterly Investment Report!

This week signalled the end of Reeves Independent's Investment Quarter. Our version 6 portfolio's performances were as follows;

All but one of our Cautious Portfolio funds produced positive returns. The average gain across these 12 funds was 2.54%. These quarterly returns are more than the majority of current accounts offer in a year. Our highest gain within this portfolio was 7.68% from the “Invesco Perpetual High Income ACC”  Fund. This was only added at the beginning of March following extensive research from our investment team.

More impressive were our Balanced funds, who actually eclipsed our cautious funds, with all 8 of them producing positive returns. The fund producing the greatest return in this portfolio was the “Aberdeen European Equity A”, which returned 5.4%. Overall our balanced portfolio averaged a notable 3.08% over the quarter.

Our Aggressive funds were less pleasing as they were constantly hampered by the aftermath of the Japanese Tsunami, the instability of various worldwide economies and the problems in such countries as Libya, Egypt and the Middle East region. However it must be stated that very few of our clients have invested within this portfolio as we had advised them not to from research undertaken.

At Reeves Independent we are now analysing these quarterly results and we are developing our Version 7 portfolios. Extensive research will be undertaken from our investment team, which will result in some funds being taken our of the various portfolios and new funds added, with the overall aim being to better the above quarters performance.

If you would like to have a review of your investment portfolio or you would like to possibly make returns like those mentioned above then contact us on 0871 271 1280 or e-mail info@reevesifa.com

CASE STUDY - I WISH I HAD PRIVATE MEDICAL INSURANCE!

Our colleague Liam Naulls had his Anterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction operation last week so we thought we would re-post an old blog to really hit home the point.

In January this year Liam sustained a serious knee injury playing football. After a bad tackle he ruptured his cruciate ligaments in his right knee, which required a full reconstruction.

If Liam had, had Private Medical Insurance (PMI) he would have had the operation a lot earlier . He could also be now recieving regular physio if he had added a few benefits to a PMI package.

The NHS has huge pressure on it, with long waiting lists, which is why Liam had to wait 9 months for his operation. With this in mind the number of people trusting in PMI and actually taking the option of PMI is on the increase (http://www.hi-mag.com/health-insurance/product-area/pmi/article370903.ece).


"This whole scenerio has made me realise the importance of PMI, and in hindsight I wish I had had some in place as I would be on the mend now." Liam acknowledged, "At 28, I thought why would I need it? But this has highlighted to me it is very much necessary".


At present we are working in conjunction with a PMI organisation, and from as little as £4 a week you can a basic plan that would enable you to use private medical faclities! If you would like to talk about PMI contact us on 0871 271 1280 or e-mail mailto:info@reevesifa.com%20now now to speak to one of our experienced team!