RAFP – Our Plans for the Future – An Update
Back in March in Issue No. 34, I was telling you about our business continuity and succession plans and introduced you to Martyn Bates and Lynne Campbell, whose business, Bates Campbell Limited, came under our regulatory umbrella from 1st April this year. It’s amazing to think that we are now 4 months on from that date and I’m pleased to say that although we had one or two back-office challenges to get client data integrated, the process has largely gone relatively smoothly, thanks in no small way to the input from Lesley in persevering with the IT support systems to get everything complete.
I am therefore pleased to be able to confirm that we are now taking the next steps with both Lawyers and Accountants having been instructed to prepare the ground with the Financial Conduct Authority for the two businesses to be merged into one business and I am hoping that this can be completed before the end of the current calendar year.
Subject to receiving FCA approval, the new business will be known as Alexander Bates Campbell Limited Chartered Financial Planners and as you will see, we are not going to win any prizes for imagination in terms of the business name!
It does however confirm the continuity for our respective clients and as part of the process, we are expecting to add new people to the team.
The first of whom I am pleased to announce is Nigel King, who joined us as a Chartered Financial Planner at the beginning of June, and he will be working with some clients in both businesses until we are fully integrated and then for the combined business thereafter.
Nigel is a family man and has a busy home life with 4 children and he brings with him wide ranging experience that he has built up in the industry over 20+ years.
Once we have been given the green light by the Regulator, we will be able to launch the new Company livery, which will mean a complete overhaul of our respective websites and other information, so there will be a lot for us to do to put all of this to bed.
If you have any questions about our plans at this stage, please do feel free to let me know, but I will keep you updated as we make progress.
Wills and Lasting Powers of Attorney
In our world of financial planning advice, we inevitably cover many different topics and quite often the subject of Wills and whether to incorporate Lasting Powers of Attorney will be discussed. As there still seems to be a bit of an air of mystery around Lasting Powers of Attorney (LPAs), I thought it would be worth just summarising the importance of these and how they work in the UK. This is based on the UK position, but a similar situation is worth considering if you are living overseas.
The main purpose of an LPA is to be able to give authority for somebody to act on your behalf if you are unable or unwilling to do so.
Typically, you would nominate a trusted friend or relative to look after your affairs, should you lose capacity.
The LPA can only be granted whilst you have mental capacity, but it does not need to come into effect until or unless your circumstances change.
There are actually two types of LPA, one is for property and financial matters and the other is for health and welfare. Nominating an individual to make decisions for you over your day to day health care and medical treatments, does not therefore mean that you will also give them control over your financial affairs. You may choose the same person to act as your representative for both finance and health or you could choose different people.
One key difference is that the health and welfare LPA can only be used after the individual loses capacity and not before.
With property and finance, you might choose to have somebody help you or make some decisions on your behalf, even whilst you still have capacity yourself.
Although this is a somewhat emotive subject, it is one that is worth considering seriously and having appointed your representatives, you will have put in place a safety net just in case a situation develops where you are no longer able to make decisions for yourself. It does not mean you lose any control from the point that the LPAs are set up.
Reviewing Wills from time to time is a good practice, to ensure that they do reflect your current views and that they are up to date and consulting your Solicitor over Powers of Attorney would be a good idea to include in your next review, if not before.
I hope these thoughts might be of use and interest and do let me know if you have any questions.
In the meantime, stay safe and we will keep in touch.
Best wishes.
Richard, Chris and Lesley