Informed Decisions Financial Planning is a small firm, is my money safer with a bigger firm?
All our client funds are held in safe custody with the very same global custodian that many of the countries biggest investment and pension providers use, Pershing. They are regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland and are a subsidiary of the Bank of New York Mellon Corporation.
We hire a number of consultants for specialist regulatory, investment and protection services. The reason being, Paddy wants to work with clients directly. Paddy loves getting to know and help clients personally. We will reach client-capacity within the next 18 months, and from that point on will work exclusively with those valued clients. They will receive a personal and valuable service.
How are you different to the norm, really?
Under new Central Bank guidelines only a firm that does not have any commission arrangements can call themselves ‘Independent’. Informed Decisions Financial Planning is Independent, and is on your side.
Clients can choose to pay for our services via a monthly standing order, but most opt to pay via their investment and pension assets we help them with.
Isn’t paying a fee to an advisor like you dearer than a traditional advisor?
It would be easy to think so! Clients usually pay a lot less (€2,000-€8,000 per year) with our model. We typically help clients reduce the total costs of their investments and pensions by 20-50%. As well as reduced costs we also offer better service than they were receiving. Win-win.
What do you do for your fee?
We become your go-to advisor for all aspects of your personal finance, your one source of truth and counsel. For that reason we work with a select number of valued clients, and we work closely with them over the long term. In addition to our full-life holistic financial planning, investment management, pension and investment structure gate-keeper, pension draw-down planning, access to our expert network at discounted rates, tax planning and saving you a bunch of time, worry and hassle. We believe we offer superb value for money, usually at lower or similar total costs than you are already paying for your structures. Win-Win.
What does the Informed Decisions MasterPlan contain?
The Informed Decisions MasterPlan™ will help you 'clear the fog'. and have clarity and confidence about your financial future. It contains a detailed analysis and clarity on your current financial plans and probable outcomes. We will then detail the best courses of action needed for you to achieve optimum results. Finally, we will outline how we can work together to put in place the very best strategy for your to achieve your most cherished financial goals. In simple language, it shows you how to capitalise on the biggest opportunities available to you, how to save money, make money, and achieve the results you want.
What if I am not fully satisfied with your services?
It has not happened yet but any client is free to move at any time. We will help you to do so if that is what you decide to do. There are no penalties or clauses if you wish to do so.
You look quite young; how can you know much about retirement planning?
I am blessed to sometimes look younger than I am! Being in my early 40’s, I have been working with individuals for almost 20 years now, and love what I do. There is not much I have not seen and helped people with. If there is, I will always ensure we get the right answer before acting.
Do you hold my investments and pensions?
Never. Your money is in safe custody with Pershing, as set out by ‘Central Bank Client Asset Regulation’. This regulation outlines how client’s assets are to kept and segregated for their protection. Your money is kept as safely as we know how. Here is the full Central Bank legislation detailing how your funds are protected.
I’ve never invested via a platform, is it safe?
The platform does not hold your assets. It allows us access the proven and effective funds that we decide on together. The platform also allows you track and monitor your investment performance, it does not hold your funds.
Do you work with clients that do not invest the minimum of €500k?
Yes. As we are a fee-only advice firm we are happy to provide our MasterPlan service to anyone who we believe will get tangible value from it. However in our experience, those with significant funds invested with us receive better value and outcomes than those that do not.
You are a Financial Planner, but also train other advisors, is there a conflict there?
My intent is to improve how investors and pension holders in Ireland get treated. Working with advisors directly allows me to have a greater impact and to help them to engage and deliver great outcomes for clients. That’s a win-win in my eyes.
What is your process for selecting investment funds?
In conjunction with experts we complete a detailed analysis and comparison to determine the optimum solutions from a performance, security, cost and diversification perspective. We cross-reference this analysis on an on-going basis and use costly consultants to ensure our clients get access to the right solutions.
What is your track record?
Most clients we work with are quite heavily invested in carefully selected equity portfolios which delivered the most favorable returns over the long term. We do not try to predict the markets, we take a planful approach to selecting funds, and we stick to the plan. Thanks to that, and the cost-effective approach we use, clients have faired considerably better than many of their peers.
It will happen eventually! We do not hold your assets, they are in safe custody, and so you will have direct access to either remain invested as you are or move to another firm. There would be no impact or penalty to you.
If we have missed any important question here please feel free to contact me .
