When someone thinks of planning, they may very well imagine that this involves a lot of technical stuff that is beyond them, but I would suggest that this is where an IFA comes in. An individual can then do the framework of what he or she wants, and the IFA would then be able to fill in all the details and suggest what needs to be done and when.

It never ceases to amaze me how many people do not do any planning, and are then surprised when they get a tax bill, and ask me IN ARREARS what I can do to make it go away. You won’t be surprised to know that in many cases I can do very little because actions needed to have been taken BEFORE certain events.

If you just leave something to happen, how do you know what the end result is ? Is it going in the same direction that you were hoping. Planning starts to get things moving in the right direction, and then you can tweak things on an ongoing basis when it isn’t, but the main thing is that you keep your eyes on it and do what is necessary to steer it in the right direction.

The old saying is failure to plan is planning to fail. It’s true !!

So why don’t you sit down today and list your objectives for savings, for pensions and even life insurance, and then have a chat with your IFA to see what you need to do to try and achieve those objectives. MAP advisers are only too willing to sit down with you and your plans.

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