Financial advice, it’s not what you think
Samantha and Steve Rickelton discover clear and helpful financial advice at Newcastle Building Society’s Gateshead branch from Newcastle Financial Advisers
MY husband Steve and I are in our mid-30s and although we have made some provisions for our future, we’ve never taken any official form of financial advice.
Making an appointment with a financial adviser is pretty daunting and I was worried there’d be a lot of jargon or that maybe it wasn’t going to be suitable for us, but I couldn’t have been more wrong.
The Newcastle Building Society Gateshead branch was modern and the branch staff offered us a cup of coffee before we sat down to chat with Alan from Newcastle Financial Advisers. Alan was just a normal person, a similar age to ourselves and immediately made us feel at ease. Newcastle Financial Advisers pride themselves on their transparency – fees, regulation and how the process works are all thoroughly explained from the outset with a clear document provided for us to take away and an invitation to ask questions at any stage.
Alan asked us a couple of questions about our current circumstances, we discussed our future plans and goals and Alan suggested a few different ways we could achieve them.
There was no hard sell at any stage and you are not asked to sign up to a product there and then – the initial appointment is very much an analysis and understanding of your current situation. I love that this service is open to all and it doesn’t matter what your circumstances are – financial advice is definitely not just for the super-rich.
Finally, Steve and I completed a short online questionnaire designed to help Alan understand the level of risk we were willing to take in any future investments (it turns out Steve and I are both cautious investors) before agreeing on a few options for Alan to research and present to us at our next appointment.
We left knowing that Steve has adequate protection and a decent pension through his employer, but as I’m self-employed and have nothing in place to protect my earnings or provide for my future yet, this is something we are going to look into going forward.
Being able to speak with a qualified professional about saving for our future was not at all like I expected and I’m really pleased we’ve taken this first step. We both feel a lot more informed about our choices now. The whole process was friendly, open, very easy for Steve and I to understand and only took an hour of our time.