Most of us spend a fair amount of time thinking about money. We ponder about what we have in the bank and how we'll spend it. We dream about winning the lottery or having enough to live on comfortably when we retire. Money is a key part of our life story. It affects the decisions we make and the choices we have.
Here at Financial Life Planning we want to give you the tools and guidance to make smart financial choices that give you the life you want.
I need to talk to you about my financial life plan »
Financial planning should be about more than a single product that takes care of your pensions or investments. It should be about your story because every financial decision we make impacts some other area of our life.
When you get in contact with Financial Life Planning for the first time you'll probably have a specific need. Maybe it's time to remortgage, or you need help setting up a trust. Or maybe you already know that all your financial decisions are linked and by making educated choices you can get the life you want.
Either way we'll start working with you in the same way – by listening to your story. Then we'll follow 8 easy steps to the financial life you want.
Most of the time we help people with financial planning because once we know your whole story we can give the best advice. But we also know sometimes you just need help with a single product – maybe a pension, estate planning or savings product. So we can help with all of those.
mortgages, protection, pensions, savings, investments, tax, trusts and estate planning and full financial life planning. We have an in-house pension transfer specialist to help you with occupational pension planning.
Get in touchKate Shaw has looked after our pensions and investments for the past 6 years. We recommend her because of the down to earth, no-nonsense and friendly approach, she is extremely pro-active, totally trustworthy and gets the results.
Kate has been our financial advisor for a number of years. It has been, and still is, a joy to work with her. She is meticulous and thorough in her research. She clearly and concisely explains the pros and cons of the investment choices she puts before us, and makes sure we are fully aware of all the implications. She never pushes us into anything, but listens carefully to what we have to say, and manifestly takes our views into account. When new decisions are made, she implements instructions immediately and always keeps us informed. We are very happy with the results. A very satisfactory service all round.
I and members of my family have worked with Kate for a number of years. She has helped us develop our financial plan and structure our investments and savings. I know I can always rely on her to be responsive and professional, yet always ready to avoid jargon and take the time to explain investment strategies and choices to those who are less financially sophisticated. I recommend her without hesitation whenever someone asks for a recommendation for an IFA.
I'm Kate Shaw. After 17 years working as an independent financial adviser, financial planner and mortgage protection expert I set up Financial Life Planning in 2015.
I wanted to do things differently.
I didn't want to look at products – pensions, investments and insurance – for my clients in isolation. Because I knew each decision made would impact on their financial life in other ways.
I wanted to move towards a new way of thinking about financial planning – one that digs deep into the person sat in front of me.
So now I start with the story of the person, couple or business. And then we work together to create an individually tailored, robust financial plan and roadmap that can flex around the life they want. That plan can cover mortgages, protection, pensions, savings, investments, tax, trusts and estate planning.
I work with you to find the best ways to save, and grow and protect your assets.
If you would like to get in touch with us please do so using the form below, or alternatively give us a call on 029 2021 8888
Financial Life Planning Ltd (reg no 09298236) is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Telephone: 029 2021 8888
Financial Life Planning Ltd has the responsibility for investigating complaints made against its advisers. It is our commitment that these investigations shall be completed in a fair and impartial manner and will take into consideration the Financial Conduct Authority’s principles relating to Treating Customers Fairly.
We recognise a complaint as being any expression of dissatisfaction about the services or advice provided by us to any customer that is made either in writing or verbally.
As soon as we are notified of a complaint we acknowledge receipt of the complaint in writing to provide the customer with confirmation that the complaint has been received into our dispute Resolution process. This acknowledgement will be made no later than 5 working days from the date of receipt. This letter will also include the contact details of the individual within the organisation who will handle the investigation.
We confirm our understanding of the complaint within the acknowledgment letter to ensure that what we are investigating is what the customer wishes us to investigate.
We will enclose a letter of authority to enable us to obtain information from third parties in addition to a contact details form. It is important these are returned and a pre-paid return envelope is provided.
From time to time customers may make a complaint to us when in fact the complaint should have been made to another organisation. Where this is found to be the case we notify the customer that we cannot inves gate the complaint and no fy them of where the complaint can be investigated.
We also forward the complaint to the organisation we believe to be responsible so that they can make direct contact with the customer.
It is our commitment that we keep the customer informed about the progress of the investigation of the complaint. We seek to do this using all forms of communication and on an ongoing basis. The customer may request an update at any me.
If we are unable to resolve a complaint within a four week period, we write to the customer confirming this and explain the reasons for the delay.
If we are still unable to resolve your complaint within eight weeks we will write to you confirming this, explain the reasons for the delay and request permission to continue our investigation.
At this stage we will remind the customer of their right to refer the complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service with details of how to do this.
As soon as we have completed our investigation we write to you with a full explanation of our investigation and set out our findings with an explanation of why we have reached our decision. Our findings will be either that you had ‘cause’ to complain or ‘no cause’ to complain.
Where ‘cause’ is found we set out the action we propose to take to redress your complaint. You will be asked to confirm acceptance of our redress offer or rejection of this.
Again at this point we will remind you of the right to refer the complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service.
Where ‘no cause’ is found we set out the reasons for reaching this decision and provide a reminder of your right to refer the complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service.
As an organisation we regret the fact that any customer should feel the need to make a complaint but understand that from me to time the quality of our services and advice might not meet the expectations of some customers.
In the investigation of a complaint we do not rely only on the existence of physical evidence such as letters and other publications but also consider what is likely to have taken place in order to be fair and impartial.
We also recognise that any dispute resolution process can be stressful for both parties and therefore seek to secure settlement of the investigation quickly and with consideration for both parties involved.
One of the statutory objectives of the Financial Conduct Authority is that all firms must have regard to the information needs of its customers and treat their customers fairly.
In addition the Financial Conduct Authority has set out guidance on how firms can evidence that they are treating their customers fairly by way of ensuring that firms do not impose any barrier to customers making a complaint.
We seek to ensure that our handling of customer’s complaints meets these rules and expectations and are inherent within our processes and procedures.
You are advised that you can decide at any point during the investigation of your complaint to exercise your right to refer the matter to the Financial Ombudsman Service.
The Financial Ombudsman
Service
Exchange Towers
London
E14 9SR
Open 8am to 8pm, Monday to Friday, 9am to 1pm Saturday
0800 0 234 567 - free for people phoning from a fixed line or mobile.
0300 123 9 123 - calls to this number cost no more than calls to 01 & 02 numbers.
+44 20 7964 0500 - from outside of the UK where the above numbers are not available.
Email: complaint.info@financial-ombudsman.org.uk
Website: www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk
Welcome to our website. By continuing to browse and use this website, you are agreeing to comply with and be bound by the following terms and conditions of use, which together with our privacy policy govern Financial Life Planning's relationship with you in relation to this website. If you disagree with any part of these terms and conditions, please do not use our website.
The term ‘Financial Life Planning' or ‘us' or ‘we' refers to the owner of the website whose registered office is 12 Greenwood Road, Llandaff, Cardiff CF5 2QD. Our company was registered in Cardiff with the registration number 9298236. The term ‘you' refers to the user or viewer of our website.
The use of this website is subject to the following terms of use:
Financial Life Planning Ltd understands its obligations in regard to your fundamental right to a private life and has implemented systems and controls to ensure your rights and freedoms are protected. Financial Life Planning Ltd undertakes to meet its obligations under the Data Protection Act, the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations and the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
Your personal information will be processed by Financial Life Planning Ltd, in accordance with this privacy notice.
Your personal information is required to enable us to take necessary steps at your request prior to entering into a contract and to perform such a contract. This may include reviewing assets and liabilities, bank account validation, identity and age verification checks, credit checks, preventing and detecting fraud, money laundering or other crimes and any other requirements in accordance with rules set by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) or other applicable legislation.
Though there are some legal exceptions, if we wish to process your personal data for any other unrelated purpose than those we have informed you about we will notify you.
Your personal data is essential to enable us to take steps at your request prior to entering into a contract or to perform a contract to which you are a party. Without this information we will not be able to proceed to provide any financial service.
Because the processing is necessary:
We will record your information exactly as you provide it. You may ask us to update it at any time and we will action your request promptly and where possible notify relevant third parties of any changes.
Unless we are processing because it is necessary for reasons of substantial public interest, we will only process sensitive personal data, such as data concerning health, with your explicit and informed consent for specific processing activities. In such cases you will be asked to sign a separate consent form to evidence this and that you understand the purpose(s) of the processing of such data. Your consent may be withdrawn at any time.
To contact you to ensure that our records of your personal information are correct;
You have the right to object to processing for these purposes and we shall cease unless we can show we have compelling legitimate grounds to continue.
We will use the information provided to protect members of the public against dishonesty, money laundering or fraudulent activities. This must necessarily be carried out without your explicit consent to ensure this function is not prejudiced. Part of this processing involves verifying your identity using third parties such as GB Group Plc or Creditsafe Business Solutions Ltd.
We only collect information that is necessary to carry out the purposes listed above. This includes information you supply and data we receive from reference agencies. Where practical and lawful we will inform you about any personal data we receive about you from third parties that you may be unaware of.
We will ensure that your data is only accessible to authorised people in our firm and will remain confidential at all times. Appropriate security measures will be in place to prevent unauthorised access, alteration, disclosure, loss, damage or destruction of your information. If we have a contract with another organisation to provide us with services or a service on our behalf to process your personal information, we’ll make sure they give reassurances regarding appropriate security measures in place and only process your information in the way we’ve authorised them to. These organisations won’t be entitled to use your personal information for their own purposes. If necessary, our security teams will check them to make sure they meet the security requirements we’ve set.
We may share your information with:
We do not usually transfer any of your personal data outside of the EU except when we need to perform pre-contractual measures (credit and identity checks) or because the checks we request are necessary for important reasons of public interest. Some companies, like Creditsafe Business Solutions Ltd, may transfer data outside of the EU to countries which do not, in the view of the EU Commission, offer an adequate level of protection. In such cases Creditsafe encrypts any data it sends to other agencies and only transfers information necessary to carry out checks. (A list of countries used to perform checks include Germany, Netherland, Belgium, France, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Spain, USA, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovenia, Bosnia, Serbia, Montenegro, Croatia, Macedonia, Kosovo, Albania, Bulgaria, Romania, Ukraine, Austria, Denmark, Moldova, Portugal, Italy, Canada, Brazil, Greenland, China, India, Australia, Russia, South Korea, Taiwan, Mexico, South Africa, New Zealand, Hong Kong, UK.)
We will use the information provided now and in the future to carry out direct marketing activities as these are legitimate interests pursued by us. Sometimes this includes, with your consent, sharing data with product providers for their marketing activities. You can choose which method you’d prefer us to use to contact you (by email, telephone, SMS or post) and you have the right to object at any time to the use of your personal data for this purpose and we will cease marketing activity. Just let the person who gave you this form know about your preferences.
We sometimes use automated processes when making decisions but you will not be subject to a decision based solely on automated processing, including profiling.
In line with The Telecommunications (Lawful Business Practice) (Interception of Communications) Regulations 2000 we may record incoming or outgoing telephone conversations for the following purposes:
The Financial Conduct Authority lays down rules relating to how long information should be held for and we will keep your information to meet these requirements. We will not keep your information for longer than is necessary.
You may at any time ask for a copy of the information we hold about you – it is your legal right. We will provide you with a copy of any non-exempt personal information within one month unless we ask you for an extension of time. To protect your personal data, we will ask you to verify your identity before we release any information. We may refuse your request if we are unable to confirm your identity.
You have the right, on grounds relating to your situation, at any time to object to processing which is carried out as part of our legitimate interests or in the performance of a task carried out in the public interest. We will no longer process your data unless we can demonstrate there are compelling legitimate grounds which override your rights and freedoms or unless processing is necessary for the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims. You have the right to object at any time to processing your personal data for marketing activities. In such a case we must stop processing for this purpose.
In addition to the rights above the additional following rights:
To exercise any of these rights please contact us (details below).
You can contact our data protection officer about any data protection or marketing issues by:
Writing to:
The Data Protection Officer
Financial Life Planning Ltd
12 Greenwood Road
Llandaff
Cardiff
CF5 2QD
Telephoning: 029 2021 8888
Emailing: kateshaw@flpsolutions.com
By writing to:
Information Commissioner's Office,
Wycliffe House,
Water Lane,
Wilmslow,
Cheshire,
SK9 5AF
By telephoning: 0303 123 1113
By emailing: casework@ico.org.uk
By using their website:
https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/report-a-
breach/