Explore our financial planning principles
We think all financial planning should be sustainable financial planning
Who this is for
Advisers
Finance professionals wanting to bring sustainable financial planning into their firm or looking for a firm to work with.
Clients
Individuals, business owners and fiduciaries who want financial planning that matches the way we live and work today.
What is a financial plan?
A financial plan is a model of your possible financial future. It is built in collaboration between us (the financial planner) and you (the client). It starts with an audit of your current circumstances including all of your income, expenditure, assets and liabilities. The purpose of the plan is to help you understand the likely consequences of choices that are available to you today. It is not to accurately forecast the future, but to provide insight into the likely impacts of decisions taken in the near term.
There is a fundamental flaw in ‘standard’ financial planning
The financial plan we recommend to a client relies on assumptions about all sorts of things:
- Economic growth
- Inflation
- Expected returns from cash and investments
- Foreseeable or likely changes in circumstances
- Future taxes
- Availability of financial products like insurance policies,
- Life expectancy
The golden rule with these assumptions is not that they are correct (no one can accurately predict the future) but that they are “reasoned and reasonable“. For the most part this has been an effective methodology. But as the world veers ever closer to a level of heating that exposes us to extreme danger, now is the time to revisit our assumptions and ask the critical question: are these still reasonable?
Our sustainable financial planning principles
We think that all financial planning should be sustainable financial planning and we openly share our methodology with our competitors.
We base our financial planning on assumptions about the future that are reasonable even in the face of climate change. We listen to the science.
We have a conversation with you about the physical risks that might affect you, your family, your business or your assets and investments. We take time to understand how different risks will apply at different stages in your life. We factor in the costs or opportunities created by dealing with these risks.
Our sustainable financial plan will discuss that transition and zeitgeist risks that could affect your business, your assets, or your investment portfolios.
Our planning is solution oriented. It allows you to make smart investment and lifestyle decisions, avoiding the worst risks and maximising the potential of your financial future.
Why it’s so important for the whole profession to change
The role of the financial adviser is already changing. Based on our financial planning principles, industry standards are being reassessed and redefined. We’re not interested in gatekeeping our methodology, because we want (and need) the industry to evolve.
If you’re a progressive firm
Download our adviser guide. Learn how to do sustainable financial planning and apply it to your firm.
If you’re a frustrated adviser
Want to adopt sustainable financial planning in your firm, but working in a place that won’t let you? Talk to us.
All investments carry risk and past performance is no guarantee of future returns. Our fossil-fuelled past is very unrepresentative of the future we need to build and adapt to. The timing and speed of our transition to a new economy makes short to medium term returns more uncertain.
