INTRODUCING OUR CORPORATE INVESTMENT SERVICE C O C K BURN LUCAS INDEPENDENT FINANCIAL CONSULTING Making your business our business
About Us Cockburn Lucas IFC Limited was established in 1997 to provide a fresh approach to the delivery of independent financial advice. The company provides bespoke Financial Planning services to Business Owners, Senior Executives, Corporate Clients and Professional Connections on a wide range of issues, calling on our own expertise and that of our strategic partners when required. The highly qualified and experienced management team has been together for over 20 years. We advise on and oversee the investment of assets approaching 100m* providing both trustworthy and impartial advice from our offices in West Bridgford, Nottingham. Due to demand, we have expanded over the years with individual consultants specialising in a diverse range of advisory services covering both corporate and individual financial planning needs. We believe it is vital to offer contemporary solutions backed up by a high level of care and attention to detail. Cockburn Lucas provides a truly personalised service aimed at helping your business succeed. * Correct at 19/3/2015 Take a New Journey Corporate clients will have individual goals and needs at each stage of their financial journey. Grow You may be looking to grow your business. You may require access to funding or strategic advice covering share protection or key person cover, as well as how to manage out other commercial risks. Our network of carefully chosen professional partners can help to ensure that quality and trustworthy advice is always on hand to help the busy entrepreneur or manager make sound decisions. Shift You may have built up a pension pot and/or other assets and may be holding significant cash reserves on your balance sheets. You will want to ensure the company assets are providing a good rate of return. You may need advice on reducing the impact of market volatility, appropriate tax solutions on your company investment strategy or just simply want to earn a better return than holding cash on deposit. Spend You may be approaching retirement and need advice on how much income you need at different stages during retirement. We can help you invest your assets to maximise tax efficiency and minimise risk to capital as wealth preservation becomes more important. You may also need to look at profit extraction and the tax planning issues surrounding your exit planning. Share You may be thinking about how to pass on your company or wealth tax efficiently via succession Planning. You might just be looking to exit your business via a trade sale and need advice on the structure or legal issues, as well as how to invest the proceeds to meet your future needs. 2 Our Services Our range of corporate services include: Retirement Planning for Directors Succession Planning Employee Benefits Corporate Investment Planning Business Protection & Remuneration Advice Asset Allocation & Risk Profiling for Company Pension Funds
Becoming a Client As one of our clients we will design an investment strategy in consultation with you and any other fellow Directors. It will be based on your corporate objectives, aspirations, risk profile and tax circumstances. Once implemented, our recommended financial planning strategy is regularly reviewed in line with your objectives and any change of circumstances, including market conditions. Our normal policy is to hold regular meetings, where a full review and strategic advice can be provided in keeping with your plans. We recognise the need to adapt and ensure a flexible approach throughout. Our Process Here is our 5 stage process that we hope makes giving corporate financial advice simple and easy to understand. 1. Discovery Meeting/Risk Profiling The advice process starts here. This is where we introduce you to our services, and those of our strategic partners. We will discuss your corporate or personal objectives and financial needs, taking time to get to know you and the structure of your company. We ll find out about your goals and any immediate areas of concern. We will also have an in-depth discussion regarding risk profiling for any investment led advice that you may wish to discuss. 5. Maintain & Review As part of our ongoing services, we will regularly meet to review and ensure our corporate advice and/or asset allocation program remains consistent with your company s needs. Dates for valuations and review meetings will be mutually agreed at this stage so we can maintain a proactive service and stay ahead of the curve at all times. 4. Implement Plan Once we have reached a mutual commitment to proceed, we will commence with implementation of our recommendations and carry out all administrative work involved. We ll report back to you along the way to ensure all actions are executed as smoothly as possible, minimising any disruption to your business or organisation. 2. Research and Analysis We will then take time to formulate our recommendations and plan our proposed solution and, if required, an Asset Allocation program tailored to meet your company s financial objective. We ll formally introduce you to any of our chosen strategic partners to assist with areas outside of our normal areas of expertise. 3. Recommendations & Planning Meeting Once we have sent you your corporate Financial Planning report we will host a joint meeting to present our strategy and any product recommendations to you and any other Directors, if required. This also offers us an opportunity to discuss and amend any areas prior to reaching a mutual commitment to proceed or to gather further information if required. To become a corporate client at Cockburn Lucas, please contact us by e-mail or telephone and a member of our Business Support Team will be more than happy to arrange an initial no-obligation meeting with one of our Business Planning Advisers. Our contact details can be found on the back page of this brochure. 3
Risk Profiling Your Business Before any recommendations can be made, we will need to determine the level of risk you are willing to take with your company s investment strategy. There is no such thing as a risk free investment. In consultation with our expert advisers, we will assess your company s capacity for financial loss along with the level of volatility you are prepared to tolerate. The value of your investment can go down as well as up and you may get back less than the amount invested. How does it work? We will ask you to complete a Corporate Risk Profile Questionnaire. This helps to determine the type and level of investment risk the company is willing to take on and the timescales for any investment program. Meeting your needs Any advice given will be based around your company s attitude to risk, as well as your corporate needs. For example, if you are a Corporate Progressive investor, we are likely to recommend a wider range of funds in equities and other markets. However, if you are a Defensive investor, we will focus more on capital protection and fixed income using structured deposits and products that will provide a smoothed return for your company s investment strategy. Regular monitoring Through our use of Morningstar research software and our Corporate Discretionary Investment Service, we are able to report to you in real time. We ll inform you whether your investment portfolio is in line with your attitude to risk and capacity for loss. You ll stay up-to-date with the performance of the accounts and any investments contained within. What if my risk profile changes? We understand that changes in your personal or company s circumstances may lead to changes in your attitude to risk. Should there be a change in your risk profile, any advice given will reflect this accordingly. You will be able to discuss your ongoing needs with your advisor at regular face-to-face meetings. Where necessary, you can make any changes to your corporate planning program to ensure its continued flexibility and that it meets your goals and objectives. Overseeing Your Corporate Investment Account When recommending and overseeing assets that we feel you should invest into, we will ensure you only invested in a range of funds and markets suited to your attitude to risk. We achieve this goal via our asset allocation and risk profiling processes and by adopting a multi asset investment approach. How does it work? Market Analysis We analyse and scrutinise market data to help make accurate predictions on future market outcomes using our research partners and contacts built up over a 30 year period. Utilising Professional Contacts We consult with our extensive list of professional contacts to help determine what the future might hold for the markets and will then allocate and agree an investment program based on further discussion with our clients. Tailor Made Your company s individual financial needs and risk profile, along with a detailed breakdown of your assets and liabilities, can enable us to build you a tailored investment strategy for the short, medium or longer-term. 4 What if my corporate financial needs change? We appreciate that as times change, so will your financial circumstances. In this instance, we will advise you on any changes we feel should be made to your portfolio via regular contact and review meetings and report back to you in writing to ensure a full compliance audit is maintained. Asset Allocation Our asset allocation process is where we recommend which assets we believe you should invest in depending on your personal needs and your attitude to risk. As no one single asset class will perform consistently, it is vital that you maintain a balanced portfolio. Example portfolio asset allocation
Our Corporate Investment Service Charges and Fees Cockburn Lucas Charges and Fees are as follows. Transactional Fees for implementation advice Annual Cockburn Lucas Fee for ongoing advice and monitoring Typical implementation fee of 1,500 Based on amount deposited Up to 1% per annum 5
Listening to You Investor Horizons and what we learned We believe the most successful business strategy is to listen to our clients and make sure we adapt our services to what you need and want. Additionally we regularly take the pulse of our investors to determine their financial needs and investment behavior, allowing us to design and implement services that meet your goals, having first taken the time to understand what really matters. Here is a current sample of what our investors are saying and feeling. Upbeat and more in control More people in the UK are feeling positive about their financial future compared to one year ago (51% now versus 47% 12 months ago). It is probable that improvements in the economy and a strengthening jobs market are at the core of this upturn in sentiment. Many people are proactive about managing their finances and set long-term financial goals, such as saving for a comfortable retirement and growing their wealth. Cash is the default destination for British wealth Cash remains the default destination for the bulk of Britain s personal wealth. The results of our survey illustrate the high emotional attachment to cash. More than half say that having a cash safety net helps them feel more in control of their finances. It is unsurprising, therefore, that people hold 68% of their savings and investments in cash despite acknowledging that they should only be holding half this amount. Most people have Many are missing out on the opportunity to invest for income Income investments are not just for earning an income. They can also be used to grow wealth (if you choose to re-invest the income), via investments in property, bonds, and share-based (equity income) funds that make regular pay-outs. While approximately half of investors say it is important to them to generate an income from their investments, most do not hold any income-generating products. This suggests that many savers and The average expectation for retirement income is 27000pa but to achieve this you would need a pot of 540,000 Planning for retirement has never been more important In an era of reducing state and company retirement provision, people largely accept that they have to take more personal responsibility for funding their retirement. Only one in six believe the state pension will provide sufficient income to meet their needs when they retire. Likewise, workplace pensions while being an important source of retirement income benefit only a third of workers currently entering retirement. The need to take personal responsibility is growing, but the lack of retirement planning and financial knowledge means that many people are reluctant to act. The majority of people say they do not know how much they should be saving for retirement, while 44% haven t started saving for retirement at all. Unsurprisingly, people have little confidence in their retirement plans, with only 32% confident they will enjoy a comfortable retirement. 6 longer-term financial priorities which involve growing their wealth such as building up wealth for their future and for retirement. Yet, with the vast majority of their wealth held in cash and one in seven believing that cash never loses its value, it is clear that many are overlooking the role inflation plays in eroding the value of their cash savings. investors are missing out on the opportunity to generate income from their holdings. Among those investors who hold income products, there is a near equal split between those who take or spend the income and those who invest it back into the market. So where do you go for advice and what can you do? As we live longer and healthier lives we also have a dilemma as governments struggle with greater debt and the responsibility for saving in retirement shifts squarely to the individual. At Cockburn Lucas we believe that investors need to step back and rethink their financial plans for retirement and to expand their time horizon to achieve their goals in this regard. Each of our highly qualified and regulated financial planners works with a limited number of clients, not totaling more than 150. This way we can ensure you receive the attention to detail and level of service required to make sure we help you retire or invest with confidence with a plan.
What to do Next Get in touch and take the first step on your new financial journey Call us today for an obligation-free meeting about your future with our financial and retirement investment specialists: Call (0115) 981 9529 or email enquiries@cockburnlucas.co.uk Or for more information please visit - www.cockburnlucas.co.uk and relax 7
Authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority Holland House 45 Loughborough Road West Bridgford Nottingham NG2 7LA T: 0115 981 9529 F: 0115 981 7527 enquiries@cockburnlucas.co.uk www.cockburnlucas.co.uk Designed by Fusion Graphic Design Ltd