• Adviser name: Debbie Wilson
  • Client name: Peter
  • Client location: Dunstable
  • Client since: 2009

Peter is 83 and had a long career before starting up his own company with two business partners. They built and opened their first factory to manufacture products for the frozen food industry in 1998, followed two years later with a second to cope with demand. The business continued to go from strength to strength, with markets in both the UK and Europe.

He lives with his wife in a village outside Dunstable and has three sons, five grandchildren and five great-grandchildren, some of whom live in Australia.

Peter

Why did Peter decide to take financial advice?

Peter sold his business in 2008 and retired shortly afterwards. As a result of the sale, Peter had a substantial amount of wealth. He wanted to ensure that it would not only provide him with the retirement he wanted, but would also be passed down to his family, in a tax-efficient way.

Whilst Peter enjoys getting involved in investing, he is conscious that tax is incredibly complicated, and that without good planning, you can end up paying a lot of tax unnecessarily.

How did we help?

Due to the size of Peter’s personal wealth, his accountant recommended that he work with Hillier Hopkins which then led to working with Satis.

There, he met Debbie Wilson, who has supported Peter and his wife with their estate planning, by setting up a number of trusts for his ten children and grandchildren.

This was a complex exercise as half of the people involved were living in Australia! However, with Debbie’s expertise in overseas financial planning, Peter’s children and grandchildren have already benefitted financially from Peter’s hard work and generosity.

Peter also works with Ben Sherwood, Director of Satis, who advises him on other financial planning matters and handling his ongoing investments.

How have they benefitted from the advice?

Peter still likes to do some investing himself, running his own portfolio. However, whilst this is something he enjoys doing, he prefers to have the reassurance that his finances are being managed by professionals, who take away the worry and administration of managing his investments.

Peter says: “Me and my family have benefitted financially as a result of good investment returns, but also as a result of tax savings. This is particularly true in relation to when mistakes have been made by HMRC; these are the sorts of things that we would not pick up on, but a tax planner or financial planner would.

The advice I receive is highly professional and excellent value for money. I could not find anyone better to look after my financial interests.”