It could be that a financial advisor is a good option, especially for longer term planning around life events and especially where you want to optimise tax allowances. We were lucky enough to bag our community member Clare a free session with the financial advisor team at Berry & Oak to see exactly what’s involved…

Meet Clare…

Clare isn’t comfortable when it comes to finance, paperwork and numbers. Her ADHD can sometimes get in the way of feeling in control when it comes to money and she is often overwhelmed by large financial decisions.

During the pandemic, Clare had to pivot her business and start again. Her previous role saw her travelling the world to speak at conferences about customer experience, but that changed when the world shut down. Nearly 2 years later, Clare still bears the scars of her financial rollercoaster.

Clare went into the session with the team at Berry & Oak thinking she was financially vulnerable – even saying she felt “poor”. After the session however, she quickly realised that she had stronger financial foundations than she first thought.

Like with The Financielle Playbook, the team at Berry & Oak gave Clare an exercise to go away and collate all of her assets and liabilities, she needed to ‘Know Her Numbers’. Clare was pleasantly surprised to find she had a number of assets in her armoury that would make her feel more financially secure, including investments and properties that were adding up in value. Clare had also recently sold one of her properties to create more liquidity, but felt that she was burning through the cash mindlessly with no plan.

The team at Berry & Oak held Clare’s hand through a number of big financial decisions, such as whether to hold off on purchasing a London property, deciding where best to invest her money long term and helping her navigate efficient tax planning that may have been overwhelming to address alone.

Clare was extremely nervous about her initial meeting with the team but was made to feel welcome, supported and encouraged through a number of big financial decisions. There can be a perception that financial advisors are interested only in the wealthy, but Clare felt the service was inclusive and accessible she described it like having a personal trainer. Clare shared that she has a accountability business partner, a business coach and personal trainer – she now compared her financial advisor (Berry & Oak) as an investment in experts to help you achieve a life goal.

Clare felt that after knowing her net worth (which you can also track in The Financielle app on iOS or Android) it’s allowed her to be bolder in her decision-making, recognising that her strong financial foundations provider her with a variety of financial levers to pull at any time should she need.

Thank you to the team at Berry & Oak for supporting Clare through her financial advisor experience.