We hear stories from our clients of advisers they have approached in the past (before they met us) who tried to dissuade them from either investing ethically or giving to charity at that time.

Why is that?

For the majority of cases, advisers on-going pay is based on the amount of their client’s money they invest. This is called ‘Funds Under Management’ and the larger the amount invested, the larger the on-going pay.

However, we work in a slightly different way, in that we base our recommendation on the client’s goals and objectives. If your goal is to donate to charity during your lifetime rather than on death, we help you understand how to do that and how much you could give – and we are proud to base our success on the satisfaction of our clients.

Recently we held a seminar with some trusted professional connections from an accountancy and solicitors’ firm to advise on exactly how to donate to charity now.

What do we do?

We create a bespoke financial plan with you, based on your circumstances, including your goals and objectives. We will always encourage clients to ensure that they have enough capital for an emergency fund, and to give you the lifestyle you want, now and in and retirement. We will then add in charitable payments in a way that shows you how it affects your budget so that you can start giving straight away if that is your wish.

Ethical investing

We are in an increasingly socially conscious world – where more clients are looking to invest ethically, a trend which many believe will only continue to rise.

Ethical investing varies in that some companies may have a low carbon footprint, some investments may not hold tobacco companies, some may focus on charitable donations or on religious beliefs. Through our fact-find, we can advise on the right investment choice to meet both your social and financial objectives.

How do we make a difference?

We do not just advise our clients on charitable giving and ethical investing, as we believe the proof is in us doing it ourselves.

We spend a lot of time raising money for local charities (Ark Cancer Centre Charity and Berkshire Community Foundation are our main charities for 2019), we also give our staff a day off a year to work for a local charity. We run charity quiz’s, walk on fire, run the London Marathon, completed a 500-mile bike ride and an amateur boxing event all to raise vital funds. So far in 2019 we have raised over £16,000 and given over 300 hours of our time, and we still have more events to come, such as a Sleep Out overnight for Launchpad Reading.