The finishing touches

What is the reason behind anyone looking to you as an IFA for financial advice? At its most basic it is to make life easier. Making it easier to buy their home, making it easier for them to enjoy their retirement and making it easier for their family should any type of misfortune occur.

But making life easier is not only about money. Just walk into any store as a customer, or try to arrange any of the services you need, and you soon realise that.

Once the financial arrangements are agreed, what none of us want is to hear is: ''But before we can actually do it/deliver it, we just need you to...'

And in your own area of operation ' finances ' there are a few ways in which you can make an enormous difference to your clients when you give them advice.

Let us look at a few examples, with particular reference to those clients on the mature side of 50. Having provided protection, savings, tax planning and tax breaks for your client, what are the finishing touches you can put in place to make sure you provide a complete solution, not half a solution?

Adding value

It is important to make sure your client is going to get full value from the life assurance you have arranged. Although £242,000 of any estate is now free of inheritance tax, even that amount does not cover the family home for many people. So if there is any amount of personal life assurance as well as a house passing in someone's will, the chances of hitting the inheritance tax limit are fairly high.

Although only around 4% of estates suffer inheritance tax, there is no reason to increase that percentage just for the Chancellor's benefit, and no reason to lose any of the benefit of the premiums your client has paid.

So putting protection policies in trust is the order of day and a routine check on all the policies in force ' some of which may have been arranged elsewhere ' can be worthwhile. If an existing policy is not already in trust, then look at what can be done to accomplish this at this stage.

It may be worth looking closely at the trust wording. Most current wording will normally be wide enough to ensure no unforeseen consequences result at policy pay out time. But it is worth looking now, rather than later.

Older policy trusts in particular may not have the flexibility more recent ones offer, but even if there is little that can be changed now, it is better people understand that soon rather than later.

Life assurance provided under pension schemes is almost invariably written under a discretionary trust, so that inheritance tax is not an issue. But what you should do is to check on any nominations handed to the trustees as an indication of what the client would like to happen to the money on their death. If it is the right thing to do, get your client to let their scheme trustees know of their revised nominations.

This particularly applies if there has been a divorce, or the death of someone who might have been a nominated beneficiary under the scheme. What you do not want to happen is for the scheme trustees to feel it appropriate to pay the life assurance proceeds to someone other than the person your client would currently choose.

Changing a nomination is a pretty clear indication to trustees of a positive change of mind. Not making a change ' despite changed circumstances ' might just be interpreted as a positive 'no change of mind'.

Will power

Making sure the estate ends up where it is intended is of utmost importance. Whatever else you decide is not really necessary, do not overlook the will. Astonishingly, many people have not made a will. Having worked, saved and provided for their families, they do not take the simple final step of making sure their efforts benefit the right people.

Most people want their nearest and dearest to get all the money ' without having to make provision for siblings and others who they do not necessarily regard as deserving, or even likeable. Without a will, this aim can be frustrated.

A will is so easy to make and will save so much inconvenience and potential disappointment that it has to be the number one priority for every client. And nowadays, wills are not an expensive commodity ' a good comprehensive will is within the reach of all your clients.

You do not need to know what is in the will ' though it can be useful when pointing out to your client what they have got that they can leave. But just make sure your client has one.

It is also worth flagging up the issues your clients should take account of when settling on the terms of their will. For example, which property is jointly owned and how, which property they can leave, which will pass automatically to a joint owner on death and whether any of the ownership arrangements should be changed or not.

Where your clients are married or partners, you need to ensure they have taken account of what they want to happen on the first death as well as the second. It is also important they keep it up to date. So if there is a marriage, remarriage, birth or death, the will comes out of the drawer for a re-examination, if not a complete rewrite.

Power of attorney

The will takes ca e of death. But what if ill-health occurs and disables your client to the extent they simply cannot manage their own affairs? Either temporarily or permanently, either physical or mental ill-health.

The world does not stop in these circumstances. Bills have to be paid and savings may have to be accessed to do this. In the worst circumstances a home may have to be sold because your client needs to move into a residential home, or sheltered accommodation. Decisions have to be made, documents signed and so on.

An enduring power of attorney can make doing all of this practical. With one of these signed in advance and in place, ordinary transactions on behalf of a disabled person can be turned from a nightmare experience into something approaching normality.

Given that mental incapacity is one of the main reasons why anyone will ever need to use an attorney, make sure that the power of attorney is an enduring power ' and so will not become invalid on mental incapacity. Also that it is in place in time ' when the signs of mental incapacity start to appear it could well be too late to arrange one.

With an enduring power of attorney in place, accounts can be accessed, savings and investments can be restructured or drawn on and homes can be sold as needed.

In many of the items we have talked about, third parties will be involved at some stage. If there is a will, there will need to be at least one executor, if there is an enduring power of attorney, there will need to be at least one attorney and if policies are in trust there will need to be at least one trustee.

So as well as making sure the necessary documents are signed ' and reviewed ' make sure you raise the issue of the working roles as well. Most importantly, tell your client to make practical arrangements and decide now who could act as a trustee.

Someone needs to know which life insurance policies to claim on, which pension scheme is holding life insurance benefits and if there is a long term care insurance plan in place. Someone needs to know where money is invested and which investments terminate automatically on death.

So help your clients ' prepare an inventory of what is what. With the benefits of your IT systems this is easy to do, easy to update, and it is easy to keep everyone informed. Not all shares are evidenced by certificates, for example, so who is going to know that they exist when the time comes?

Make sure relatives, executors and trustees know they have that role. Remind them periodically. Let them know what documents there are and where they are kept. A simple spreadsheet can work wonders. Do all your clients a real favour ' add the finishing touches to all your advice.