The Four Life Stages

It is recognised that there are four distinct stages of life that we all hope to evolve through. Each stage represents a different phase of our lives, creating unique financial planning needs.

Fluent provides holistic financial planning, which ideally should start from the earliest stage possible. By working through the stages and understanding your financial future, we seek to enable a smooth transition from one stage to the next. The following explains a little about each stage and some of the key points that need addressing:

Spring: From Birth to Work (Age 0 to 20’s)

The ‘novice or pupil’ stage:-

• Birth
• School
• University
• Work
• Home.
• Savings from birth
• School fees planning
• University fees & keep
• First cars
• Protection via Wills.

Summer: Work to Mid Life (Age 30’s to 40’s)

The ‘finding our position in society’ stage:- Marriage, Job, Family, Start Business, Move.

Savings for:

• Marital costs
• First home
• Young family
• Protection
• Debt Management
• Family Healthcare
• Business Planning.

Autumn: Mid Life (Age 40’s to 50’s)

The ‘consolidation’ stage:- Comfortable Lifestyle, Home owner with mortgage, Windfall, IHT or redundancy, Family,Working, Mid-Life Crisis,Thinking about managing long term future.

• Protection
• Healthcare
• Will Trusts
• Savings & Investments
• Inheritance
• Redundancy Counselling
• Retirement Planning
• Long Term Care Planning.

Winter: Retirement (Stage 1: 50’s to 65, Stage 2: 65+)

The ‘Interaction & reflection’ stage:- 2 distinctly different life stages:

50’s to 65’s: Largest part of the population 1/3, Cultured with highest newspaper readership, More time, earlier retirement now,Time to Travel, Most affluent - 80% of UK wealth, Divorce, Need to plan long term future.

65+: Know what they like with established habits and life pattern, Need to feel a sense of belonging - clubs / churches / family are central, More likely to be involved in Fund Raising, Failing Health, Falling Ill, Retirement, Death.

• Inheritance Tax Mitigation
• Gifting to family
• Healthcare
• Retirement Home Financial Planning
• Long Term care costs
• Protection of Assets
• Equity Release.

Your affluence is our business