Monitoring the financial plan

You are now ready to implement your financial plan. But this is not the end of the process. In many ways, it is just the beginning. The plan needs to be reviewed regularly, to ensure it is still able to meet your expectations and at the right level of risk.

Furthermore, your own financial and personal circumstances will change over time. Potentially, this will alter both your objectives and your means of achieving them. For example, you may receive an inheritance, sell your business, or you may be promoted and receive a pay rise.

These developments may mean you upgrade, or expand your objectives, by deciding to buy another car, or a second holiday home. It may also enable you to retire five years earlier than you originally planned for; reduce the amount you need to save for retirement; or lessen the level of investment risk you have to take to achieve your goals.

Your objectives may revolve around preserving your existing assets, rather than trying to generate future wealth. A key part of this planning will include structures to ensure wealth is passed on to your chosen beneficiaries, notably children and grandchildren, in the way you want and in a tax efficient manner.

The financial plan is the culmination of the first phase of the process. The next seven chapters deal with different aspects of implementing the financial plan, starting with a look at how you can use offshore and onshore structures as part of your planning.