When I first spoke with Gemma (The Financial Planning Director at UNIQ) I was recently retired and was worried as to whether I could maintain my lavish lifestyle throughout my retirement. We chatted in some depth about my financial priorities and what I wanted to do with my life in retirement. Gemma then created a long-term investment strategy that allows me to do the things that are most important to me.

We own and run a successful design and print company, which we established many years ago. As business owners we were aware that certain benefits apply when it comes to the structuring of our pensions. We decided to seek professional advice to re-organise our arrangements in a way that could benefit our business. Our UNIQ Financial Planner started by reviewing our existing arrangements. She then recommended a plan that would enable us to buy our business premises, with a tax efficient loan and lease back to our company. There is no doubt that this strategy enabled us to create an effective platform to develop our business to where we are today.

In 2004 I was coming up to retirement as the Principal of Gwent College in Newport. I was to receive a reasonably large cheque and had other money available to invest. The college set-up an initial meeting with Marlene, the Managing Director of UNIQ, and following that I elected to enter a longer term arrangement. The process began with an in-depth discussion about what was important to my wife Ann and me, and the lifestyle we wanted to live in retirement. The team then created a personalised Financial Plan to structure our financial affairs and provide the income we needed to maintain our lifestyle. I feel that one of the biggest benefits is the way our money is invested. We honestly don’t have to worry what the stock markets are doing, our portfolio is efficiently managed and we can leave it to the experts. Another added benefit of working with UNIQ Family Wealth is that they help us to structure our investments to ensure our family are provided for. To that end we have established a separated investment plan for our grandchildren and are looking to move an investment property into Trust for our two sons to mitigate inheritance tax. We take comfort in knowing that our financial affairs are well looked after. The service has always been excellent and we are very impressed to see Marlene quoted in the financial papers and magazines - she is justifiably high profile in the Financial Planning profession.

I was referred to UNIQ Family Wealth by existing clients, who I have been friends with for many years. They highly recommended Marlene, the Managing Director at UNIQ, at a time when my husband Graham and I were looking for a Financial Planner to help us to organise our affairs. Sadly Graham had been diagnosed with a terminal illness. During this time Marlene was a great support. She provided invaluable input, helping to handle and organise our finances. Due to the nature of Graham’s role as Chief Engineer at Rolls Royce we had travelled widely and spent many years living abroad. As a result a lot of our finances were offshore and we had properties in various locations. Marlene helped to coordinate our financial affairs and bring our assets back to the UK. She acted as so much more than a Financial Planner, by helping with things I didn’t even know existed - wills, probate and such like. This was at a time when I really needed support and her help was invaluable. Marlene was caring, warm and someone I could trust implicitly. Today I continue to work with the team at UNIQ Family Wealth. They help to keep our Financial Plan on track for myself and my three sons. By working with them I feel comfortable with our finances and my mind is at ease - they really do take the stress away.