Keeping financial control during the cost-of-living crisis

26 October 2023

4 minutes

At a glance

• You may think that financial advice is only useful when you receive an inheritance, a windfall or have a lot of extra money – that’s not the case.
• A financial adviser can also help you define your goals and maintain control of your money during the hard times.
• Staying on track with your financial goals is more difficult with the high cost of living, but there are strategies to help.

Financially it’s been a difficult few years for households in a range of income brackets. The cost of living has risen substantially as inflation has soared¹, household energy bills have skyrocketed², and interest rates are rising³. Meanwhile, investment markets have been choppy, which has been an additional source of stress for those planning their financial future.

You may think that we can’t do anything to help, but it’s during the hard times that the value of financial advice really shines through.

Here, we explain the ways that seeking advice can help you not just to survive, but thrive during economic storms.

What does a financial adviser do?

The purpose of financial planning is to help you manage your income and assets in the best way, so you can achieve your life goals.

You may think that it’s only worth talking to us if you have a specific goal in mind, such as early retirement, or after a big financial event such as divorce or receiving an inheritance, when you have a large sum of money to manage.

Although that’s part of the role of a financial adviser – and these are all key moments when good advice is important – in reality, we can help you tackle a whole range of money-related issues. The ultimate goal is for you to have the peace of mind that comes with knowing you’re on the right path. This can include:

•    Making the most of your money on a day-to-day basis.
•    Being financially capable of dealing with the unexpected.
•    Feeling confident, empowered and knowledgeable.
•    Making smart use of debt, investments, insurance policies, tax reliefs and financial products to help you on your journey.

The current cost-of-living crisis presents a huge threat to many people and their prospects of achieving these aims. Although some are more insulated than others, the impact of high inflation, energy bills, interest-rate rises and other economic challenges have become widespread.

We’re here to help you with the most mundane aspects of money management – and the most complex areas, too. Talking about how difficult things are, or how worried you are, is the first step to feeling better about it.

Why financial planning is important

You may have already put in place structures and routines to help you reach your goals. These could include budgeting, savings goals, monthly contributions to pensions or investments, and insurance or income-protection policies.

The challenge in the current environment is that some of these best-laid plans fall apart. This could be because you feel your income has become too stretched to keep up with commitments such as pension contributions or savings, or you might stop working towards your goals out of fear of what’s ahead - it’s a mindset of battening down the hatches.

We spend every day creating specific, actionable plans to help people reach their aims, based on realistic calculations of how much they’ll need. We can tweak and fine-tune these so that people who may feel they cannot afford to save for retirement, for example, or keep up their financial commitments, are able to do so.

Managing financial worries

As well as being a sounding board for your financial concerns and creating action plans for getting ahead, we can accurately assess how you as an individual may be affected by the current environment. Whether it’s the impact of inflation on your cash savings, how rising interest rates could influence your retirement plans, or how a recession may affect your business, we can provide a range of forecasts tailored to your circumstances.

These often offer reassurance, because your worst-case scenario may not have the terrible effect you fear.

We can give you the reassurance of knowing you’re doing your best for yourself and your loved ones, as well as the confidence that your finances are on track. That kind of peace of mind can’t be measured, but is, for many, the most valuable aspect of all.

Our aim is to help you thrive during the cost-of-living crisis – contact us now for support and trusted financial advice.

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