Helping you build a flexible, tax-efficient retirement plan that takes account of lifestyle goals, inflation, longevity and sustainable income needs.
Financial planning with Rathbones
At Rathbones, our team of financial planners and advisers take time to understand your circumstances, goals and concerns, then build a flexible, personalised plan that brings together the different parts of your financial life.
Through a dedicated and trusted relationship, your financial planner can provide advice and support across retirement planning, investing tax efficiently, protection planning and estate planning, depending on what matters most to you, helping you achieve your goals.
Financial planning at a glance
Financial planning is the process of organising your finances to help you achieve your life goals – whether that’s buying a home, funding education, building wealth, or retiring comfortably.
Our financial planning service offers you a dedicated financial planner, helping build a financial planning roadmap for your finances, focused on your goals, resources, priorities and time horizons.
Our financial planners can look holistically across your retirement plans, investments, tax, protection and legacy planning – to create one joined-up strategy through a financial plan. As you enter new life stages, or as markets and tax rules change, your financial planner is there to guide you at every step.
For many of our financial planning clients, the value lies not only in the plan itself, but in the confidence and clarity that come from understanding how different financial decisions across multiple life stages fit together. They also value having a dedicated financial planner who they have a trusted relationship with.
What financial planning is (and what it is not)
Financial planning helps you understand where you are now financially, where you want to get to, and the steps that could help you move forward with confidence. It typically considers cashflow and savings, pensions and retirement income, investments and risk, tax planning, estate planning and financial protection. It is especially valuable when decisions are interconnected – for example, when retirement income choices affect tax outcomes, when gifting decisions affect long-term security, or when investment decisions need to support both lifestyle and legacy goals.
At Rathbones, your dedicated financial planner takes the time to understand you and what matters most to you. They’ll create a financial plan designed to keep you one step ahead – identifying opportunities and adapting as your circumstances evolve, so your goals stay on track.
Financial planning vs wealth management vs investment management
Financial planning focuses on the decisions, structures and priorities that shape your wider financial life now and in the future. Investment management focuses on building and managing an investment portfolio aligned to the goals in your financial plan, and your attitude to investment risk.
Wealth management combines both financial planning and investment management, with your financial planner and investment manager working together on your goals. This means your financial plan and your investments are aligned, rather than being considered in isolation.
What our financial planning service can help with
Tax planning
Helping you make effective use of available allowances and reliefs and structure your finances tax-efficiently. Tax rules are based on your individual circumstances and are subject to change.
Estate planning
Helping you consider succession, gifting and inheritance tax planning so more of your wealth can pass to the people or causes you care about.
Lump sum investing
Maybe an inheritance or business sale, we can help you invest tax efficiently and consider ways to help ensure your new wealth is protected, lasting for the long term.
Investment planning
Helping ensure your investments support your wider objectives, risk profile, time horizon and personal values, including ethical and responsible investment preferences where relevant.
Protection planning
Helping you prepare for the unexpected and consider how you and your family could remain financially secure in the event of illness, death or other life changes.
How we build a financial plan tailored to your goals
1. Discovery
We start by getting to know you – your goals, priorities, concerns and the financial decisions you are facing.
2. Building a clear picture
We review your existing arrangements, income, assets, liabilities and wider circumstances, and discuss the level of risk that feels right for you.
3. Analysis and modelling
Where appropriate, we use cashflow modelling to explore different scenarios and trade-offs, including inflation, market volatility, major life events and retirement timing.
4. Advice and recommendations
If advice is appropriate, we provide clear, personalised recommendations supported by a suitability process and explain what actions may be worth prioritising.
5. Implementation
Where you choose to proceed, we can help put your plan into action so the recommendations are carried through clearly and efficiently.
6. Ongoing review
If you choose an ongoing service, we review your plan regularly to help keep it aligned with changes in your circumstances, markets and legislation.
Ways we can support you
Different clients need different levels of support. We can provide focused advice and financial planning for a specific issue or life stage, broader holistic planning across your whole financial picture, or family financial planning where generational needs and structures need to be coordinated.
Some clients use financial planning as a dedicated service, while others use it as part of a wider wealth management service.
When financial planning becomes more complex
Some of the common reasons why individuals use our financial planning service
- Approaching retirement or already drawing retirement income
- Managing multiple pensions, investments, properties or income sources
- Planning around the sale of a business, inheritance or other major life event
- Supporting children, grandchildren or ageing parents while planning for their own future
- Thinking about gifting, trusts, succession or charitable giving
Who financial planning is for
Financial planning can be valuable for a wide range of people, but it often becomes especially useful as wealth, responsibilities and financial complexity grow. That may include professionals and executives, entrepreneurs and business owners, people approaching retirement, families planning across generations, or individuals dealing with a significant change in circumstances.
If you are unsure whether financial planning is right for you, we offer an initial complimentary conversation to help you determine what level of support may be appropriate.
Our financial planning service is suited to individuals who generally have £300k+ of investable assets (including any pensions).
Why choose Rathbones
A personal service built around long-term relationships, with direct access to the professionals supporting you.
A joined-up approach, with financial planners and investment managers working together where appropriate, and focused on reaching your goals.
Regular reviews and ongoing support if requested, so your plan can adapt as your life changes.
Flexible ways to meet, whether in person, at home or virtually.
A heritage of helping clients plan and invest for the long term.
FAQs
Answers to popular questions about financial planning
Contact us
Take the next step
If you would like to explore whether financial planning could help you, the first step is a conversation with one of our financial planners.
There is no obligation, and your initial meeting is complimentary.
We can talk through your circumstances, what you want to achieve and whether advice or ongoing planning support may be right for you.
What our clients say about our financial planning
Recent financial planning insights
9 minutes
1 June 2026
Do I need retirement advice? Why professional planning matters
Planning for retirement can feel uncertain. With pensions, investments, and life decisions to juggle, it’s not always clear if you’re on the right path. Retirement advice can bring clarity, supporting informed choices, helping you stay on course, and giving you greater confidence and control over your future.
7 minutes
22 May 2026
Cash flow planning in retirement – how to understand what you can afford and enjoy life with confidence
Cash flow planning helps you understand whether your money will support the retirement you want. By projecting income and spending over time, it brings clarity, confidence, and reassurance – showing what you can afford, what risks matter most, and how to enjoy retirement with greater freedom.
7 minutes
21 May 2026
Should you consolidate your pensions?
Pension consolidation can help some people bring clarity and simplicity to managing multiple pension pots built up over different stages of life. This guide explains when consolidation may be helpful, the risks to consider, and why the right decision depends on your individual circumstances.
Useful links
Investment management
Looking for someone to manage your investments for you? Our investment management services might be for you.
Trust and tax
A cornerstone of your financial planning, we’ll work with you to arrive at a suitable strategy for yourself and future generations.