Oury Clark Financial Services A new approach to professional services - Specialist advice from our team of FSA regulated advisors for both companies and individuals.

Executive Pensions

These plans are available mainly for directors of companies and form an ideal method of building up a suitable pension fund.

They can include an element of property purchase where appropriate and the pension funds can be invested in a wide range of collective investments. Particular emphasis is given to the changes which have resulted from the amendments brought about by “Pensions Simplification” which was implemented in April 2006.

Self-Invested Personal Pensions & Small Self-Administered Schemes

These schemes are designed to allow maximum flexibility in terms of investment into a pension scheme.

Small Self-Administered Schemes have particular benefits for companies in that it is often possible for the business premises to be placed into the pension scheme with advantage. Self-Invested Personal Pensions operate in a similar manner but in most cases with much lower costs in terms of administration fees and time spent by pension administrators within the company.

Key-Man Protection

These plans are known as business protection policies and as the name suggests, provide compensation to the company in the event of the death or disability of key members of staff.

Companies arranging business finance from banks are often asked to provide key man cover in order to protect the bank’s interest in the loan.

Full advantage in terms of tax allowances is made.

Pension Plans for Employees

Many existing pension schemes for employees have been set up using contracts which are costly to administer.

It is often a simple matter to rearrange the benefits for the employees on advantageous terms for both the employer and the employee. Where a new plan is to be installed we ensure that the plan is cost-effective to operate and provides a quality benefit.

Stakeholder Pensions

Any employer with a total of more than five members of staff - including directors - is legally obliged to provide their employees with access to a stakeholder pension scheme. These schemes take the form of a low cost pension with a flexible level of contribution.

In order to comply with the Law it is necessary for an employer to designate a stakeholder pension scheme and our services include setting such a scheme up and providing individual on-site advice, where required, to members of staff.

Personal Pensions

For businesses which are employing relatively few members of staff but who wish to provide pension benefits for their staff we can design a personal pension plan to suit the circumstances, including employee and/or employer contributions designed to fit in with such individual requirements as may be required.

Death in Service Benefits

These plans provide a level of payment in the event of the death of an employee whilst in service.

The maximum allowable level of payment is currently four times salary, with benefits being paid to trustees of the scheme, as a result of which they are not considered to form part of the employee’s estate. Contributions are eligible for Corporation Tax Relief and do not count as employee benefits. Frequently a group life assurance scheme is set up for this purpose as the costs associated with such schemes are usually very much less expensive than if an individual arranged his or her own cover.

Income Protection

These policies provide a payment to the employer in the event of a member of staff being unable to work for in excess of three months and the benefit continues to be paid until either full recovery has taken place or the member of staff reaches normal retirement age.

The purpose of this plan is to provide the employer with the means of continuing to pay a proportion of the salary of the member of staff without undue cost to the company.

Private Medical Insurance

We have access to a number of plans for the provision of private medical costs for qualifying employees. Members of staff, their spouses/partners or family can also be included, though this incurs extra costs which are usually borne by the individual employee.

Unlike other individual benefits, these plans are a taxable benefit for the employee and the cost has to be included in the P11D.

A wide variety of plans are available from the very minimum cover to fully comprehensive plan which can include worldwide travel insurance and dental cover.

Personal Services

We offer individual clients a full “Financial Healthcheck” service, intended to cover all aspects of your personal finances. We believe that the better their health, the better that allows you to enjoy your own.

Where a full financial Healthcheck is not required we offer a range of advice on a variety of specific areas of interest. Some personal information may be required in order to ensure that you recieve a pertinent response to any queries. In the event that you select the full financial healthcheck it will be necessary to complete a detailed financial planning questionnaire.

Where more specific advice is sought in regard to other topics we can provide initial advice of a generic nature once you apprise us of the relevant details.

Financial Health Check

The first stage of any financial review is for us to meet you and complete a fact-finding questionnaire. This will ensure that we can identify which solutions are best suited your circumstances. Initial fact-finding meeting is free of charge.

Following the initial meeting we will provide you with a full report and recommendations as to how we believe you can best achieve your financial objectives. Within the report we will explain any costs or charges that are applicable and also highlight any potential risks that may be involved. Clients will be informed of all the negative as well as the positive aspects of any products.

Once you have had a chance to read and digest our proposals a second meeting can be arranged to discuss and review our recommendations, at which time we will answer any questions you may have. Should you proceed with our recommendations we will then make all the necessary arrangements and will be available for ongoing advice and regular reviews. We offer both fee- or commission-based services - whichever suits you best - but we will be happy to explain the options at the first meeting, or sooner if required. If you have a more general query, we are happy to discuss this with you over the telephone on a generic basis - which simply means that we can discuss the options but cannot make specific recommendations without completing the fact-finding process.

Investments

We cover a wide range of investments including those of a tax efficient nature including Unit Trusts, OEICs, ISAs, Venture Capital Trusts and Enterprise Investment Schemes.

We do not advise on investments in individual equities but can recommend a suitable stockbroker should the need arise.

Pensions & Retirement

Pensions and retirement planning are becoming more and more important. There is a wide range of pension planning vehicles available and we pride ourselves on being able to choose the one best suited to the individual circumstances.

This applies equally to both making provision for a pension fund prior to retirement and to the actual retirement itself, in terms of producing an income from a particular fund.

Inheritance Tax

When dealing with investments, pension planning, and other long-term financial provisions there can be aspects of inheritance tax that must be taken into account.

We also deal with inheritance tax mitigation as an individual subject and can offer a range of plans whilst preserving flexibility.

Mortgages

We offer a full range of advice for house purchase, buy-to-let and other purposes. We have access to most of the lenders operating in the market and are particularly skilled at dealing with those having flexible requirements for mortgage funding.

The service we offer is usually free but we reserve the right to make a charge where a particularly complex case arises.

Protection

The provision of protection for dependants is extremely important, particularly if this includes a young family or others who require full-time care or assistance. Protection products are also used where inheritance tax mitigation is required and, of course, for protecting mortgages.

We make use of computer technology to make a search of the market in order to find the most economic plan available to suit the financial needs of the person concerned.

Many of our protection products are written in trust to ensure that the benefits are available to the dependants without the delays required by probate.

Critical Illness

Critical Illness cover is intended to provide payment of a sum in the event of being diagnosed with a critical illness such as cancer, stroke, heart disease and the like.

Family Protection Cover

When it comes to providing for the insurance needs of a family as a whole - particularly those with young children - we make frequent use of a plan known as Family Income Protection.

This provides an income for surviving family members from the date of the policy-holder’s death until the end of a pre-determined period. This is typically when the youngest child has reached the age of 21.

Plans of this kind provide the largest amount of cover when the family is at its most vulnerable, with the cover tending to be reduced as the children get older.

Such plans can be surprisingly cost-effective and are considered by many to be a must for parents with young children.