George McNeil Chartered Financial Planner

George McNeil Chartered Financial Planner Chartered Financial Planner and Fellow of the PFS with over ten years industry experience.

29/04/2026

'So, how much do you charge?' 🗣️

It's a fair question, no one wants to get hit with a surprise bill! 🫰

Other, adjacent, industries 'start the clock' the moment you pick up the phone! ⏰

So, here we go:

1️⃣ Initial phone call. (Usually 5-10 minutes) ⏱️

FREE. 🤝

- We don't charge until we do work and create value for you.
- This is us seeing if we want to work together.

2️⃣ Initial meeting. (Usually 1-2 hours) ⏱️

FREE. 🤝

- Similar to the initial phone call but with proper information (a completed fact find).
- We chat about where you're strong and where you're weak.
- We speak about where you are, where you want to get to, and what your goals are in order.
- We discuss what I reckon you should do going forwards to achieve these.
- You decide at the end of the meeting, and the coming days/weeks, if you want to proceed.

3️⃣ Implementation and Ongoing Service. (Usually 30+ Hours of Work, and More for Ongoing) ⏱️

TO BE CONFIRMED. 🤝

- It depends on complexity and work required. 📑
- £1,500 to £3,500 for one off transactional work.
- 1-3% of money invested for ongoing work initially, then 0.7% ongoing charge for the ongoing service.

- No tie in after a fact find meeting, so what's to lose other than spending a couple hours chatting to me! 🤷‍♂️

- Lots of times there's no need for us to get involved so we tell you what to do, don't charge anything, and leave you to do the legwork behind the scenes. 👨‍💻
-------------------------------------------
Always happy for a chat, feel free to reach out. 📩

28/04/2026

We Often Talk About Buckets 🗣️

You have 3 buckets in your finances:

1️⃣ Short Term Money - Cash, Premium Bonds, Money in the Bank. 💶
2️⃣ Medium Term Money - Shares, Stocks and Shares ISAs. 📊
3️⃣ Long Term Money - Pensions. 🐢

What is each of their role?

1️⃣ Short Term Money - liquidity. You need an 'emergency fund' in case you lose a job and need to bridge until you get another, or to pay an unexpected bill without having to sell investments at an inopportune time. 💷

2️⃣ Medium Term Money - medium term growth. This is money you might need in 5-10 years to hold its value against inflation. Money you don't 'need' now, and are happy to let (hopefully) grow for 5-10 years where you can then realise the money and it buy as much as it could 10 years ago. Cash tends to halve in purchasing value (give or take) every 20 years, so this is the solution. 💡

3️⃣ Long Term Money - long term growth. Similar to medium term, just for a longer time period (obviously!). This tends to be money for retirement so it's long term and allows a little more 'risk' (or volatility) to be appropriate as there is enough time horizon to ride it out. 📈

Usually, we see a picture of plenty in 'short term' and plenty in 'long term' with nothing in between, and that's where investing a little cash for the medium term can be useful. 📊

The levels appropriate in each are client dependent, so reach out for a chat if you want to discuss further. 📩

Are you throwing half your money away over time? 🗣️ Inflation is quietly eroding your money! 📉 Cash has its place, f...
27/04/2026

Are you throwing half your money away over time? 🗣️

Inflation is quietly eroding your money! 📉

Cash has its place, for:

1️⃣ Liquidity. 🌊
2️⃣ Emergency fund without disturbing investments that could be down. 🦺
3️⃣ Future opportunities, a company, an investment, a property. 🤑

This is why we invest. 📊

We want to give this cash enough 'engine' to be able to buy a holiday in 2035 if it can buy one in 2025. 🏖️

According to the Bank of England calculator, £1,000,000 in the bank in 2006 (if uninvested) would now have almost HALVED in spending power.

You would need almost £1,800,000 to do the same job! 💷

Happy for a free chat 📩

Link to Bank of England Inflation calculator below - have some fun playing with dates! 📅

10/03/2026

I've got a bunch of pensions; should I consolidate them to one place? 🗣️

We deal with this pretty much daily and it's a common query. 🧠

Recently I've been working with a couple who have 8(EIGHT!) pensions built up over their working life (not including State pensions) 😳

So, is there value in consolidating? ❓

Yes, most of the time you will have one standout pension, or none, and it makes sense to sweep the older pensions into a modern pension 'hub' 🧹

Pensions have moved on since the 1980s, they are cheaper, have more options, have better options on death etc. 📈

Things to check when looking at your existing pensions and seeing value:

1️⃣ Costs and charges. You are being charged an annual fee for the pleasure of keeping your pension money with the provider. Make sure it's reasonable. On a £100k pot, a provider charging 0.2% will take around £200 a year. However, one charging 1.0% will take around £1,000. That compounding over decades is huge. 📉
2️⃣ Death benefits. Some older plans only allow 'return of fund' or 'return of contributions', whereas modern plans allow your beneficiaries to keep the money within pension. ⚰️
3️⃣ Options at retirement. Newer plans allow for Flexi-Access Drawdown usually, whereas some older plans don't offer this. 🤝
4️⃣ Guarantees. Some plans have very valuable guarantees written into them. Examples include Guaranteed Annuity Rates (GARs) or a higher Tax-Free Cash entitlement. These are usually lost on transfer, so it's definitely worth checking! 💵
5️⃣ Investment options. Some older contracts might have limited options for investment, whereas a full fund 'universe' on a modern pension will have thousands of options. 💡

It is worth checking at any age primarily for the charges as this is ever present and is potentially costing you thousands, but coming up to retirement it's essential to make sure you choose the best home for your pension money as you start to take it to fund a happy comfortable retirement. 👴 👵

Any queries give me a shout and I'd be happy to help. 📩

09/03/2026

Yeah, but what do YOU do with your own stuff? 🗣️

Clients sometimes ask this, but always think it. ❓

Well, the big reveal is..... there is no secret formula that is hidden! 🪄

1️⃣ We use the same strategies. ♟️
2️⃣ We use the same products. 🧾
3️⃣ We use the same investments. 📊
4️⃣ We work with the same lawyers/accountants we recommend. 👨‍💼

There's no secret, we take our own medicine. 💊

11/12/2025

Christmas can tempt us to borrow, but high-interest credit is costly. If you’re struggling, free and confidential debt advice is available. 👉 Find support: https://www.stepchange.org/

18/11/2025

'I have spoken to a few advisers, for full disclosure, I hope that's OK...' 🗣️

A prospect found us online, having spoken to another advisor (via Unbiased) 💻

Interesting chap, clearly could benefit from advice, and a nice guy. 👍

I told him it was the right thing to do, it's a huge decision, it's your life savings, it's your retirement - take as long as you need and speak to as many people as you need. 👨‍💼

Frankly, going with the first person you talk to (obv not if a referral) is foolish.

Chat to a prospective adviser and ask:

- Their story, and the company's story. 📖
- Their level of qualification. 📚
- Their experience. ⏳
- Their fee structure. 💷
- If independent or restricted. 🪢

And also just see if you get on and could put up with speaking to them for the next few decades! 🔇

Always happy for a chat. 📩

'Why Should I Invest?' 🗣️ Working with a serial entrepreneur who asked this. 🔮 An expert in growing companies, but money...
17/11/2025

'Why Should I Invest?' 🗣️

Working with a serial entrepreneur who asked this. 🔮

An expert in growing companies, but money is to be put in the bank! 🥶

We chatted it through and he now 'gets' it, if sat in the bank money halves in value every 20 years or so. 📉

Just have a think when you buy a meal deal or a Freddo! 🍫

Always happy to chat. 📩

14/10/2025

🗣️ 'Call Me a Child, but I Would Rather Earn Zero Interest, Than Earn Some and Pay 45%' 🗣️

Chatted to a prospect last week who is an additional rate taxpayer with c£50k in the bank 💷

As he is an additional rate taxpayer he has no 'Personal Savings Allowance' (PSA) 📈

So, every pound of interest he earns on his cash comes with 45% tax. So for every pound, he has to give 45p to the government in tax 🫣

He had not used:

- ISAs - all interest in a cash ISA is tax free! 45% saved. 🤑
- Premium Bonds - 3.6% prize rate, tax free, government backed. 💪
- Spousal Tax Band - his wife is a basic rate taxpayer so has a PSA of £1,000 per tax year. So she could have held some in her name and saved some money. 👨‍👩‍👧‍👦

He didn't really need much else other than a few quick wins, so gave him these free pointers and he's going to go away and implement (plus up risking his pension). 🎯

There's some very quick easy wins on the table, just set some time aside and get it sorted. Future you will thank you! 🔮

Always happy to chat. 📩

13/10/2025

"You're an Adviser...What's Coming in the Budget then?!" 🔮

If we knew we'd make all the right calls! 🎯

Shockingly, Rachel doesn't give us a bell in advance. ☎️

Gun to my head, I reckon (not advice - don't sue me please!) it's likely that:

1️⃣ Pension tax-free cash remains as is. 💷
2️⃣ Annual Allowance reduces from £60k. 📉
3️⃣ Taper limits reduce to get more people in the taper. 📈
4️⃣ IHT threshold freeze is extended. 🥶
5️⃣ One of the IHT allowances is reduced/eliminated - not the main ones, more likely something like excess income. 🎁

However, as ever, just plan with the rules that are here. Building your future on rumours is not wise. 🗣️

Or reach out to an independent adviser *cough cough* to guide you through. 📩

09/10/2025

Sometimes it's great to be boring! 🗣️

Working with a lovely couple who are just entering retirement. 👫

They have built up a large asset base across ISA/pension/cash/misc 📈

They are the most risk comfortable clients I've ever met - he even holds crypto in his pension (I don't manage it for the record)! 🫣

In the process of talking:

1️⃣ Consolidating assets ahead of retirement. 📊
2️⃣ Cashflow modelling. 🎢
3️⃣ De-risking. ✌

They've done the hard part of:

1️⃣ Earning Money 💷
2️⃣ Saving Money 🏦
3️⃣ Investing Money 📈

I've told them they've done the hard yards, now let's calm down and protect that money. 🛡️

You've got yourself rich, let's keep you that way - why would we gamble? 🎲

They're also bumping up against the LSA, so any gain is taxable when drawn (likely 40/45%) but any loss is 100% felt. Every pound gained will likely be 60p (crude example), but every pound lost will be a pound. Less upside for risk. 🤷‍♂️

Hence, let's chill out and do the 'boring' thing with the 'boring' money and allow you to hop on a boat without fear of it going to zero after decades of work. 🚢

Always happy for a chat. 📩

'Please save sensibly, and make sacrifices, just know we might change the goalposts at the last minute!' 🗣️ The frustrat...
08/10/2025

'Please save sensibly, and make sacrifices, just know we might change the goalposts at the last minute!' 🗣️

The frustration at having a long term plan with a client and the government keeping quiet on whether there are changes coming is exhausting. 😬

We are kept in a job because successive governments change pensions legislation (LTA, IHT, TFC etc) so much that how can someone with a full time job and a family find the time to sort it? 👨‍👨‍👧‍👧

It's not just the 1% worrying now and the government is being wilfully ignorant in allowing plenty to take their tfc when there's no need. 😡

How people without advice can effectively plan for their future when the rules change every couple of years is frankly bizarre. 🤷‍♂️

You couldn't order some food if the menu was changing every 30 seconds so why expect people to make sensible choices with their life savings when there's relentless 'noise'. 📢

Let's all sign AJ Bell's petition, link below 👇

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