George McNeil Chartered Financial Planner

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

Had a lovely morning on Saturday chatting to people at the free financial surgery at the Codicote Peace Memorial Hall.We...
26/10/2026

Had a lovely morning on Saturday chatting to people at the free financial surgery at the Codicote Peace Memorial Hall.

We chatted:

- DC vs DB pensions.
- Salary sacrifice.
- Cash vs stocks and shares ISAs.
- Inheritance Tax.
- Residence Nil Rate Band.
- Care costs and ‘deliberate deprivation of assets’.

Unusual to have a queue so thanks to all who braved the weather for a chat.

Back again in December (sorry, November is mad).

23/10/2026

JP Morgan know what the markets will do! 🧠

When asked about what the markets will do, they answered 'they will fluctuate'. 📈 📉

Control what you can control and ignore the noise:

- Charges 💷
- Asset Allocation 🌍
- Long Term Thinking 🗓

The rest is noise. 📢

22/10/2026

Been working with a couple of clients recently and one phrase I've repeated many times has been 'concentration risk'.

What's that? ❓

Effectively, it's having all your eggs in one basket. 🥚

They have good jobs, own their home, and are going well by any metric 📈

However, everything is linked to their job 💻

Pension = Linked. Income = Linked. Investments = Linked. Life Insurance = Linked. 📍

It's all going well as LONG as you keep your job and don't suddenly find yourself made redundant or not able to work etc.

Make private provision, don't leave your future in the hands of your employer.

21/10/2026

Ames and I attended a funeral this week for a family member.

A lovely celebration of their life with not a second of bickering or confusion about their wishes for the day and for their assets.

Get a Will written, if not for yourself, for your loved ones who’ll have to use it as a map when you’re not here!

20/10/2026

5 Ways to Increase Your Pension Provision 💡

1️⃣ Keep Track of Your Pensions – the best way to increase your money in retirement is by not losing thousands of pounds! Keep a list of your pensions and update your address with them if you move. 🌍

2️⃣ Asset Allocation – you're invested for decades, make sure you have your pieces in the right place. Don’t just have it sat in cash for example! And check the ‘default fund’. 📑

3️⃣ Charges – you’re investing for decades. If you are paying 1% in fees rather than 0.5% then this will add up and cost you over time. 📉

4️⃣ Free Money – if employed you can get free money from auto-enrolment (some caveats). Take the free money and build up your pension. 👨‍💼

5️⃣ Tax Relief – the government want to encourage you to save for retirement with tax relief. If you can afford it, take some free money and increase your pension. 💷

Very proud that DGS were ranked by the FT as one of the top 100 financial advisory firms - four years in a row, and thre...
19/10/2026

Very proud that DGS were ranked by the FT as one of the top 100 financial advisory firms - four years in a row, and three of those were top 20.

12th this year, and very well deserved. 👏

16/10/2026

"Is it that Important to get a Power of Attorney Sorted?" 🗣

I was speaking to a couple last week who were late 60s/early 70s. 👫

They had their finances basically in order (a few small tweaks aside) but they didn't have LPAs (Lasting Powers of Attorney). 📝

It didn't seem a big deal to them until I explained the process if you DON'T have an LPA and you have lost capacity: 😟

1️⃣ Expenses. It's expensive applying to set up a deputy! 💰
2️⃣ Lack of Control. You can't be sure who the court appoints. 🤷‍♂️
3️⃣ Administration and Stress. There's a lot of work and paperwork. 📑

Safe to say they're getting them set up ASAP! 👍

While we don't sort LPAs, it's all part of the planning picture, message me if you want the details of a trusted colleague in that field. 📩

15/10/2026

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 6(SIX!) 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. 📩

14/10/2026

🗣 'Yeah, but how do YOU invest your money?'

I've had this question, not verbatim but close, a few times. ❓
The answer: EXACTLY THE SAME! 🤝

There's no secret formula, it's (on the whole) very simple 🔎
We use the same:

1️⃣ Strategy 🖋
2️⃣ Companies 🏙
3️⃣ Investments 📊

Keep it simple, cost-effective, use allowances and plan sensibly. It's no secret, and we take our own medicine. 💊

13/10/2026

There's lots of information and advice online, so...where can an adviser actually add proper value in 2026? Here's 5 examples.

1️⃣Asset allocation - 80% of returns are from here. 📈
2️⃣Peace of mind - someone else is dealing with it, some brain space. ✌
3️⃣Protection - many ways, but primarily protection from WORST case scenarios. ⛔
4️⃣Behavioural/emotional coaching - our brains are programmed for caution and for emotional responses. The enemy of long term investing. 👨‍🏫
5️⃣A long term plan to get to a destination - being proactive, not reactive. ⏳

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Parkway
Saint Albans
AL36PA

Opening Hours

Monday 8am - 8pm
Tuesday 8am - 8pm
Wednesday 8am - 8pm
Thursday 8am - 8pm
Friday 8am - 8pm
Saturday 10am - 2pm
Sunday 10am - 2pm

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