*/
By Louise Crush of Westgate Wealth Management
Firstly, the team at Westgate would like to wish you all a very happy and prosperous 2025. It is a long-standing tradition to welcome in the New Year with a host of resolutions. With enough time before Tax Year-End, it is also the ideal moment to review your current financial position, long-term goals and the challenges you must overcome to reach them. So in light of this, we ask you to take a couple of minutes to reflect on the questions below, and if you answer ‘no’ to any of them, now is the time to do something about it.
In our experience, no matter what stage of your career at the Bar, a model financial plan can be broken down into six essential elements. As circumstances change, though, your planning needs will inevitably become more complex and additional financial planning tools will be required.
Q: So, are you aware of the elements needed for a successful financial plan and have you got them in place?
Everybody has dreams. You might want to buy a house, retire at 65 and travel the world, or pay for children’s school and university fees. But in order for these goals to become truly attainable, they need to be measurable and focused. It is about tailoring the financial plan to your personal goals and what ‘good’ looks like to you.
Q: Have you thought in any detail about your ‘life plan’? Like any good business plan, you need quantifiable targets.
There are many challenges to devising a financial plan, from accounting and preparing for uncertainty, to knowing how much you need to save to get to your target, to the ever-changing financial markets and fiscal policies. It is essential that you make the right choices to future-proof (to the extent we have control) your financial future.
Q: Have you identified the challenges currently standing between you and your goals and do you know how you will overcome them?
If you are doing your job right, you should not also have time to do ours – and the fund managers’ too! With the financial world and your circumstances constantly evolving, the most important step you can take this New Year is to invest a small amount of time in your future and work with a financial adviser.
Our role is to reduce your workload and provide you with the peace of mind that you have someone acting in the best interests of you and your loved ones. As well as keeping you on track, giving you the confidence to invest, ensuring you avoid scams and are using the right tax wrappers, working with an adviser can have tangible financial benefits. On average, a person using a financial adviser is £47,000 better off when they retire,(1) and the value of advice has been calculated to amount to an additional 2% per year on returns.(2)
So, take action. Book a 30-minute initial consultation. Together we can start the journey of:
Join Westgate's upcoming webinars followed by Q&A exclusively for barristers:
Limited spaces only – free to attend – register here
The value of an investment with St. James’s Place will be directly linked to the performance of the funds selected and may fall as well as rise. You may get back less than the amount invested.
References: (1) The International Longevity Centre UK calculated that if a person received professional financial advice between 2001 and 2006 it resulted, on average, in them being £47,706 better off in terms of pensions and financial assets once fees and charges had been taken into account in 2014/15 (What it’s worth – revisiting the value of financial advice, ILC, November 2019). (2) Independent analysis by Numis Securities (September 2020) based on comparing annual returns for St. James’s Place clients against those who managed their own investments. The research, which covered all clients’ SJP pension investments, found that between June 2010 and June 2020 the average growth achieved was 7.7%pa. This means £100,000 invested at the start of the period would be worth £210,000 by the end. By comparison, the same exercise for pension clients of a large firm where investors usually make their own investment decisions achieved an average of 5.5% pa over the same period. So on average £100,000 invested by a non-advised client grew to £171,000 over the ten years. This analysis didn’t include any tax benefits from advice and so Numis’s researchers concluded that the main difference between the two was the ‘greater long-term discipline and lower emotion an adviser provides’.
Westgate Wealth Management Limited is an Appointed Representative of and represents only St. James’s Place Wealth Management plc (which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority) for the purpose of advising solely on the group’s wealth management products and services, more details of which are set out on the group’s website www.sjp.co.uk/products. The St. James’s Place Partnership and the titles ‘Partner’ and ‘Partner Practice’ are marketing terms used to describe St. James’s Place representatives.
SJP Approved 03/01/2025
Louise Crush is a Chartered Financial Adviser at Westgate Wealth Management, Senior Partner Practice of St. James’s Place. Called to the Bar in 2015, Louise has built a specialist practice advising members of the Bar nationally and provides financial education services for chambers.
Westgate Wealth Management Limited is an Appointed Representative of and represents only St. James’s Place Wealth Management plc (which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority) for the purpose of advising solely on the group’s wealth management products and services, more details of which are set out on the group’s website www.sjp.co.uk/products. The St. James’s Place Partnership and the titles ‘Partner’ and ‘Partner Practice’ are marketing terms used to describe St. James’s Place representatives.
Firstly, the team at Westgate would like to wish you all a very happy and prosperous 2025. It is a long-standing tradition to welcome in the New Year with a host of resolutions. With enough time before Tax Year-End, it is also the ideal moment to review your current financial position, long-term goals and the challenges you must overcome to reach them. So in light of this, we ask you to take a couple of minutes to reflect on the questions below, and if you answer ‘no’ to any of them, now is the time to do something about it.
In our experience, no matter what stage of your career at the Bar, a model financial plan can be broken down into six essential elements. As circumstances change, though, your planning needs will inevitably become more complex and additional financial planning tools will be required.
Q: So, are you aware of the elements needed for a successful financial plan and have you got them in place?
Everybody has dreams. You might want to buy a house, retire at 65 and travel the world, or pay for children’s school and university fees. But in order for these goals to become truly attainable, they need to be measurable and focused. It is about tailoring the financial plan to your personal goals and what ‘good’ looks like to you.
Q: Have you thought in any detail about your ‘life plan’? Like any good business plan, you need quantifiable targets.
There are many challenges to devising a financial plan, from accounting and preparing for uncertainty, to knowing how much you need to save to get to your target, to the ever-changing financial markets and fiscal policies. It is essential that you make the right choices to future-proof (to the extent we have control) your financial future.
Q: Have you identified the challenges currently standing between you and your goals and do you know how you will overcome them?
If you are doing your job right, you should not also have time to do ours – and the fund managers’ too! With the financial world and your circumstances constantly evolving, the most important step you can take this New Year is to invest a small amount of time in your future and work with a financial adviser.
Our role is to reduce your workload and provide you with the peace of mind that you have someone acting in the best interests of you and your loved ones. As well as keeping you on track, giving you the confidence to invest, ensuring you avoid scams and are using the right tax wrappers, working with an adviser can have tangible financial benefits. On average, a person using a financial adviser is £47,000 better off when they retire,(1) and the value of advice has been calculated to amount to an additional 2% per year on returns.(2)
So, take action. Book a 30-minute initial consultation. Together we can start the journey of:
Join Westgate's upcoming webinars followed by Q&A exclusively for barristers:
Limited spaces only – free to attend – register here
The value of an investment with St. James’s Place will be directly linked to the performance of the funds selected and may fall as well as rise. You may get back less than the amount invested.
References: (1) The International Longevity Centre UK calculated that if a person received professional financial advice between 2001 and 2006 it resulted, on average, in them being £47,706 better off in terms of pensions and financial assets once fees and charges had been taken into account in 2014/15 (What it’s worth – revisiting the value of financial advice, ILC, November 2019). (2) Independent analysis by Numis Securities (September 2020) based on comparing annual returns for St. James’s Place clients against those who managed their own investments. The research, which covered all clients’ SJP pension investments, found that between June 2010 and June 2020 the average growth achieved was 7.7%pa. This means £100,000 invested at the start of the period would be worth £210,000 by the end. By comparison, the same exercise for pension clients of a large firm where investors usually make their own investment decisions achieved an average of 5.5% pa over the same period. So on average £100,000 invested by a non-advised client grew to £171,000 over the ten years. This analysis didn’t include any tax benefits from advice and so Numis’s researchers concluded that the main difference between the two was the ‘greater long-term discipline and lower emotion an adviser provides’.
Westgate Wealth Management Limited is an Appointed Representative of and represents only St. James’s Place Wealth Management plc (which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority) for the purpose of advising solely on the group’s wealth management products and services, more details of which are set out on the group’s website www.sjp.co.uk/products. The St. James’s Place Partnership and the titles ‘Partner’ and ‘Partner Practice’ are marketing terms used to describe St. James’s Place representatives.
SJP Approved 03/01/2025
By Louise Crush of Westgate Wealth Management
Kirsty Brimelow KC, Chair of the Bar, sets our course for 2026
What meaningful steps can you take in 2026 to advance your legal career? asks Thomas Cowan of St Pauls Chambers
Marie Law, Director of Toxicology at AlphaBiolabs, explains why drugs may appear in test results, despite the donor denying use of them
Asks Louise Crush of Westgate Wealth Management
AlphaBiolabs has donated £500 to The Christie Charity through its Giving Back initiative, helping to support cancer care, treatment and research across Greater Manchester, Cheshire and further afield
Q and A with criminal barrister Nick Murphy, who moved to New Park Court Chambers on the North Eastern Circuit in search of a better work-life balance
The appointments of 96 new King’s Counsel (also known as silk) are announced today
With pupillage application season under way, Laura Wright reflects on her route to ‘tech barrister’ and offers advice for those aiming at a career at the Bar
Jury-less trial proposals threaten fairness, legitimacy and democracy without ending the backlog, writes Professor Cheryl Thomas KC (Hon), the UK’s leading expert on juries, judges and courts
Are you ready for the new way to do tax returns? David Southern KC explains the biggest change since HMRC launched self-assessment more than 30 years ago... and its impact on the Bar
Marking one year since a Bar disciplinary tribunal dismissed all charges against her, Dr Charlotte Proudman discusses the experience, her formative years and next steps. Interview by Anthony Inglese CB
