Earlier this year, we sent out a comprehensive survey to our clients, asking them for honest feedback about the service they receive from their Depledge financial planner.
We have collated the results and are delighted to share them with you.
99.15% of clients believe working with Depledge has helped or will help them achieve their financial goals
Our clients all sought financial planning for one overarching reason: to achieve their personal financial goals.
This might be leaving a legacy to the next generation, retiring with confidence, or another equally important goal. We understand that financial ambitions are personal, so our financial planners tailor their approach to each client.
We are proud to say that this approach has paid off – 99.15% of respondents believe that our services have helped, or will help, them achieve their goals.
Understanding our clients’ top concerns helps our team provide a better service
In our survey, we asked clients about their top financial concerns. We did this to truly understand what our clients are worrying about – after all, if we don’t know, we can’t help.
Our not-yet retired clients said their top three concerns are:
- Not having enough money to live my preferred lifestyle in retirement (64.29%)
- Not having enough money to retire at my preferred retirement age (47.62%)
- Giving my wealth to the younger generations (40.48%).
Our retired clients said their top three concerns are:
- The level of investment returns and potential losses (61.04%)
- Giving my wealth to the younger generations without affecting my lifestyle (54.55%)
- The amount of Inheritance Tax that will be payable upon my death (54.55%).
Our business owner clients said their top three concerns are:
- Maintaining profitability (50%)
- Ensuring tax efficiency before and after any potential sale of the business (50%)
- Selling my business for enough to facilitate my ideal retirement (40%).
We know that your concerns are individual, and ticking a box on a survey won’t necessarily get across the complexities of your situation. Nevertheless, having a broad understanding of your greatest concerns helps our financial planners to address them and put together bespoke solutions.
92.11% of clients would recommend Depledge to family, friends, or work associates
Word of mouth is a powerful thing. Our financial planners know that a client recommending them to someone in their life is perhaps the biggest compliment they can receive.
That’s why we are grateful that 92.11% of our clients would recommend us to others.
Of course, we won’t be satisfied until this number is 100%. Our team continues to go above and beyond to achieve excellence in every area of service, and any negative feedback is always taken on board.
8 key financial planning factors, ranked in order of value by our clients
We asked our clients to rank these eight financial planning factors in order of value to them.
Here’s what they said.
- Providing a “safe pair of hands”
- Support and assistance in meeting financial/life goals
- Our knowledge and experience
- Investment management
- Gaining peace of mind/reassurance
- Freeing up time I’d otherwise have spent handling my own financial affairs
- Value for money
- Feeling empowered to make important decisions
It goes without saying that we find all of these factors extremely valuable and will continue paying close attention to them all.
These results go to show that financial planning is about more than just investment returns; our clients value our knowledge, experience, support, and a “safe pair of hands” most highly.
Clients gain value from our client portal, and there is room for improvement
Our Personal Finance Portal (PFP) is a secure platform that allows us to communicate with clients, send sensitive documents, and gives them a place to view their portfolio easily.
In the survey, clients reported that they log into the PFP approximately:
- Weekly (13.04%)
- Monthly (27.83%)
- Quarterly (35.65%)
- Annually (9.57%)
- Never (13.91%)
This goes to show that while clients rated the functionality of the PFP highly overall – the survey revealed that the vast majority of those who use the PFP said it was “very good” or “good” – many still don’t use it.
So, we will be focusing on how to encourage and engage clients regarding the PFP, making it everyone’s preferred mode of communication for security reasons.
Clients’ kind words, and a thank you from us
We asked our clients to write, in their own words, the biggest benefit they have seen from working with Depledge.
An amazing 22 clients responded with three words: “Peace of mind.”
Here’s some other feedback we are proud to share.
- “Being able to retire early, confident that we can continue our lifestyle”
- “My longstanding relationship with my adviser”
- “Honest trustworthy relationship”
- “You understand our needs and history”
- “An understanding of my present and future circumstances”
- “Overall good financial returns from a professional and motivated setup”
- “Knowing that my investments are being managed correctly”
- “Working with people I trust to look after my finances”
- “All my financial details are in one place”
- “Keeping me abreast of the latest legislation”
- “Reassurance that if I have a problem it will be dealt with without fuss or bother”
- “You take care of the details. It takes a bit of the ‘financial emotion’ out for me”
- “The confidence in knowing that our financial reserves have been entrusted to a reliable body, appropriate to our attitude to risk”
- “A personalised, professional service where you feel you are being taken care of at a personal level, not as a generic customer”.
What’s more, we asked clients to reflect on a time – if there had been one – where Depledge went above and beyond their expectations.
Here is some of the feedback we received.
- “When applying for release of my main pension earlier this year. My planner took time and effort to help me with the Lifetime Allowance calculations, which were complicated by the earlier crystallization of another pension”
- “Willingness to respond at short notice, even at weekends”
- “Onboarding me [when] my retirement date was not fixed, my planner was very understanding, helpful and patient. This meant I could allow events to play out and once that had happened I could engage more formally”
- “Before the last Budget, when changes to Capital Gains Tax and Inheritance Tax were thought likely, Depledge provided swift, clear and actionable advice at what must have been a very busy time for them”
- “My planner came all the way to London and spent time with us”
- “Having transferred from another provider whom I had lost confidence in my confidence has been restored during initial advice and transfer. Importantly the service has continued following transfer at the same level. The detail and advice within the annual review is very reassuring”
- “My planner is a breath of fresh air and takes a very pragmatic view of my situation”
- “My planner was very helpful and reassuring when my husband died”
Thank you, from the bottom of our hearts, to all the clients who took the time to complete our survey. Sharing your views with us allows us to improve where we can and gives our team a boost in confidence too.
Get in touch
Whether you are an existing client who has a question about your financial plan, or you want to learn more about working with our award-winning team, feel free to get in touch.
Email info@depledgeswm.com or call 0161 8080200.
Please note
This article is for general information only and does not constitute advice. The information is aimed at retail clients only.
All information is correct at the time of writing and is subject to change in the future.
The value of your investments (and any income from them) can go down as well as up and you may not get back the full amount you invested.
Investments should be considered over the longer term and should fit in with your overall attitude to risk and financial circumstances.
The Financial Conduct Authority does not regulate tax planning.
A pension is a long-term investment not normally accessible until 55 (57 from April 2028). The fund value may fluctuate and can go down, which would have an impact on the level of pension benefits available.
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