Unio advisers know that no two clients are the same. It’s why everything they do is tailored to each client, designing wealth management solutions that meet their specific needs.
It’s an expertise that comes from decades of experience helping clients to identify their goals, build a plan for their future and, most importantly, how to fund it.
That’s because Unio Wealth Management represents the coming together of some of Ireland’s leading wealth management and employee benefit companies backed by Canadian international financial services company Great-West Lifeco.
As such, it specialises in meeting the needs of people in Ireland who have accumulated wealth, either through good jobs or good fortune, but yet they are time poor and as a result are under-advised when it comes to what their wealth means for their future and how to maximise it fully.
That accounts for more of us than we might appreciate, explains Wendy McKeown, Unio’s head of financial planning, and Conor Murray, head of its corporate and company executives business.
Our clients tell us that wealth means more to them than money or assets, it is about quality of life for the future, we understand this and this is what makes Unio different to other investment houses.
The great escape
They talk about a couple that Murray works with as a case in point, in their mid-fifties, were feeling “a little bit stuck on the corporate treadmill”, when they met him, says Murray.
“They were lucky in that they had accumulated assets, including cash and property, but needed a clearer picture of their future.”
Both had travelled extensively for work. “They had been all over the world, but only from the airport to the meeting and back. They never had time to explore the world together,” he explains.
Indeed, they were such career highflyers that “even getting them in the one room at the same time was a challenge,” he recalls.
They came to him with a goal already formulated but no clear path to achieving it. Their wish was to retire at 61 while they were young enough to enjoy traveling, together.
Through his conversations with them, Murray helped them to understand what they needed to do to make that future a reality.
By talking through their lives, priorities, and motivations, together they mapped out a comprehensive plan that enabled them to achieve and fund early retirement.
The plan included increasing their pension contributions and making investment options that would generate reliable income. Knowing the impact of these steps was a great motivator in their final years of work, he adds.
“Though one of them suffered a recent health scare, knowing that they had enough to fund their retirement was a huge relief. Now they travel six times a year, making unforgettable memories,” he says.
Having the space to change pace
A client that sticks in Wendy McKeown’s mind is a business owner who felt it was time to step back from her business and rebalance her life.
“She had been working at 100 miles an hour up until that point, had always been focused on the business and its success, and hadn’t taken the time to take stock and think about herself. Now, she wanted to take her foot off the pedal a little, and focus on hobbies and interests, and just enjoy the life she had worked so hard to build,” explains McKeown.
Together they worked out how to make her finances work harder for her, to enable her to do just that. While she had taken retirement relief from her company, she found herself sitting on cash deposits earning a low rate of interest. They established that her priority was to have a reliable monthly income, with access to her cash if she needed it. McKeown helped her tidy up her pension and take advantage of all the tax credits available to her.
After decades of calling all the shots herself as a business owner, having an expert to reassure and guide her through her finances was a welcome relief, recalls McKeown.
“I think she really appreciated the support and encouragement and now has the funds to do what she wants with the most precious asset of all – her time.”
A new chapter, a new life
One of the toughest challenges facing any of us is how best to manage wealth in the event that our significant other passes away. That was the scenario facing another of McKeown’s clients.
Her husband died and left her with a sizeable estate but no real experience in managing finances. “While she was grateful for the security that provided, she was anxious about the responsibility of it, and knew she needed professional advice to help her navigate this next chapter of her life,” says Wendy.
As ever, the key to putting the right plan in place was to spend time listening, with no pressure and no rushed decisions, she explains.
A plan was agreed and implemented, including setting aside a significant contribution for a charitable purpose, which was enormously meaningful to her client. “It was about providing guidance and reassurance every step of the way,” says McKeown.
When do you need wealth management advice?
“Very often people are working in senior corporate roles and are unbelievably time-poor but have complex financial needs in the background, and probably a family as well. They don’t get time to stop and really understand what all of this means for them and their family into the future,” says Conor.
“For us it’s about really trying to understand what’s important to the client. It’s about what they want to get out of it. Then it’s about giving them the peace of mind and reassurance of knowing they have the wealth behind them to live the life they want to live.
In many cases, people are overwhelmed by their financial situation and so put it on the long finger, points out McKeown. But in doing so they are inevitably shortchanging their future selves.
The fact that there is currently €150 billion sitting in low-interest cash deposit accounts, eroded by inflation, bears this out.
“The potential opportunities you leave behind by not taking action can be significant down the road. It could be the difference between becoming financially independent or being forced to continue working. It’s why it is just so important to seek out that advice,” adds Murray.
“Clients that invest time in the process with their Unio Wealth Management Adviser are making the greatest investment in their future. Those who invest in advice were twice as likely to feel positively about their future. That’s why we believe that time spent with Unio is truly time well spent,” he concludes.
If you would like to speak to a Unio Wealth Management adviser, visit unio.ie.
Unio Financial Services Ltd trading as Unio, Unio Wealth Management and Unio Employee Benefits is regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland.
