The questions people usually ask us first

Lifestyle financial planning starts with your life, not your money: understanding what you want your future to look like first, then building a financial plan to support it, rather than starting with products or investments.

Sometimes good financial planning means saving more. Sometimes it means having the confidence to spend more. The point is to understand what your money can realistically allow you to do — and give you the confidence to enjoy it.

Financial planning is the ongoing process of understanding your goals and modelling how your money can support them over time. Financial advice is a specific recommendation, such as which pension or investment to use. We provide both: planning to build and maintain your plan, and regulated advice where a specific recommendation is needed.

Cashflow modelling projects your income, spending and assets years, sometimes decades, into the future, so you can see whether your financial plan works in practice. It is the method we use to build your plan and test whether it holds up, and we keep it updated over time as part of the ongoing relationship, not a one-off exercise.

That depends on your circumstances and how confident you feel making financial decisions on your own. Financial planning tends to add the most value when there are important decisions to make, several parts of your finances to bring together, or you want clarity about what your money allows you to do. If you are not sure whether that applies to you, that is exactly what an initial call can help work out.

Yes. Using cashflow modelling, we can show you when retirement becomes realistic based on your actual circumstances, including whether retiring earlier than expected is achievable, and what trade-offs would need to happen to make it work.

Yes. It is a common question. Sometimes people discover they are more financially secure than they realised, and have more freedom to enjoy their money, spend more, or help family than they thought. Cashflow modelling helps make that clearer, rather than leaving it to guesswork.

Yes. That includes bringing together pensions from previous employers, understanding what you have actually got, and whether it makes sense to combine them or leave them where they are.

No. Nothing is moved as a condition of becoming a client. We will only ever recommend transferring a pension or investment where it is genuinely the right thing for you, and that is always a decision we reach together, not one we make for you.

No. There is no fixed minimum. What matters more is whether ongoing, comprehensive financial planning is likely to add genuine value to your situation, which is exactly what the initial call is for.

Investments exist to support your financial plan, not the other way round. We favour evidence over prediction, broad diversification and sensible control of costs, using passive, index-based investing as our default starting point, and active management only where there is a clear and justifiable reason for it. The right level of investment risk is the one that makes sense for your plan, your goals, and your capacity for loss — not a generic score or description. We want you to understand what you are invested in and why. Your portfolio is monitored as part of our ongoing planning relationship, not left to look after itself.

Chartered Financial Planner status is awarded by the Chartered Insurance Institute and represents a high standard of professional qualification, experience and ongoing development. Both founders of New Chapter are Chartered Financial Planners.

Yes. Plenty of people we speak with already have a financial adviser or planner and are simply weighing up whether their current approach is suitable and still fits with how they want to live their life. There is no obligation to take things any further.

Yes. New Chapter Financial Planning provides independent financial advice and is not restricted to a limited range of products or a particular provider panel.

No. Your investments and pensions are held with platforms and providers that are authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority, never with us directly. We manage the advice and the relationship, not custody of the assets.

We are based in Edinburgh. In-person meetings are usually within Scotland, but we work with clients across the UK by video call, whichever suits you best.

Yes. There are some areas where we would usually work alongside, or refer you to, another specialist rather than advise you ourselves.

These include mortgage advice, legal work, accountancy and tax-return services, and advice on transferring Defined Benefit or other safeguarded pension benefits.

Where appropriate, we can help you understand where another professional may be needed and, where we have a suitable contact, introduce you to someone who can help.

Our initial financial planning fee starts at £1,875, with an ongoing fee calculated as a percentage of the assets we look after for you. Full details are on our Fees page. Nothing is charged until you decide to go ahead.

Our fees are in two parts: an initial fee for the planning and, where relevant, implementation work, and an ongoing fee for as long as we work together. Exactly how and when each is paid is agreed and confirmed with you before any work begins.

In most cases, adding further money to your existing plan does not attract another initial fee. Where we are setting up something new that you do not already hold with us, or providing a distinct new piece of advice, an additional fee may apply, always agreed with you in advance.