Foreign.

And welcome to the Pat Accounting Podcast with me, your host, Vicky Clark.

I'm going to help you get to grips with your finances, save you lots of money and take the stress out of doing your tax return.

So let's get going.

Yeah.

Welcome everyone, to this week's Wednesday Live.

I have a lovely special guest with me today, Romany, who runs the finance woman.

And we are gonna be talking about a bit about what Romney does and how she can help you guys.

Because I do think the topics that we're going to discuss are very important and probably one that does get sort of pushed to the back of the queue.

Like finance.

Absolutely.

Like your numbers.

So I'm going to introduce Romany.

She's going to tell you a bit about herself and then we'll just take it from there.

And guys, if you do have any questions, please pop them into the comments.

Obviously, if they are very specific, Roman is obviously not going to be able to answer them live on here, but we will put her contact details on the group and on the page so that if you do want to contact her privately and then you can have those conversations whilst there's not hundreds of people watching and listening to your private financial information.

So fabulous.

So, Romney, thank you so much for joining me today.

Thank you for having me on.

I'm so excited to be here and talking about what I'm so passionate about.

We were just saying that.

Yeah, we were just saying, weren't we, that people seem to be really interested in kind of the pension side of things, which quite surprised me actually.

It's nice to hear that.

And it's normally one of them things that kind of just gets pushed to the side, like you said.

So, yeah, let's just face it head on today and just get stuck straight into it.

So start by telling people who you are, what it is that you do, because I know a lot of people might not think you might not know you because they've not seen you before, but obviously that is going to change.

Yeah, just go for it.

Tell people what you do.

Yeah, of course.

So I think the easiest way to just explain sort of what I do and why I'm so passionate about is by telling you a little bit about my journey, really, and how I sort of got to where I am today.

So I.

I'd probably say it all start as when I was 16 years old, I had absolutely no idea what I wanted to do.

Like so many people, when you're leaving school and I decided to go to college, pick the most random subjects ever and I quickly realized that actually I was just doing what everyone else was and I wanted to do something that felt really aligned.

And obviously, to be honest, you just start making money.

I think that's why we all start a business at the end of the day.

So what I did was I made the big decision to drop out of college, take two months in and joined the family business.

So the family business is called needing advice.co.uk and it's basically a mortgage advice firm we've been running for 18 years.

So my dad built it from pretty much the ground up 18 years ago.

So to be honest with you, I've been sort of tagging along meetings and things since I was about 11 years old.

So I was happy with all of the sales at 11.

But to be honest, I mainly just went for the snacks because I used to get so many different snacks when I went to climb me.

But I think what it actually was is I saw firsthand how much it.

How much of a difference it can actually make, sort of helping people with those financial decisions.

And I think that's what actually really stood up with me.

So I started in the business as a mortgage broker, absolutely loved it.

But I saw a gap in the business where people were constantly asking for pensions, isa all that sort of advice and we didn't.

We weren't really able to offer it.

So what I decided to do then was train as a financial advisor.

I applied for the course a year earlier, so at age 17, which is obviously very young, and got accepted.

So at the time, I was the youngest to ever qualify as a financial advisor in the uk, which was a shock to the system, to be honest with you.

Yeah, it's a big achievement.

Well, I don't even know what the hell they want to do at 17, never mind as a financial advisor.

I don't even know what I was doing at 17.

I was probably in the pub or something.

Yeah, well, most people don't even know what a financial advisor is throughout the whole of the life, never mind at age 18.

So, yeah, it was a shock.

And I think the biggest shock, to be honest, was the fact that most financial advisors are in their 50s and men.

So I saw nobody that looked like me, to be honest with you.

It was a difficult place.

I felt quite intimidated in the industry and just felt really out of place.

So I'll tell you sort of how I established the final notes where I used to.

I decided to go to networking events like you do when you start a business, and sort of speaking to other business owners And I found that they actually felt exactly the same as I did in the industry.

They felt quite overwhelmed, sort of intimidated.

They actually went to Financial Advisor in the past and felt a bit judged.

Some even use the word patronized and condescended.

And to be honest with you, I just had a massive light bulb moment at that point.

I was like, right, that's my niche, that's what I do, and I need to do it differently, basically.

So that's when the finance woman came around.

So the finance woman started about two years ago.

I've been advising for, I'm going to say, six or seven years now, but the finance woman's been established for two.

And I'd say that's when the real mission and my real passion actually came from.

So basically, I wanted to create a safe, friendly, approachable space for business owners to take control of the finances and build our confidence and.

But without any sort of judgment or pressure or overwhelm.

So that's essentially what I've been doing.

So I've helped hundreds of business owners now and take control of the finances, whether it's pensions, investments, tax planning.

We can also have the mortgage side of things as well, because my partner and my dad look after that.

And it's just worked so, so well.

And then obviously I work with you guys now, and you guys are so down to earth, approachable, supportive.

So it's just a perfect partnership.

And I help your clients with that as well.

And so, yeah, I think that's a bit of a.

Somewhere I have to give a little bit of background sometimes because I'm not your traditional financial.

Well, you know what, it sort of resonates with me a little bit because I think people have preconceptions about tax, like accountants as well.

Like you said, old bloke in a suit with a calculator, briefcase.

And I think even like when I start the pet accountant, it was almost under sort of like the same reason that, you know, then I wouldn't have been.

I wouldn't have felt comfortable approaching an accountant if I do this job.

And I'd be like, oh, God, who?

And I would have that preconception that, like, I'm gonna feel intimidated, I'm gonna feel stupid.

Yeah.

You know, like, who do you go to?

And that's part of the reason why I did the pet accountants.

I thought, well, I'm not your average accountant.

I don't necessarily look like I'm covered in, like, tattoos and things like that.

And I think that's why people resonate with you.

And they go, do you know what, I don't want to go to this high street accountant on the corner where I'm going to feel really, like scared.

Yeah.

If you're open and approachable, friendly and everything that you said, it just works especially for you.

Because people do think, oh, a financial advisor, is it some old bloke, Honestly, all old.

But also I think as well, people seem to think that it's just for the rich as well.

You know, a lot of people think that financial advice or that's not for me, you know, it's just for people who have X amount of money or I'll get financial advice, you know, later down the line when my business is successful.

Actually, it's so important at the beginning.

That's when it's crucial.

And you'll find exactly the same with the accounting.

It's.

It's something that you have to deal as a foundation of the business.

Yeah.

And, you know, again, it's one of those topics that people sort of shy away from.

I always find that, like numbers and finance always goes to the bottom of the pile.

And as you get, you know, I was late to the game for having a private pension.

I mean, I think I've only had one for a few years.

38.

And you think, actually, shit, I haven't got that long left.

I need to get me ass in gear and get this sorted.

But we speak to so many clients, you know, of varying ages from, you know, 20 to 60, haven't got their pension sorted out.

And when we've been talking to people about the Expo in November, and this is what we were laughing at before is actually we thought, oh, if we're talking about pensions, that the Expo, it's going to be really tough.

Yeah.

They're not going to fly asleep.

Well, lock you in somewhere to like, you know, when it.

There's a bit of Ohio put where it's our lunch for lunch we'll talk about pensions.

But actually when I've mentioned to people on the phone who are coming to the Expo and I've said, you know what the topics are, obviously I'm letting it slip that you are going to be there in November.

So if you are coming, export, Romany is going to be there and doing a little segment on pensions.

But as soon as there's, oh, yeah, we've got pensions, everyone's going, oh, yes, I really need that.

I really need a.

But, yeah, made a very good point.

She's put, it's still scary talking to an accountant.

It's like talking to an Ofsted inspector.

Yeah.

Sits just preconceived thing in your head.

Because when I was younger, accountants and my mom used to have a financial advisor come over and he did look like a typical.

Yeah.

And I wouldn't have been comfortable sat there talking about.

I mean, I don't even know anything about pensions or anything anyway, Leo to me, or what percent is your pension?

I said, oh, I don't know, I've not looked at it since I opened it.

But then I just think, what's the point?

Because I'm not going to get it until I'm whatever age.

Okay.

There's so much point I'm going to.

Have to jump in there.

There's still so much point I'm going to tell you off now.

I know you need to be looking.

At sort of what the performance is, like what the charges are.

And also the sooner you can start putting into a pension, the better.

So the younger you are, even if it's just £50amonth, it will make such a difference and in the future you will really thank yourself for it.

There's quite a few business owners that I speak to and, you know, they've been a business owner their whole life, so they don't have any old pensions relying or anything like that.

And they just not put anything away and just relying on maybe selling the business and things like that.

But it's just not reliable.

You know, you want to make sure you get some growth on there.

And I think people maybe think that they have to put like a set amount in there is.

Do you find that people think, well, I can't afford to put 500 pound a month into a pension.

That's it.

Yeah.

So it's different than like your employer pension.

So your employee pension, you'd Normally put like 3% in or 5%, but with your personal pension from.

From your business, you can put as much as you want in or as little as you want in.

So it's flexible, which is actually a benefit.

Really.

Yeah.

Because I think again, like some people have said to me, like, oh, I can't afford to put hundreds of pounds in a pension.

I'm like, you don't need to.

Yeah.

Like you said, even 50 quid a month is going to be better than nothing.

Exactly.

And it's making that habit as well of just doing it and stop putting it off and just do it.

And then, you know, you can reassess how your business goes and sort of your cash flow and things and reassess it then.

So how does Generally, and obviously I know you can't look at masses of detail, but how generally does a pension work?

Like if I'm someone listening to this and say I'm 40 and a pension, like, how do they go about getting one?

And like, is it easy?

You know, what's the sort of process?

Roughly?

Yeah, so it's so easy, it's just kind of like setting up an ISO.

So essentially what we'd normally do for you is just have a conversation, free consultation, get to know what your goals are, what when you actually do want to retire as well, because that's really important, then we sort of reverse engineer it back and see how much you need to be contributing.

But what we normally do is look at your risk profile, look at how long you have until you want to retire and basically keep the charges as low as possible, make the performance as good.

But all you actually need to do is have that first consultation and we'll sort the rest.

But essentially if you're a limited company, you can pay it through the business, which you're going to get your corporation tax relief, which is just a win, win, no brainer situation.

You just need to be doing that if you can anyway, whether you want retire in X amount of yours or not, or, you know, if you're a sole trader, you can do it through sort of your personal bank and just pay those contributions.

But also you're going to get the government relief added into your pension.

Again, it's just free money that people aren't making the most of.

And you know when you're getting taxed so much, you need to be getting that corporation tax back.

Yeah.

So yeah, it's literally just a case of setting it up and setting up those contributions and we'll look after the rats.

Fabulous.

So it's not like a daunting sort of experience where people are gonna have to fill in like endless amounts of forms and be a bit.

Yeah, there's literally no farms.

I think it might have used to be sort of quite a few years ago, you know, when it wasn't all online.

But you pretty much have a platform where you can view your pension at any time.

You, we, we can adjust those contributions.

So if you feel like, you know what, this is too much for now, I want to reduce it, we can do that.

Or if you think, you know what, I'm comfortable with this, let's increase it so it's flexible, you're not tied in or anything like that as well.

So it's just a really good option.

Fabulous.

And there's a certain.

I'm probably going to ask two questions now, but is there certain pension providers that you work with or is it more based on the individual client and their sort of risk profile?

Yeah, of course.

So essentially we're independent advisors, which is really important to mention because it just means we've got access to all of the providers in the whole of the uk and what we have is exclusive deals with certain providers.

What you can't get going directly because we're obviously sort of like financial advice firm.

So what that.

What the exclusive deal means is just it's a much cheaper charger than you can get going directly.

So we work with two main providers.

One is Avivo, which is obviously someone that everyone's heard of, and Scottish Widows as well.

So they're just sort of a traditional household name.

Gonna tell me if I've never opened a single document?

Really?

I am gonna tell you off.

I get sent them all the time and I'm like, I don't even know what that is.

I just put it in my pension folder.

Yeah.

Because I'm one of those where like, well, who cares?

Like, I'll worry about it when I'm, you know, 60 and see what's.

Yeah, magnet that.

Yeah, I really do, because I get a lot of people that do come to me at six day and they say, you know what, I've just kind of left my pension off.

They've got old pensions and things as well and they just kind of left them and not looked at them.

And they do wait until age 60 and I look at them and unfortunately the performance wasn't as good and it is too late and it's, you know, we can do as much as we can sort of topping it up, but you'll have to put so much more in.

And if you just did less over time, but made sure it was performing well, then you'd be.

You'd be retired.

You won't be speaking to me.

And having that conversation, like, gets the.

Six looks at and goes, shit.

Honestly, it's difficult having those conversations though, because, you know, people do feel regret and it is a shame that we couldn't have helped them sooner.

And Helen's just made a comment about where, where does.

So if I obviously have got my pension that's paid through the limited company, say I die, obviously.

Well, I will die at some point.

But where does that then when you go to someone else or does it just go off into the ether?

Yeah.

So it doesn't just disappear.

So basically we can put a Beneficiary on the pension so that it will go directly to them.

Whoever you want to nominate, it'll just go directly to them.

Okay.

And do they get the full amount or is it like a percentage?

Yeah, so the normal.

Just get the full amount just as it basically it just transfers to being their pension.

Okay, Fab.

So I didn't know that.

Again, I don't know if I've copied so much.

Isn't there?

Yeah, I'm like the worst person that we do with this chat because I'm like the opposite of what you should do.

I have no idea if I've got a beneficiary from a pension.

Right.

Okay, well, we need to sort this then.

Let's book in a meeting after this.

Romany shouts at me soon.

And another topic, we'll go slightly off topic from pensions and you know, guys like Romney is a just partner of ours on our website.

So if you do go to our website, you'll have all of Romani's details on there and we will put them in the group as well.

And she will start posting the group.

And if you wanted to find her on Instagram, it's at the Finance woman, isn't it?

Yeah, at the Finance woman with an underscore at the end.

Yeah, a little underscore at the end.

If you do want to follow on Instagram.

And yes, she will be at the expo as well.

So if you have any burning questions, make sure you write them down.

You can speak to her there.

What about income protection?

Do you deal with that?

Because I know that's.

I get asked a lot about that from clients and obviously that's why I asked them in your direction.

What is like, should people have it?

I guess is a question.

Yeah.

So.

So where do we even start with this topic?

This is one of my tricks, to be honest.

So especially because I deal with business owners, this is probably the most important thing that you can do for yourself and for your business as well.

I started.

That's one thing I did do.

Did job.

Right.

That's really good.

Yeah, me too.

Yeah, as soon as I started working, that's what I did.

So essentially if I was to ask you, you know, what would happen if you were unable to work for, let's say, longer than maybe two or three months, how would your business look?

Would it function?

What would happen?

You know, the reality is for many people is that the income would probably stop.

Yeah.

Really quickly, actually, you know, probably in.

In a month, maybe even less.

Really.

So essentially what income protection is, if you can't work for any reason whatsoever.

I'm talking like back ache, I'm talking mental illness, you know, really minor things but they can actually have a big impact on your ability to work.

It would pay you out a fixed income.

So this income will be paid either until you go back to work or until age 67.

That's the way we set it up.

So essentially it will be continue, continues the paying so it doesn't stop at a certain point just until you go back to work.

So that's what it is.

And obviously it's quite self explanatory why it's so important for business owners.

Unfortunately we don't get sick pay, do we?

And the thing is a lot of the people we deal with are lone dog walkers, loan groomers and things like that.

And if they get a bad back or anything like that, then they're off work, they're not getting paid.

It's all physical, isn't it?

For me it was a no brainer to go, well I need to cover myself if I'm on my own but if whatever reason I am ill then I'm going to get paid that money regardless.

That's it.

And you know your bills are covered, all your expenses and everything, your mortgage and that is just so important because you don't want your credit sort of file getting affected and everything because that can have a complete domino effect on everything else.

So just knowing and I think you know, it's okay building your business but if you're not protecting your income, it's pointless really.

Yeah, and it's.

I don't think when I did mine, I don't think it was like massively expensive either.

I think I was paying like 30 quid a month or something like that, which is in, in today's age, not really that much for something that actually is going to cover you.

I didn't realize that it's forever.

I thought it like stopped at a certain point or.

Yes, that's going to be more expensive if you take.

No, it's quite surprising.

So the stimuli obviously you can take it out the better.

So the healthier you are, the younger you are, the cheaper it's going to be.

So.

So obviously I'd recommend looking at it as soon as possible but it's actually not that expensive.

So I got mine, obviously I'm quite young but I got mine you know, a few years ago and I pay something like 20 quid a month for it.

And you know what all do you get the.

No, no, no, it stays the Same.

Oh, okay.

Honestly, I think you'd be surprised as to what the prices are.

It's not that expensive and it covers your foot, everything you can think of.

So really from a business perspective that everyone should have it.

Everybody should have it, yeah.

If you're receiving an income, you should have income protection.

Fantastic.

Everyone you've been told, if you don't have it and you're on your own and you don't have a plan B that please, please speak to Romney and she'll get it sorted for you.

Yeah, exactly.

I think it's like it's not even a big process either, is it?

Mine don't know whether it is online or whether I went through an advisor.

I can't remember it was that long ago.

Yeah.

And you don't get anything and everyone says, you know on all Facebook groups and I've been off, do we get sick pay?

I think you might get a minimal amount from the government if you're self employed, but it's quite a week or something ridiculous.

Which you're not going to be able to live on at the end of the day.

So.

So help.

But what if my income is variable per month?

I'm assuming that set the income protection up.

Is it as easy as saying that I need X amount per month?

Yeah, it literally just be whatever amount you feel.

Obviously you need to make sure that you are getting that amount sort of on an average.

But apart from that we just kind of look at what is the amount you'd actually need to sort of pay your mortgage, pay your bills and that sort of thing and just make sure that that's covered.

And is there any sort of hidden things where they say, well, if you're ill because of this disease or this, is there any sort of like hidden things that you think, yeah, so there's.

Nothing at all hidden because we'd explain everything in so much detail that you know exactly what you get in and what you're not or you are coming for.

So for example, I've got like a bowel disease now which I didn't have when I took out the polysites.

So if I needed to take time off because of that, I'd be fine.

I can just take the time off.

But if I tried to get the policy in like a year's, you know, well, even now, if I tried to get the policy now, I wouldn't be covered for that bowel disease.

So any sort of existing conditions that you have and that you do struggle with, then you won't be covered for Those.

So it's only sort of like new conditions and things.

So if you struggle with not cake in the past, then unfortunately you might not be covered for that unless everything is fine now and it's a completely new condition.

So if you were a groomer, for instance, that had a bad back and you went to get this insurance, they wouldn't cover you for anything related to.

Your back if you've been to the doctors for it.

Right.

So.

And if there's a record of it, basically that's it.

It's kind of like health insurance.

When you take out health insurance, they don't cover you for pre existing health.

Yeah, it worked very similar to that.

Yeah.

Because that's.

That's ridiculous in itself.

But that's another.

Another.

But so pre existing health conditions you won't get covered for.

If you've been to the doctors and it's noted down somewhere.

Yeah.

Had a bad back and you've not really done anything about it, then.

Yeah.

The only other exception is, you know, if it was like maybe three or more years ago, normally they will cover you for it or we can have a look into providers and see which ones will as well.

If it is something that's crucial for you.

Um.

But yeah, if it was sort of a long time ago, then that's normally fine.

But like I said, what we normally do is go through all the.

Of the details and things and kind of get to know your situation as a whole and then we can recommend which providers and things on as well.

Cool.

We've got another question going back to pensions on this one.

What free percentage there for taking out a private pension?

I'm guessing, is that going to be all individual to the person or so like it's set.

Yeah.

So it's normally just depending on sort of the.

Obviously the work involved as well.

Well, so it depends whether you've got old pensions or not.

So normally if you've got old pensions, we just take the fee percentage out of the fund, whereas if you're just wanting to contribute, then we take it out of the contributions.

But again, it's just depending on what we're actually going to be doing for you.

But if you do want to know, sort of the actual figures, just drop me a message and we can send those over based on what you want to do.

Yes.

It's hard to sort of give a set figure because everyone's different and I think it depends upon.

It depends how much money you put in as well.

Yeah.

So, yeah, sorry we can't be more specific.

But if you contact Roman, he should be able to go through that directly with you.

If someone did want to chat to you about pensions or income protection, is there a fee to do that initial call with you?

No.

So this is something we're really big on, obviously being accessible to all business owners.

There's absolutely no fee and also no pressure and everything as well on that initial call.

So we'll have sort of like an hour call.

Just look at things really holistically, your pensions, your protection, mortgages, everything that.

Any questions you've got, you can pick my brains on that call and that's completely free.

And then what I'll do is then I'll also put together and I'll do some research, put together a recommendation and there's no fee at all for all of that, any of the research and recommendations.

It's just when you're happy to proceed and that will normally come out of the fund or the contributions.

Perfect.

So there you go.

We, you need to look at your pensions peoples, and if you haven't got income protection and you're obvious, then please, please, please look into that.

It would be worth every penny because you never know what's going to be around the corner.

You never know what might happen.

You might break your arm.

And if you agree, my arm.

So please, please, please, guys, if you haven't looked into that already, get in touch with Romney so she can have that conversation with you.

Like I said when I did it was like Romany's is 20 quid.

I think when I did it, and that was only would have been probably I was like mid-30s, it was about 8 quid.

So we're not talking like hundreds of pounds a month here.

It's a few quids to take away a month basically to make sure that you're getting covered.

If whatever reason you do have to go off ill to make sure that those bills are covered or if you've got staff as well, like, you know, there's those things.

It's a good benefit to have.

Yeah, but you know what, ask as well.

That's just worth mentioning.

Not a lot of people know this, but you can actually pay it through the business.

So it's a separate policy and it's called executive income protection.

So it's just another benefit of doing it.

And you're getting that corporation tax relief back on it as well.

Well, there you go, tip of the day.

Let someone else pay for it.

Yeah, right, we're going to leave it there guys, because we can't go into too Much detail, obviously, with pensions and stuff, it's very specific to the individual and obviously there's, there's rules and regulations behind it as well, which is why when we get asked, oh, can you recommend a pension?

And all of that sort of stuff, we're not licensed to do that, which is why we pass you on to a financial advisor.

And sometimes people can get the two confused.

We're not being awkward, we're just not allowed to discuss that sort of thing.

So we will pass you on to someone like Romney, who is a financial advisor who can go through those things with you.

Someone's just.

Helen's just quickly just put in.

What about diabetes?

Is that a thing with the income protection?

It depends what symptoms you've had from the diabetes.

So if you do have diabetes and you've had pretty much no symptoms from it, then normally you would be covered if you got any new symptoms.

But if you want, again, that's something that we can look into in a little bit more detail.

And there are different providers that will cover different things as well.

So was this like mortgages, isn't it?

Every provider just a different thing?

That's it, yeah.

And the criteria is obviously different and we, we know the market inside and out.

We do it day in, day out for business owners, so we know what we're doing.

Fabulous.

Well, for those of you who are coming to the Expo in November, those of you who are thinking about coming to the Expo in November, then Romney will be there and she'll be floating around for the day, she'll have some information with it.

So please, if you're coming along, then just remember to have a chat with her if you do want it.

We will put all of her details on the group and page and you can obviously get links in our website as well.

So please, please, please have a think about the pensions, have a think about the income protection and get that sorted before it's too late.

And we will be back next week with another live, probably myself and Lee.

But thank you so much, guys for listening.

If you've got any questions, please follow them in romance directly.

You're probably getting influx over the next two weeks.

You've got.

Where's all this income protection?

We'll keep busy in the summer.

Thank you so much for joining me today.

I know you're really busy and I'm sure everyone will appreciate it.

And this will go on the podcast on Monday, so listen to that.

Please hit Romany up and get that sorted.

Oh, thank you so much for having me on.

I really appreciate it.

I've enjoyed that.

It's been good.

Who would have thought pensions were so fun, honestly?

If anyone's got any questions as well, please just pop them in and I'll try and include it in the speaking thing that I'm doing and try and answer those as well.

I just want it to be as helpful as possible.

Perfect.

Maybe we can do some.

Get some questions before the event and we can do a bit a Q and A Emma's put.

Very helpful.

So there we go.

I'm so glad.

One person.

Yeah, better so we can go home now, but brilliant.

Thanks again guys for listening and watching and we'll catch up with you next week and hopefully we'll see everyone at the expo in the November.

But no, brilliant.

Thank you everyone.

See you later.

Bye.

Thanks for listening.

If you've enjoyed my podcast, don't forget to subscribe for me and if you want to speak to me, please visit my website@www.petaccountant.co.uk and if you'd like to join my Facebook group which is full of like minded pet professionals, then search accounting for pet professionals in Facebook and I will see you there.

Sa.