I’m often asked, ‘are we seeing more people leaving the UK?’ It’s an illustrative question because there’s a perception that those earning large amounts, often through non-regular or ‘lumpy’ pay structures, might not be best served by staying in Britain.
The answer is ‘no’. Though some high-net worth individuals do enjoy an international lifestyle and do spend time working and living overseas, most of our clients find they are able to manage their wealth and income in a way that supports a rewarding life in the UK.
Key to this is a personalised wealth strategy that manages their income streams, giving them maximum flexibility and opportunity. Crafting that strategy, doing the heavy lifting and getting everything in place so clients can focus on their careers and lifestyles is precisely the service me and my team offer.
What’s the best way to manage your bonus?
Whether you’re receiving a typical bonus as an expected annual amount or some other distribution generating some substantial personal wealth, it’s a good moment to refine your financial planning.
UK financial planning might involve the use of ISAs, pensions, investment bonds or trusts. Carefully considering the relevance of these tax efficient wrappers or structures to your personal circumstances will likely play a key role in informing which strategy and risk parameters you may want to deploy.
There’s a broad range of potential possibilities. Family concerns, particularly around inheritance and the next generation can often be top of mind. One of our key objectives is to understand how best we can support you and family from a wider financial planning perspective. Beyond taking responsibility for your investment management, we’re also here to help with UK wills and lasting powers of attorney, establishing trusts and general UK estate planning and inheritance tax planning if and when appropriate.
Ultimately, our service is designed to take this in hand for you, giving you plenty of time to plan for the medium and long-term.
Putting a windfall to work
With a top level plan in hand, you may also want to consider how to put some of your wealth to work over time – for example between now and when you retire, or for a set period after which you know you’ll be looking to make a spend on some life goals such as a dream home or an entirely new venture away from your professional career.
To do this, you may wish to assess how much of your wealth you can put into investments – enabling it to potentially realise compounded growth from market returns. We offer a range of discretionary funds as well as a bespoke investment structures that could reflect your time horizon and the level of risk you want to take.
Though please be aware, the value of investments can fall as well as rise, and you may not get back the full amount you invest.
I always mention to clients that investing for the long term doesn’t have to mean forgoing planned purchases or sacrificing liquidity. You may be able to stay in the markets and have swift access to liquidity via an investment backed lending line that avoids the potentially costly need to sell out or buy back into markets at inopportune moments – helping you maintain your strategy timeline and meet your life goals.
Before you borrow against investments, you should understand these risks. The final decision whether to proceed must be your own and, in making your decision, you should carefully consider the comparison between borrowing costs and potential investment gains/losses.
Tactical liquidity that serves your holistic wealth strategy
We’re also able to help clients mange their cashflows with deposits, earning set rates over chosen time windows. This might be instant access – so it’s accessible whenever you need it. Or, it might be set aside for a set period, up to five years, so it’s earning interest until you know you’ll require it – for example for a tax bill at tax year end, to pay school fees, or to complete on a house purchase.
An additional benefit of using deposits could be the opportunity to draw an income from a rolling Fixed Term Deposit.
Here are two examples of how this could work,
- £3m into a 1-month Fixed Term Deposit at rate of 3.04% would provide a guaranteed monthly pre-tax profit of £7,600. If held for a year that could equate to £91,200 p.a. Rates are decided monthly and may increase or move down.
- If you decided to put that amount into a 1-year Fixed Term Deposit then, as at May 2026, you could get a higher rate of 4.54%, which would yield £136,200 p.a. – working out at £11,350 a month. That rate would be guaranteed for 1 year with the interest being paid at the end of the term.
Criteria apply.
Elevating your wealth with guaranteed returns from deposits
In my conversations with clients, I always emphasise that there is no inherent ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ way to manage your income streams. It’s about being tactical, assessing your goals and choosing the best way to balance out your money so that when a large sum does arrive, you know where and how it can best support your broader strategy. This flexibility could bring big rewards in time, helping you potentially get to that dream home or retirement that bit sooner.
Examples of how we could help your wealth strategy
We appreciate it may feel a lot to consider in the moment. That is where we step in. Our service is designed specifically to support clients whose remuneration might come in fits and starts. For example, we can factor in bonuses when it comes to assessing affordability for mortgages.This sophisticated approach could mean a large unsecure discretionary bonus set up doesn’t preclude you from securing lending.
We’re also able to help with other lending functions, for example, we recently helped a new client with an extended overdraft to ensure they had liquidity ahead of a major pay event.
Ultimately, we know your financial landscape and we know you’re busy, so we’re here to do the hard bits for you. If you’re our client, we want to remove any sense of ‘goodness, there’s a lot to think about’. When the reward for all your hard work does come, and even before, we could deal with this for you so you can focus on your career and enjoying the lifestyle you’ve earnt.
Please speak to you Private Banker to find out how we could support your wealth and income strategy.
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