George McNeil Chartered Financial Planner

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George McNeil Chartered Financial Planner Chartered Financial Planner and Fellow of the PFS with over ten years industry experience.

16/10/2026

"Is it that Important to get a Power of Attorney Sorted?" 🗣

I was speaking to a couple last week who were late 60s/early 70s. 👫

They had their finances basically in order (a few small tweaks aside) but they didn't have LPAs (Lasting Powers of Attorney). 📝

It didn't seem a big deal to them until I explained the process if you DON'T have an LPA and you have lost capacity: 😟

1️⃣ Expenses. It's expensive applying to set up a deputy! 💰
2️⃣ Lack of Control. You can't be sure who the court appoints. 🤷‍♂️
3️⃣ Administration and Stress. There's a lot of work and paperwork. 📑

Safe to say they're getting them set up ASAP! 👍

While we don't sort LPAs, it's all part of the planning picture, message me if you want the details of a trusted colleague in that field. 📩

15/10/2026

I've got a bunch of pensions; should I consolidate them to one place? 🗣️

We deal with this pretty much daily and it's a common query. 🧠

Recently I've been working with a couple who have 6(SIX!) pensions built up over their working life (not including State pensions) 😳

So, is there value in consolidating? ❓

Yes, most of the time you will have one standout pension, or none, and it makes sense to sweep the older pensions into a modern pension 'hub' 🧹

Pensions have moved on since the 1980s, they are cheaper, have more options, have better options on death etc. 📈

Things to check when looking at your existing pensions and seeing value:

1️⃣ Costs and charges. You are being charged an annual fee for the pleasure of keeping your pension money with the provider. Make sure it's reasonable. On a £100k pot, a provider charging 0.2% will take around £200 a year. However, one charging 1.0% will take around £1,000. That compounding over decades is huge. 📉
2️⃣ Death benefits. Some older plans only allow 'return of fund' or 'return of contributions', whereas modern plans allow your beneficiaries to keep the money within pension. ⚰️
3️⃣ Options at retirement. Newer plans allow for Flexi-Access Drawdown usually, whereas some older plans don't offer this. 🤝
4️⃣ Guarantees. Some plans have very valuable guarantees written into them. Examples include Guaranteed Annuity Rates (GARs) or a higher Tax-Free Cash entitlement. These are usually lost on transfer, so it's definitely worth checking! 💵
5️⃣ Investment options. Some older contracts might have limited options for investment, whereas a full fund 'universe' on a modern pension will have thousands of options. 💡

It is worth checking at any age primarily for the charges as this is ever present and is potentially costing you thousands, but coming up to retirement it's essential to make sure you choose the best home for your pension money as you start to take it to fund a happy comfortable retirement. 👴 👵

Any queries give me a shout and I'd be happy to help. 📩

14/10/2026

🗣 'Yeah, but how do YOU invest your money?'

I've had this question, not verbatim but close, a few times. ❓
The answer: EXACTLY THE SAME! 🤝

There's no secret formula, it's (on the whole) very simple 🔎
We use the same:

1️⃣ Strategy 🖋
2️⃣ Companies 🏙
3️⃣ Investments 📊

Keep it simple, cost-effective, use allowances and plan sensibly. It's no secret, and we take our own medicine. 💊

13/10/2026

There's lots of information and advice online, so...where can an adviser actually add proper value in 2026? Here's 5 examples.

1️⃣Asset allocation - 80% of returns are from here. 📈
2️⃣Peace of mind - someone else is dealing with it, some brain space. ✌
3️⃣Protection - many ways, but primarily protection from WORST case scenarios. ⛔
4️⃣Behavioural/emotional coaching - our brains are programmed for caution and for emotional responses. The enemy of long term investing. 👨‍🏫
5️⃣A long term plan to get to a destination - being proactive, not reactive. ⏳

12/10/2026

"Don't look for the needle in the haystack. Just buy the haystack!" — John Bogle 🗣

Bogle founded Vanguard, and was a champion of passive investing! 🏆

While it would be lovely to stumble across the next Amazon, Bogle came up with the route to sharing in the success of the biggest companies. 📈

By buying an index fund, investors can put a little bit of money into every stock. That way, they never miss out on the stock market's biggest winners. 👨‍💻

Active investing has its merits, but it adds risk and fund managers have been shown to underperform their indexes 90%+ of the time if given a 10+ year time horizon. 📉

09/10/2026

💷 Lost track of an old pension?

Changing jobs can sometimes mean losing track of workplace pensions over the years.

Gretel is a free service designed to help you trace lost or forgotten pensions and reconnect with your retirement savings.

✅ Free
✅ Secure
✅ Easy to use

Knowing where your pensions are held is an important step towards planning for your future.

🔗 You can access Gretal via the link below:

https://www.gretel.co.uk/

If you would like advice or assistance regarding your pensions or retirement options, please get in touch with a qualified financial adviser here at DGS Chartered Financial Planners

Please note that pension values can fall as well as rise, and the value of any benefits will depend on your individual circumstances.

09/10/2026

How Do Celebrities Invest Their Money? 🎥 ⚽ 🫰

It’s a fair question to ask, we are curious by our nature. ❓

Frankly, they should follow the usual rules: 🔽

1️⃣ Save more than you spend. 🏦
2️⃣ Invest in things with ‘real’ value (equities, property etc). 🏡
3️⃣ Use short term, medium term, and long term 'buckets'. 🪣
4️⃣ Use tax allowances that are available. 💸
5️⃣ Diversify across asset classes, geographies, and investment types. 🌏
6️⃣ Maintain sensible liquidity and review regularly. 📑

The only differences that arise when people become very wealthy (on the whole) are that allowances are exhausted quickly so more investment types are required. 📈

However, fundamentally those investment types:

1️⃣ Have ‘real value’ - as in, cannot go to zero, are not solely based on one person’s opinion. ✅
2️⃣ Are REGULATED – as in they are subject to UK regulation and protection. 👨‍⚖️
3️⃣ Are UNDERSTOOD – why are you putting money into something you cannot explain? 😕

Unfortunately, a lot of celebrities are targets for scams and bad actors (not Stallone!) because they have a lot of money and can be seduced by promises of exceptional returns and flashy pamphlets. 📸

If in doubt, KISS! (Keep It Simple, Stupid). 💋

Slow and steady isn’t as sexy as ‘double your money immediately’ promises, but you can sleep at night and can live the life you want. 😴

Happy to chat. 📩

08/10/2026

From Disjointed and Confused to a Proper Plan 🛫

Working with a lovely couple currently:

- Couple of grown up kids they want to see. 👨‍👩‍👧‍👦
- Nearing retirement and want to know if they can retire, and if so on how much. ❓
- Elderly mother they would rather move in with them than go into care in due course. 👵
- Keen to take the family on holidays. 🏖️
- And a lovely dog called Buddy who needs spoiling! 🐶

What we did:

- Verbalised their goals in their own words, worked out what was number 1 priority, and developed a plan. 📑
- Wrote off to their various pension providers to have a 'look under the bonnet'. 🚗
- Collated the information and discussed their pros and cons. ⚖️
- Recommended consolidation to a cheap modern platform. 📊
- Recommended tax-free cash to be taken with the balance to Drawdown. 💷
- Did cashflow planning and set up an income strategy (least tax paid) to allow them to retire imminently. 📈

What they got:

- Peace of mind. 🧘‍♂️
- 'Permission' (theirs, not mine!) to retire. 👫
- Confidence to spend and enjoy their money. ⛷️

What Buddy got:

- A lovely new toy and plenty of attention. 🐕

Always happy for a chat. 📩

07/10/2026

'Outsource Your Finances To Me!' 🫵

I’ve Started Taking My Own Medicine 💉

For years I’ve been telling clients:

- Yes, you can have a decent stab on your own, but outsource it to me and you’ll have more time and (hopefully) be better off in the long term. 📈
- You can have accountability and someone in your corner who will know a trick or two you won’t. 🪄

However, I’d been:

1️⃣ Doing my own accounts.
2️⃣ Letting the garden get out of control.
3️⃣ Avoiding the gym and even when I’d go, not having a clue where to start.

Now, I outsource:

Accounts to the people who know what they’re doing, ACCOUNTANTS! 🧮
The garden to a lovely girl who does it full time and is excellent, a GARDENER! 🏡
The gym, and actually going, to a PT who knows what he’s doing and what I’m doing wrong, a PERSONAL TRAINER. 💪

Let the professional do the thing they’re great at, keep you accountable, and work with you to allow you to focus on what YOU are great at instead. 🫵

Always happy to chat. 📩

06/10/2026

Are you going to get the full State Pension? 💡

Clients often have no idea if they will get the full State Pension. 🤷‍♂️

It’s such a key part of retirement planning – Guaranteed Inflation Proofed Income! What’s not to love? 💫

It’s £12,548 per annum in 2026/27, so over £25,000 a year for a couple! 💷

You need 35 FULL years of National Insurance Contributions to get the full income in retirement. 🗓

How do you check?

Log in to the Government Gateway and follow the steps. 🐾
Fill in a ‘BR19’ form and post it off. 📑

Any queries or questions just ask and I’d be happy to discuss. 📧

Address

Parkway
Saint Albans
AL36PA

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