Having a good plan. At every stage of life.
Working part time, getting a divorce, or traveling the world? And, most importantly, wanting to be financially comfortable in your old age? Life is not just about personal decisions, but financial ones too. Personalized financial advice helps you to keep your own goals in sight. This is precisely what Life Plan advice offers. Desirée von Michaelis, Head of Wealth Planning, and Andreas Liechti, Head of Business Development, reveal more.
What is Life Plan advice?
Life Plan advice provides financial advice for all stages of adult life. It analyzes a person's current finances and pension situation. Based on the analysis, Life Plan advice shows how such circumstances could change in the future. For example, it's possible to clarify whether savings targets can be achieved or the extent to which a planned sabbatical, for instance, will result in a pension gap.
Credit Suisse has developed this personalized advisory service in close collaboration with its clients. The advisor analyzes the client's personal and financial situation and goals, then identifies individual solutions on that basis. The client receives forecasts for their financial future during the personal consultation thanks to a sophisticated tool, and receives their results in the form of a document that they can take home with them.
Andreas Liechti, Head of Business Development Private Banking at Credit Suisse (Switzerland) Ltd., explains: "When making a financial decision, it's important to not only focus on the snapshot, but also consider its long-term impact." If an expectant mother were considering reducing her level of employment, for example, the impact of this decision would affect more than just her next rent payment – it would have a longer-term impact, including on her pension fund.
Benefits of Life Plan advice
Life Plan advice can help you to avoid financial uncertainties in the future. During the consultation, your advisor will ensure that your financial situation is in sync throughout each stage of your life. Moreover, clear visualizations and graphics will reveal the pitfalls you may encounter on route to achieving your personal goals.
Andreas Liechti adds: "Life Plan can also help to answer questions surrounding issues such as financing or investments." For example, a person may withdraw their third pillar retirement savings if they take out a mortgage. "Life Plan can be used to show exactly what that decision will mean for their financial future from various perspectives." The client can see how their family will be covered or whether making such an advance withdrawal would create a pension gap. During the consultation, the advisor can then work together with the client to plan how to close that pension gap again. Andreas Liechti maintains that decisions are systematically viewed as a whole: "That is precisely where the significant added value of Life Plan advice lies."
How Life Plan advice works
Life Plan advice focuses on the client's own personal situation. Andreas Liechti elaborates: "During the Life Plan consultation, we discuss the client's life goals and focus on what really matters to them." According to the Head of Business Development at Credit Suisse, client advisors offer support for bigger decisions and provide personal advice as an equal partner.
Andreas Liechti explains that Life Plan advice consists of three components:
- Identifying the client's personal situation, needs, and goals
The first step of Life Plan advice is to identify and record the client's personal situation. This includes their employment status and employer. Their family circumstances and legal situation will also be discussed. Life plans and goals are likewise taken into account. This could include early retirement, a larger apartment, or a desire to work part time. - Understanding the client's financial situation
The next step is to examine the client's financial situation in greater detail and check whether their personal goals can realistically be met. All of this is based on their individual background. Various scenarios are highlighted. This could include the question of what the client can expect if their level of employment were reduced. In this case, the advisor analyzes whether this would create pension gaps or other financial risks, for example, and how these could be offset, such as through Pillar 3a contributions. - Looking at the client's financial situation as a whole helps them make better decisions
The analysis ensures that the most important data is always available. This overview then serves as an ideal starting point for future personal consultations. To this end, the client's life goals, financial situation, and personal situation are visualized and their interrelationships are clearly illustrated. Any optimization of the financial situation is shown in the context of the life goals in the long term and is therefore easy for the client to understand.
Having received Life Plan advice, the client is handed a personalized PDF with their results. An example can be viewed at the following link: PDF download sample Life Plan.
