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FCA Regulated
Chartered Status
Whole of Market
5-Star Rated
Transparent Fees
First Equitable business owner planning at a glance
Chester office: Bridgegate House, 5 Bridgegate, Chester, CH1 1SA. Telephone 01244 267485
What we help with: director pensions, tax-efficient profit extraction, shareholder and key person protection, relevant life cover, and succession or exit planning
Specialisms: joining up business finances with personal pensions, investments and estate planning
Credentials: Chartered status, FCA regulated (FRN 782577), independent and whole-of-market
Getting started: free initial consultation at our cost, with no obligation and no minimum contract
Your business should not be your only pension
Sound planning builds wealth outside the business in parallel, so your retirement does not depend entirely on one exit going well.
Taking profit out efficiently
We work with your accountant rather than duplicating them, so the tax planning and the financial planning agree with each other.
Our wealth management services
Pension & Retirement Planning
The Whether retirement is decades away or just around the corner, we help you build a strategy to get there. Pensions advice, consolidation, drawdown and annuity purchase, all explained in plain English by a dedicated adviser.
Wealth Management
Growing your wealth is one thing, keeping hold of it is another. Independent, whole of market advice on savings and investments, wealth preservation, and trusts and inheritance tax planning, built around what you actually want your money to do.
Protection Planning
Life rarely gives notice. Life insurance, critical illness cover, income protection and private medical insurance, arranged so your family and your income are covered if the worst happens, without paying for cover you don't need.
Financial Planning for Business Owners
Running a business leaves little time for your own finances. We bridge the gap between the two, advising on company pension schemes, corporate savings and investments, and protection, working alongside your accountant and legal advisers.
Wills & Power of Attorney
Making your wishes clear now saves your family difficulty later. We help you put a valid will in place and set up a lasting power of attorney, so the right people can act if you no longer can.
Probate & Estate Administration
Administering an estate is daunting at the worst possible time. We guide executors through the grant of probate, settle debts and taxes, and distribute the estate properly, with a fixed quote agreed before any work begins.
Director pensions and commercial property
For company directors, a pension can do more than simply accumulate. We advise on:
- Employer contributions, usually deductible against corporation tax and free of National Insurance
- Carry forward of unused annual allowance from up to three previous years, useful after a strong year
- Buying your premises through a SIPP, where the pension owns the property and the company pays rent into your pension rather than to a landlord
- Bringing older pensions together, covered by our pension consolidation service
Protection that keeps the business intact
- Shareholder protection. If a shareholder dies, their shares typically pass to their family. The survivors may lack the cash to buy them out, and the family may be left holding a stake they cannot use. Shareholder protection funds the buy-out and keeps control where it belongs.]
- Key person cover. Where losing one individual would materially damage profit, this pays the company a lump sum to steady things and recruit a replacement.
- Relevant life cover. Company-paid life cover for a director, normally an allowable business expense and not usually a benefit in kind, which makes it more efficient than personal cover funded from taxed income.
These sit alongside our wider protection planning and business owner services.
Succession and selling up
Whether you plan to sell, pass the business to family, or wind down gradually, the outcome depends on decisions made years before. We model what the business needs to be worth to fund your retirement, how the proceeds would be taxed, and what happens to the money afterwards. Where the business will pass to family, we coordinate with estate planning and inheritance tax advice, since business relief can be significant.
What our advice costs
Your first consultation is free, at our cost. If you proceed, we charge a fixed initial fee for your planning report, then a tiered percentage of the portfolio implemented, with the rate falling as value rises. Ongoing service is optional, from as little as 0.3% a year, with no minimum contract. Full detail is on our charges page.
What our clients say
How to get started
Book a call or get in touch and we will arrange your free consultation at Bridgegate House, at your premises, or by video call. See our process page for how we work.
Regulated advice you can check
