Wealth Management for Barristers
We understand that being self-employed can sometimes mean your income is unpredictable, which can lead to difficulties securing a mortgage. We have banking and lending services and can arrange Lombard loans or introduce lenders that are more open to lending to members of the bar.
The pressures of court can be substantial and can leave little time for you to manage your personal affairs, such as sustaining cashflow for tax bills, chasing aged debt, and funding a purchase of a share in chambers.
You may also need to think about putting in place protection against illness or death, and the change in your earning patterns if you become a KC. We can provide sophisticated cash flow management to identify future income and capital requirements as early as possible to help you reach your goals, such as mapping out a plan for your future distributions.
Case study
I want to free up cash for school fees and house refurbishment
Background
Our client is married with three children. He was called to the bar in 2005 and made Silk in 2020.
Key objectives
To ensure cashflow security to complete a house refurbishment and for children’s school fees, as well as longer term financial security.
How we helped
We first met our client when he had just been called to the bar. Our initial discussions covered some of the key challenges barristers face when they become a KC, such as:
- variable income, cashflow and aged debt
- funding the purchase of a share in chambers
- family insurance to protect against illness or death.
Given the variable nature of his income, we started by using our tailored cashflow planning to model different scenarios and help allocate cash to different ‘pots’. This included everyday spending and school fees.
We created separate accounts for these, which we proactively managed in a tax-efficient manner. This included holding tax money in tax-efficient gilts, timed to mature in line with the January and July tax bills.
We helped arrange a mortgage with a specialist mortgage provider, who understands barristers’ income profiles. This involved an offset mortgage, which works well for clients with irregular income.
We then spent time with our client on his longer-term goals, using cashflow planning to show the impact of different rates of inflation, returns and contributions.
We reviewed his existing ISAs and pensions, which we consolidated to our accounts, and set up a general investment account to allocate surplus income in a tax efficient manner.
The client was keen to have additional sources of liquidity, so we also arranged a lending facility against his investment portfolio. There is no arrangement fee for this, with clients only incurring interest if they draw on the facility. This means it is a cost effective way to provide access to additional cash should it ever be needed.
We were also able to introduce our client to a specialist insurance provider to arrange cover for him and his family.