I work for a non-profit organisation involved in international mediation, so not being involved in financial services makes the whole financial world seem very opaque. I wanted a financial planner I could trust to help me provide a safe, nurturing and secure environment for my family.
I was recommended to Magus by a friend of mine whose judgement I trust. After an initial meeting, I felt they could simplify my affairs and help me plan for our future. Specifically, I was facing future education costs for my children and was unclear exactly when the costs would hit and what I would need to liquidate to meet these costs.

 

The financial forecast provided by Magus provided accessible and simple information that answered my questions and allayed my fears. The forecasting software they use is a big benefit and quite comforting, as you can see the likely expenditure peaks along the way. The full financial plan they created feels wholly connected to my life and needs. They also helped restructure my investments and overall spread of assets.

 

What was complex is now streamlined and simple. I have financial clarity, and that gives me peace of mind around my financial choices. The whole process has been reassuring, personalised and professional. I feel that I have someone I can ring to discuss the financial impact of the choices that I make in my life – having an impartial sounding board is great.

 

Recently I have been brave enough to decide to take a year’s sabbatical so I can spend time with my two young children. The discussions with Dante and Sharon and the Financial Planning software they use gave me the confidence to see that I could do it financially. They’ve been hugely supportive, and we have a really good, collaborative relationship.

The first striking thing about the Magus system was that it was very simple and understandable. It brought calm at a bit of a chaotic time.

 

And it was comprehensive, given how many different financial interests we had, it was great that they looked at everything and said ‘if it concerns the O’Donnell family, then it concerns us’. They build everything up into an assets model, and an income vs. expenditure model for us, which we still use today at our six monthly reviews.

 

The best thing is that they consolidated most of our assets into a much simpler structure where Magus manage 90% of them, which still accesses global diversity. They work out the longevity & sustainability of our finances – the simple robustness of their long-term model is head and shoulders above the rest. They’ve just freed me of dealing with all that.

 

I also wanted to invest securely, and even conservatively, with an amount of money that was ring-fenced. That was a really important safety net, security for me and the family. It was a big thing from the very beginning, which Magus made happen.

 

Now my mind isn’t absorbed in time nor stress around this stuff, that’s huge really. It’s probably more complicated behind the scenes, but to the client it looks like what they are doing is simple and that they are executing it well. I can think ‘you’re looking after that, I trust you to do that. And I’m going to do some other ventures, or play golf’.

 

Magus are a constant in a very turbulent world, where there’s been a lot of change over the past 9 years. There’s been a lot of stuff that’s gone on – personal and in business – but through all of that Magus has been consistent and trustworthy, doing what they do well. They’re always very professional, accessible, responsive and reassuring.

 

Now that we’ve worked really hard for the past 30 years, we just want to know our finances are in good hands. And now we have freedom to go and live the most fulfilling life possible. We know what we’ve got and how we can deploy it most efficiently for the benefit of our family.

 

Michael’s done a really good job – he’s both our close family adviser and also a friend.

As part of the process, my wife and I went through the financial forecast. This platform gave us a bird’s eye view of where we were at the time with all our finances, whether the assets we’d built up were sufficient to see us through, and the ability to see if there were any gaps in our finances, right up to age 100.

 

Having that visual map of seeing where we were and where we needed to be helped with the strategy for our finances as a whole. We did have a couple of gaps, particularly in terms of income protection and our pensions — it gave us clarity and enabled us to focus on what we needed to prioritise.

 

Working with Magus has also helped us pull different policies together and simplify it in my mind. I wasn’t particularly interested in keeping on top of all those even though I’m competent to do so — it just made more sense for Magus to handle this, and this has all gone smoothly.

 

We’ve always dealt with Zac – we have a very good working relationship with him. He’s very efficient, knows his stuff, is very personable, goes about his business in an efficient way and he always works in our best interests. The Magus technical and admin support people that I’ve come into contact with have been great too.

 

Working with Magus is helping us have more choices, so we can do what we want in the coming years, right through to our last days. Overall, I want security, to be sure we’ve covered all our angles, to have options as we get older and, ultimately, to maximise the wealth we pass on to our daughter.

At the time I had no idea what sort of financial position I would be in at retirement, and had no real planning strategy. My present day finances were in good shape but my future financial planning was not. This changed once I met Magus.

 

We had a very good discussion about my personal circumstances and discussed where we could go from here, which gave me the confidence to move ahead with Magus. I was nervous at first, because I was venturing into the unknown. However, once I had understood the Magus approach, discussed my attitude to risk and was given the opportunity to invest in a globally diversified portfolio, I was able to observe the growth in my investments over subsequent years with some satisfaction.

 

In addition, Magus has demonstrated the benefits of financial forecast modelling to me during recent annual reviews, which has proved enormously useful to me and given me a large degree of comfort for the future.

 

I have a good relationship with my present Magus financial adviser and can contact her at any time on any matter. Advice is always forthcoming and no significant changes or restructuring of my investment portfolio are ever made without a letter of recommendation from Magus. I have always been impressed by the positive attitude of the Magus advisers.

 

It is very important to me to receive the Magus view on the impact of current world events (e.g. Brexit, Trump) on the markets and more particularly, how it may affect my investments. The Magus newsletters provide a good insight into Magus’s view of current events.

 

When I look back I feel very satisfied that I joined Magus and feel that I have come a long way from having scattered pension funds to my present globally diversified portfolio. I have no doubt that overall I am in a stronger financial position today with the backing of the Magus Support team and able to enjoy my recent retirement with a good deal of confidence.

There are several things that particularly appeal to me about what Magus do. Firstly, their ability to show you the big picture of your finances is a good point of difference. I like the financial graphics that they create because a visual story helps give both me, and my wife particularly, a good overview of what’s going on across all our finances.

 

I also like that you can log onto the internet, get on the Magus portal system and see what’s going with your money on at any point in time – it’s a very 21st century way of doing things. And you do it when it suits you, that’s what this particular system’s good at.

 

Also, as you get older, it’s increasingly important to make sure you’ve got the best tax planning possible. Sharon gives us advice on moving our money in and out when it’s most prudent to do so. Our tax position is important and they provide a meaningful service that deals with this effectively.

 

What I like is that Magus does what it’s supposed to do, it doesn’t interfere with my life. That’s testament to the success of the way the business is run. They get on with it in a quiet, calm manner and if something urgent comes up, such as when I recently wanted to switch funds, they expedited my wishes very quickly and efficiently, which is very positive.

 

I know that I can trust them implicitly. For the next few years as we keep working towards retirement, we’re just trying to make sure all the bases are covered so subsequently we can enjoy the rewards of all our hard work.

Since then, Sharon has become our main contact at Magus. She’s been excellent and we’ve built a good relationship. She really knows her stuff and is professional and knowledgeable as well as incredibly accommodating and personable.

 

Sharon explains things clearly in simple English, either by drawing diagrams or by using the Magus software, which is very good. It models different scenarios and outcomes, and enables us to see how we can make best use of the money we’ve accumulated.

 

You can have a certain pot of money but it has to be managed in an intelligent way so you can spend now, but also have enough to carry you through the rest of your life – in both those areas Magus have been excellent. They’re trustworthy, provide a huge amount of support and the whole thing feels friendly – you don’t ever feel you’re ‘just dealing with a suit’.

 

We’d talked to Sharon about wanting to be able to retire when we would be reasonably young still. And then we had a big change of circumstances, Rob decided to retire and I went part-time. This caused us some real trepidation, as we didn’t think we’d accumulated enough money yet for this to work. But we sat down and Sharon said ‘you can actually do this, it’s OK, you can maintain this lifestyle still’.

 

She surprised us with a really useable, workable income for our retirement, it’s a very good plan. Now we travel a lot, Rob’s written a sci fi novel, we’re learning the sax and guitar and I’m working part-time, as well as being governor of a local school.

 

I’ve still got an element of ‘this is absolutely amazing, I can’t believe they’ve got us to this stage’ in my head. Years ago I wouldn’t have thought we’d get here so soon, but now, here we are.