Crandles & Co LLP

Financial planning built around each client's position

Crandles & Co Ltd gives financial advice from Edinburgh and describes itself as a firm that puts each client's personal planning at the heart of its work. It says it also gives advice to smaller companies and to self-employed people, and that its aim is a more secure financial future for clients and their families. The process begins with a careful review of a client's current finances. From that, the firm builds a plan that meets future needs, and it says a goal without a plan is only a wish, while an achievable goal with a deadline becomes a dream.

Protection for life and health

The firm arranges life assurance in several forms, including level, increasing, decreasing and renewable term cover, convertible term, investment-linked policies, whole of life cover, family income benefit and relevant life cover. Its health and protection work covers private medical insurance, critical illness cover and income protection for people who are unable to work. Each option is weighed against the needs of the family and the money that depends on the client's income.

Pensions, retirement and workplace schemes

The pension advice covers personal and stakeholder pensions, self-invested personal pensions, the National Employment Savings Trust, occupational schemes and auto-enrolment, annuities and income drawdown, executive pension plans and small self-administered schemes, and the state pension. The firm says a well-prepared pension plan, reviewed regularly, is the foundation for a comfortable retirement.

Savings, investments and tax

For savings and investment, the firm covers individual savings accounts, lifetime and junior ISAs, unit trusts, open-ended investment companies, investment trusts, equities, fixed interest investments, with-profits funds, capital investment bonds, offshore collectives and national savings products. On tax, it gives advice across income, capital gains and inheritance matters, and it offers introductory material on the basics of taxation for clients who want to understand the rules before they decide.

Wealth management and estate planning

Wealth management covers relationship management, trust information, lasting powers of attorney and wills. The firm says that wealth, like health, has to be carefully preserved and that assets need protection. Its advice on savings is aimed at people who put money aside for a specific reason, and who want the safest way to build up a pot of money for it.

How the firm charges and keeps clients

The firm says its advice is written in clear language without jargon, and that its costs are transparent and competitive. It describes its aim as long-term relationships that continue across generations, and says it is proud of its client retention. Before recommending any product, it says it listens carefully so that each recommendation fits the client's own circumstances.