Both Richmond Financial Advice Ltd and Richmond Wills & Probate Ltd are located on Teddington's High Street.

The idea for the first was established in the early 1990s by its Director and Independent Financial Advisor, Kuldev Sehra, who has 33 years of experience in the financial industry. The second was set up afterwards to offer a more rounded service proposition to its clients.

The companies' team help individuals to plan their investment, retirement, and tax as well as to prepare professional wills and set up Lasting Powers of Attorney in place.

Focusing on tailored to clients' needs approach the team always appreciate in-person connections, by offering variety of options to get in touch. Personal and video call consultations are available at their office from Monday to Saturday. They also arrange home visits for those who cannot make it into the office themselves.

For example, Kuldev has one client who has now moved from Teddington to New York, so the Director is having video call sessions with her.

Knowing that people often cannot make it to the office during the day due to work commitments, Richmond Financial Advice Ltd and Richmond Wills & Probate Ltd also offers evening and weekend meetings.

In an exclusive interview with Nub News, Kuldev said he "always had an interest in business, finance, and economics", but when he first started in the role, he "wanted to understand how best to help people".

He added: "I've been doing this job for so many years with the view of improving people's lives, but what pleases me most is when I help clients and then go on to help their children when they grow up. It's about helping generationally."

For example, he encourages both parents and their children to discuss the family's legacy in advance. Kuldev assesses the value of current assets to determine the potential inheritance tax (IHT) liability.

If inheritance tax is payable, he advises on ways to minimise it. IHT can often be reduced through careful will planning or by making lifetime gifts.

The director said: "I think it's important to have those conversations early on and help my clients and their loved one now, so they've already got that support in place for when they need it most".

"Planning for IHT in advance can significantly reduce the tax burden on the family. It is particularly important to review your IHT planning when the value of your estate changes or your family circumstances change."

He added that Richmond Financial Advice Ltd "really focuses on creating long-term partnerships with clients" and making all clients "feel part of the group".

"We offer an advised-based service that is tailored to each client's individual needs," he continued.

Kuldev mentioned one long-term client whom he initially helped with his pension. Later, as the client's business grew, he helped structure the client's and his family's tax liabilities and investment portfolio.

Now, Kuldev is helping the man with his retirement.

He said: "The client is now drawing up to £20k a year in his retirement and legitimately not paying any tax!"

"We also enable people to accumulate their wealth tax-efficiently during their working lives and then change their portfolios around to provide them with a predictable regular income once they retire"

Kuldev, who has lived and worked locally for over 45 years, explained that he called his companies Richmond Financial Advice Ltd and Richmond Wills & Probate Ltd because he is focusing on helping people in the local area so that "clients don't feel like another number" unlike other companies in the industry.

"We offer local Richmond residents a personalised service delivered through face-to-face meetings," he said.

Also, among Richmond Wills & Probate Ltd team is its Executive Manager, Svetlana Golikova.

She explained: "We offer a range of services to our clients, which are reflected to their individual needs.

"It's important that we develop personal trust with them as we cover sensitive matters with clients who, for example, are grieving a loved one, so we discuss various objectives on how we can help."

As part of its professional will writing service, Richmond Wills & Probate Ltd advises clients about future events that may affect the validity of their wills, such as divorce or remarriage.

Svetlana says that her first client, who was from Twickenham. His objectives were to share his estate between his two daughters, to minimise IHT liability and provide financial support to his daughters during his lifetime. We achieved these objectives by designing an appropriate will and preparing documentation for lifetime gifts.

So, she said: "As we do with all of our clients, I first try to understand my client's overall intentions, both during their lifetime and after their passing. However, I always encourage each client to think about their future security at an early stage.

"For example, having the Lasting Powers of Attorney (LPA) for the financial and health affairs in place would give them peace of mind during the lifetime. A properly drafted will ensures that their estate is distributed according to their wishes rather than of the default rules of the law".

Svetlana added: "Our will writing work is complex because each client is unique. For example, when we work on family trusts, all families are different, so it's important for them to consider how their children and future generations will be provided after they're gone. So, our clients are keen to plan for their relatives' future in advance.

"This is a challenging point of our work because every family has lots of nuances. For example, someone may be diagnosed with a life-threatening illness, become vulnerable or be involved in a serious accident. Therefore, every family trust is tailored to each family's individual circumstances rather than following one approach."

She explained that one woman previously asked her why she should pay for help on writing her will when she could get Chat GPT to do it for free.

But, Svetlana said: "Chat GPT doesn't have the expertise to assess every legal risk or the full context of an individual's situation. Not everyone knows how to write an effective prompt for an AI model that covers all the relevant legal and personal nuances required when preparing a will."

She continued: "As an in-person service, we can build trusted relationship with our clients, minimise risks, and offer professional support in achieving their objectives."

She said: "As part of our probate service, we help executors administer estates by ensuring compliance with legal requirements, meeting deadlines, and guiding them through every aspect of process until the estate has been fully administrated."

Both companies are also actively involved in local community events and projects [to insert the links to our social media], particularly those supporting older people, as they make up a significant proportion of our client base.

However, Svetlana says, "Retuning to the topic of Lasting Powers of Attorney (LPAs) they are extremely important because life is unpredictable."

She added: "An LPA gives you peace of mind by allowing someone you trust to make decisions about your financial or health related affairs and to act legally on your behalf if you are unable to do so. We always encourage our clients to put their LPAs in place as early as possible."

Kuldev ultimately said: "We want to help families gain a better understanding of estate planning and the services available to them."

If you are interested in doing a work placement for Richmond Financial Advice Ltd or Richmond Wills & Probate Ltd, email the office at [email protected] or [email protected].

You can find out more about Richmond Financial Advice Ltd, Richmond Wills & Probate Ltd and book a free, in-person consultation with the team via its website here or on its LinkedIn and Facebook pages.

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