Director
Nicola Downs is the Director
and Independent Financial Adviser. She has built the company
on the philosophy of openness and honesty that is so important
to her.
 Nicola
has spent most of her working life in Financial Services and
has acquired invaluable experience and knowledge working in
the City prior to setting up her business in the Mole Valley.
Nicola has specialist qualifications in Corporate and Personal
Pensions, Taxation and Trusts, as well as Investment Portfolio
Planning. These Industry-recognised accreditations mean Nicola
is in the top 10% of Financial Advisers in the UK in terms
of professional qualifications.
“Working for myself has
allowed me to really focus on building long term relationships
with my clients that is good both for them and for the business.
The more you get to know your clients the better and more
relevant the advice becomes. I ensure that clients are well
aware of our undertakings for them and that a clear comprehensive
report is provided setting out all the salient points of my
advice.”
Nicola’s reputation for excellence has been recognised
beyond the boundaries of Dorking and the Mole Valley and she
regularly has articles
published in the national and local press.
She is a voluntary member of the Pensions Advisory Society
(PAS), which is a government sponsored agency set up to handle
pension disputes between employers and employees, and is a
committee member of the influential Personal Finance Society
(PFS).
Nicola's Qualifications
FPC - Financial Planning Certificate - (referred to now as: Level 3)
Originally developed for financial advisors, to provide
a broad based knowledge of key topics for financial planning,
this qualification has 3 component parts:
FPC 1 - Regulation and compliance.
FPC 2 - Protection, savings and investment products.
FPC 3 - Identifying and satisfying client needs.
AFPC - (Advanced Financial Planning Certificate) – In order to complete this qualification Nicola had to obtain three units:
1) G60 - Pension (CII) - Enhanced general pension knowledge, particularly in
pension transfer and opt out business.
2) G10 - Taxation and Trusts (CII) - Assessed knowledge and
understanding of the UK tax system, the law and practice
of trusts, but also ability to advise individual clients
on the tax treatment of their investments and use of trusts
to meet their current and foreseeable futures needs.
3) G20 - Personal Investment Planning (CII) - Assessed
knowledge and understanding of investments and an ability to advise individual clients
on the construction of investment portfolios to meet both their current and foreseeable needs.
JO4 - Pension Funding Options (CII) - Be able to demonstrate an understanding of the main tax and
legal frameworks that govern the accumulation phase of building up retirement benefits under registered pension schemes; features of defined contribution and defined benefit pensions; choices faced by early leavers and use of transfer analysis; state retirement benefits available, including risks and suitability of contracting out of the State Second Pension.
JO5 - Pension Income Options - Be able to demonstrate an understanding of the process of decumulating pensions funds and the main issues for clients and advisers; main choices facing members of pension schemes during decumulation; features, risks and tax treatment of unsecured pension options; features; risk and tax treatment of phased retirement and tax treatment of the alternatively secured pension option.
PFS - Personal Finance Society Diploma - Required attaining at least 140 credits with at least 80 at
diploma level. Ability to demonstrate a high level of expertise with specialist knowledge of financial products, providing detailed analysis of financial information and devise solutions to complex financial problems.
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