Archives: Case Studies

Somerset Motorhomes Centre is a family owned business, based across two sites on the outskirts of Taunton. The owner, Tom Lower and his wife Maria have over 18 years of experience in the sector. This wealth of experience coupled with their friendly professional demeanor has helped with the ongoing growth and success of the business.  Tom […]

Ian Dance Services are the leading Catering Engineers and equipment suppliers in the South-West of England. Run by Bruce and Glyn, this close-knit family business has provided support to various catering establishments, including Pubs, Hospitals, Schools, Restaurants, Care homes and Ministry of Defence Facilities.  When you eat out in your favourite pub, restaurant or hotel […]

Nestled in the heart of South Somerset is the quaint village of Martock, home to 5,000 people and a selection of pretty hamstone buildings. New to the village is Martock F.I.T, a friendly, community orientated gym co-founded by Dave Root and Ed Noble in 2016. With an emphasis on providing custom training opportunities people all of ages, fitness levels and abilities, Martock F.I.T aims to provide a service that other local gyms cannot.

Classic Canes Limited is a Somerset-based family business specialising in growing, manufacturing and wholesaling walking sticks, seat sticks an umbrellas. It was established in 1982 by Diana and Ben Porter when they realised the raw material for walking sticks was growing naturally in their woodland near Hinton St George. Having started at the proverbial kitchen table, the family business has since grown to supply over 2,000 retailers in more than 40 countries worldwide. The unique product range comprises over 700 models of traditional and contemporary walking sticks. The company’s speciality is the thumbsticks, hiking staffs, knobsticks and other rustic sticks made from native British hardwoods such as ash, hazel and blackthorn. Today, the company is run by Ben and Diana’s daughter, Charlotte Gillan, and employs 11 people.

A client who had set up and run his own business came to us for advice on how to reduce his inheritance tax liabilities, which would have been substantial had he passed away within the next seven years.

A long-standing client had, during his career, built up a substantial property portfolio. One of these properties he had decided to gift to his son who had recently married. But he was also concerned that if his death occurred in the next few years his son might be liable for a substantial amount of inheritance tax, which could force him to sell the property which he had been gifted.

A widowed gentleman with no children had moved into a high quality care home because he no longer wanted to live on his own. He was ‘self-funding’ fees of over £4,000 a month and was concerned that he might run out of funds during his lifetime and be forced to move to a home of the local authority’s choosing which may not provide all the comforts he was currently enjoying.

Like many of those we help as part of our Later Life Financial Solutions, Mr H came to us for an entirely different reason: to discuss his annual tax return. As he was in his late 50s, the conversation turned to his plans for retirement – an area he had put on hold because it had become simply ‘too complicated to deal with’.

We received a call from a lady in her 70s who had discovered her husband had been receiving letters from HM Revenue & Customs for some time but he had not been opening them. He had been a Chartered Accountant in his working life, but he was now suffering the early signs of dementia and was no longer able to manage their financial affairs easily. His wife had never had to deal with the family’s finances and was living in a state of high anxiety about the mounting paperwork.