At the age of 58 Matt’s life was changing in fundamental ways. He was selling his business and was in the process of splitting the proceeds equally with his wife, as they were also divorcing at the same time.

Paul is the Managing Director of one of London’s largest financial institutions. Immersed in a high-pressured world, Paul had been through two divorces, 30 years of long hours and stress-packed days.

Having been a client of ours for a number of years, and at the age of 49, Paul told us that his ambition was to retire completely from the world of work at 55 years old; and to live the rest of his life to the full in complete financial independence and security.

David and Claire were both under 50 years old with two children aged 11 and 9 years. David was about to sell his business, of which he owned a third and which also paid Claire a regular income.

After the sale completed, they were left with £1.3 Million after tax from the business sale, they also had a very small pension pot of less than £120,000 between them. Claire also had an ISA worth around £15,000 as well as some life cover to deal with the mortgage.

Jane has been a long-term client of Blackstone. We originally started advising her on her pension. After being impressed with both our
independent advice and exceptional service levels, Jane also trusted us with all of her finances including building an outstanding investment portfolio.

At the age of 58, Jane felt that it was time to exit her business, sell her shares and move to a different stage of her life.

There’s been a great deal written recently on what’s happening in the markets and why we shouldn’t worry about the future and await the bounce back. We’re not going to go over that here, as there are far bigger things to focus upon. Namely, the vast opportunities the inevitable recovery will provide for shrewd and prepared investors.